Michele Hammers

Associate Dean and Professor of Communication Studies, College of Communication and Fine Arts | Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA, UNITED STATES

Associate Dean and Professor of Communication Studies

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Biography

Dr. Hammers is a former lawyer whose graduate studies focused on rhetorical criticism, critical media studies, and social movement and public sphere studies. In addition to her training in rhetoric, Dr. Hammers is trained in qualitative research methods and utilizes field research and interviews in her ongoing study of the ways in which the female body is perceived and understood in various public and professional arenas. Dr. Hammers teaches introductory and advanced research methods; she also teaches a course on the rhetoric of popular culture and one on persuasion and social influence.

She has presented her scholarship at professional conventions and is active in the National Communication Association's pre-conference seminar series as both a participant in and co-organizer of the public sphere studies seminar. Her article critiquing the ways in which Ally McBeal constructed images of female professionalism appeared in a 2005 issue of The Western Journal of Communication. She is also the author of a chapter in an edited volume on Ally McBeal. In addition, her rhetorical analysis of The Vagina Monologues and her qualitative study of online roleplaying games, have both appeared in scholarly journals.

Currently, Dr. Hammers is working with Dr. Stephanie August (Computer Science), on a National Science Foundation Grant that will fund the creation of a Virtual Engineering Sciences Learning Lab ("VESLL") in the Second Life immersive, virtual, environment. Through this project, Dr. Hammers will explore the potential of virtual worlds for student learning and for individual identity development.

Education (4)

Arizona State University: Ph.D., Humanities and Communication Studies 2004

University of Texas at Austin: J.D.

Arizona State University: M.A.

Boston University: B.S.

Areas of Expertise (8)

Feminist Media Studies

Qualitative Research Methods

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Social Movements

Rhetorical Criticism

Critical Media Studies

Rhetoric of Popular Culture

Feminism

Industry Expertise (4)

Education/Learning

Research

Legal Services

Public Relations and Communications

Event Appearances (1)

Engaging Students in STEM Education through a Virtual Learning Lab

118th Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education Vancouver

2011-06-26

Articles (7)

Virtual Engineering Sciences Learning Lab: Giving STEM Education a Second Life

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies

2015-01-01

Engineering education in the 21st century faces multiple obstacles including limited accessibility of course resources due, in part, to the costs associated with acquiring and maintaining equipment and staffing laboratories.

Swami Vivekananda's Rhetoric of Spiritual Masculinity: Transforming Effeminate Bengalis into Virile Men

Western Journal of Communication

2014-05-01

We explain how Swami [Master] Vivekananda’s rhetoric used cultural stereotypes to create a binary division between India as a center of spiritual power as compared to the West as a seat of material progress and martial power.

Working together: words and Math

Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges

2011-04-01

Hybrid jumble and crossword puzzles can be used to bridge the gap between mathematics and language.

The Right Talk and the Academy

Rhetoric Review

2008-09-01

The Right Talk and the Academy featured in Rhetoric Review, 2008.

Talking About “Down There”: The Politics of Publicizing the Female Body through The Vagina Monologues

Women's Studies in Communication

2006-10-01

This critical reading of The Vagina Monologues examines the play's circulation within dominant discourses of public and private and considers the ways in which the play works to reconfigure the female body and body-related issues as properly public.

Cautionary tales of liberation and female professionalism: The case against Ally McBeal

Western Journal of Communication

2005-04-01

This paper explores the relationship between female professional identity and cultural associations between femininity and the body, emotion and sexuality.

Performing Gender While Practicing Law: Critical Readings of Performed Femininity in Ally McBeal

Arizona State University

2000-01-01

Thesis (M.A.)--Arizona State University, 2000. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [69]-70).