Professor of Communication
School of Communication, Media & Theatre Arts; Women's and Gender Studies
121 Judy Sturgis Hill Building
Dennis O'Grady specializes in interpersonal and family communication. He received his BA and MA from Miami University and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He has been a professor at Eastern Michigan University since 1996. His research focuses on communication in "discourse dependent" families. Discourse dependent families are visibly different than the so-called traditional family and thus spend more time explaining, justifying, and defending their family to others. Dr. O'Grady has presented his research at numerous national and regional communication conferences. His work has been published in Parents and Children Communicating with Society, Gender Actualized: Cases in Communicatively Constructing Realities, Child Welfare, and others.
Dr. O'Grady teaches graduate courses in interpersonal and family communication and undergraduate courses in communication theory, nonverbal communication, and gender communication. He also serves as the undergraduate advising coordinator for the department.