Joe Whitt has officially joined the staff of the communication arts department at Wayne State College as an assistant professor this year. 

Whitt said he is a Wayne State alum and has taught adjunct for several years, so when he saw the position was open, he and his family “really saw an opportunity.” 

“We want somebody who’s going to be a big part of the department, you know, create those relationships with students and just help build up the department,” Allyn Lueders, chair of the communication arts department, said. “Joe had a lot of great ideas about how we could bring excitement to the department and use his skills to fold in with everybody else’s.”  

“I would describe myself as really a relational position where most of the courses I teach are really investigating relationship,” Whitt said. “What I really am interested in and what I specialize in is constructing relationships across all these different contexts.”  

Whitt is not the first of his family to work in the communication arts department. “It’s a neat story to see him continuing his family’s involvement at Wayne State, of course,” Lueders said. “His dad was chair of the department a long time ago, and then his mom was most recently chair right before me, so they’ve been very involved.” 

Whitt said that one of his favorite parts of teaching is being able to be a role model for students. “It’s cool that there’s a place where I can meet up with students, serve that mentor role and be supportive,” Whitt said. 

“When he came to campus to do his on-campus interview, his personality was shining, and he was obviously very excited about teaching and the specific position,” Lueders said. 

Whitt said that he is excited to sink into his role at WSC and further grow in areas of his instruction. “Another thing that I’m excited to do is attract more people to communication studies,” Whitt said. “The skills that we get from communication studies are so transferable to really any field, and I really want to help people recognize that communication studies can really suit you in whatever you want to get into.” 

Whitt said he received his master’s degree at Colorado State and is currently working on his doctorate at the University of Washington. 

“We’re just very excited to have him here,” Lueders said. “The quality of the education at Wayne State is only going to get better with his excitement coming in.”