Dr. Catherine Y. Kingsley Westerman

Associate Professor
Email Dr. Westerman
Office: Minard 338-C4
Catherine Y. Kingsley Westerman's CV

Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2008
M.A. Michigan State University, 2003
B.S., Manchester University, 2001

Research Overview: My goal as an organizational communication scholar is to help employees communicate more effectively. Communication is often cited as the source of most problems in organizations. By studying how people manage difficult situations and identifying effective communication tactics to use in those situations, my research aims to improve employees’ lives and organizational functioning. I work to improve communication in two types of relationships in organizations: supervisor-subordinate relationships and workplace friendships. I also specialize in how to deliver feedback and managing one’s health information at work.

Teaching Overview: I teach courses in organizational communication, leadership, and communication theory at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. I center my teaching activities on students in various ways, such as using different technologies like Facebook, Twitter, Slack, and Perusall to engage them during class and outside of class. During class, I use active learning principles to engage the students. This means I keep lecturing to a minimum; instead, class time is used to engage in various activities that expose students to the content in ways that tie new information into their existing knowledge base. I believe that finding different ways to “play” with the course material is the best way to help students accomplish the goal of learning so that they can later apply the material to life and their future careers.

2023 Teaching

• COMM 114: Human Communication
• COMM 483: Organizational Communication II
• COMM 487: Organizational Power and Leadership