Faculty Profile for Dr. Elizabeth Kamman Eger

profile photo for Dr. Elizabeth Kamman Eger
Dr. Elizabeth Kamman Eger
Associate Professor — Department of Communication Studies
CENT 329
phone: (512) 245-7823

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Dr. Elizabeth K. Eger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas State University. She obtained her PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder where she also received graduate certificates in Critical Theory and in Women and Gender Studies.

Dr. Eger teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Organizational Communication, Qualitative Methods, Gender and Communication, LGBTQ+ Communication, and Work, Identity, and Difference. Her qualitative, critical, and rhetorical communication research, pedagogy, and community outreach investigates contemporary work and organizations as both excessive and inaccessible. Her research examines how we understand ourselves in relationship to work, how communication of difference impacts our organizational and life experiences, how collectives create organizational identities, and how work impacts our life and health. Her newest, ongoing research examines presenteeism (working while sick), LGBTQ+ workers and health inequity, libraries and rural community resiliency collaboration, and COVID-19 organizational, work, and health communication practices.

Her previous research explores identity-based organizing (collectives who organize around shared identities and for intersectional needs), including long-term ethnographies of a transgender outreach center and a computing camp for girls of color. For five years before coming to Texas State, Dr. Eger worked as a researcher for the National Center of Women and Information Technology to advance the meaningful participation of women and underrepresented people in IT careers and education. Her research appears in Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, International Journal of Business Communication, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, and the third edition of The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Communication.

Teaching Interests

Communication and Gender
Organizational Communication
Work, Identity, and Difference
Qualitative Methods
Diversity and Communication
LGBTQ+ Studies
Rhetorical and Critical Methods

Research Interests

Organizational Communication
Difference and Intersectionality
Work-Life and Health Communication
LGBTQ+ Work and Health
Transgender and Queer Communication
Ethnography and Qualitative Inquiry
Organizational Identity and Identification
Rhetorical Criticism and Critical Media Studies
Social Justice, Engaged, and Applied Scholarship
Technology Work and Education Inclusion
Community and Organizational Collaboration

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Eger, E. K., Villagran, M. M., & Burney, M. N. (2024). LGBTQ+ peer advocates’ health communication praxis for student health outreach and intersectional identities. Health Communication, 1–13.
  • Eger, E. K. (2021). Co-constructing organizational identity and culture with those we serve: An ethnography of a transgender nonprofit organization communicating family identity and identification. International Journal of Business Communication, 58(2), 254–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419893738
  • Carter, D. W., & Eger, E. K. (2021). Visibility and vulnerability in online marketing practices. Journal of Cultural Economy, 14(4), 373–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2021.1879212
  • Eger, E. K., & Way, A. K. (2020). Reimagining qualitative analysis and writing via a comparative constructed focus group method. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 9(3), 78–104. https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2020.9.3.78
  • Jensen, P. R., Cruz, J., Eger, E. K., Hanchey, J. N., Gist-Mackey, A. N., Ruiz-Mesa, K., & Villamil, A. (2020). Pushing beyond positionalities and through “failures” in qualitative organizational communication: Experiences and lessons on identities in ethnographic praxis. Management Communication Quarterly, 34(1), 121–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318919885654

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching, College of Fine Arts and Communication. August 2021
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Best Article Award, National Communication Association, Ethnography Division. November 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Top Five Paper Award, Western States Communication Association, Organizational Communication Division. February 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching, College of Fine Arts and Communication. August 2019
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Registered Student Organization Advisor of the Year, Boko Awards: Texas State University Student Organizations Council. April 19, 2019

Selected Grants

  • Roundtree, Aimee Kendall (Principal), Goldstone, Dwonna Naomi (Supporting), Herrmann, Nicholas Paul (Supporting), Eger, Elizabeth Kamman (Supporting), Blue, Sarah A (Supporting), Devine, Jennifer Ann (Supporting), Ashford-Hanserd, Shetay Nicole (Supporting), Martinez, Gloria P (Supporting), Mckiernan, John Raymond (Supporting). Engaged Humanities Research Accelerator, ACLS, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $157000. (Funded: June 2022 - June 2023). Grant.
  • Eger, Elizabeth Kamman. Understanding Communication about Presenteeism in Relationship to Workers’ Occupations, Organizations, and Intersectional Identities, Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University, $8000. (Submitted: 2018, Funded: 2019 - 2021). Grant.
  • Eger, Elizabeth Kamman, Smith, Tara, Pokharel, Manusheela, Keeley-Vassberg, Maureen, Dailey, Stephanie Layne. Library Online Resource Grant, Alkek Library, Texas State University, $30740. (Funded: March 2020). Grant.
  • Austin, Jasmine Terrell (Principal), Eger, Elizabeth Kamman (Co-Principal). Examining Leadership Communication of Texas Small Businesses in a Global Pandemic, REP, Texas State University, $16000. (Submitted: October 2020, Funded: January 2021 - Present). Grant.
  • Eger, Elizabeth Kamman (Principal). Libraries Faculty Start Up Program, Alkek Library, Texas State University, Texas State University, $689.78. (Funded: October 2017). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Volunteer
Austin Pets Alive!
September 2018-Present
Member
COMM B.S. Major Exploration Group
January 2024-Present
Member
Personnel Committee
August 2023-Present
Editorial Review Board Member
Management Communication Quarterly
March 2023-Present
Organizer
Bobcat Day Co-Organizer
September 2022-Present