Karen Ashcraft

Karen Lee Ashcraft is a Professor in the Department of Communication and Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in CMCI. Her research examines how relations of difference—such as gender, race, and sexuality—shape various scenes of work and organization, ranging from social services to commercial aviation to academic labor. Her scholarship appears in such venues as Academy of Management Review, Communication Theory, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Management Communication Quarterly. Most recently, she is exploring the relationship between communication and affect and, specifically, how occupational identities arise and circulate through affective economies. She teaches undergraduate courses that address difference and communication, especially in the context of work life, as well as graduate seminars in organizational communication and qualitative research methods.