Instructor Profile
Dr. Karen Staten
By: Deborah Dancy
All communica
tion courses on the
WCC campus are
taught by Dr. Karen
Staten. She reveals her
self-reliance and dedi
cation throughout her
courses and her chosen field is one of the
most crucial in our society. Communications
has such a wide expansion of categories.
Everything we say, or choose not to say, is a
form of communications. In other words, eve
rything we do or say is a form of verbal or
non-verbal communication. Our physical ac
tions are a category as well. The way we act
or don’t act, move or not move, or even the
way we look or don't look. When we commu
nicate, are we being ethical or unethical? Lis
tening and critical thinking are yet another
category of communication. Critical thinking
helps us to better understand what a mass of
connections there are in communication.
Dr. Staten has accomplished her goal
in this significant field of study. Within the
past year, she has written an entire text book
for the communication courses here at WCC.
Her book is titled. Connections: A Study of
Communication. She has most definitely
shown her hard work and determination
within this text, as she does in her teaching.
When asked what her inspiration was
for choosing this field for her profession she
said, “I would have to say my inspiration was
my Daddy.” She talked about how she and
her daddy would “argue” every night at the
kitchen table, but it wasn’t until she was in
high school that she realized “his eyes would
smile before his mouth,” and that he wasn’t
serious. Dr. Staten said “he was actually
teaching [her] critical thinking, but he proba
bly wouldn’t have even known the term.” Her
daddy passed away in 1990. The last coher
ent thing her daddy said to her was, “we had
some good arguments, didn’t we?” According
to Dr. Staten, “this was what drew [her] into
the argumentative, critical thinking, of all
sides of an issue.” '
Dr. Staten is originally from Ohio.
She received her Bachelors degree in Com
munication from the Cincinnati Institute and
her Masters from the University of Dayton.
Therefore, this distance between the two
worked out well for her. She began her teach
ing six and a half years ago here at Wilkes
Community College and remarked how much
she really loved working with the Phi Theta
Kappa Honor Society. Dr. Staten really didn’t
have plans to go any further with her degree but
when her daddy passed away, she found he’d
left her a daughter’s scholarship. This scholar
ship was just something her Mom had made up.
So, she continued her career through distance
learning at California Coast University where she
received her doctorate degree, (Ed.D.). She had
to travel to Santa Ana, California several times to
defend her dissertation. The committee there
would sometimes cause her to feel intimidated
and somewhat small. However, it made her think
about the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. One of
her favorite quotes is when the scarecrow went
to the wizard and asked for a brain, and the wiz
ard said, “it’s not that you don’t have a brain, it’s
just that you don’t have a degree to prove it.”
Dr. Staten has published articles on
“Educational Methodology for Teachers,” “Critical
Thinking Skills for Communication Students,”
“Learning Styles of Students,” and “Intercultural
Communication.” Also, she actually developed a
Women’s Studies in America class, which is only
offered on demand because she feels that it is
important that everyone get their communication
courses first.
Dr. Staten commented; “One thing that is
so great about a community college is the teach
ing and what’s really good is when you get a
teacher who not only knows his/her field, but
also their craft.” Dr. Staten went on to say that
“everyone in the world needs to communicate
and connect.” She truly loves working and
teaching here at Wilkes Community College.
Dr. Staten is married and has two won
derful children. She is a very loving mother and
extremely proud of her children. Her daughter is
also a teacher and her son, Nathan, has served
in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Shirley Johnson, repre
sentative from the Wilkes County
Board of Elections was present
in the Student Center Lobby dur
ing the SGA Elections on Sep
tember 10th and 11th from
11:00am until 1:00pm each day.
Mrs. Johnson is the voter registration coordinator
for Wilkes County. She was on hand to answer
students’ questions and to help with the county
(Continued on page 24)
Voter Registration Drive
By Deborah Dancy