Michelle A Holling

Biography

Dr. Holling is professor and chair of the Department of Communication at California State University San Marcos. She earned an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Communication from Arizona State University and her M.A. and B.A. in Communication from San Francisco State University. Guiding her scholarly, teaching, and service commitments are matters of voice, marginality, and identity that anchor in a concern for and dedication to social justice. As a scholar, she critically examines matters of race, vernacular voices, and gendered violence. As a professor in the classroom, she creates and includes content that privileges voices that are often marginalized. As president of a regional association, she implemented structural changes that are a beginning, and not an end, to making the discipline of communication more sustaining for all communication scholars.

More specifically, questions of identity, ideology and hegemony, representations, and vernacular voices underlie Dr. Holling’s scholarship, which is theoretically informed by critical rhetorical scholarship, (womyn of color) feminist theory, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x communication, and race. As a result, her research reflects four strands: gendered violence; academe as a site of inquiry to explore issues of identity and agency; race and identity in rhetorical discourse; Chicana/o vernacular rhetoric; and counter-hegemonic efforts and oppositional politics. She co-edited two books entitled Race(ing) Intercultural Communication, with Dreama Moon (Routledge); and Latina/o Discourse in Vernacular Spaces, with Bernadette Calafell (Rowman & Littlefield). As well, she published 18 scholarly articles and book chapters. Further, she serves on, currently or previously, multiple editorial boards within the field of communication and as ad-hoc reviewer for journals external to the field. Based on her scholarly contributions, she has been a Distinguished Scholar and Visiting Speaker at universities in the U.S. In addition, her publications resulted in Scholar of the Year Award by the Latina/o Communication Studies Division and La Raza Caucus of the National Communication Association in 2009. Her research on Chicano masculinity earned her the B. Aubrey Fisher Outstanding Journal Article by the Western States Communication Association in 2007.

Her teaching interests span rhetoric, gender, and Chicana/os. Specifically, she teaches rhetorical theory, rhetorical criticism, feminist rhetorics, argumentation and dialogue, gender and communication, and Chicana/os-Latina/os in film and television. Finally, she maintains a demonstrated history of service at all levels. In February 2018, she completed her term as President of the Western States Communication Association (WSCA). During her tenure, she was the primary program planner for the 88th annual convention, hosted Janaya Khan of #BlackLivesMatter as the keynote speaker; created the interest group Communication, Identities, and Difference; and drafted an anti-discrimination and diversity statement that guides the Association. Previously she served as President-Elect, First Vice-President, and Second Vice-President of the WSCA. She also served as President of the Organization for Research on Women and Communication, the only national feminist organization in the field of communication.  

Education

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Communication, Arizona State Univ
M. A. in Communication, San Francisco State University

Websites

• Holling Faculty Page

Books

Articles