Leadership Team

ICDD is directed by faculty from Communication Studies in collaboration with associates representing scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplines, sectors and communities of interest. Many of these individuals contribute to our professional facilitation services in addition to educating others on dialogue, deliberation, and facilitation. ICDD Partners include local and national organizations contributing to civic discourse and democratic engagement.

Sean Eddington, Co-Director for Collaborative Dialogue and Resilient Communities

Associate Professor, Organizational Communication

Eddington studies how people use communication to organize for resilience, belonging, and social change. He studies how collaboration, leadership, and identity take shape through everyday communication practices. Eddington’s work has appeared in leading journals such as Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, and Organization. In addition to his research, he is deeply engaged in community partnerships and public scholarship initiatives across Kansas that bridge communication research with real-world problem-solving.

Alex McVey, Co-Director for Civic Discourse and Deliberation

Associate Professor and Director of K-State Debate

McVey uses critical-cultural communication scholar whose research and pedagogy uses a variety of methods from rhetoric and media studies to examine how communication both contributes to and challenges social inequality. His research has been published in outlets such as Rhetoric Review, Teaching Media Quarterly, Present Tense, and Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry. McVey is also a dedicated teacher and debate coach with over a decade of experience coaching debate and forensics at the college, high school, and junior high levels.

Donna Schenck-Hamlin, Community Partnerships

Donna Schenck-Hamlin is a co-founder and a facilitator of community partnerships with the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in literature and a Master’s degree in library science from the University of Oregon, with a Master’s degree in musicology from Kansas State University. Within ICDD, Donna convenes public conversations in partnership with civic groups, and offers facilitator training for students, faculty, and community organizers. Her current issue focus is on assisting the Workforce Solar Housing Partnership to demonstrate new models of energy efficiency and financial sustainability for homeowners. Citizen engagement and interaction with complex issues is of particular interest in her work, and she joins researchers in psychology, library science, and planning in studying the self-efficacy of inquiry.

Associate Faculty

Heather Suzanne Woods

Woods is a scholar, teacher and higher ed leader who helps people understand the social impacts of technology so we can build a more just future. She has been researching and teaching about the relationship between technology and culture for nearly a decade. Her research shapes policy-making, product development, and scholarly conversations on emerging technology. Read her faculty bio.

Colene J. Lind

Lind studies the way that people use language to solve public problems, with a special emphasis on debates that engage scientific, technical, and envioronmental issues. She offers practical insights into how and why people say what they do, as well as concrete suggestions for improving public processes. Read her faculty bio.

David E. Procter

David Procter is a professor emeritus in the School of Media and Communication and the founding director of the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy as well as the Center for Engagement and Community Development at Kansas State University.

 

 

For questions about ICDD courses and programs, please use the contact information below.

E-mail: icdd@k-state.edu
Campus Phone: 785-532-6875
Campus Address: 234 Nichols Hall