Dr. Isabelle Bauman

Biography

Dr. Isabelle Bauman's area of specialization is mental health communication, particularly as it relates to instructional communication and interpersonal communication. This interest developed out of her training in her Masters degree in Counseling and her recognition that there is a lot of information out there, particularly about mental health and interpersonal communication, that practitioners and students/faculty in mental health communication don't know about because it is spread out over half a dozen disciplines and about 100 different journals. As a result, Dr. Bauman began a book project to bring this information together in one place which is culminating in her 2024 published book "Interpersonal Communication and Mental Health Disorders". She is looking to develop research out of this book project.

Her interest in mental health and instructional communication comes from her own experiences in the classroom and from talking with colleagues about their experiences. She has come to realize that faculty frequently don't know what to do when confronted with a student with a mental health concern and they end up feeling isolated and frustrated. Her work as the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Fellow for Inclusion in Mental Health has enabled her to develop resources for faculty to assist them in being more prepared to work with students with mental disorders. She has also begun doing research in this area.

Details

Education

• MS, Counseling, 2005, Missouri State University
• PhD, Communication, 1991, University of Wisconsin – Madison
• MA, 1988, Communication, University of Wisconsin – Madison
• BA, General System Theory, 1983, University of Puget Sound

Teaching

• COM 205 Interpersonal Communication
• COM 407 Health, (Mental Health), Communication, and Culture
• COM 408 Patient/Provider Interaction
• COM 397/698 Mental Health Communication
• COM 712 Quantitative Analysis in Communication Research
• COM 717 Communication and Diversity in the Workplace
• COM 724 Theories of Interpersonal Communication
• COM 795 Communication Internship
• COM 796 Independent Study
• COM 799 Master’s Thesis

Professional experience

Bauman, I. (in press). Interpersonal Communication and Mental Health Disorders. Cognella Press.

Bauman, I. (2023). Bagging a theory: A random sorting activity for teaching theorizing. Communication Teacher, 37, 194-197. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2022.2127821 (peer reviewed).

Research and professional interests

• Mental health communication
• Instructional Communication
• Mental health communication in the university classroom
• Mental health communication and interpersonal communication

Awards and honors