Nonprofit work is and has for many years been important to me and what I do. I am President of a small support group called the Norrie Disease Association (NDA), and have been for a little over two years. This post, entitled My Norrie Story explains this disorder and my experiences with it in more detail.
Therefore, much of my time at Queens in the Master of Arts communication program has been dedicated to becoming a more effective leader of a nonprofit, and understanding the intricacies that mingle to present and represent good communication for said organization and its wider publics.
To that end, I completed a Strategic Connectivity Plan that was designed to help the NDA connect to other rare disease organizations using social media such as Twitter and Facebook and based on Putnam’s Social Capital Theory. I also created a more inward-focused Strategic Communications plan designed to help the NDA manage impressions it makes on members and other stakeholders through conveyed messages, using Goffman’s Dramaturgic Metaphor as backdrop.
Once I move beyond this specific program, I will continue to learn theory and best practices through academic and applicational exposure. I hope to use knowledge gained herein to write and/or create other media likely for a nonprofit, and to perhaps help guide its boards of directors and others who hold leadership positions toward an understanding of how to communicate internally and to connect with other organizations that do similar or complimentary work to their own.
Below, you will find a summation of all the various projects I’ve completed while at Queens, grouped by their relevant outcomes. Also included is a list of all coursework.
Coursework
- COMM 601: Communication Fluency, Schaffer
- COMM 616: Communicating Mindfully, Cowan
- COMM 610: The Social Creation of Organizing, Kalageras
- COMM 629: Leadership/empowerment/mgt, Bochantin
- COMM 613: Constructing Messages and Audiences, Bochantin
- COMM 658: Creativity and Networks, Weller
- COMM 664: Organizational Identity and Brand, Cowan
- COMM 655: Mediated Self/Changing Relationships, McArthur
- COMM 638: Strategic Communication for Global Audiences, Bochantin
- COMM 624: Comm and Culture in a Networked Society, Nathaniel
- COMM 680: Expanding Communication Boundaries, Cowan
- COMM 681: Launching Passion Into Practice, Cowan
Relevant Outcomes