Shannon Dyer
Associate Professor of Communications
Chair, Division of Communication & Interdisciplinary Studies

Shannon Dyer has brought extensive education and experience to the OU communication studies division. As an early indication of her commitment and ability, she earned a Bachelor of Science in four separate majors in four years (communication, psychology, art, and Spanish) at Southwest Baptist University (SBU). She went on to earn a Master of Science in Communication from Cornell University and is completing doctoral studies in communication at Northwestern University.

Dyer has been an associate professor of communication with Ottawa University since 2005 and serves as chair of the communication studies division for the residential campus. She is also the acting director of forensics and led the 2006-2007 OU forensics team to sixth place in the state of Kansas in a competition with no school divisions; one team member also walked away as state champion in an individual event.

Prior to joining OU, Dyer served as a summer program instructor at Yale University and Northwestern University and has taught courses for Cornell University, Northwestern University, Loyola University of Chicago, and Lake Forest College. Dyer has published several articles in her field and routinely makes professional presentations at conferences around the country. As the director of forensics at SBU, she led the 2003 team to the National Championship of Pi Kappa Delta, the largest speech and debate honor society in the country. She has assisted with five other national championship teams. As an undergraduate competitor, Dyer's team went undefeated for four years, including defending the Pi Kappa Delta title. Her award-winning speeches were featured as examples in two prominent speech textbooks.

Despite her accomplished background, Dyer is most proud of the strides made within the communication studies division at OU. "Revitalizing the communication tradition at OU has been the most satisfying professional challenge in my career to date," she said. "We have five outstanding faculty contributing to the division's seven dynamic areas of study." Those areas are advertising, broadcast, business communication, journalism, public relations, speech, and visual communication.

In addition to the forensics awards noted earlier, the communication studies division achieved some noteworthy accomplishments during the 2006-2007 school year. For example, the OU Associated Collegiate Press Club, which encompasses The Campus newspaper, took second place in the state of Kansas in the private colleges division. It was the first time the paper had entered the competition. During the school year, The Campus also quadrupled its circulation and went online. Other division accomplishments included public relation projects for Habitat for Humanity, ECKAN, and the recovery efforts in Greensburg, Kansas, following the F5 tornado; a partnership between the OU radio station, KTJO 88.9 FM, and the Ottawa Herald to produce news podcasts; and publication of student photographs in more than a dozen media and art sources.