Close Menu
Samantha Senda-Cook, PhD

Chair, Communication Studies

Professor

Contact

SamanthaSenda-Cook@creighton.edu
College of Arts and Sciences
Communication Studies
HCCA - Hitchcock Center for Communication Art - 306G

Samantha Senda-Cook, PhD

Chair, Communication Studies

Professor

Samantha Senda-Cook (PhD, University of Utah) is a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and an affiliated faculty member with the Environmental Science and Sustainability programs at Creighton University. She studies rhetorical theory and analyzes environmental communication and materiality in the contexts of social movements, outdoor recreation, and urban spaces/places. She was recently awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Japan in 2019. She and her co-editors—Bridie McGreavy, Justine Wells, George F. McHendry, Jr.—were recognized with the Tarla Rai Peterson Distinguished Book Award for their volume, Tracing Rhetoric and Material Life: Ecological Approaches in 2018. Her co-authored book Participatory Critical Rhetoric: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for Studying Rhetoric In Situ, won the Outstanding Book of the Year in 2016 award from the National Communication Association’s Critical and Cultural Studies Division. Additionally, she was invited to be a plenary speaker at the 15th Biennial Public Address Conference in 2016. Her work has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Environmental Communication, International Journal of Wilderness, Southern Journal of Communication, and Argumentation and Advocacy. Along with Michael Middleton and Danielle Endres, her co-authored article, “Articulating Rhetorical Field Methods: Challenges and Tensions,” won the B. Aubrey Fisher Award for best article published in the Western Journal of Communication in 2011. Because she is interested in making this scholarship relevant to community members, she has given public presentations at a monthly open meeting of the Gifford Park Neighborhood Association and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and has spoken about her experience in Japan on a local radio show. She teaches courses in rhetoric, environmental communication, intercultural communication, and communication practices. Additionally, she seeks out opportunities to mentor undergraduate student researchers, several of which have presented at conferences and published their work. Valuing community service and engagement, she volunteers with the Community Bike Project Omaha, which is dedicated to creating equitable social conditions for everyone. When she is not researching, teaching, or volunteering, she can usually be found reading a mystery novel, trying out a new recipe, or riding the hills of Omaha on her bike.

Department

Communication Studies

Position

Professor

Books

  • Palgrave Macmillan
    Bridie McGreavy, Justine Wells, George F. McHendry, Jr., and Samantha Senda-Cook, editors, Tracing Rhetoric and Material Life: Ecological Approaches (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2018).**National Communication Association – Environmental Communication Division’s Tarla Rai Peterson Outstanding Book of the Year, 2018** 2018
  • Lexington Books: A Division of Rowman and Littlefield
    Michael Middleton, Aaron Hess, Danielle Endres, and Samantha Senda-Cook, Participatory Critical Rhetoric: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for Studying Rhetoric In Situ, (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2015). 2015

Articles

  • Samantha Senda-Cook, “A Place Ballet of Resistance,” in Charles E. Morris III and Kendall R. Phillips, editors, The Conceit of Context: Resituating Domains in Rhetorical Studies (New York: Peter Lang, 2020), 269-285. 2020
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, “Privilege in a Place Ballet: An Incomplete Argument of Places and Bodies,” Argumentation and Advocacy, (2020): 56, no. 4, 205-222. DOI: 10.1080/10511431.2020.1848337 **Lead Article** 2020
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, “Long Memories: Material Rhetoric as Evidence of Memory and a Potential Future,” Western Journal of Communication, 84, no. 4 (2020): 419-438. 2020
  • Aaron Hess, Samantha Senda-Cook, Michael Middleton, and Danielle Endres, “(Participatory) Critical Rhetoric: Critiqued and Reconsidered,” International Journal of Communication, 14 (2020): 870-884. 2020
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, Michael Middleton, and Danielle Endres, “Rhetorical Cartographies: (Counter)Mapping Urban Spaces,” in Candice Rai and Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, editors, Field Rhetoric: Ethnography, Ecology, and Engagement in the Places of Persuasion (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 2018), 95-119. 2018
  • Samantha Senda-Cook and George F. McHendry, Jr., “Embodying Resistance: A Rhetorical Ecology of the Full Cycle Supper,” in Bridie McGreavy, Justine Wells, George F. McHendry, Jr., and Samantha Senda-Cook, editors, Tracing Rhetoric and Material Life: Ecological Approaches (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2018), 223-252. 2018
  • Justine Wells, Bridie McGreavy, Samantha Senda-Cook, and George F. McHendry, Jr, “Introduction: Rhetoric’s Ecologies,” in Bridie McGreavy, Justine Wells, George F. McHendry, Jr., and Samantha Senda-Cook, editors, Tracing Rhetoric and Material Life: Ecological Approaches (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2018), 1-38. 2018
  • Frontiers in Communication
    Samantha Senda-Cook, “Contrived Making Do as Rhetorical Practice in Outdoor Recreation,” Frontiers in Communication, 2, no. 15 (2017): n.p. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2017.00015 2017
  • Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies
    Danielle Endres, Aaron Hess, Samantha Senda-Cook, and Michael K. Middleton, “In Situ Rhetoric: Intersections between Qualitative Inquire, Fieldwork, and Rhetoric,” Cultural Studies ó Critical Methodologies, 16, no. 6 (2016): 511-524. DOI: 10.1177/1532708616655820
    16, no. 6 , p. 511-524 2016
  • Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies
    Michael Middleton, Samantha Senda-Cook, Aaron Hess, and Danielle Endres, “Contemplating the Participatory Turn in Rhetorical Criticism,” Cultural Studies ó Critical Methodologies, 16, no. 6 (2016): 571-580.
    16, no. 6 , p. 571-580 2016
  • Communication Studies
    Samantha Senda-Cook, “Extending Rhetorical Criticism’s Engagement,” Review of Communication, 16, no. 1 (2016): 95-97. doi: 10.1080/15358593.2016.1183907. Permanent link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15358593.2016.1183907
    16, no. 1 , p. 95-97 2016
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, Michael Middleton, & Danielle Endres, “Interrogating the ‘Field,’” in Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Method, ed. by Sara L. McKinnon, Robert Asen, Karma R. Chávez, and Robert Glenn Howard (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State Press, 2016), 22-39. 2014
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, “Wilderness Within Reach,” International Journal of Wilderness 21, no. 1 (2015): 29-33. 2014
  • Danielle Endres, Samantha Senda-Cook, and Brian Cozen, “Not Just a Place to Park Your Car: PARK(ing) as Spatial Argument,” Argumentation and Advocacy, 50 (2014): 121-140. **Lead Article** , p. 121-140 2014
  • Southern Journal of Communication
    George F. McHendry, Jr., Michael Middleton, Danielle Endres, Samantha Senda-Cook, & Megan O’Byrne, “Rhetorical Critic(ism)’s Body: Affect and Fieldwork on a Plane of Immanence,” Southern Journal of Communication, 79, no. 4 (2014): 293-310., p. 293-310 2014
  • Lexington Books: A Division of Rowman and Littlefield
    Samantha Senda-Cook, “Practicing Rhetoric,” in Rhetorical Criticism: Purpose, Practice, and Pedagogy, ed. by Jim Kuypers (Lexington Books), 2014. **Invited** 2014
  • Environmental Communication-a Journal of Nature and Culture
    Senda-Cook, Samantha Materializing Tensions: How Maps and Trails Mediate Nature
    7, p. 355-371 2013
  • Environmental Communication-a Journal of Nature and Culture
    “Materializing Tensions: How Maps and Trails Mediate Nature,” Environmental Communication 7, no. 3 (2013): 355-371., p. 355-371 2013
  • Women & Language
    Senda-Cook, Samantha. Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse.
    35, p. 143-144 2012
  • Quarterly Journal of Speech
    Senda-Cook, Samantha Rugged Practices: Embodying Authenticity in Outdoor Recreation
    98, p. 129-152 2012
  • “Experiential Degradation: It’s Not Just the Environment that’s in Danger,” Communication Currents 7, no. 3 (2012). Available at http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=2441.
    3 2012
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, “Book Review: Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse,” Women & Language 35, no. 1 (2012): 143-144
    1, p. 143-144 2012
  • Western Journal of Communication
    Middleton, Michael K., Senda-Cook, Samantha, Endres, Danielle Articulating Rhetorical Field Methods: Challenges and Tensions
    75, p. 386-406 2011

Editing and Reviews

  • Samantha Senda-Cook, Aaron Hess, Michael K. Middleton, and Danielle Endres, editors, Readings in Rhetorical Fieldwork (New York: Routledge, 2019). 2019

Presentations

  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "A Life More Ordinary: The Continuing Relevance of Study and Teaching at the Intersection of Everyday Life and Rhetoric," National Communication Association Conference, Dallas, November 15-19, 2017. 2017
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "For Love of Place and People: How Belonging and Privilege Facilitate Slow Acts of Resistance," National Communication Association Conference, Dallas, November 15-19, 2017.**Presented on the Top Paper Panel for the Environmental Communication division** 2017
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Playing with Methods," National Communication Association Conference, Salt Lake City, November 8-11, 2018. 2017
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Place, Memory, and Rhetorical Criticism," Conference on Communication and the Environment, Leicester, England, June 2017. 2017
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Standing Up, With, For, or Against: Who has the 'Right' to Deploy a Place in an Act of Resistance?" Conference on Communication and the Environment, Leicester, England, June 2017. 2017
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "A Place Ballet of Resistance," 15th Biennial Public Address Conference, Syracuse, NY, September 29-October 1, 2016. 2016
  • Danielle Endres, Samantha Senda-Cook, & Brian Cozen, "Not Just a Place to Park Your Car: PARK(ing) Day as Reconstruction and Remediation of Place in Protest," National Communication Association Conference, Orlando, November 2012. 2015
  • Samantha Senda-Cook & George F. McHendry, Jr., "Embodying Resistance: De Certeau and Bourdieu ground Rhetorics Materiality," National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, November 19-24, 2014. 2014
  • Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division, National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, November 19-24, 2014. 2014
  • Scholar to Scholar: Constructing a Communicative World, National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, November 19-24, 2014. 2014
  • Roundtables on Research in Progress, National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, November 19-24, 2014 2014
  • "Rhetorical Field Methods and Performance," Rhetoric and Performance (COMM 495, Dr. George F. McHendry, Jr.), April 2014. 2014
  • Off Campus "Tactical Urbanism," Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, July 16, 2014. "Activating Place: The Changing Nature of Social Movements and Place as Rhetoric," University of Nebraska-Lincoln, March 14, 2014. 2014
  • "Activating Place: The Changing Nature of Social Movements and Place as Rhetoric," Creighton University Communication Studies Departments Colloquium, February 24, 2014. 2014
  • Environmental Communication Division, Western States Communication Association Conference, Anaheim, CA, February 15-18, 2014. 2014
  • Environmental Communication Division, National Communication Association Conference, Washington, D.C., November 15-18, 2013. 2013
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Connecting Rhetoric and Qualitative Methods: Ethnography, Enactment, and Embodiment," National Communication Association Conference, Washington, D.C. November, 2013. 2013
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, Michael Middleton, & Danielle Endres, "Interrogating the Field," selected as part of a pre-conference at National Communication Association Conference, Washington, D.C. November, 2013. 2013
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Making Do and Masculinity," Conference on Communication and the Environment, Uppsala, Sweden, June 2013. 2013
  • "Rhetorical Criticism," Senior Research in Communication Studies (COMM 497, Dr. Erika Kirby), October 2013. 2013
  • Environmental Communication Division, National Communication Association Conference, Orlando, November 15-18, 2012. 2012
  • Samantha Senda-Cook & Jay Leighter, "Social Movement as Social Media Practice," Conference on Communication and the Environment, Uppsala, Sweden, June 2013. Samantha Senda-Cook & Danielle Endres, "A Place of Ones Own," National Communication Association Conference, Orlando, November 2012. 2012
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Appropriating Resistance? Constructions of Resistance and Making Do in Outdoor Recreation Catalogues," National Communication Association Conference, San Francisco, November 2010. 2012
  • "Not Just a Place to Park Your Car: PARK(ing) Day as Reconstruction and Remediation of Place in Protest," Creighton University Environmental Science Programs Senior Seminar, August 30, 2012. 2012
  • "Not Just a Place to Park Your Car: PARK(ing) Day as Reconstruction and Remediation of Place in Protest," Creighton University Communication Studies Departments Colloquium, March 21, 2012. 2012
  • Michael Middleton, Samantha Senda-Cook, & Danielle Endres, "Assessing the Material, Embodied, and Everyday Discourses of Rhetorical Communities," Western States Communication Association Convention, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2012. 2012
  • George F. McHendry, Jr., Michael Middleton, Samantha Senda-Cook, Danielle Endres, & Megan OByrne, "Transactional Rhetorical Field Methods," Western States Communication Association Convention, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2012. 2012
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Making Nature Meaningful," National Communication Association Conference, San Francisco, November 2010. 2010
  • Michael Middleton, Samantha Senda-Cook, & Danielle Endres, "Articulating Rhetorical Field Methods: Challenges & Tensions," National Communication Association Conference, San Francisco, November 2010. 2010
  • "Rugged Practices: Embodying Authenticity in Outdoor Recreation," Zion National Park, June 25, 2010. 2010
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Revolutionaries needed! The potential of Ecoculture Jams in Pedagogy and Practice," Conference on Communication and the Environment, Vancouver, British Columbia, June 2019.
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Communicating Environmental Spirituality," Conference on Communication and the Environment, Vancouver, British Columbia, June 2019.
  • Samantha Senda-Cook, "Pursuing a Fulbright," National Communication Association Conference, Baltimore, November 14-17, 2019.

Federal

  • Fulbright Fellowship, The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, spring 2019, ~$30,000.

Awards

  • Top Four Papers
    Samantha Senda-Cook, “For Love of Place and People: How Belonging and Privilege Facilitate Slow Acts of Resistance,” National Communication Association Conference, Dallas, November, 2017
    Environmental Communication Division
  • Tarla Rai Peterson Outstanding Book of the Year
    Bridie McGreavy, Justine Wells, George F. McHendry, Jr., and Samantha Senda-Cook, editors, Tracing Rhetoric and Material Life: Ecological Approaches (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2018), awarded in November 2018
    National Communication Association – Environmental Communication Division
  • Fulbright Research Award
    “Advocacy through Agriculture: Communication at the Asian Rural Institute,” Japan, 2019, awarded in 2018.
    The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
  • Invited Plenary Speaker
    Presented “A Place Ballet of Resistance” at the 15th Biennial Public Address Conference in Syracuse, NY. September 29-October 1, 2016.
    15th Biennial Public Address Conference
  • Outstanding Book of the Year
    Awarded to the best book in 2015 or 2016 for Michael Middleton, Aaron Hess, Danielle Endres, and Samantha Senda-Cook, Participatory Critical Rhetoric: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for Studying Rhetoric In Situ, (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2015), awarded in November 2016.
    National Communication Association – Critical & Cultural Studies Division
  • Visiting Professor
    Department of Communication Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  • B. Aubrey Fisher Award
    Awarded to the best article published in the Western Journal of Communication. For the article: for Michael Middleton, Samantha Senda-Cook, & Danielle Endres, “Articulating Rhetorical Field Methods,” Western Journal of Communication 75, no. 4 (2011): 386-406.
    Western Journal of Communication
    Western Journal of Communication
};