STEPHANIE AHLFELDT
Assistant Professor
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Communication education
Interpersonal communication
Gender and communication
Communication research methods
Research:
•“Measurement and Analysis of Student Engagement in
University Classes where varying levels of PBL methods
of instruction were in use” Journal of Higher Education
Research and Development.
CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PANEL PRESENTATIONS
• Problem-Based Learning, Public Speaking Pedagogy, Classroom
Technology, Service Learning, Experiential Learning, Learning Styles,
and Gender Communication
Interests:
Public speaking, health and fitness, interpersonal
communication and relationships
Education:
B.S., Ph.D., North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D.
Contact:
ahlfeldt@cord.edu,
(218) 299-3740 office, (701) 235-9068 home
AILEEN BUSLIG
Assistant Professor
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Interpersonal communication
Nonverbal communication
Gender and communication
Communication research methods
Research:
CURRENT/RECENT WORK:
• “’To the Moon, Alice, To the Moon’: Conflict
and Romantic Love in the Television Situation Comedy” (book
chapter accepted for inclusion in Sex, Love, and Romance in the
Mass Media Anthology)
• “A house is not necessarily a home: Emotional responses
to architectural style” (International Communication Association
conference in May 2004)
• “Effects of an intercultural communication course
on students’ ethnocentrism levels in post-9/11 America”
(International Communication Association conference in May 2004)
PAST RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS:
• book chapters on privacy-seeking behavior and maintaining
privacy using environmental features
• journal articles on interpersonal deception
• conference presentations on all the above (privacy, deception,
gender issues, environment and behavior)
Interests:
Gender issues and humor in a variety of contexts (media, relationships);
constructive/ destructive forces in interpersonal relationships;
influence of architectural and environmental features on human interactions/behaviors;
privacy-seeking and maintaining behaviors in interpersonal relationships
Education:
B.ARCH., University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla.
M.A., Ph.D., University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.
Contact:buslig@cord.edu
GREG CARLSON
Instructor
Communication Studies and Theatre Art:
Specialty:
Film and cinema studies
Motion picture film production
Television production
Telecommunication history
American popular culture
Research:
• “The Rhetoric of Digital Cinema” (panel paper),
presented at the April 2003 Central States Communication Association
annual conference in Omaha, Neb.
• Associate film editor of the High Plains Reader and writes
weekly film reviews.
Interests:
Popular film and cinema
Education:
B.A., Minnesota State University-Moorhead, Moorhead, Minn.
M.A., Cal State Dominguez Hills, Carson, Calif.
Ph.D. in progress, North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D.
Contact: gcarlson@cord.edu,
(218) 299-3724 office
MERYL J. IRWIN CARLSON
Instructor
Director of Individual Events, Forensics
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Rhetoric
Public communication
Forensics
Principia
Interests:
Faith and learning in co-curricular activities, communication
ethics, cultural/critical theory, integration of the liberal arts,
oral examination pedagogy, rhetorical theory, principia film sub-committee,
public speaking, debate, formation of “white” identity
in cultural studies
Education:
B.A., Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.
M.A., University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb.
Contact: mcarlson@cord.edu,
(218) 299-3741 office
CYNTHIA R. CARVER
Professor and Chair
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Organizational communication
Small group communication
Interviewing
Public speaking
Forensics (debate and individual events)
Research:
Research interests including research and presentations in organizational
climate, mentoring, and wellness issues
Interests:
Issues related to organizational communication and behavior; competitive
speech and debate; political debates; wellness issues; graduation
standard teaching licensures in Minnesota
Education:
B.A., Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.
M.A., Bradley University, Peoria, Ill.
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Contact: (218) 299-3154 office,
carver@cord.edu
JAMES CERMAK
Managing Director of Theatre
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Arts management/non-profits
Stage management
Theatre design: scenery and lighting
Theatre operations
Directing/musical theatre
Research:
• Directed 27 musicals, designed scenery for 50 productions,
designed lighting for Concordia Christmas Concerts
for 22 years
• Teach at state and international thespian festival conferences
• Theatre program respondent and consultant for the Kennedy
Center American College Theatre Festival
• Consultant on lighting and sound in new and renovated theatres
• Consultant for redesign of theatrical elements for churches
Interests:
Designed and reorganized the Gooseberry Park Players, their Board
of Directors and have been their Managing Artistic Director for
10 years; directed nine youth theatre productions for GPP over the
past ten years; developed three summer theatre programs;
written or co-authored 9 successful grants for nonprofit youth theatre;
designed and built the counterweight system in the Frances Frazier
Comstock Theatre; adjudicated over two hundred high school one acts
and five scholarship pageants.
Education:
B.S., Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, Mo.
M.A., University of Missouri at Kansas City, Kansas City, Mo.
Post doctoral studies (non-degree) Southern Illinois University
at Carbondale, Carbondale, Ill.
Contact: jcermak@cord.edu,
(218) 299-3728 office
CINDY LARSON-CASSELTON
Assistant Professor
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Public speaking and forensics
Nonverbal communication
Interpersonal
Research:
• Communication issues for parish nursing
• Service learning project with Alzheimer’s patients
• Nonverbal communication
• Parents coaching their own children
Education:
B.A., Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.
M.A and currently Ph.D. candidate, North Dakota State University,
Fargo, N.D.
Contact: clarson@cord.edu
DON RICE
Professor
Co-director of Media Activities
Director of Media Services
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Public speaking
Argumentation
Rhetorical theory and criticism
Communication criticism
Mass media
Film appreciation and analysis
Communication theory
Research:
• A book on Castro and Cuba
• Numerous articles and national/regional presentations on
various aspects of communication and rhetorical studies
• Recently have been writing and presenting about war rhetoric
via film, esp. the U.S. Civil War.
Education:
B.A., Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
M.A., Ph.D., University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Contact: drice@cord.edu
(218) 299-4430 office, (218) 236-5850 home
FRED STERNHAGEN
Assistant Professor
Director of Forensics
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Program evaluation methods
Argumentation and forensics (speech and debate)
Interpersonal communication
Research:
“Unintended Effects of Program Evaluation,” Evaluation
Practice with Wayne
Education:
B.A., Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
M.S., North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D.
Contact: sternhag@cord.edu
HANK TKACHUK
Professor
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Intercultural communication
Organizational communication
Strategic planning
Research:
• Ethnocentrism
• Communication apprehension
• Group decision-making
Interests:
Immigration and refugee issues, India development
Education:
B.A., Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.
M.A., Bradley University, Peoria, Ill.
Doctoral candidacy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact: tkachuk@cord.edu,
(218) 299-3725
DAVID WINTERSTEEN
Assistant Professor
Communication Studies and Theatre Art
Specialty:
Acting
Directing
Theatre history, literature and criticism
May Seminar Abroad: Theatre in Europe
Research:
• South Africa
• Theatre for development
• Theatre programming at church-related colleges
and universities
• Co-founder of Theatre B
Interests:
travel, mountaineering, cooking, parenting
Education:
B.A., Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
M.F.A., Minnesota State University-Mankato, Mankato, Minn.
Ph.D., University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
Contact: winterst@cord.edu,
(218) 299-3730
