Communication, Media & Theatre Arts

Biography

Dr. Rocco Sulfridge has been teaching communication courses at Eastern Michigan University since 1994 and has additionally held position at the University of Michigan and Washtenaw Community College. His primary teaching focuses are Communication Theory, Public Address, Small Group Dynamics and Interpersonal Communication. Prior to his academic career, he served in the military as part of the 381st Medical Detachment and the 323rd Combat Support Hospital.

Dr. Sulfridge’s scholarly and creative interests focus on LGBTQ communities, their identity development and online discourse. In his applied work he examines inclusive pedagogy, academic service-learning and small group communication. He has presented his research at numerous national and regional communication conferences.

Recent conference presentations include:

• Communicating Death with Humor: Pulling Plugs and Planting Trees
• The Discourses of Hierarchy, Stigma, and Stratification in Gay Male
  Communities
• From Stonewall to Grindr: Straight Acting, Sissyphobia, and Troubled
  Masculinity
• Adolescent Sexual Minorities’ Information Seeking and Sexual Identity
  Development: Internet, Popular Culture and Website Usage
• Building the LGBT Academic Community: Bridging and Communicating Identity
  and Experience
• Service-Learning Reflection as a Dynamic for Small Group Communication

Education

• Ph.D., Communication Studies, Wayne State University
• MA, Interpersonal Communication, Eastern Michigan University
• BA, Psychology, Eastern Michigan University
• BA, Comprehensive Communication and Theatre Arts, Eastern Michigan University

Courses

• CTAC 124 Foundations of Speech Communication
• CTAC 224 Public Speaking
• CTAC 225 Studies in Listening Behaviors
• CTAC 226 Nonverbal Communication
• CTAC 227 Interpersonal Communication
• CTAC 274 Intercultural Communication
• CTAC 350 Theories of Persuasion
• CTAC 354 Organizational Communication
• CTAC 359 Small Group Communication
• CTAC 485W Communication Theory

Professional Affiliations

• National Communication Association
• American Psychological Association
• Michigan Association of Speech Communication