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Kristy Sheeler

Associate Professor of Communication Studies

Kristy Sheeler, Associate Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Liberal Arts, is entering her twentieth year of teaching, a far cry in career paths for this one-time mathematics major. Her shift in academic interests came on the heels of challenging courses in math and concurrent communication and English courses. She attributes this change to her "incredibly supportive and positive" professors, who constantly encouraged her studies.

Entering her seventh year at IUPUI, Dr. Sheeler teaches a number of courses on persuasion, gender and communication, rhetoric and political communication. In nearly all of these courses, from first year to graduate students, she stresses civic engagement and community interaction through a variety of activities including mandatory community service. Dr. Sheeler encourages students to use their hours of service to explore different aspects of communication: "A student might volunteer as an usher at IRT just to have an opportunity to see a play and learn about theater, or they might work for the WFYI television drive to have the opportunity to see a television studio and program and become part of the actual broadcast."

Additionally, the classes work together with a variety of nonprofits, including the Boys & Girls Club of Indianapolis and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center. They collaborate with these organizations on projects including everything from after school programs to addressing communication-based issues which are challenging the organizations. This latter involves "assessing the problems, conducting research over the course of the semester, making suggestions for solutions and then providing that organization with as much specific information for implementation of that plan." The Starfish Initiative, a mentoring program, and Donate for Democracy, a co-op program that works with the polls during the elections, are among those who have benefited from the students' work.

Outside the classroom, Professor Sheeler's research interests include politics and gender studies, and she has traveled quite extensively across the nation, meeting with and interviewing female state governors. She traveled all the way to Macedonia to share her knowledge, taking part in a panel discussion with their most prominent female politicians; comparable to having a panel discussion with such notable US politicians as Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.

Dr. Sheeler is currently working on projects including an essay on Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, a project that studies the gender differences in communication between medical residents, and a book regarding the anticipation of the first female president.

Judging from Professor Sheeler's activities in and out of the classroom, she has herself become one of those "supportive and positive" professors who gives much to her students, her community and her field.

--Sam Krauter, BA English 2008
Liberal Arts News Bureau

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Associate Professor Kristy Sheeler is entering her twentieth year of teaching, a far cry in career paths for this one-time mathematics major.

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