Grad Students


I study the intersection of rhetoric, race, and religion. Grounded in a transdisciplinary understanding of scholarship, I study African American public address and rhetorical criticism, prophetic rhetoric, and rhetorical theology, as well as political rhetoric, critical race theory, and religious and hip-hop studies. 

Below is a list of my current and former graduate students who have joined me on this journey.

#COMMStudyWithUs
#MemphisMane


Current Ph.D.Students (Advisor)




Jill Fredenburg (she/her) is a Doctoral student in the Communication and Film program at Memphis.








RESEARCH AGENDA:

Her research areas include media's effects on identity formation, documentary filmmaking methods, algorithmic biases, and Queer and Feminist technocultures.


Christopher D. Harris, affectionately known as Chris, is a native of North Carolina. Chris received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Morehouse College. He also completed his Master of Divinity Degree at Wake Forest University School of Divinity and completed his Master of Theology with a focus in Ethics & Society from Vanderbilt University School of Divinity. Chris is the Graduate Student Association President for the University of Memphis Graduate School, serving as an advocate for Graduate Students campus-wide; in addition to that, he currently serves as a Pastoral Resident/Intern and assistant to the pastor at Christ Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis Tennessee under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Gina M. Stewart.

RESEARCH AGENDA: 

Chris’s research interests include African American (religious) rhetoric. Guided by an interdisciplinary framework, he examines religious rhetoric that (re)imagines discourses in theology, sociology, narratives, and cultural theory. 

Jeff Miller is a PhD student at the University of Memphis in the Department of Communication and Film. Jeff studies religious communication and rhetoric, especially how it connects to American Evangelicalism, gender, and ecology. A late bloomer as a communication scholar, Jeff worked in various roles in church leadership, education, and corrections before returning to the academy for an MA in Communication from the University of Nebraska-Omaha under Dr. Paige Toller. His experience as a communicator includes preaching, the classroom, organizational communication, and mediocre amateur stand-up comedy.

RESEARCH AGENDA:

Jeff studies religious rhetoric and communication with a specific interest in white evangelical rhetoric and discourse. 
Clark A. Harris

Clark A. Harris Jr. is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication and Film at the University of Memphis. He is interested in studying the rhetorical aspects of theological discourse at the intersection of race and oppression. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, and teaches at a number of institutions. His ambitions in education are teaching and researching in the disciplines of rhetoric and writing. He believes that writing can serve as a gateway to knowledge of self-revelations and understanding of one's past. Furthermore, he encourages his students to write daily in a journal with the expectation of passing it down to their children’s children. An inheritance can be spent, and a picture is only worth a thousand words, but your story can guide future generations to a greater destination. In addition, there is no one more worthy of sharing your story than you.



Jason Mikel


Jason Mikel began his doctoral studies at the University of Memphis's Department of Communication and Film in the fall of 2020. He is an ordained and full-time pastor in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination and is the founder of the Nashville Burrito Ministry, a weekly meal with Nashville's unhoused where dignity and community are emphasized. In addition, he serves on the Board of Trustees of Memphis Theological Seminary. Jason is married to Suzanne, a psychiatric RN, and they have four boys between them, one of whom is the father to two adorable grandsons.

RESEARCH AGENDA:

Jason's research interests include the intersection of faith, culture, and politics in the rhetoric of the southern white evangelical church, an interest gained from years in parish ministry. Current research focuses on rediscovering the writings and work of Claude Clossey Williams, an early and mid-1900s Arkansas labor organizer who centered his work on the Christian Bible.


Kyle Chitwood (he/him) is a doctoral student in the communication and film program at the University of Memphis. His research interests lie at the intersections of music, rhetoric, race, religion, and media. Specifically, he is interested in the spirituality generated from popular forms of reggae music in American culture and how it impacts the degree to which reggae can act as a medium for social change.






Carl is a Ph.D. student researching Religious Communication, African American Rhetoric, and Social Movements. Carl serves as Senior Pastor of The Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He serves as a community advisory board member for the UAB CARES Act, a board member of the Cutting Edge Clergy Caucus of Birmingham, Alabama, and a member of the National Baptist Convention of America’s Evangelical Board. He is also the sole proprietor of Liberated Pages Publishing. He published his first work, Cast All Your Anxiety on God: A 30-Day Devotional, in June 2023.



I also serve as a member of the following committees:

University of Memphis

Sam Guajardo (Communication)

Jonathan Smith (Communication)


Christian Theological Seminary

Ph.D. in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric

R. Janae Pitts-Murdock

Gina Stewart

William (Bill) Lamar IV

Moya Marie Harris



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