The School of Communication Studies at Kent State University welcomes new assistant professor, Yesim Kaptan, Ph.D., to the global communication concentration beginning the Fall 2016 semester. Prior to coming to Kent State, Kaptan was associate professor in the Faculty of Communication at Izmir University of Economics in Izmir, Turkey. She was also a visiting scholar at the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication (PARGC) at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
Kaptan received her undergraduate degree and a graduate degree in political science from the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey. She then went on to receive another graduate degree in folklore and her Ph.D. in communication and culture and folklore from Indiana University, Bloomington.
Kaptan is very eager to begin her journey with the School of Communication Studies, where she will be teaching two courses: Communication Theory (COMM 25902) and Intercultural Communication (COMM 35852)
“Along with the academic excellence of the university’s and communication studies’ distinguished faculty, what most excites me about Kent State University is its integrated perspectives to global education,” Kaptan said. “The School of Communication Studies takes diverse approaches to understanding global communication and media in increasingly mediatized and globalized cultural contexts.”
Kaptan believes in encouraging students to think critically about the subject of communication and its practices, which allows them to make informed interpretations and connections between theory and their everyday lives. She also supports students in gaining an international perspective on media and global cultures.
“My role is to challenge students to take a critical stance towards communication and its practices and to teach students to think critically, particularly with regards to how the processes of communication shape and reflect systems of culture and how communication practices construct differences regarding race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, class, religion and sexual orientation,” Kaptan said.
Kaptan’s research connects well with her teaching philosophy. Her research focuses on knowledge of media, society and culture and perspectives of contemporary global media studies. She likes to bring a comparative view to issues of diversity, difference and hybridity in communication studies.
“What unites all of my research is a close attention to the mediation of global-local nexus in everyday life and the role of global media industries for construction of mediated identities in our symbolic societies,” Kaptan said. “I am specifically interested in how global culture and media form social relations and how they produce identities in the context of capitalist economy.”
Kaptan believes Kent State is an ideal setting to pursue her research and teaching interests in transnational media, global culture industries, identity politics and global cultural economy.
“I know the importance of learning and encourage students to ‘learn how to learn’,” Kaptan said. “I make every effort to create a supportive classroom environment to support the intellectual development and critical thinking of students.”