DR. CHRISTINA S. BECK
Ohio University
School of Communication Studies
210 Lasher Hall
Athens, OH 45701
E-mail:
Phone: (740) 593-9167
EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA: Doctor of Philosophy
Norman, OK Major: Communication
August, 1989-May, 1991
(Dissertation Completed: 3/92)
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY: Master of Arts
Bowling Green, OH Major: Interpersonal and
August, 1984-July, 1985 Public Communication
(Thesis Completed: 12/86)
BALL STATE UNIVERSITY: Bachelor of Science
Muncie, IN Major: Speech Communication
September, 1980-May, 1984 Major: Journalism (PR)
Minor: Marketing
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT
OHIO UNIVERSITY Professor
School of Communication Studies August, 2005-Present
OHIO UNIVERSITY Associate Professor
School of Communication Studies August, 1999-August, 2005
(formerly School of Interpersonal Communication)
Athens, OH
OHIO UNIVERSITY Assistant Professor
School of Interpersonal Communication August 1993-August, 1999
Athens, OH
WILKES UNIVERSITY Assistant Professor
Department of Communication August, 1991-May, 1993
Wilkes-Barre, PA
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA Graduate Assistant
Department of Communication August, 1989-May, 1991
Norman, OK
RADFORD UNIVERSITY Instructor
Department of Communication January, 1988-May, 1989
Radford, VA
HOLLINS COLLEGE Instructor
Department of Communication January, 1989-May, 1989
Hollins, VA
VIRGINIA TECH Instructor
Department of Communication May, 1988-July, 1988
Blacksburg, VA
NATIONAL BUSINESS COLLEGE Director*
Career Placement Center July, 1985-January, 1988
Roanoke, VA
*Served as the administrator of all career planning and placement activities and policies for all six campuses of National Business College as well as the consultant for placement activities for Fugazzi College and the five campuses of Kentucky College of Business, both based in Lexington, KY.
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY Graduate Assistant
Department of Interpersonal and August, 1984-July, 1985
Public Communication
Bowling Green, OH
SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY
Scholarly Contributions as Editor:
Communication Yearbook: Served as Editor for Volumes 30-33 (2005-2008).
Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives: Served as Contributing Book
Review Editor (June, 2002). From June, 2002 to February, 2008, I edited 41 book reviews.
Books:
Beck, C. S., Aubuchon, S., Ruhl, S., Simmons, N., & Tenzek, K. (under contract). Not Just My
Story: The role of celebrity health narratives in public health conversations. McFarland & Company, Inc.
Beck, C. S. (Ed.). (2009). Communication yearbook 33. New York: Routledge.
Beck, C. S. (Ed.). (2008). Communication yearbook 32. New York: Routledge.
Beck, C. S. (Ed.). (2007). Communication yearbook 31. New York: Erlbaum.
Beck, C. S. (Ed.). (2006). Communication yearbook 30. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Harter, L., Japp, P., & Beck, C. S. (Eds.). (2005). Narrative, health, and healing:
Communication theory, research, and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Winner of the Sue Dewine Distinguished Book Award, Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association, 2006, and the Outstanding Scholarly Book for the Health Communication Division of NCA, 2009
Beck, C. S. (2001). Communicating for better health: A guide through the medical mazes.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Winner of the Sue Dewine Distinguished Book Award, Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association, 2002.
[This book includes 11 original chapters that feature an acclaimed autoethnography and theoretically and empirically-driven discussions of the complexities of contemporary health care.]
Beck, C. S. with Ragan, S., & Dupre, A. (1997). Partnership for health: Building relationships
between women and health caregivers. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Winner of the
Distinguished Book Award, Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association, 1999. [This book includes six original chapters that discuss the ways in which women and their health caregivers co-accomplish relational, medical, and educational goals during health care interactions.]
Ragan, S., Bystromm, D., Kaid, L., & Beck, C. S. (Eds.) (1996). The lynching of language:
Gender, politics, and power in the Hill-Thomas hearings. Urbana-Champaign: University
of Illinois Press. Named an Outstanding Book on the subject of human
rights in North America by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America, 1998.
Book Chapters:
Beck, C. S. (2009). Editor’s introduction. In C. S. Beck (Ed.), Communication yearbook 33 (pp.
xv-xix). New York: Routledge.
Beck, C. S. (2008). Editor’s introduction. In C. S. Beck (Ed.), Communication yearbook 32 (pp.
xv-xx). New York: Routledge.
Beck, C. S. (2007). Editor’s introduction. In C. S. Beck (Ed.), Communication yearbook 31 (pp.
xvii-xxv). New York: Erlbaum.
Beck, C. S. (2006). Editor’s introduction. In C. S. Beck (Ed.), Communication yearbook 30 (pp.
xi-xvi). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Beck, C. S. (2005). Becoming the story: Narratives as collaborative, social enactments of
individual, relational, and public identities. In L. Harter, P. Japp, C. S. Beck (Eds.), Narrative, health, and healing: Communication theory, research, and practice (pp. 61-82). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Beck, C. S. (2005). Section introduction. In L. Harter, P. Japp, & C. S. Beck (Eds.), Narrative,
health, and healing: Communication theory, research, and practice (pp. 317-324). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Beck, C. S., Harter, L., & Japp, P. (2005). Continuing the conversation: Reflections on our
emergent scholarly narratives. In L. Harter, P. Japp, & C. S. Beck (Eds.), Narrative, health, and healing: Communication theory, research, and practice (pp. 433-443). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Harter, L., Japp, P., & Beck, C. S. (2005). Vital problematics of narrative theorizing about health
and healing. In L. Harter, P. Japp, & C. S. Beck (Eds.), Narrative, health, and healing: Communication theory, research, and practice (pp. 7-30). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Beck, C. S. (2005). Personal stories and public activism: The implications of Michael J.
Fox’s public health narrative for policy and perspectives. In E. Ray (Ed.), Case studies in health communication (pp. 335-345). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ragan, S., & Beck, C. S. (1996). Introduction to a communication event: The Hill-Thomas
hearings. In S. Ragan, D. Bystromm, L. Kaid, & C. S. Beck (Eds.), The lynching of language: Gender, politics, and power in the Hill-Thomas hearings (pp. xv-xiii). Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Beck, C. S., Ragan, S., & Kaid, L. (1996). He said-she said: The doing of gender through cross-
examination. In S. Ragan, D. Bystromm, L. Kaid, & C. S. Beck (Eds.), The lynching of language: Gender, politics, and power in the Hill-Thomas hearings (pp. 24-43). Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Beck, C. S., & Ragan, S. (1995). The impact of relational activities on the accomplishment of
practitioner and patient goals in the gynecologic exam. In G. Kreps & D. O'Hair (Eds.), Communication and health outcomes (pp. 73-86). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Ragan, S., Beck, C. S., & White, M. (1995). The interactional achievement of patient education
during the gynecologic exam. In G. Morris & R. Chenail (Eds.), The talk of the clinic: Explorations in the analysis of medical and therapeutic discourse (pp. 185-208). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Journal Articles:
Acquah, S., & Beck, C. S. (In press). Language barriers to health care: Negotiating
multilingualism and vocabulary challenges. Ohio Communication Journal.
Beck, C. S., Aubuchon, S., McKenna, T., Ruhl, S., & Simmons, N. (2013).
Blurring personal health and public priorities: An analysis of celebrity health narratives in the public sphere. Health Communication, 1-13.
Beck, C. S. (2012). Intersecting narratives: Enjoying daytime drama as viewers (and actors)
experience the days of their lives. Communication Studies, 63, 152-171.
Beck, C. S., Benitez, J., Edwards, A., Olson, A., Pai, A., & Torres, M. (2004). Enacting ‘health
communication’: The field of health communication as constructed through publication in scholarly journals. Health Communication, 16, 475-492.
Shue, L., & Beck, C. S. (2001). Stepping out of bounds: Performing feminist pedagogy within a
dance education community. Communication Education, 50, 125-143.
dupre, A., & Beck, C. S. (1997). "How can I put this?": Exaggerated self-disparagement as
alignment strategy during problematic disclosures by patients to doctors. Qualitative Health Research, 7, 487-503.
Beck C. S. (1996). I'd like to make a point here: The achievement of social face through turn
management in the 1992 vice-presidential debate. Political Communication, 13, 165-
180.
Smith-Dupre, A., & Beck, C. S. (1996). Enabling patients and physicians to pursue multiple
goals in health care encounters: A case study. Health Communication, 8, (1), 73-90.
Beck, C. S. (1995). You make the call: The co-creation of media text through interaction in an
interpretive community of Giant fans. La Revue de Electronique (the Electronic Journal of Communication, 5.
Aden, R., Rahoi, R., & Beck, C. S. (1995). 'Dreams are born on places like this': The process of
interpretive community formation at the Field of Dreams site. Communication Quarterly, 43, 368-380.
Beck, C. S. (1994). How can I tell you this?: The interactional nature of narratives. Journal
of the Northwest Communication Association, 22, 5-26.
Beck, C. S., & Ragan, S. (1992). Negotiating relational and medical talk: Frame shifts in the
gynecologic exam. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 11 (1), 47-61.
Beck, C. S. (1992). An analysis of relational communication patterns between young soap opera
couples. Florida Communication Journal, 20 (1), 16-77.
Beck, C. S. (1992). Why be nice?: Politeness strategies and face threats between parents and
their offspring on daytime drama. Journal of the Oklahoma Speech Theatre Association,
13, 45-64.
Beck, C. S. (1992). An analysis of the most frequent individual and institutional producers of
organizational communication journal articles. ACA Bulletin, 80, 46-55.
Meyers, R., Brashers, D., Center, C., Beck, C. S., & Wert, S. (1992). Intellectual linkages and
information sources: A citation analysis of organizational communication research 1979-1989. Southern Communication Journal, 57, 241-246.
Book Review:
Beck, C. S. (1998). Review of Health Communication: Lessons from Family Planning and
Reproductive Health. Journal of Health Communication, 3.
Featured Presentation
Beck, C. S. (2013, November). Faith, civility, and participation in the academy. Scholarly
address at the annual banquet of the Religious Communication Association, Orlando, FL.
Convention Papers:
Acquah, S., & Beck, C. S. (2013). Language barriers to health care: Negotiating
multilingualism and vocabulary challenges. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Central States Communication Association, Kansas City, MO. (Top Five Paper)
Beck, C. S., & Walton, J. (2012). One Life to Live’s love letter to fans. The case of Fraternity
Row. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Popular Culture Association, Columbus, OH.
Beck, C. S., Aubuchon, S., McKenna, T., Ruhl, S., & Simmons, N. (2012). Blurring personal
health and public priorities: An analysis of celebrity health narratives in the public sphere. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Central States Communication Association, Cleveland, OH. (Top Three Paper)
Beck, C. S. (2011). Intersecting narratives: Enjoying daytime drama as viewers (and actors)
experience the days of their lives. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, New Orleans.
Beck, C. (2004). Personal stories and public activism: The implications of Michael J.
Fox’s public health narrative for policy and perspectives. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Central States Communication Association, Cleveland, OH.
Beck, C., Benitez, J., Edwards, A., Olson, A., Pai, A., & Torres, M. (2003). Enacting ‘health
communication’: The field of health communication as constructed through publication in scholarly journals. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association (Health Communication Division), Miami, FL.
Beck, C. (1997). The role of client assessment in service-learning projects. Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the National Communication Association (Commission for Experiential Learning), Chicago, IL.
Beck, C. (1997). Service-learning in health communication courses. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the National Communication Association (Commission for
Experiential Learning), Chicago, IL.
Beck, C., Hale, C., Thomas-Maddox, C, & Graham, E. (1997). Juxtaposing orientations to
interpersonal communication: The value of team-teaching for addressing multiple
perspectives of interpersonal communication. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association (Instructional Communication Interest Group), Montreal, Canada.
Westerfelhaus, R., Nix, C., & Beck, C. (1997). From new members to new people: The
fraternity pledge process as a rite of passage and ritual of transformation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western States Communication Association (Language and Social Interaction Interest Group), Monterey Bay, CA.
Beck, C. (1996). Into the community: Interpersonal communication for youth groups. Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association (Commission for Experiential Learning), San Diego, CA.
dupre, A., & Beck, C. (1996). 'How can I put this?': Exaggerated self-disparagement as
alignment strategy during problematic disclosures by patients to doctors. Paper presented
at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association (Health Communication Division), San Diego, CA.
Aden, R., Beck, C., & Smith, M. (1996). The co-construction and management of multiple
identities as relational bond on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association (Language and Social Interaction Division), San Diego, CA.
Beck, C. & Hipson, T. (1996). Does this really work?: Evaluating the effectiveness of service-
learning projects in communication courses. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association (Commission for Experiential Learning), San
Diego, CA.
Shue, L., & Beck, C. (1996). Walking the talk in toe shoes: Performing pedagogical philosophy
within a performance community. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association (Instructional and Developmental Division), Chicago, IL.
Smith-Dupre, A., & Beck, C. (1995). Enabling patients and physicians to pursue multiple goals
in health care encounters: A case study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association (Health Communication Division), San Antonio, TX.
Beck, C. (1995). Posting like a 'real soap fan' on the Internet: An analysis of face preservation
and community identification on television bulletin boards. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association (Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Division), San Antonio, TX.
Beck, C. (1995). Putting our knowledge to work: Integrating a service-learning component into
advanced interpersonal communication courses. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association (Experiential Learning in Communication
Commission), San Antonio, TX.