Dr. Rita Daniels

Associate Professor

About

Bio

Dr. Daniels joined the Communication Studies Department in September 2016. She has taught a variety of classes related to her areas of specialty and research interests (i.e., Organizational Communication, Intergroup Communication, (Gender & Culture), and Afrocentric Theorizing. She is deeply interested in the notions of gender that are encouraged, accepted, and deeply woven into the social fabric and how these notions influence the identity of individuals in organizational and intercultural communication settings. As an organizational communication teacher-scholar, being a mentor is Rita's way of contributing to collegiality in the workplace. Read more about her faculty mentor contributions here: TLCo-op Faculty Mentors and Contributions (wwu.edu). You will also find more information on her student mentees' contributions here: Western CEDAR - Scholars Week: Feminist Mother in a Hyper-masculine Society (wwu.edu)

Professor Daniels likes watching movies and spending time with her family as hobbies. She also loves to travel the world and appreciates life as a gift. 

Education

Ph.D. Communication Studies, West Virginia University                                                                 

MBA, Western Washington University                                                                                              

M.Phil. Business Communication, University of Education, Ghana                                                 

M.A. International Studies, Ohio University                                                                                      

B.Ed. English, University of Education, Ghana

Research Interests

  • Workplace experiences, women career progression, decolonization, Afrocentrism

Selected Publications

Daniels, R. (2024). Afrocentric Womanist Identity Theory: Conceptualizing the diasporan African experience. In: Langmia, K. (eds) Black Communication Theory, Volume 2. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69495-0_3 

Daniels, R. (2023). Deconstructing COVID-19 institutional initiatives: Where do women academics fit? In V. McDermott, A.R. May, T. H. Housel, E. Knotts, S. M. Munz, & L. H. Hernandez (Eds.), Women educators' experiences during COVID-19 (pp. 185 - 206). Lexington. Women Educators' Experiences during COVID-19: On the Front Lines - 9781666917031

Daniels, R. (2022). (Un)masking self in the ivory tower: An African herstory. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 50(3), 275-290. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2022.2083422 

50 free E-copies = https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NQW5BDVRHTRJNNSHT2FE/full?target=10.1080/00909882.2022.2083422

Daniels, R. (2022). Different waters: A Tale of workplace experiences. In J. S. Wrench (Ed), Casing Organizational Communication (Case #16). Kendall Hunt.

https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/casing-organizational-communication 

Daniels, R. (2022). Racing toward an African Inclusion: De-essentializing the Global South. In K. Langmia (Ed), Decolonizing Communication Studies (pp. 42–56). Cambridge.

Decolonizing Communication Studies - Cambridge Scholars Publishing 

Daniels, R. & Rittenour, C. E. (2020). Reproducing work and family norms through daughter-parent communication. Journal of Personal and Social Relationships, 37(7), 2323–2341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407520922912