The staff at the Center for Global Communication+Design is composed of a multilingual specialist, graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate mentors. They all have significant experience in composing and responding to many types of either written or visual work. In addition, all undergraduate mentors have also excelled in a four-credit course, Writing and Response, which has prepared them to read and respond to a wide range of texts.
Faculty
Professor
Department of Communication and Media
Email
Patricia Search conducts research in cross-cultural communication and multisensory interaction design, and received a Fulbright award to work with two Australian universities on computer interface designs for Indigenous cultures. Pat, who creates art installations that explore the semiotics of interactive computing and multimodal information design, also served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Visual Literacy.
Lecturer
Department of Communication and Media
Email
Weina Ran, whose research interests include the effects of media multitasking, health communication, and persuasion, has extensive teaching experience in strategic communications, business/professional communications, and advanced research methods in communication. Weina received her Ph.D. in Communication from The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.
Lecturer
Department of Communication and Media
Email
Jianling Yue’s academic interests and publications span Chinese linguistics, pedagogy, second language acquisition, Chinese character evolution, grammar instruction, and English-Chinese translation. She has received numerous awards, including two awards of “Excellence for International Chinese Language Education” in 2008, a First Place Prize and a Third Place Prize in an International Chinese Teaching Case Competition in 2014, and Rensselaer's Faculty Achievement Award, also in 2014.
Multilingual Writing Specialist
Department of Communication and Media
wangy91@rpi.edu
Yan-Yun (Gloria) is a PhD student in the English Department at SUNY-Albany, specializing in Rhetoric and Composition. Her dissertation concentrates on the agency of multilingual writers, delving into the self-efficacy of multilingual students in academic writing within the university setting. She emphasizes the importance, especially in the generation of AI, of prioritizing students' writing skills by guiding their focus toward themselves as writers rather than solely on the writing production.
She holds an M.A. degree in English literature, with the thesis exploring Toni Morrison's rhetoric in her novels.
Peer Tutors
Gamer, actor, scholar, nerd. Janine Bower is a 2nd-year PhD student in the Critical Game Design program interested in voice acting in video games. Academic XP: language study (Spanish, Mandarin Chinese), STS (Science, Technology & Society). Work XP: healthcare, academic administration, and beginner-level Chinese instruction.
Vickie is an undergraduate mentor pursuing a dual major in Computer Science and ITWS, with a minor in Literature. She has an interest in literary and film analysis and how it translates in the real world. In her free time, Vickie likes listening to music, watching movies, reading, and writing.
Talulah is an undergraduate Environmental Engineering student. She believes that communication skills, both verbally and visually, are essential to success as an engineer in both an academic and professional setting. In her free time, she reads fiction novels and experiments with coffee and tea creations.
Cliff is a PhD student in Communication and rhetoric. He holds an MFA in Creative writing and poetics and enjoys creating cross-media narratives. He has worked in digital flow editing, software engineering and management, college career services, and as a stage performer.