Bookmark and Share

Department of

Communication Studies

Sarah Burke Odland, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Communication Studies

Sarah Burke Odland, Ph.D., joined the faculty in 2008 after three years at the University of Colorado at Denver. Odland teaches courses in media studies and mass communication. Her research is concerned with exploring the relationship between media representations and the construction of social and cultural identities, particularly in relation to gender.

Education

Ph.D., University of Iowa, Mass Communication
B.A., Grinnell College, History

Scholarly and Creative Work

Odland’s research is focused in the area of feminist media studies. Her current research projects explore cultural understanding about gendered labor roles within the context of the family, looking specifically at what the news media deem appropriate behavior for women in the roles of wife and mother.  Her manuscript, “Unassailable Motherhood, Ambivalent Domesticity: The Construction of Maternal Identity in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1946” will appear in the Winter 2010 edition of the Journal of Communication Inquiry.

Teaching Interests

Odland currently teaches Introduction to Media Studies and Media Processes and Effects. She has also taught courses in gender and communication, public speaking and public relations.