Debipreeta Rahut (she/her) is a final-year doctoral candidate and Graduate Teaching Associate in the School of Media and Communication, Bowling Green State University (BGSU). Originally from Kolkata, India, she brings prior work experience as a journalist and as an Assistant Professor. At BGSU, Debipreeta has taught courses such as Introduction to Public Speaking, Persuasive Communication, Interpersonal Communication, and Communication Theory. She also has worked on an NSF Grant (Award No. 1760389) with the BGSU ALLIES team as an Online Learning Designer and Research Assistant in the summers of 2022 and 2023 respectively, assisting with designing and developing online training modules on allyship and inclusive leadership with a focus on gender equity.

Debipreeta’s research interests include Gender & Technology, Media & Communication, Feminist Studies, Digital Activism and Culture, and Gender & Migration. She is also the incoming Vice-Chair of the Feminist and Gender Studies Division of the National Communication Association, this year. Her teaching philosophy, grounded in feminist pedagogy, encourages open dialogue and critical discussion, aiming to decenter power dynamics and create a collaborative learning environment.

This academic year, Debipreeta is leading the Graduate Student Instructor Learning Community in collaboration with BGSU’s Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE). This learning community provides graduate students a space to discuss professional development and navigating their dual roles as students and employees. With a passion for inclusive and intercultural pedagogy, she has designed intercultural competency modules to enhance effective teaching and learning for the campus-wide asynchronous Canvas training course, “Teaching as a Graduate Student.”

Dr. Michelle Colpean is an Assistant Educator Professor in the School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati, where she serves as the Undergraduate Director for the fully online BA in Communication. Her has been published in Women’s Studies in Communication, the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, and Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies.

One of her greatest professional joys is putting her academic knowledge of communication to use in the interest of community engagement. Michelle was recently recognized as a Wyoming, OH Citizen of the Year for efforts in community building and volunteer work. She is a trustee on the board of the Wyoming Communication Foundation, where she has created promotional materials for the organization to fundraise and complete projects such as a revitalized Village Green and performance space as well as an accessible playground. She is also a member of the Wyoming Join Women’s Collaborative, where she serves on the Future of JWC Committee to promote organizational equity and inclusion, and recently co-moderated a Women’s Month panel about Empowering through Education with local immigrant mentoring nonprofit Women Walking West. She has also facilitated an election forum moderated by first time voters at the local high school, created a #ShineOnSami campaign in her late son’s honor to promote community kindness, works with fellow bereaved as a support volunteer through the Finley Project, fosters shelter animals for Cincy Animal CARE, and is charity running the 2024 NYC Marathon to fundraise for infant brain cancer research.

Erin E. Hollenbaugh, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor of Communication Studies at Kent State University at Stark. She earned her Ph.D. from Kent State in 2008. Erin’s primary areas of teaching and research include interpersonal communication in mediated environments, specifically online self-disclosure, privacy management, and self-presentation. She has also published in the areas of social media dependency and addiction. Erin’s research appears in top-tier journals such as the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, as well as the widely-cited interdisciplinary journals of Social Media + Society and Computers in Human Behavior.Erin teaches a variety of courses in the undergraduate program, including face-to-face and online classes in her specialty area, as well as service courses.

Erin’s first academic conference presentation of her career was at the 2004 Speech Communication Association Conference, an organization we now know as the Ohio Communication Association. Since that first conference, Erin has been dedicated to elevating the organization’s reputation for being a platform for meaningful connections and high-quality scholarship, as well as increasing OCA’s financial standing. She has served OCA in a variety of positions, including District Representative, On-Site Conference Coordinator, Executive Director, and Sponsorship Coordinator. She is also on the editorial board of the Ohio Communication Journal.

In her free time, Erin enjoys the company of her spouse Michael, their 10- and 13-year-old kids, and two stinky basset hounds, Jolene and Lola.