CCI welcomes two faculty and two staff members to the college. In addition, a current faculty member is adding a new role.
There are many new faces in the CCI directory since the beginning of the school year; the college welcomed seven faculty and staff members before the fall semester.
New Faculty
Joy Doan (Assistant Professor of Practice, School of Information Sciences) joined the faculty on Jan. 1 and previously served as head of the Marta & Austin Weeks Music Library at the University of Miami; a lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and as a music instruction and research librarian at Northwestern University Libraries. She holds master’s degrees from San Jose State University (MLIS) and Case Western University (MA in Music History) and a BA in English Literature/Music from the University of Michigan.
Christina Jimenez Najera (Assistant Professor, School of Advertising and Public Relations) is a doctoral student at Texas Tech University and will join the faculty on Aug. 1. Her work falls under the umbrella of risk and media with specific focus on risky behavior and body image. Her dissertation focuses on the role of motivated processing and multitasking in distracted driving behaviors and choices. Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, she served as an administrative assistant with the legal department of the Disney ABC Television Group, as a communications and marketing consultant with JustBKause, and as a case manager with Avrek Law Firm in Irvine, California. Her teaching experience includes: Principles of Advertising, Advertising Media Planning, Research Methods in Media and Communication and Communicating in a Global Society. She holds an MA in Communications and a BA in Entertainment & Tourism, both from California State University, Fullerton.
New Role
Megan Fields (Director of Public Speaking/Director of the Public Speaking Center, School of Communication Studies), a distinguished lecturer in the School of Communication Studies, took on her new role Jan. 1. Fields has been a full-time lecturer with Communication Studies since 2008 and served as UT’s Panhellenic Affairs Advisor from 2003-2008. Prior to coming to UT, Fields served as Director of Development for Nevus Outreach in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, as an adjunct instructor at Pellissippi State Community College and as a traveling field consultant with Delta Delta Delta in Arlington, Texas. She has an MA in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University and a BA in Speech Communication from UT Knoxville.
New Staff
Dionne George (CCI Strategic and Digital Communications Master’s Program Assistant) joined CCI on Nov. 30 and previously held a number of positions at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, including Director of Residence Life, Chief Judicial Officer, Title IX Investigator and as an instructor. She served as Senior Assistant Director of Financial Aid and Coordinator of Off-Campus Student Services at the University of Missouri, Columbia. George has a Master of Education from Central Methodist University and a BS in Exercise Science from Auburn University.
Julie Longmire (CCI Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Advising) joined CCI on Jan. 1 and previously served as an academic advisor at Roane State Community College, Director of Advisement Services at Tennessee Technological University, Site Coordinator/Coordinator of Student Services at Lincoln Memorial University, Assistant Director of Career Services at the LMU Duncan School of Law, Coordinator of Undergraduate Academic Advising for UT’s College of Education, Health & Human Sciences, and a First-Year Studies instructor for UT’s Division of Student Success. Longmire has a PhD in Education and an MS in College Student Personnel from UT Knoxville and a BS in Multidisciplinary Studies from Tennessee Technological University.