Dr. Karen Anderson

Basic Course Director

Dr. Karen Anderson joined the Communication Studies department in 2004.  Dr. Anderson received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 2003 and her M.A. from Texas Tech University in 1999.  Dr. Anderson serves as the Basic Course Director (COMM 1010: Introduction to Communication) and coordinates training for the graduate student teaching assistants. 

Dr. Anderson conducts an active research program in three key areas:  interpersonal, instructional, and political communication.  Dr. Anderson’s interpersonal communication research program specifically focuses on intergenerational and family communication.  Recent projects examine the grandparent-grandchild relationship within the context of age-stereotype models of intergenerational communication.  Dr. Anderson was awarded the top paper in the Division of Communication and Aging at the 2004 National Communication Association Convention for her work in this area.  Publications of Dr. Anderson’s work can be found in Communication Reports, Human Communication Research, and Journal of Family Communication.

Dr. Anderson work in instructional communication focuses on online and blended learning environments.  This work developed as a result of her interest in improving the departments large basic course, Introduction to Communication.  Dr. Anderson was award a $10,000 Blended Learning Project Grant to develop an online and blended learning version of her course.   

Dr. Anderson’s political communication research program critiques the electoral process through the examination of political campaigns and debates.  Past projects include the DebateWatch 2000 (a national program coordinated through the University of Kansas ) and the Sunflower Poll (three state-wide polls on the Kansas Gubernatorial election).  Dr. Anderson’s work on DebateWatch 2000 appears in The Millennium Election:  Communication in the 2000 Campaign (2003).  Dr. Anderson is actively involved in the Political Communication Interest Group of the Central States Communication Association and currently serves as the chair of the group.  

Dr. Anderson and her partner George Naeke have one son, Aidan, and are expecting their second child next year.

 Dr. Anderson's Vita

Supplemental Teaching Material

Courses Taught

• COMM 1010 

Introduction to Human Communication

• COMM 5325

 Communication Theory 

• COMM 5880 

Pedagogy and 
Communication 

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