04/06/09 -   Dr. Leanne Pupchek, associate professor of communication, participated in a panel on the "state of the genre" for the ethnography section of the Southern States Communication Association conference in Norfolk, Va., last week. Dr. Pupchek contributed her review of Carolyn Ellis's revision, "Autoethnographic Reflections on Life and Work" (Left Coast Press), which she said "closed the circle" with regard to autoethnography as a research methodology. She recommended the book enthusiastically.

Dr. Pupchek's research interests include visual rhetoric, especially with regard to national identity, community identity, authenticity, branding and tourism. At Queens, she teaches specialties include Advertising, Business Writing, media design and production, and media analysis. Dr. Pupchek is also a recipient of the Fuqua Distinguished Educator Award at Queens University of Charlotte.

The Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) promotes "the study, criticism, research, teaching, and application of the artistic, humanistic, and scientific principles of communication," according to its website at www.ssca.net.