Megan Morrissey Ph.D. (she/they)

UNT Faculty Profile

Dr. Megan Morrissey (she/her/hers) received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder (2013) and joined the UNT Department of Communication Studies in the fall of 2013. She is currently an rhe Director of Women's and Gender Studies and LGBTQ Studies Programs and an Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the Department of Communication Studies. She is also an affiliated faculty member with the Latina/o Mexican American Studies Program. Beyond her service to the department, Dr. Morrissey is also an elected officer for the National Communication Association's Rhetorical and Communication Theory division, and on the editorial board for the journal, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies and Communication and Race.

As a scholar, the overarching questions that drive Megan's research stem from consideration of the ways that language constitutes/influences the cultural conditions and ideologies that organize people's lives, and who benefits and is disadvantaged by such discursive constructions. Her scholarship is driven by a desire to explore how the ways that people talk about different identities and different bodies influences their inclusion or exclusion from social and/or cultural groups. Her published essays, in-press manuscripts, and other work currently under review apply a critical approach to a variety of nontraditional texts, including video narratives, documentary films, online discussion boards, news media, and reports on human rights. She continues to explore her interest in U.S. borderlands, LGBTQIA politics, and racial justice by critically analyzing these mediums.

As an instructor, Megan brings an enthusiasm and interest for how a variety of communicative practices inform the daily aspects of people's lives, and is committed to conveying the importance of understanding such practices for participation in the (re)production of those social conditions of which we are all a part. Megan sees the time she spends in the classroom as intimately informed by her research, and the research that she is conducting being equally affected by her teaching. In the Fall of 2020 and 2021, Megan was honored to be a finalist for the CLASS Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching award which acknowledged her work with our undergraduates.

Megan has found Texas a surprising place to call home, and has been regularly surprised and inspired by the creative and inclusive community she has found in Denton. When she's not writing and researching, Megan can be found sampling local beers, exploring local parks, cooking, hosting friends, or throwing parties. She enjoys life in the Little d with her partner, Jenn, their child, Quinn, and their pups, Fig and Raisin.

• Dr. Megan Morrissey CV