Deborah McGee
Associate Professor
Deborah Socha McGee is an Associate Professor. Before coming to Charleston, Dr. McGee taught at Louisiana Tech University, Texas Tech University, Northeast Louisiana University, Southwest Missouri State University, and Spalding University.
A native of Chicago, Dr. McGee grew up in Louisiana. She earned her Ph.D. at The Ohio State University in 1996, her master’s degree at Southern Illinois University in 1987, and her bachelor’s degree at Northeast Louisiana University in 1986. Dr. McGee’s courses at the College of Charleston and elsewhere have included interpersonal communication, group communication, organizational communication, health communication, communication and training, research methods, and effective speaking. While at Ohio State Dr. McGee received the International Communication Association award for outstanding graduate student teaching in her department. She has taught workshops on such topics as interpersonal communication, conflict management, and effective speaking.
Dr. McGee has research interests in health communication, interpersonal communication, and organizational communication. She has published several articles on such topics as physician-patient communication and organizational culture, and her work has appeared in such journals as Health Communication and the Journal of Applied Communication Research. Her Ohio State doctoral dissertation won the first ever joint National Communication Association/International Communication Association award as the outstanding dissertation in health communication for that year. She also has received recognition for her top conference paper in the Applied Communication Division of the Southern States Communication Association.
Fun Fact: In 2007 Dr. McGee appeared on the game show Wheel of Fortune as a contestant, where she bravely demonstrated that you could win money on that show despite spinning "bankrupt" over and over again.
Sample Research Project: With Brian McGee, Dr. McGee's book chapter, "Ten Senses of Rhetorical Inadequacy: An Examination of Inadequacy in Epideictic Oratory," appears in Crises in Political Oratory: A History of Rhetorical Inadequacy, edited by Todd Frobish. In their chapter, McGee and Socha McGee describe different ways in which a speech might be described as inadequate, as when a speech displays a lack of artistry, or insufficient respect for the occasion at which the speech is delivered. "While many scholars have studied great speeches, we wanted to help explain why most speeches are mediocre or worse," said McGee and Socha McGee. "By examining speakers ranging from Edmund Burke to Jimmy Carter, Chris Hedges to George W. Bush, we hoped to learn more about what makes bad speeches, well, bad."
Education
1996 - Ph.D., Ohio State University
1987 - M.A., Southern Illinois University
1986 - B.A., Northeast Louisiana University
Research Interests
- Health communication
- Interpersonal communication
- Organizational communication