Business Communication Profession

Janis Forman is Founding Director of the Management Communication Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Professor Forman has received academic awards from the Association for Business Communication and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has published extensively on organizational storytelling, collaboration, corporate communication, and translation and consults for many organizations.

These fascinating, often humorous, essays trace how the personal and professional lives of leading teacher-scholars in business communication intertwined to shape their careers in this interdisciplinary field. Young teacher-scholars in business communication and related fields will extract compelling lessons for their own careers. A must-read for the field.JoAnne YatesSloan Distinguished Professor of Management, EmeritaProfessor of Managerial Communication and Work and Organization StudiesMIT Sloan School of ManagementThis is a truly inspiring collection of essays about that elusive, interdisciplinary venture called "Business Communication", a veritable treasure trove of personal narratives and intriguing advice on the exciting borderline between scholarship and teaching. What’s more, it’s a highly enjoyable read: these are some of the best writers in the field!Geert JacobsProfessorGhent University, Belgium.Dr. Janis Forman had led the management communication program at UCLA with wisdom, clarity, purpose, and warm collaboration. In this volume she’s gathered many of the discipline’s senior, and founding, leaders to reflect and share their personal stories—which they do in beautiful prose, insight, and humor. It’s a love letter from one generation of the field to the next.Patti WilliamsIra A. Lipman Associate Professor of MarketingWharton SchoolUniversity of PennsylvaniaThese stories of how business communication scholars navigated complex professional tensions will encourage and support graduate students and young faculty in their own emerging scholarly journeys. The reassuring message of ‘You’re not alone! You can do it! We’ve set a trail for you!’ jumps off the page. Stephen CarradiniAssistant Professor of Technical CommunicationArizona State UniversitySenior faculty who serve as formal or informal mentors can match stories to the interests and aspirations of younger teacher-scholars. This book is an inspiration for a new generation to build on the discipline’s rich history and foster an innovative path to its exciting future.Kathryn M. RybkaInterim Executive DirectorAssociation for Business Communication Janis Forman ushers readers into a lively conversation among business communication’s leading thinkers about the development of the discipline and the ways that young faculty can find productive, satisfying work in the academy. Consider these highly personal stories as a guide and mentor to the new generation of scholars.D. Joel WhalenAssociate Professor of MarketingDriehaus School of Business/Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, DePaul UniversityPresident, Association for Business Communication

• Chapter 1. Introduction, Janis Forman Chapter 2. Take Two Xanax and Call Me in the Morning; or, Career Tension in Business Communication, Ronald Dulek Chapter 3. Cultivating a Liberal Arts Perspective on Workplace Communication, Deborah C. Andrews Chapter 4. "Only Connect" Between Personal Life and Professional Choice, Scholarship and Teaching, My Generation and the Next", Janis Forman Chapter 5. Collaborative Networking for Better Teaching and Research, Peter W. Cardon Chapter 6. To Summon the Future: Defining the Field and Deciding What to Teach, N. Lamar Reinsch, Jr. Chapter 7. The Visual Expeditions and Related Adventures of a Teacher, Scholar, and Administrator, Charles Kostelnick Chapter 8. Persisting in the Field of Business Communication: "There’s Really Something to It", Priscilla S. Rogers Chapter 9. Selling My Soul: Moving from the Humanities to Business Communication, Daphne A. Jameson Chapter 10. My Experiential Learning Journey as a Management Communication Teacher-Scholar, Gail Fann Thomas Chapter 11. Developing from a Teacher to a Scholar Across Cultures: The Moves from the East to the West and Back Again, Bertha Du-Babcock