Vladimir Bratic, assistant professor of communication studies
B.A., Palacky University; M.A., Ph.D., Ohio University
Phone: (540) 362-6438
E-mail: vbratic@hollins.edu
Blog: http://vladob.wordpress.com/

Professor Bratic came to Hollins in fall 2006. Before coming to the United States, Professor Bratic lived in the Czech Republic, where he graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy and Philosophy at the Palacky University. He is originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he conducted most of his research on the role of the media in conflict and peace. He has published articles and teaches about how media can help promote peaceful transformation of violent conflict across the world. Professor Bratic discussed his research on NPR's "The Brian Lehrer Show" (listen to: "Speaking of Peace").

In September 2010, Bratic joined 1,000 academics, activists, war survivors and students from around the world on an ocean cruise from Spain to Morocco aboard the Peace Boat, a chartered passenger ship operated by a Japan-based NGO dedicated to promoting peace and human rights. Peace Boat is part of a network of NGOs worldwide called the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). Bratic is a core member of GPPAC's media advisory group, which develops strategies for working through the media to achieve peace and the prevention of violent conflict. More..

Lori Joseph, associate professor of communication studies
B.A., Montana State University-Billings; M.A., Ph.D., University of Kansas
Phone: (540) 362-6375
E-mail: ljoseph@hollins.edu

Professor Joseph's teaching and research interests center around communication and work, health and gender. She teaches a variety of courses, including Organizational Communication, Public Relations, Health Communication, and Gender Communication. Her current research interests include collecting and analyzing the narratives of women in male-dominated occupations, work and emotion, and health education campaigns. She recently finished filming One Helleva Hand, a short documentary on female ranchers in Montana.

Christopher J. Richter (Homepage), associate professor
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Ohio State University-Columbus
Phone: (540) 362-6358
E-mail: crichter@hollins.edu

Professor Richter has been at Hollins since 1995. He is currently interested in the ways different communication processes affect democratic political processes, the history of communication technologies, the cultural meanings of travel and tourism, and an array of other issues. A few of the popular courses he has taught recently include Electronic Media and Children, Alternative Media, and the January term travel study course Worth Seeing: Travelogues and Translations of Greece, which he cotaught with his wife, Professor of Classical Studies Christina Salowey (http://greecetrip.wordpress.com/).

Jill M. Weber, instructor of communication studies
A.A., McHenry County College; B.A., Ripon College; M.A., Ph.D. candidate, Pennsylvania State University
Phone: (540) 362-7440
E-mail: jweber1@hollins.edu

Professor Weber joined the communication studies department in 2008. As a student of rhetoric, politics, and social change, her teaching and research interests focus on American public address, social movement rhetoric, and issues related to gender, civil rights, and social and economic justice. She teaches a diverse group of courses, including Rhetorical Theory, Introduction to Communication Studies, Public Speaking, and Interpersonal Communication. Her research, which explores the rhetoric of "family values" in U.S. politics, explores how issues of race, class, and gender are implicated in political discourse about "the family" and family-related public policies.

Jody Jaffe, lecturer (part time)
B.S., Cornell University
Professional journalist
Former reporter, Charlotte Observer

John Muncie, lecturer (part time)
B.A., University of California-Riverside
Professional journalist
Former arts and entertainment editor, Baltimore Sun

Keith Humphry, lecturer (part time)
B.A., The College of Wooster; M.A., The American University
News anchor, WDBJ-7, Roanoke.