THREE NEW FACULTY JOIN DEPARTMENT

The School of Communication is pleased to announce the addition of three new faculty members, Heather Addison, Regina Spellers, and Marilyn Kritzman to our staff. Each of these individuals brings their unique expertise and talents to the challenges and opportunities in our curriculum and research efforts.

Heather Addison, Ph.D., assistant professor of Communication, received her degree from the University of Kansas in 2001. She has taught a broad range of courses in film and video history, theory, criticism, and production. She is a film historian whose current research area centers on early Hollywood films and their long-term impact on such areas as physical culture, stardom, and consumerism. She has presented her work at the Society for Cinema Studies and the University Film and Video Association. Her writing has been published in The Velvet Light Trap, a film journal, and in the books Hollywood Goes Shopping: American Cinema and Consumer Culture, edited by Garth Jowett and David Desser, and Film Genre 2000, edited by Wheeler Winston Dixon.

Dr. Regina Spellers (Ph.D. Arizona State University) joins the department as a visiting assistant professor of Communication at Western Michigan University. Her research focuses on intercultural and organizational issues emphasizing workplace diversity (specifically, race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality), socialization, and identity construction. Her research interests also include womanist theory; Black hair and body politics, and teenage pregnancy prevention. Her consulting firm, Eagles Communications Group, provides management consulting and personal development services.

Marilyn Kritzman has joined the department as a faculty career specialist and her primary responsibility is serving as the undergraduate advisor. Marilyn received her BS in criminal justice at Northern Michigan University and her MA in Organizational Communication from Western Michigan University. Her primary interests are teaching, training and development, advising student organizations, community service and community program development, and leadership effectiveness for non-profit organizations. Marilyn has a long association with WMU. She previously worked as an administrator in Student Affairs and Business and Finance at WMU for just under 20 years. As part of her role in the School of Communication Marilyn will also teach some undergraduate courses in interpersonal and organizational communication.