About
Dr. E. Michele Ramsey is an associate professor of Communication Arts & Sciences and Women’s Studies at Penn State, Berks College and founded the major in Communication Arts & Sciences at the college. Dr. Ramsey teaches: Public Speaking; Message Evaluation; Careers in Communication; Gender and Communication; Rhetoric of American Horror Films; Conflict Management, Black American Rhetoric, Issues in Freedom of Expression, U.S. Women’s Public Address, and Contemporary American Political Rhetoric. Her research interests include representations of gender in the media, women’s rights rhetoric, social movement rhetoric, and political rhetoric. Her research has been published in Critical Studies in Media Communication, Western Journal of Communication, Feminist Media Studies, Women’s Studies in Communication, Women and Language, Journal for the Association of Communication Administration, Journal of Media Literacy Education, the Encyclopedia of Health and Risk Management Design and Processing, and the Journal of Religion and Business Ethics.
She’s won a number of awards for her research, teaching, and service including the following: 1992 and 1994 Outstanding Service to the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Texas, 1995 Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Texas, Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award at the University of Georgia, 2001 Cheris Kramarae Dissertation Award from the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender; 2006 Penn State Berks Outstanding Faculty Advising Award; 2008 Penn State Berks Outstanding Faculty Service Award; 2009 Curricular Integration Award from the President’s Commission on LGBTQ Equity at Penn State University; the 2010 Achieving Woman Award (faculty category) from the President’s Commission on Women at Penn State University, the 2015 Rosemary Schraer Mentoring Award from the President’s Commission on Women at Penn State University, and the Feminist Teacher/Mentor Award from the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender.
In her spare time she makes plans for next year’s Halloween, speaks to local groups about gender and media and media literacy, and runs a charity she founded, which awards new laptops to deserving high school seniors from her high school alma mater who are headed to some form of higher education but cannot afford a laptop computer to take with them.
Publications
BOOKS:
Grobman, L. and Ramsey, E.M. 2000. Major Decisions: College, Career, and the Case for the Humanities. University of Pennsylvania Press.
ESSAYS:
Ramsey, E.M. (2017). Gender as a consideration when designing health and risk messages. In Encyclopedia of Health and Risk Management Design and Processing. Parrot, R. (Ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Ramsey, E.M. (2017). Capstone-ish: Student success and the rhetorical functions of a different kind of capstone course. Journal for the Association of Communication Administration, pp. 53-64.
Ramsey, E.M. (2017). The Basic Course in Communication, Media Literacy, and the College Curriculum. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 9.1, pp, 116-128.
Fredericks, S., Ramsey, E.M., and Hornett, S. (2011). Kinship and Bystander Effect: The Role of Others in Ethical Decisions. Journal of Religion and Business Ethics, 2, 2011.
Ramsey, E.M. (2006). Driven from the public sphere: The conflation of women’s liberation and driving in advertising from 1910-1920. Women’s Studies in Communication, 29.1, pp. 88-112.
Ramsey, E.M. (2005). Protecting patriarchy: The myths of capitalism and patriotism in The People vs. Larry Flynt. Feminist Media Studies, 5.2, pp. 197-213.
Ramsey, E.M. (2005). Selling social status: Automobile advertisements in the Ladies’ Home Journal from 1910 to 1920. Women and Language, Spring 2005, pp. 26-38.
Ramsey, E.M. (2004). Addressing issues of context in historical women’s public address. Women’s Studies in Communication, 27.3, pp. 252-276.
Ramsey, E.M., Achter, P., Condit, C.M. (2001). Genetics, race, and crime: An audience study exploring the effects of The Bell Curve and book reviews. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 18.1, pp. 1-22.
Ramsey, E.M. (2000). Inventing citizens during World War I: Suffrage cartoons in The Woman Citizen. Western Journal of Communication, 64.2, pp. 113-147.
COMMENTARY AND REJOINDER ESSAYS:
Ramsey, E.M. and G. Santiago. (Spring, 2004). The conflation of homosexuality and femininity in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Feminist Media Studies, 4.3, pp.353-355.
Ramsey, E.M., Achter, P., Condit, C.M. (2001). Reading audiences: A reflection on the politics of the production of racism. Critical Studies in Media Communication Vol. 18.4, pp. 471-474.
COMMUNICATION PEDAGOGY:
Ramsey, E.M. (2004). Media Criticism Group Speech. Communication Teacher 18.1, pp. 20-22.
Ramsey, E. M. (2003). Communication ethics: The Challenger explosion. Teaching Ideas for the Basic Communication Course 7 (Fall), pp. 87-97.
BOOK CHAPTERS:
Ramsey, E.M. 2020. “Critical Engagement or critical mistake?:Social media, ethics, and critical communication pedagogy.”
Mediated Critical Communication Pedagogy. D. Fassett and A. Atay, Eds. New York: Lexington.
Ramsey, E.M. 2010. Using Language Well. Public Speaking: The Virtual Text. Ed. Lisa Schrieber.
BOOK REVIEWS:
Ramsey, E.M. Forthcoming. Review of
A Place of Darkness: The Rhetoric of Horror in Early American Cinema by Kendall R. Phillips.
Review of Communication.
Ramsey, E.M. (2011).
Rhetoric, Representation, and Display: Gender and Political Communication in America. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 14.1, pp. 169-172.
Ramsey, E. M. (2003). Who is this ideal woman and why does she keep following me? Review of Communication 3.2, pp. 180-184.
Ramsey, E.M. (2001). Gender in contemporary fantasy and science fiction television. The Review of Communication, 2.1, pp. 109-114.
Ramsey, E.M. (1999). Review of Rhetoric Retold. Women’s Studies in Communication, 22.2, pp. 241-245.
