Dr. Megan E. Morrissey

Associate Professor

University of North Texas

Department of Communication Studies

(940) 565-2588

Email: Megan.Morrissey@unt.edu

Education

PhD, University of Colorado Boulder, 2013

Major: Communication
Dissertation: With(in) U.S.: Resistive Accommodation and Cultural Strangers' Discourses of National Belonging
Certificate, University of Colorado Boulder, 2012

Major: Women & Gender Studies
MA, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008

Major: Communication Studies
Dissertation: Constructed Identities of the 2006 Great American Boycott: Examining the Effects of Newspaper Framing on U.S. American and Immigrant Identity
BA, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2002

Major: Communication Studies
BA, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2002

Major: English
BA, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2002

Major: Spanish

Professional Positions

Graduate Part-time Instructor, University of Colorado Boulder. University of Colorado Boulder. (2008 - 2013).
Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. University of North Carolina at Greensboro. (2006 - 2008).

Academic - Post-Secondary

Associate Professor, University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (2019 - Present).
Assistant Professor, University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (2013 - 2019).

Professional Memberships

National Women's Studies Association. (January 2021 - Present).
Organization for Research on Women and Communication. (2011 - Present).
National Communication Association. (2007 - Present).
Southern States Communication Association. (2015 - 2023).
Rhetoric Society of America. (2013 - 2015).
Western States Communication Association. (2010 - 2015).

Teaching

Teaching Experience

University of North Texas

COMM 3620 - Intercultural Communication, 15 courses.
COMM 4040 - Rhetorical Theory, 1 course.
COMM 4240 - Rhetoric and Popular Culture, 8 courses.
COMM 4540 - Communications Theories of Sexuality, 9 courses.
COMM 4640 - Latin@ Rhetorics, 5 courses.
COMM 4849 - Topics in Rhetorical Studies, 1 course.
COMM 5240 - Rhetoric and Mediated Culture, 3 courses.
COMM 5480 - Practicum, 1 course.
COMM 5481 - Graduate Internship, 4 courses.
COMM 5545 - Race and Public Culture, 5 courses.
COMM 5645 - Rhetorics of Worldmaking, 1 course.
COMM 5840 - Seminar in Rhetorical Studies, 6 courses.
COMM 5920 - Research Problems in Lieu of a Thesis, 1 course.
COMM 5930 - Research Problems in Lieu of a Thesis, 7 courses.
WGST 5850 - Professional Internship, 2 courses.
WGST 5900 - Special Problems, 6 courses.
WGST 5950 - Master's Thesis, 2 courses.

Teaching at Other Institutions

COMM 2360 Campaigns and Revolutions, 2012.
WRTG 1150 First Year Writing and Rhetoric, 2012.
COMM 3410 Intercultural Communication, 2012.
COMM 3310 Principles and Practices of Argumentation, 2012.
COMM 1210 Principles of Human Communication, 2012.
WRTG 3020 Queer Rhetorics, 2012.
COMM 4000 Race and Social Justice, 2012.
CST 150 Introduction to Communication Studies, 2007.
CST-SVL 150 Introduction to Communication Studies with an emphasis on Service Learning, 2007.

Directed Student Learning

Other (Faculty Mentor), Communication Studies. (2026).
Master's Thesis Committee Member, Communication Studies. (May 2025).
Major Professor, Women's and Gender Studies. (May 2025 - May 2025).
Master's Thesis Committee Member, Women's and Gender Studies. (May 2025 - May 2025).
Master's Thesis Committee Member, Communication Studies. (December 2024).
Major Professor, Women's and Gender Studies. (2024).
Master's Thesis Committee Member, Anthropology. (2024).
Major Professor, Women's and Gender Studies. (2023).
Other (Advisor for Undergraduate Research Fellowship Project), Communication Studies. (2022 - 2023).
Major Professor, Women's and Gender Studies. (May 2023).
Major Professor, Women's and Gender Studies. (December 2022).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Women's and Gender Studies. (December 2022).
Master's Thesis Committee Member, Communication Studies. (2022).
Other (Undergraduate Honors Thesis), Communication Studies. (2022 - 2022).
Major Professor, Women's and Gender Studies. (August 2022).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (May 2022).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2022).
Master's Thesis Committee Member, Communication Studies. (May 2022).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (May 2021).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2021).
Directed Individual/Independent Study (McNair Scholar's Program Mentor), Linguistics. (March 2019 - August 2020).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2020).
Master's Thesis Committee Chair, Women's and Gender Studies. (May 2020).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (May 2019 - May 2020).
Other (Undergraduate Honors Project Mentor), Communication Studies. (2019).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (May 2019).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2019).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (2018).
Other (Undergraduate Honors Project Mentor), Communication Studies. (2018).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (May 2018).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (May 2017).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2017).
Master's Thesis Committee Member, Mayborn School of Journalism. (May 2017).
Other (Undergraduate Mentor), Communication Studies. (August 2016 - May 2017).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (May 2016).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2016).
Major Professor, Communication Studies. (2015 - May 2015).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2015).
Other (Undergraduate Mentor), "You Like That, Pledge? Displays of Normalizing Sexual Rhetoric in Haze Him," Communication Studies. (2014 - 2014).
Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Communication Studies. (May 2014).

Awards and Honors

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, CLASS. (November 2023).
Nominated for Finalist for CLASS Excellence in Undergradute Teaching Award, CLASS. (2022).
Nominated for Minnie Stevenson Piper, State of Texas. (2022).
Nominated for New Investigator Award, Critical Cultural Studies Division, National Communication Association. (November 2018).
Nominated for Dwight L. Freshley Outstanding New Teacher Award, Southern States Communication Association. (April 2016).
Marilyn Morris Award for Outstanding Academic Contributions to LGBTQ Studies, Women's and Gender Studies Program. (April 2024).
Nominated for Finalist, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, CLASS. (October 2021).
Nominated for Minnie Stevenson Piper, State of Texas. (October 2021).
Nominated for President's Council Teaching Award, University of North Texas. (October 2021).
Nominated for Finalist, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, CLASS. (September 2020).
Nominated for Early Career Award, University of North Texas. (October 2019).
Nominated for Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award, Southern States Communication Association. (April 2018).
Top Paper, Critical Cultural Studies Division of the National Communication Association. (November 2018).
Nominated for Early Career Award, Rhetoric and Communication Theory Division. (November 2017).
Top Paper, Gender Studies Division, Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention. (April 8, 2017).
Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Committee. (2011).
Doctoral Honors Seminar Participation, National Communication Association. (2010).
Top 4 Paper in the Intercultural Communication Interest Group, Western States Communication Association. (2010).
Student Excellence Award, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. (2002).

Research

Published Intellectual Contributions

Abstracts and Proceedings

Morrissey, M.E. (2010). Equality as an Ideograph: The Gay Rights Movement and Proposition 8. Conference Proceedings. ALTA Conference Proceedings.

Book Chapter

Morrissey, M.E. (2019). Calaveras, Calacas, and Cultural Production: The Queer Politics of Brown Belonging in U.S. Dia de Lost Muertos Celebrations. Queer Intercultural Communication. Rowman & Littlefield. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538121405/Queer-Intercultural-Communication-The-Intersectional-Politics-of-Belonging-in-and-across-Differences
Schwartzman, R., Morrissey, M.E. (2010). Collaborative student groups and critical thinking in an online basic communication course. Cases on online discussion and interaction: Experiences and outcomes.

Journal Article

Morrissey, M.E. (2022). When Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same: The Queer Paradox of Quarantine Pods. Women's Studies in Communication. Taylor & Francis.
Morrissey, M.E. (2021). Under (Y)our Skin: Rachel Dolezal and the Elasticity of Whiteness. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies. Taylor & Francis.
Morrissey, M.E. (2019). Border Matters: A New Materialist Critique of Border Art on the U.S.-Mexico Border.. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication.
Trudeau, J., Morrissey, M.E. (2017). “Bring in an Honest Verdict:" Prosecuting Southern Whiteness in American Slavery As It Is. Southern Communication Journal.
Morrissey, M.E. (2017). The Incongruities of Queer Decorum: Exploring Gabriel García Román’s Queer Icons. Women's Studies in Communication. 40 (3) 289-303. Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2017.1346532
Morrissey, M.E., Kimball, K.Y. (2017). #SpoiledMilk: Blacktavists, Visibility, and the Exploitation of the Black Breast. Women's Studies in Communication. 40 (1) 48-66. Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2015.1121945
Enck, S.M., Morrissey, M.E. (2016). If Orange is the New Black, I Must be Colorblind: Comic framings of post-racism in the Prison-industrial Complex. Critical Studies in Media Communication.
Morrissey, M.E. (2016). The Right to Marry: Negotiating (In)dependence as a U.S. Border Rhetoric. Communication, Culture & Critique.
Morrissey, M.E. (2015). (Net)roots of belonging: Contemporary discourses of (in)valuability and post-racial citizenship in the United State. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication.
Morrissey, M.E., Sims, C. (2015). Playing the Race Card: Discourses of (Anti)racial Bordering and the Possibility of Alchemic Metaphors. Review of Communication.
Morrissey, M.E. (2013). A DREAM disrupted: Undocumented Migrant Youth Disidentifications with U.S. Citizenship. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication.
Morrissey, M.E. (2013). A question of humanity: Discursive construction and material consequences of black lesbianism in South Africa. Women's Studies in Communication.
Morrissey, M.E. (2008). A culture of unpredictability: How current school reforms have failed our educational communities. Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research.

Reference Entry

Morrissey, M.E. (2021). Disidentification. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.1180

Translation or Transcription

Morrissey, M.E. (2020). How Art Installations on the US-Mexico Border Affected People’s Understanding of the Border. Denton, Communication Currents, National Communication Association. https://www.natcom.org/communication-currents/how-art-installations-us-mexico-border-affected-peoples-understanding-border
Morrissey, M.E., Sims, C.L. (2015). The Writing on the Wall: (New) Racism n U.S. Public Conversations About Race. 10 (6) Communication Currents.

Presentations Given

Invited Talk

Enck, S.M. (Presenter), Morrissey, M.E. (Presenter), University of North Texas’ Women’s and Gender Studies Disciplining Gender & Sexuality serie, Studying Gender and Sexuality with a Rhetorical Lens, University of North Texas’ Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Denton, TX, United States of America. (2020 - 2020).
Morrissey, M.E. (Presenter), Mayborn Multimedia High School Journalism Workshop, Ideographs and Media Framing, Denton, TX, United States of America. (2017 - 2017).

Oral Presentation

Morrissey, M.E. (Panelist), National Communication Association Convention, Charting the relevance, and violence, of the figural border in U.S. American civic culture, NCA, Dallas, TX, United States of America. (2017 - 2017).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Examining the Gap between Our Past and Our Presence: Overcoming Challenges and Constructing Strategies for Junior Faculty Women., NCA, Chicago, IL, (2014 - 2014).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Examining the Gap between Our Past and Our Present: Overcoming Challenges and Constructing Strategies for Junior Faculty Women., NCA, Chicago, IL, (2014 - 2014).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, The Presence of Our Past: (In)Visibility of GLBT/Q People of Color, NCA, Chicago, IL, (2014 - 2014).

Panel Presentation

Morrissey, M.E. (Panelist), Southern States Communication Association Conference, The Future of Belonging in Texas and Beyond, Southern States Communication Association Conference, Frisco, TX, United States of America. (2024).
Morrissey, M.E. (Discussant), National Communication Association Conference, "What are We Trying to Prove?": At the Crossroads of Parenting and Professoring during COVID-19, National Communication Association, Indianapolis, IN, United States of America. (2020 - 2020).

Paper

Morrissey, M.E. (Author & Presenter), National Communication Association Conference, The Problem with Solidarity Statements: A Critique of Strategic Civility, National Communication Association, New Orleans, LA, United States of America. (2022).
Morrissey, M.E. (Author & Presenter), National Communication Association Convention, Under (Y)our Skin: Rachel Dolezal and the Elasticity of Whiteness, National Communication Assocation, Indianapolis, IN, United States of America. (2020 - 2020).
Morrissey, M. (Author), National Communication Association Annual Convention, Border Matters: A New Materialist Critique of Installation Art on the U.S.-Mexico Border, National Communication Association, Baltimore, MD, United States of America. (2019 - 2019).
Morrissey, M.E. (Author), National Communication Association Annual Convention, From Inclusion to Belonging: The Discursive Architecture of the United States Hetero-economy of desire., National Communication Association, Baltimore, MD, United States of America. (2019 - 2019).
Morrissey, M.E. (Author), National Communication Association Annual Convention, Calaveras, Calacas, and Cultural Production: The Queer Politics of Brown Belonging at U.S. Día de Los Muertos Celebrations, NCA, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America. (2018 - 2018).
Morrissey, M.E. (Author & Presenter), National Communication Association Convention, Reinvigorating the public sphere: Participatory art in Trump-era America, NCA, Dallas, TX, United States of America. (2017 - 2017).
Morrissey, M.E. (Author), Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention, The Politics and Potentialities of Queer Decorum: Exploring Gabriel García Román’s, Queer Icons, Southern States Communication Association, Greenville, SC, United States of America. (2016 - 2016).
Morrissey, M.E., Kimball, K.Y., National Communication Association Conference, #SpoiledMilk: Blacktavists, Visibility, and the Exploitation of the Black Breast., NCA, Las Vegas, NV, (2015 - 2015).
Morrissey, M.E., Western States Communication Association Conference, A Politics of (In)dependence: Marginal Discourses of (Personal) Independence (National)., WSCA, Spokane, WA, (2015 - 2015).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, the Vernacular Web of Participatory Media., NCA, Chicago, IL, (2014 - 2014).
Morrissey, M.E., Enck, S.M., National Communication Association Conference, White Has Always Been The New Black: The Comic Trappings of Whiteness in Orange Is the New Black., NCA, Chicago, IL, (2014 - 2014).
Morrissey, M.E., Sims, C.L. (Author), Rhetoric Society of America, Testing thresholds: Interrogating the ambiguity of borders and borderlands., RSA, San Antonio, TX, (2014 - 2014).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, (In)valuability: Protecting the nation's possessive investment in whiteness., NCA, Washington, DC, (2013 - 2013).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Inside Out: Delimiting the moral and material borders of the United States., NCA, Washington, DC, (2013 - 2013).
Morrissey, M.E., Western States Communication Association Conference, (Mediated) Disidentification: Managing the Rhetorics of U.S. National Exclusion., WSCA, Reno, NV, (2013 - 2013).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Making space in the nation: Re-imagining national belonging and reconsidering COMMunity., NCA, Orlando, FL, (2012 - 2012).
Morrissey, M.E., Contingent Belongings Conference, Contingent belonging: Whiteness, citizenship, and immigration in Farmingville., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, (2011 - 2011).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Creating (an)other: Conditioning contemporary national belonging., NCA, New Orleans, LA, (2011 - 2011).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Voices of (be)longing: Nation, citizenship, and whiteness., NCA, New Orleans, LA, (2011 - 2011).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, What DREAMS are made of: Appealing to citizenship and belonging from the margins., NCA, New Orleans, LA, (2011 - 2011).
Morrissey, M.E., Western States Communication Association Conference, In the skin of a lioness: Femininity, motherhood and discipline in Leonera. Morrissey, M. E. (2011, February), WSCA, Monterey, CA, (2011 - 2011).
Morrissey, M.E., Critical Whiteness Symposium, Why not gay marriage?: Focus on the Family's whitewashing of heterosexuality, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, (2010 - 2010).
Morrissey, M.E., Sims, C.L. (Author & Presenter), National Women's Studies Association, Outsider masculinities: Disciplining Japanese herbivores in Western discourse., NWSA, Denver, CO, (2010 - 2010).
Morrissey, M.E., NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar, White faces, white spaces: Constructing whiteness and Disciplining difference in Farmingville, NY, NCA, Salt Lake City, UT, (2010 - 2010).
Morrissey, M.E., Western States Communication Association Conference, A question of humanity: Discursive construction and material consequences of black lesbianism in South Africa., WSCA, Anchorage, AK, (2010 - 2010).
Morrissey, M.E., Western States Communication Association Conference, Framing collective action in documentary film: A metadiscursive look at Farmingville and beyond., WSCA, Anchorage, AK, (2010 - 2010).
Morrissey, M.E., ALTA Summer Conference on Argumentation, Equality as an ideograph: The gay rights movement and Proposition 8, NCA, Alta, UT, (2009 - 2009).

Poster

Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Self-Portrait: G.I.F.T.S., NCA, San Francisco, CA, (2010 - 2010).
Morrissey, M.E., National Communication Association Conference, Deconstructing the Band: G.I.F.T.S., NCA, Chicago, IL, (2007 - 2007).

Scholarly Meeting Contribution

Morrissey, M.E. (Discussant), National Communication Association Conference, Communicating Greater Regard for mentoring and community building in the international and intercultural communication division, National Communication Association, New Orleans, LA, United States of America. (2024).

Contracts, Grants, Sponsored Research

Fellowship

Morrissey, M.E., "Graduate Summer Fellowship," sponsored by University of Colorado Boulder, State, $6000.00 Funded. (2012 - 2012).
Morrissey, M.E., "Dissertation Fellowship," sponsored by University of Colorado Boulder, State, $3800.00 Funded. (2011 - 2011).

Grant - Research

Morrissey, M.E., "Communication Studies Research Grant," sponsored by UNT Department of Communication Studies, University of North Texas, $3000 Funded. (2016 - 2016).
Morrissey, M.E., "Junior Faculty Research Grant," sponsored by University of North Texas, University of North Texas, $5000.00 Funded. (2014 - 2014).

Service

University Service

Member, Graduate Standards Committee. (August 2021 - Present).
Member, Executive Committee. (August 2020 - Present).
Committee Member, Women's Studies Advisory Board. (November 2018 - Present).
Committee Chair, LGBT Studies Advisory Board. (2018 - Present).
Committee Member, Alumni Engagement Committee. (August 2024 - May 2025).
Chairperson, Personnel Affairs Committee. (August 2024 - May 2025).
Chairperson, Search Committee: Digital Performance and Storytelling. (August 2024 - May 2025).
Member, Personnel Affairs Committee. (August 2019 - August 2024).
Chairperson, Executive Committe. (August 2022 - May 2023).
Member, CLASS Faculty Council. (August 2020 - May 2023).
Committee Member, Search Committee: Continuing Lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies. (August 2022 - March 2023).
Committee Member, Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of LGBT Faculty. (2013 - 2022).
Committee Member, Search Committee: Visiting Lecturer in WGST. (May 2022 - August 2022).
Chairperson, Personnel Affairs Committee. (August 2021 - May 2022).
Chairperson, LGBTQ Studies Curriculum Committee. (August 2018 - May 2022).
Director, Director of Graduate Studies. (August 2020 - August 2021).
Chairperson, Graduate Standards Committee. (August 2020 - August 2021).
Chairperson, Student Media Committee. (August 2020 - August 2021).
Co-Chair, Scheduling. (August 2019 - August 2021).
Member, Search Committee for Assistant Professor of Performance Studies. (October 2020 - May 2021).
Member, Search Committee for Assistant Professor of English. (2019 - 2020).
Committee Chair, Awards Committee. (August 2017 - May 2020).
Committee Member, Executive Commitee. (August 2015 - 2019).
Member, Search Committee-Assistant Professor of French. (August 2017 - May 2018).
Faculty Advisor, Lambda Pi Eta. (August 2013 - August 2017).
Member, CAS Faculty Council. (August 2016 - May 2017).
Committee Member, Curriculum Committee. (2013 - 2015).
Committee Member, Teaching Evaluation Committee. (2013 - 2015).

Professional Service

Editorial Review Board Member, Communication and Race. (January 2022 - Present).
Editorial Review Board Member, Communication and Critical Cultural Studies. (2017 - Present).
Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Women's Studies In Communication. (2013 - Present).
Other (Co-organizer), Queer History Studies South Conference. Dallas, TX. (January 2020 - February 2022).
Officer, President/Elect/Past (Vice Chair), Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division. (January 2019 - December 2021).
Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. (January 2020 - December 2020).
Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Homosexuality. (2014 - 2016).
Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Communication Theory. (2015 - 2015).
Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Feminist Formations. (2015 - 2015).
Member, Rhetorical and Communication Theory Nominating Committee. (2013 - 2014).