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Topic: Communications

Kip Wotkyns

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Kip Wotkyns, MBA, is a professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Production at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He teaches intro to journalism and mass media; and ethical and legal issues in journalism.

Wotkyns has 24 years of experience as a journalist. He worked for Time Inc. for 14 years, was a reporter for FORTUNE magazine and a copy editor for TIME magazine. Wotkyns was also the president of Leman Publications Inc., a magazine publishing company formerly owned by Rodale Press Inc. He joined MSU Denver in 2008 and was promoted to full professor in 2018. He is a member of Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication and Society of Professional Journalists, as well as faculty advisor for Colorado Press Association.

His research interests include journalism, convergent journalism, social media and drone journalism. Some of Wotkyns’s more recent published works are “Drone Journalism: A Flight Plan for Curriculum Development” in the 7th Annual International Conference on Journalism & Mass Communications in 2018 and “New, Bold and Tenuous: Ethiopian Journalism Education” in Southwestern Mass Communication Journal. He has given several presentations on journalism around the country and in Singapore.

Wotkyns received his Master of Business Administration in media management and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University in 1979 and a bachelor’s in English magna cum laude from Stanford University in 1976. He is a licensed remote pilot airman.

Sheldon Steinhauser

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John J. Rief

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John Rief, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include public speaking, rhetoric, argumentation theory and practice, deliberation, competitive and civic debate in the U.S. and best practices of international and intercultural debate.

Rief joined the Communication Studies Department in August 2019 and is currently teaching Rhetorical Foundations of Communication, Arguing Constructively and Freedom of Speech. He relaunched the MSU Denver Debate program and currently serves as the debate coach. Prior to MSU Denver, Rief was an assistant professor at Duquesne University and a graduate teaching fellow and graduate teaching assistant at Pittsburgh University.

His research areas of focus are on the history of rhetoric, the history of intercollegiate academic debate and the rhetoric of health and medicine. He has published research work in POROI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetorical Analysis and Invention, as well as other journals, including Argumentation and Advocacy and Health Communication.

Rief received his doctorate in communication and two master’s in bioethics and communication from University of Pittsburgh in 2012, 2013 and 2008 respectfully and a bachelor’s in communication and philosophy from Regis University in 2005. He also attended RAND, a post-doctoral program, at University of Pittsburgh.

Peggy O’Neill-Jones

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Peggy O’Neill-Jones, Ed.D., began her career as a newspaper photographer and moved to broadcast, corporate, and educational media. As media transitioned to digital, online, and virtual environments, Peggy led the way with innovative interactive media productions such as Wyzt’s Playground, a 4th grade interactive math program, WebDVD Demystified, Physical Chemistry in Practice for Purdue University, and 21st Century Learning Matters, a video that describes the strategies and tools needed to create powerful 21st century learning environments.

Keeping a strong foothold in both the academic and professional realms of emerging media, Peggy developed the Interactive Media concentration in 1995 and the Social and Mobile Media concentration in 2013 at MSU Denver. Peggy presents nationally and internationally about the connection between emerging media and learning. After 26-year career at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver), Peggy retired in 2016. She was recently awarded professor emeritus of journalism and technical communication and MSU Denver’s first-ever Extraordinary Service Award.

Peggy directs the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Western Region (TPS) program and the TPS Teachers Network at MSU Denver. TPS provides professional development that assists educators in finding, accessing, and integrating the vast reservoir of sources from the Library of Congress to deepen understanding and enrich instruction. Through Peggy’s leadership, the TPS at MSU Denver program grew from statewide outreach to a regional program that serves 14 western states.

Mike Monsour

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Mike Monsour, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Communication Arts and Sciences Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He has focused on friendships between women and men for the past 25 years.

He has conducted research on postmodern cross-gender friendships, interpersonal perception, identity formation and general studies assessment. Most recently, Monsour has written about friendships formed between a cisgender person and a transgender person. He is also chairing the PAC (Provost’s Office Assessment Committee) from fall 2016 through fall 2019.

Monsour received his doctorate in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Illinois in Champaign, a masters from University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a bachelor’s from Louisiana State University in Shreveport.

Jeff Lewis

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Marvell Lawson

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Professor Marvell Lawson is Creative Communication Coach for Center for Information Design, Inc. providing Communication Training Coaching and Consulting services to individuals and organizations. Professor Lawson uses his experience and education in organizational communication by teaming with clients to identify and establish a communication path to produce results within client organizations. This internal system focuses on action and results. As Professor of Communication, Professor Lawson brings real world expertise to the classroom, thus helping to guide students toward becoming contributing professionals. Combining learning principles and information collection with communication processes creates a synergistic process that improves organizational and individual performance. Professor Lawson views information and communication as two inseparable components of a single strategy.

Professor Lawson earned his Masters Degree in Applied Communication, and a Certification of Advanced Studies in Organizational Communication from the University of Denver. Combining his extensive work experience with his education, Professor Lawson formulated his unique method for isolating the important elements of overwhelming amounts of information assaulting us today. Professor Lawson’s expertise adds value to client internal operations through his understanding of the relationship between information and communication. That relationship enhances both organizational decision-making and organizational planning.

Laurel Lane

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Laurel Lane, MA, is a lecturer in the Department of Marketing at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise include digital marketing, social media marketing, selling, building new products and fiscal management. She currently teaches Introduction to Business and Business Communication.

Prior to joining MSU Denver, Lane worked at KMGH-TV Denver7 as a digital marketing strategist. She also worked for The Erie Times and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in strategic advertising and marketing. Lane worked as a consultant and owner of her own digital, mobile and social media consulting company, Digital Span Solutions. She was awarded the 2011 Newspaper Excellence in Cyberspace from Pennsylvania’s Newspaper Association. Lane is a member of the Association of Free Community Newspapers, Girl Scouts of America, Inland Press Association and the Newspaper Association of America.

Lane’s research areas include marketing, organizational management, marketing and gender and workplace culture. She has given presentations on topics such as “Mobile for Newspapers” and “Leveraging your Digital Content to Secure your Revenue Future”.

Lane earned her master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2000. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Houston in 1997.

Elizabeth Kleinfeld

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Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of English and director of the Writing Center at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

She began her teaching career at Red Rocks Community College in 2001 where she worked as a writing center coordinator while also addressing writing curriculum, tutoring and composition.

Kleinfeld conducts research on academic rhetoric, composition pedagogy and theory, digital rhetoric, intellectual property, and multigenre and multimodal composition. She has co-authored two textbooks: “The Bedford Book of Genres: A Rhetoric” and “The Bedford Book of Genres: A Rhetoric and Reader.” Kleinfeld has also written numerous essays, peer-reviewed journal articles and edited handbooks. She has done many presentations at conferences and held work’shops. Kleinfeld is a member of: International Society for Humor Studies, Alliance for Computers and Writing, International Writing Centers Association, Colorado and Wyoming Writing Center Association and eLearning Consortium of Colorado.

Kleinfeld received her doctorate in English studies and master’s in English from Illinois State University and a bachelor’s in history from Bradley University.

Richard Kessel

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Richard Kessel teaches public speaking within the First Year Success program. He has been teaching at Metropolitan State University of Denver for nearly 20 years.

Kessel received his doctorate in human communication studies from the University of Denver, where his dissertation was on physician-patient decision-making. He developed the physician communication skills assessment and feedback program for the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians — where he became the senior communication consultant — which was subsequently licensed to the National Board of Medical Examiners and is now part of the United States Medical Licensing Examination that all medical students must pass before becoming licensed to practice.

Prior to becoming a full-time faculty member at MSU Denver, Kessel was an associate clinical professor in the Internal Medicine Department at the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine, where he taught clinical interviewing skills. He was instrumental in implementing the School of Medicine’s teaching and assessment programs utilizing simulated patients and was recognized for excellence by the Foundations of Doctoring program. Kessel also previously worked as an enrolled agent at the University of Denver’s Law School, where he helped establish its new student orientation program on financial planning (as it related to budgeting and student loans).

Kessel has spoken at academic and professional development conferences on topics ranging from the effective use of PowerPoint, the science of teaching and learning, clinical communication skills and financial planning.

He has been a nationally-recognized expert in physician assessment, education and behavior modification.