Every interaction with another person and each experience with the media will contribute to a person's mental catalogue of modern communication, from the unspoken cues between drivers caught at an all-way STOP sign, to navigating the sticky web of online dating. Christa Sloan joins the faculty in the Communications division with a natural affinity for the nuances offered by studying the topic, particularly rhetoric and intercultural communication.
"I wholeheartedly find each concentration unique and valuable, but particularly rhetoric and media studies, both of which we as people are surrounded and influenced by everyday," she explains. "However, I think intercultural communication studies could be interesting to any person—particularly because of the relative ease of international travel."
Sloan's own motto as a teacher exemplifies the subject she espouses: communicating with students on a deeper level to provide context, reason, and further meaning to a topic, to enable them to reach another level of understanding. "I fully believe that teaching is not just about providing information, but also about supporting student voices and their empowerment through education," she says.
We ask: Do you have any advice for a college student about modern communications and how to make the best use of them?
"While modern communications are always expanding and becoming more and more advanced—which is great and exciting and continues to bring people across borders closer together—we should be cautious against getting too caught up in the technology. We should try not to forget the value in and the intimacy of face-to-face communication that other technology can, unfortunately, be void of. Dang texters!"