Visiting Assistant Professor
Ashley joined the Communication Department in 2017 to teach COM203: Rhetoric and Public Address. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Georgia. Her dissertation evaluated early handbooks and magazines from the Girl Scouts of the USA to see how the places Girl Scouts occupied (both in physical locations and within a social hierarchy) shaped the ethos they were trained to develop through the organization.
In the courses she teaches, Ashley brings her scholarly interests in public address, public advocacy, and ethos into the classroom by encouraging students to consider the relationship between speech and civic engagement. Specifically, she teaches students to evaluate the role context plays in shaping a speaking situation and how a speaker harnesses the power of rhetorical strategies to effect change on behalf of the communities to which they belong.