A paper co-authored by Suzy D’Enbeau, Ph.D., of the School of Communication Studies, has been recognized by the National Communication Association (NCA) as an outstanding article published in a communication journal. D’Enbeau and Adrianne Kunkel, Ph.D., of the University of Kansas, are the recipients of the Applied Communication Division Bill Eadie Distinguished Scholarly Article Award for 2014 which acknowledges significant contributions in applied communication theory, research, and/or practice.
Their article, “(Mis)managed Empowerment: Exploring Paradoxes of Practice in Domestic Violence Prevention” was published in the May 2013 issue of the Journal of Applied Communication Research. Through their case study of Harbor Safe House, a domestic violence shelter organization, D’Enbeau and Kunkel examined the increasing use of empowerment as an approach to domestic violence prevention.
D’Enbeau and Kunkel offer suggestions on how staff of organizations like Harbor Safe House can recognize various aspects of empowerment and can then proceed to formulate guidelines that are specific and most effective for an individual organization and the clientele served.
D’Enbeau, an assistant professor of Communication Studies, at Kent State University, has also researched and published on how social change organizations navigate competing goals in a variety of contexts ranging from domestic violence prevention to transnational feminist organizing. Kunkel is a faculty member at the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas.