SearchDr. Jay Leighter
Mailing Address | Dr. Jay Leighter |
Phone | Main:(402)280-2196 |
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Com 152 Testout |
Jay Leighter, Ph.D. (University of Washington, 2007)
I joined the Department of Communication Studies in the Fall of 2006. I have taught courses in cultural communication, small group communication, interpersonal communication and public speaking. I have also taught the senior capstone course in our major, Communication and Community, and the RSP course for incoming students, Culture of Collegiate Life. I am currently the course coordinator for COM 152, soon to be named Civic Engagement through Public Communication. COM 152 is a core course in the College of Arts and Sciences and serves as the primary classroom component of Creighton's Freshman Leadership Program.
Three questions serve as the impetus for my research, teaching and participation in community life: 1) How are moments for speaking culturally influenced? 2) How do people make decisions about the community in which they live? And 3) How can communities improve decision making quality?
Trying to answer these questions means I study local public and political discourse and try to understand how culture and communication intersect in and influence the settings and scenes in which such communication takes place. At present, I have the good fortune to try to answer these questions on a practical and theoretical level as a consultant and facilitator for the Nebraska Sustainability Leadership Workshops funded by the Nebraska Environmental Trust, as a participant and observer of community visioning project in Columbus, Nebraska called Vision 2020, and, most recently, as a facilitator and observer of Panhandle P-16, an initiative in the 11 counties of the Nebraska Panhandle aimed at improving education through regional collaboration.
Because meetings (public and otherwise) are typical sites for community decision making, my research draws from deliberation and small group communication literatures. Because community decision making often involves consideration of the complex relationships among economies, the environment, and social needs, my research also draws from environmental communication and sustainability literatures. Because I try to understand communication from a cultural perspective, I read as much as I can on cultural communication, the ethnography of communication and speech codes theory.
To review my scholarship, teaching, and service, please see my vita.