Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 25 March 23, 1995 - Pearson selected NVGC director

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Pearson selected NVGC director

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 25 - March 23, 1995

Judy C. Pearson, director of graduate studies and research at Ohio University since 1985, has accepted the position of director of Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Graduate Center and associate dean of the Graduate School.

Leonard K. Peters, vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School, made the announcement last Friday.

Pearson is an acclaimed researcher and teacher in communication across cultures and gender, from public speaking to interpersonal and even intimate communication.

She will take her new post on August 1, but spend two weeks each month during June and July at the center.

"I am truly excited about Dr. Pearson joining us," says Peters. "She has had a distinguished academic career in the College of Communications at Ohio, and was a leader in their graduate programs as a faculty advisor and as an administrator."

Pearson was basic course director at Bradley University, Purdue, Indiana, and Iowa State, before joining the Ohio faculty. At Ohio, she administered graduate and adult education. She also has experience with development, alumni affairs, and media relations.

Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Graduate Center in Falls Church is the equivalent of a medium-sized university. It is a full-service university with a full-time resident faculty and staff serving more than 2,000 students annually through graduate-degree courses offered in the late afternoon and evening.

Peters said Virginia Tech will be significantly expanding its extended-campus graduate programs and enrollments. "Dr. Pearson will be a key person in planning for this growth and in seeing that it is implemented while maintaining the quality and reputation of our graduate offerings in the northern Virginia area." He praised her energy and entrepreneurial characteristics.

Pearson's research and publications include 28 books, several of which are in use in university communication-studies programs.

Her research has been popularized on national TV, such as CBS This Morning, and other shows on NBC, ABC, PBS, and CNN, and in newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Newsweek, New Woman, Family Circle, American Health, and Modern Maturity .

She is on the editorial boards of the Journal of International Listening Association , and Communication Studies .

Citations and honors include Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and the distinguished alumni award from St. Cloud State University, where she earned her bachelor of arts degree in speech communication and philosophy. Pearson's master of arts and Ph.D. are from Indiana University, the latter in speech communication, and history and philosophy of education.

She has been an advisor for nearly 100 graduate students and taught numerous courses since she began as an instructor at Indiana University in 1972 while still a graduate student herself.