Please join us in welcoming Dr. Elizabeth Melton as our new Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, specializing in Performance Studies and Digital Storytelling!

A proud Texan, Dr. Melton is a Texas A&M alum (BA & MA) and earned her PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill. Dr. Melton most recently taught at Appalachian State University. Her research explores digital storytelling, ethnography, and oral history performance, with a focus on gender, sexuality, and race—especially in underexamined Texas communities.

With ten years of teaching experience, Dr. Melton is passionate about creating courses where students can explore their everyday contexts in a setting that is artistically engaged and critically rigorous. Dr. Melton encourages students to use the classroom by taking risks, workshopping difficult ideas, and thinking creatively.

Dr. Melton brings an impressive history of community-based grants and fellowships, having recently been named an American Council of Learned Societies Leading Edge Fellow. She also serves as Director of Public Engagement at the Institute for Diversity and Civic Life, helping to create more democratic public spaces through storytelling, research, and education. We’re thrilled for the energy and expertise she’ll bring to community-engaged research and student collaboration!

This fall, Dr. Melton will teach COMM 4060 - Performance Theory and COMM 4260 - Performance & Culture. Welcome home, Dr. Melton!

We're also excited to welcome Dr. Andrew Davis to Communication Studies as a Visiting Assistant Professor! Dr. Davis comes to us from North Carolina, where he recently earned tenure at Appalachian State University. He holds a PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill, an MA from Auburn, and a BA from the University of Georgia.

His research sits at the crossroads of cultural studies and media technologies, exploring how power flows through sociotechnical systems and everyday culture. He is especially passionate about researching questions about relationships between media flows and fascism.

A dedicated educator, Dr. Davis believes deeply in importance of enhancing students’ ethical commitments to help construct a more just, empathetic, and knowledge-driven social world. Dr. Davis was recently honored as “Most Helpful Faculty” at App State and named MVP (“Most Valuable Professor”) by both the App State Wrestling and Softball teams. We’re thrilled to have him on board!

This fall, Dr. Davis will teach COMM 1440 - Honors Classical Argumentation, COMM 2040 - Public Speaking, and COMM 4240 - Rhetoric & Popular Culture. You may not have been born a Texan, but we’re happy that you’ve gotten here as fast as you could, Dr. Davis.