On this edition of Defining Experts, Senior Lecturer and COS Faculty Fellow for Student Engagement, Michelle Dusseau, discusses her research interests, notable achievements, future projects, and advice for aspiring communication experts.
What are your research interests?
“Most of my research interests center around family and relationship impacts. Right now I’m very focused on the shift toward intergenerational housing because of affordable housing issues. This intersects with my ongoing work as a generational theorist examining how newer generational not only communicate differently, but on what impacts their intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors are.”
What made you interested in communications (and more specifically, your field of study)?
“After my undergrad degree in interpersonal communication I worked with marginalized communities, victims of domestic violence and child abuse. This created a foundation of wanting to see how people survive trauma, and what external factors (family, school, community) impact their recovery and communication. Housing was often a key factor in this since the family ecosystem contributes to the stress in the family system.”
What are some notable achievements that you would like to share?
“I was recently promoted to senior lecturer, which is the highest rank I can achieve in my position. I also had all six of my courses granted inclusive access status, which is really important to me. Making the classroom a safe, accessible, and comfortable space for every student is an ongoing goal.
In my role as the COS Faculty Fellow for Undergraduate student engagement I was able to launch a student ambassador program and a mentoring program for our students. That has been exciting and very rewarding.”
What upcoming projects/plans do you have for the future?
“I have one that’s a bit of a secret, but not for long! It will be an exciting reveal coming soon 🙂
This is my last year in my current faculty fellow position and after that I hope to become more involved with student success team.
I’m currently the chair of the university master planning committee so I’m enjoying working on the 10 year plan with facilities and departments across campus. It’s honestly the most fun and educational committee work I’ve had the pleasure of doing!
In the classroom, I honestly just want to keep helping students reach their goals. I love this field so much, and soon I’ll have some of the kids of former students coming into UCF and that is exciting, to celebrate generational success.”
What advice do you have for aspiring communication experts out there?
“Don’t undersell the power of your degree and expertise. Interpersonal and Organizational communication is at the heart of everything that is working; personally, professionally, and socially – and then it’s not working, it’s the strategic communication experts that are called on to repair and rebuild these systems.”
Written by Majdulina Hamed.
Published to Nicholson News on August 6th, 2024.
If you have any news, accomplishments or highlights about your work or life, please be sure to share them with us, by emailing us at NicholsonNews@ucf.edu.