As both a professor and practitioner, I have made it my life’s work to help people understand and apply state-of-the-art insights about communication to their everyday lives. Every one of us stands to benefit from knowing about how communication works at a far higher level. Since “every human advancement or reversal can be understood through communication” (Walter Annenberg), I’ve published close to 50 scholarly works on the subject, covering topics from strategies in public speaking to the ways that organizations and governments can better communicate with citizens.

Yet the best part of my job is getting to see people experience profound growth in their communication both in and outside the classroom. Given the need to scale this work, I founded Communication Upward to collaborate with individuals and groups of all sizes in communication-related workshops and presentations, speech coaching and writing, and consulting and educational projects aimed at improving communication skills and fostering more democratic conditions throughout the world. I am currently working on several book projects focusing on the future of online and hybrid models in higher education, on how to build cultures of innovation in organizations, and how to use social marketing strategies to help people in the U.S. get what they need to vote. In my spare time, I enjoy being with my family, traveling, and performing improvisational comedy with a number of groups and theaters across the tri-state area.