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IU Bloomington

Carolyn Calloway-Thomas

Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies

Expert Bio

Carolyn Calloway-Thomas is professor and chair of African American and African Diaspora studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She is past president of the World Communication Association, co-editor of “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Sermonic Power of Discourse,” author of “Empathy in the Global World: An Intercultural Perspective,” and co-author of “Intercultural Communication: A Text with Readings” and “Intercultural Communication: Roots and Routes.”

Her book “Communication Between Chinese and North Americans” is scheduled for publication in 2020. Her national awards include a Ford Postdoctoral fellowship; a Fulbright scholarship to Nigeria, West Africa; a Carnegie scholarship; the National Council for Black Studies’ Paul Robeson and Zora Neale Hurston Award for Outstanding Leadership and Promotion of African American Humanities; the National Communication Association’s Robert J. Kibler Award; and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Grambling State University.

In 2010, she was inducted into Central States Communication Association’s Hall of Fame. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Grambling College, a Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. She has presented hundreds of speeches and workshops national and internationally, including in places such as China, South Korea, Portugal, Indonesia, Lithuania and Germany.

Areas of Expertise

Interracial/intercultural communication, empathy and conflict, African American rhetoric, pedagogy of empathy, multicultural communication and civic engagement.

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