October 26, 2024: Dr. Jonathan Shailor's guest today on EDUCATION MATTERS is Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz. She is Professor Emerita of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, where she taught for 28 years, and Associate Faculty at Royal Roads University in Canada. She is currently Director of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue. She earned her MA and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania
She has held a variety of visiting positions in Paris and Lyon (France), Coimbra (Portugal), Beijing and Macau (China). She has published over a dozen books, becoming known for work in intercultural communication, social interaction, social construction theory, semiotic theory, ethnography of communication, and disciplinary history. She is interested in how people construct meanings for themselves and others through interaction; how cultural identity is constructed and maintained; and how conflicting identities or meanings can be conveyed simultaneously. She studies disciplinary history to learn why scholars examine particular topics in specific ways; often stops to consider particular research methods or theories; and always takes an interdisciplinary approach to problems.