KERRY OSBORNE, Ph.D.

Associate Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies

 

 

Kerry has been a life-long student of communication, intrigued by communication differences in all the places she experienced growing up while an Army brat. In her freshman year of high school, Kerry won the Louisiana State Speech Championship in Oral Interpretation, and with her teammate, won the overall state championship for their school. "Hooked on Forensics," Kerry continued to compete in forensics and debate throughout high school and her undergraduate college years. Kerry earned her B.A. (1990) and M.A. (1992) in Speech Communication from California State University, Northridge. She earned her Ph.D. (1997) in Communication from the University of Southern California. Wanting it all, Kerry specialized in communication pragmatics, interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, persuasion, deception, quantitative research methods, and statistics. As a communication scholar in the late 1990's, Kerry was fortunate to be among the first to charge into the frontier of Computer-Mediated Communication. Kerry's published research analyzed normative and threatening behavior in online community formation. Kerry's dissertation, taking on both intergenerational and computer-mediated communication, was titled, "On Golden Cyberpond: Training America's Elderly to Use Electronic Mail" (1997). Her colleagues joked that she had earned a doctorate in Internet. Armed with her doctorate and six years' experience teaching communication and statistics courses at USC, CSUN, and several Southern California community colleges, Kerry eagerly anticipated the next phase of her career in academia. And landed in the private sector for the next thirteen years. Highly skilled in technology and communication, Kerry found herself serving her employers as both (simultaneously) Director of Marketing and Information Technology Director in industries including media, finance, not-for-profit trade associations, and technology. In 2009, Kerry resumed her pursuit of a career in academia, and was honored to join the ranks of the Adjunct Faculty at College of the Canyons. Kerry has since left the private sector, and hopes to remain firmly and solely a faculty member for the rest of her working years, which she intends to be the rest of her years, period. Among her favorite courses to teach is Public Speaking, a true passion. Kerry seeks to help her students achieve confidence in their skills, and a sense of satisfaction at their mastery. Okay, and maybe a few converts to the discipline. Kerry hopes to serve the discipline with expanded curricula in Computer-Mediated Communication in business and society in future. Kerry, an Irish descendant, is married to an Irishman, and she and her husband have a grown daughter who earned her Master of Social Work at USC. Kerry's family is immersed in Irish music and dance. Kerry's daughter is a championship-turned-pro Irish dancer. Kerry sings and plays the bodhran, and has begun to study fiddle and Irish whistle. Her recreation time is generally spent in an Irish pub, singing, playing her drum, and hoisting a Guinness. Just for show, of course.