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Professor, and public speaking coordinator, in the Communication & Media Studies Department.Assistant Dean for the School of Arts & Sciences.Curriculum Vitae |
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Fall 2024
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- class schedule:
- COM210.601 Fundamentals of Public Speaking > TuTh 8:30-9:45am
- COM210 Fundamentals of Public Speaking > TuTh 10:05-11:20am
- Faculty Office hours (VanHoesen B125-G) for students and advisees:
- Mo 8:30-9:30am (online, by appointment)
- Tu/Th 11:30am-12:00pm (“drop-in” hours)
- We 8:30-11:30am (“drop-in” hours)
- Assistant Dean Hours:
- M 10am-1pm
- F11am-1pm
- class schedule:
ℹ️ Info for Advisees
🎤 PRES Info for Instructors/Administration
Dr. Knopf [pronounced “nope”] is a rhetorician and sociologist, specializing in political communication. She studies rhetoric of the popular arts for how it communicates and what it means to/for its audiences, recognizing how it interacts with our daily lives. She is especially interested in visual rhetoric and depictions of war and the military and of politics and and campaigns, with particular attention to concerns of gender, race, health, community, and civic engagement. Her career is invested in rhetorical and communication studies and she is committed to developing undergraduates’ critical thinking, visual, written, oral, and aural skills, and to encouraging new generations of knowledge-producers through graduate study. Her expertise in the rhetoric of popular culture can help prepare students for many careers in government, museums, libraries, media, and other fields.
Though you are most likely to find her in the public speaking classroom here at SUNY Cortland, the majority of her career is invested in political communication – the way political information is communicated to society; how politicians communicate to the electorate and with each other; how political information and ideals are represented in entertainment media; how news media reports on politicians, parties, elections, and the government; collective identities and efforts for social and political change; interactions between politicians and media; the influence of interpersonal communication on political actions; deliberation, dialogue, and debate; factors of political decision making; interactions of race and gender in the political process; issues of misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy, and transparency in political information; and the history of political communication and rhetoric in the United States. Concentrating in political communication for both her master’s and doctoral degrees, Dr. Knopf has a long history of studying, teaching, researching, and even working in politics.
Education
She earned her PhD from the University at Albany (2005), concentrating in cultural sociology and political communication, with a research specialization in rhetorical criticism. Her dissertation was a study of “Providence, Presidents, and the Press: Inaugural Rhetoric of Religion in a Historical Perspective.” She also earned her MA in political communication from the University at Albany (2001). Her thesis, “Power Plays by the Powerless: A Study of Attempted Diffusion of Innovative Reforms by the New York Assembly Minority Conference,” was based on a graduate practicum with the New York State Assembly. She earned her BA majoring in public relations and minoring in journalism from SUNY New Paltz (2000), and an AA in liberal arts concentrating in social science from Finger Lakes Community College (1998). Additionally, she earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in Healthcare Management from SUNY Empire State University in 2023. Her education has provided a solid foundation in the humanities, social science, and business traditions in communication studies.
Work Experience
Dr. Knopf came to SUNY Cortland in August 2017. Before that, she worked at SUNY Potsdam from 2006 to 2017, where she was part of the Department of English & Communication and affiliate faculty to Women’s & Gender Studies and to Africana Studies, while also serving as Oral Skills Coordinator for the General Education Committee. Dr. Knopf taught at Monroe Community College and Genesee Community College in 2005, at the University at Albany from 2000 to 2005, and at the College of St. Rose in 2003. She has taught more than 30 distinct courses at the 100- (first-year) through 600- (graduate) levels in communication, rhetoric, discourse studies, and media studies, served on multiple thesis committees, sponsored internships, and advised hundreds of undergraduates majoring or minoring in communication studies, speech communication, or interdisciplinary studies.
Prior to entering higher education full time, she earned experience in technical writing and web design for small telecommunications software companies, in photojournalism for a regional newspaper, in public relations for a college, in political campaigning at the local and state level, and in government research in the New York State Assembly.
More
Dr. Knopf is a Wilson Scholar of the New York State Communication Association, a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Eastern Communication Association, a 2020 recipient of the Eastern Communication Association Past Officers’ Award, a 2017 recipient of the Finger Lakes Community College Outstanding Humanities Alumni Achievement Award, a 2017 recipient of the SUNY Potsdam President’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, and a 2017 inductee of Phi Kappa Phi. She was a recipient of the 2023 Lucy Shelton Caswell Research Award from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. And, Dr. Knopf earned “top paper” recognitions from the Political Communication Interest Group of ECA in 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, and 2016. She is also a member of Phi Theta Kappa and the National Honor Society.
She is a co-editor of the Routledge Advances in Comics Studies series and has served on the editorial board of the Home Front Studies journal and the Lambda Pi Eta Journal and as a standing peer reviewer for the Popular Culture Studies Journal.
Dr. Knopf is an active participant and leader in the National Communication Association, Eastern Communication Association, and New York State Communication Association. She is also a member of the Rhetoric Society of America and the Comics Studies Society. She is a past member of the American Sociological Association, the American Political Science Association, the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
She is a lifelong resident of New York State and has been part of the SUNY system continuously since 1997 as a student, staff member, and faculty affiliated with eight different SUNY campuses.
Learn more by viewing her academic portfolio here.
updated 23 August 2024