What's new with student research? Danette and Greg Acquavella (IC '11) co-authored, "Organization-public relationship: Satisfaction and intention to retain a relationship with a cell phone service provider", which has been accepted for publication in The Southern Communication Journal. Congratulations to Alex Bates (IC '12) who is co-author with Danette on "Instructor swearing and student perceptions of instructor competence and trustworthiness: An expectancy violations theory analysis", which Alex will present at the November 2011 National Communication Association Annual Meeting. Alex has also been awarded a Dana Internship to research peer communication among athletes with Danette during the 2011-12 academic year. Kate Fields (IC '10) is lead author and Danette is second author on "Negotiating the autonomy-connectedness dialectic in adolescent television dramas: An up close look at Everwood, Seventh Heaven, and Veronica Mars", which has been accepted for publication in Communication Quarterly. This article is based on Kate's senior honors thesis.
Danette Ifert Johnson earned a B.A. (speech communication and history) from West Virginia Wesleyan College, an MA and PhD (communication studies) from Northwestern University and a second MA (educational psychology) from West Virginia University. She is in her 19th year of full-time teaching and taught at Texas Tech University and West Virginia Wesleyan College before coming to IC.
She teaches Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication, Small Group Communication, Business & Professional Communication, Communication Research Perspectives, Language & Social Interaction, Communication & Social Influence, and an Ithaca Seminar on the Dark Side of Interpersonal Relationships. She enjoys the opportunity to teach both introductory and upper level courses.
Danette's research interests focus on how people refuse requests from others and on communication in instruction. She is presently working with students on projects about perceptions of profanity and television portrayals of family communication patterns. Danette is also interested in "whatever my students are interested in researching" and has published papers with students on crisis communication, the effects of media coverage, effective classroom practices, swearing, and nonverbal messages.
Danette is active in the Eastern Communication Association, a professional association primarily serving communication faculty and students in 12 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. She is presently First Vice President Elect of ECA and is also a past Executive Director of the association. Danette serves on the editorial review boards for Communication Education, Communication Quarterly, Communication Research Reports, International Journal of Listening, Journal of the Association for Communication Administration, and Journal of Intercultural Communication Research. In 2009, Danette was recognized as a Distinguished Teaching Fellow of the Eastern Communication Association, the Association's highest honor for teaching excellence.
Outside of IC, she enjoys singing in the St. Paul's UMC choir, serving on the WVWC Alumni Council, and participating in fantasy baseball. She is an avid fan of the Baltimore Orioles. Her favorite activity is spending time with her family, including her children, Christopher and Grace.