This past week, Laura Russell 鈥�04 returned to Wittenberg to speak at the Communication colloquium about her research 鈥淯nmasking 鈥榠ll鈥檜sions of Wellness in Contemporary Life.鈥� Russell, who was one of Wittenberg鈥檚 first communication graduates, is now an associate professor of Communication at Denison University. Throughout her time at Wittenberg, Russell was involved in a number of activities. She was part of the Communication Club (now defunct) and Lambda Pi Eta, the national Communication honors society. Russell was also involved in Circle K, a leadership group focused on volunteer work. After graduating from Wittenberg, she ran the Oral Communication Center for a year.
Russell began the colloquium by informing the audience that she owes a lot to what she was able to learn here. She then began to dive into her research. 鈥淲e have a culture that values a strong work ethic,鈥� Russell said. A big section of Russell鈥檚 presentation was focused on her research on workaholics. She stated that people often confuse a strong work ethic with the issue known as workaholism. From her ethnographic research at a workaholics conference, Russell discovered that many people feel their worth is based on what they produce. Therefore, people with a strong work ethic are easily absorbed by their work, resulting in workaholism.
Recovery was another major aspect of Russell鈥檚 research, particularly how families use communication to recover from a crisis. She described how recovery is often characterized in narrative form as a celebratory narrative with unspoken realities. Russell was inspired to start this research due to her brother鈥檚 hiking accident in Wyoming. Her brother, a collegiate golfer, had a near death experience but then recovered to play the 鈥渂est golf game of his life鈥� shortly afterwards. While others saw this as an inspirational story, Russell only remembered the suffering she and her family went through. 鈥淥ften in life when a crisis happens, you can repair, but you can鈥檛 go back,鈥� Russell said. While Russell has achieved a lot since she graduated, she recognizes the fact that 鈥渋t began here.鈥�
鈥淚 will forever be indebted to Wittenberg,鈥� she concluded.
By Nicole Fracasso ('18)