Laura Russell, Denison University assistant professor of communication, was honored with an award at the professional conference of the Central States Communication Association (CSCA), in Madison, Wisc. Russell received one of the Top Paper Awards for her research study, titled “Narrative Inquiry and the Praxis of Ethical and Relational Storytelling.”
“This award is a real testament to quality scholarship,” said Jimmie Manning, CSCA executive director. “This year we received many high-quality papers, and only the very best could be selected to present at the conference. Being at the top of that pile says a lot!”
Russell’s study investigates the crossroads between storytelling and story-listening ethics within an educational context. She achieves this through an action-research approach by exploring how her students practiced and interpreted meanings for their interpersonal storytelling experiences. The results from her study demonstrate how embodied experiences and relational sense-making co-constitute the values underlying narrative ethics.
“Research for my ‘Narrative Ethics’ courses has been one of my ongoing projects over the past three years,” said Russell. “While people often spend a significant amount of their time communicating through stories, we are not always aware of how we are playing co-authoring roles in the process. How often do we question the ways we shape our stories based on to whom we are speaking? How frequently do we question the ways our listening and responding to others impacts how they create meaning for their lives? These may seem like simple questions, but in practice they become very complex. They call attention to key ingredients for living ethically with others.”
In addition to her coursework, Russell is involved in several community service outlets. She also has had her work published in “Health Communication,” “Qualitative Inquiry” and “Communication Theory.”
The Central States Communication Association is a professional, academic organization of primary and secondary school teachers, students, college and university professors, and communication professionals.