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College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Jessica Rick

Assistant Professor
School of Communication
Office
FEL Fell Hall 434
Office Hours
Mondays & Wednesdays 12:30 - 2 and by appointment
Office Phone
(309) 438-3671office
phone
Email
jmrick@ilstu.eduemail
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Current Courses

375.001Communication And Leadership

492.001Seminar In Communication Theory

474.002Seminar In Interpersonal Communication

375.001Communication And Leadership

375.002Communication And Leadership

Teaching Interests & Areas

Leadership & Communication, Health Communication, Work-Life Balance, Careers, Identity & Difference in the Workplace, Family Communication, Interpersonal & Relational Communication, Qualitative Research Methods

Research Interests & Areas

Dr. Rick examines the communication of identity and stigma within organizational contexts. Specifically, she studies the intersections of gender, social class, and parenthood within work(ing)-life contexts. Dr. Rick is currently working on a research study about exclusively pumping moms, organizational policies, and the stigmas surrounding feeding choices. She has been published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research, the Journal of Family Communication, the Journal of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, and in several case study textbooks. Dr. Rick has given multiple trainings to local and national organizations on microaggressions, diversity & inclusion, communication skills, mission alignment, work/life balance, and public speaking. She is also a trained Lean In Circles mentor.

MBA Human Resource Management

University of Southern Indiana
Evansville, IN

PhD Organizational Communication

University of Missouri
Columbia, MO

MA Communication

North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND

BA Communication Studies, International Studies, & Spanish

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award by New Faculty

University of Southern Indiana
2022

Mary Harriman Award

Junior League of Evansville
2021

Book, Chapter

Rick, J. M., & Meisenbach, R. J. (2017). Social stigma, childfree identities, and work/life balance. In E. F. Hatfield (Ed.), Communication and the work-life balancing act: Intersections across identities, genders, and cultures (pp. 205-221). Rowman and Littlefield and Lexington Books.

Journal Article

Kerber, A., & Rick, J. M. (2023). Engaging movement(s) in and as pedagogy [Introduction to Special Issue]. Feminist Pedagogy, 3(3). https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/feministpedagogy/vol3/iss3/1/

Colaner, C., Elkhalid, A., Butauski, M., Bish, A., Nelson, L., & Rick, J. M. (2021). Communicatively constructing godparenthood: Relational maintenance and relational closeness. Journal of Family Communication, 21(2), 107-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2021.1903901

Meisenbach, R. J., Rick, J. M., & Brandhorst, J. K. (2019) Managing occupational identity threats and job turnover: How former and current fundraisers manage moments of stigmatized identities. Journal of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, 29(3), 383-399. doi: 10.1002/nml.21332

Littlefield, R. S., Rick, J. M., & Currie-Mueller, J. L. (2016). Connecting intercultural communication service learning with general education: Issues, outcomes, and assessment. Journal of General Education, 65(1), 66-84. doi: 10.5325/jgeneeduc.65.1.0066

O'Connor, A., Paskewitz, E., Jorgenson, D., & Rick, J. (2016). How changes in work structure influence employees’ perceptions of CSR: Millionaire managers and locked-out laborers. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 44(1), 40-59. doi: 10.1080/00909882.2015.1116706

Written Case with Instructional Material

Rick, J., & Halliwell, D. Blogging through fatherhood: Stay-at-home dads’ online communication and community. V. Waldron and T. Socha (EDs), Communicating fatherhood: New directions in theory, research, and education. Peter Lang (2023): 357-365.
Luttrull, B. & Rick, J. M. (2019). One of us?: Examining organizational leadership and decision making through (non)ethical organizational policies. In R. S. Bisel & M. W. Kramer (Eds.) Case studies in organizational communication: A lifespan approach (pp. 100 – 105). Oxford Press.
Rick, J. M. & Valiavska, A. (2019). “Wow, you’re a female engineer!”: Gender and the chilly climate of STEM fields. In E. Kirby & C. McBride (Eds.) Gender actualized: Cases in communicatively constructing realities (2nd Ed.; pp. 234-239). Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Meisenbach. R. J., & Rick, J. M. (2015). Working hard for less money?: Fund-raisers, loyalty, and employee retention. In J. Mize Smith & M. W. Kramer (Eds.), Case studies in volunteering and NGOs (pp. 153-162). Peter Lang.