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I would like to personally invite doctoral students to this year's Organizational Communication Division doctoral preconference. It promises to be an exciting daylong workshop that gives graduate students who are close to dissertation stage the opportunity to interact with some of the best and most innovative scholars in the field of organizational communication. The registration fee is $35. Organized around the theme of "difference," the preconference will focus on the various professional and research issues that budding scholars face in exploring "difference" as a central communication construct. The format of the preconference will involve presentations, breakout sessions, and roundtable discussions, each of which will address the challenges and opportunities of doing scholarship that explores difference in its many expressions-class, race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age, disability, religion, regionalism, and so forth-and how those intersect with organizing processes and practices.
The preconference is intended to appeal to students from a broad range of conceptual and methodological perspectives, including social scientific, critical, poststructuralist, feminist, post-colonial, and so on. We have done our best to attract a stellar cast of scholars who will provide students with a supportive and collaborative environment in which to explore scholarly and professional issues. These scholars include: Dennis Mumby, U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chair); Brenda Allen, U of Denver; Karen Ashcraft, U of Utah; Kirsten Broadfoot, Colorado State U; Patrice Buzzanell, Purdue U; Stanley Deetz, U of Colorado, Boulder; Sarah Dempsey, U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Gail Fairhurst, U of Cincinnati; Shiv Ganesh, U of Waikato; Lynn Harter, Ohio University; Erika Kirby, Creighton U; Patricia Parker, U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Linda Putnam, Texas A&M U; Angela Trethewey, Arizona State U; Heather Zoller, U of Cincinnati.
Faculty and students will together explore questions such as the following:
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What do we mean by difference? How do we adequately conceptualize it?
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How could a scholar study more "traditional" research domains such as identity, leadership, conflict, socialization, technology, etc., through the lens of difference?
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How can the study of difference be incorporated into different organizational forms-nonprofit, high reliability, knowledge-intensive, community-oriented, and so forth?
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How does one do research that genuinely engages with the various stakeholders in difference studies?
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How does one secure funding for research on difference?
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How does one engage in collaborative, interdisciplinary research on difference?
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What are ways to successfully engage in research that takes seriously the intersection of multiple forms of difference (e.g., race, gender, sexuality)?
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What are the methodological and empirical challenges of researching difference?
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What forms of scholarly preparation are important to become a researcher of difference?
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What are the opportunities and challenges of developing a scholarly profile that thematizes difference?
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What are the promises and perils of committing one's research, teaching, and service to difference?
The day promises to be an enriching and exciting experience for everyone. Mark your calendars! I'll look forward to seeing you all in San Francisco!
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