Tara Schuwerk

Professor of Communication and Media Studies; Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Professor Schuwerk’s area of research focuses on the intersections of communication, culture, and identity broadly defined, with a special focus on food.

  • PhD, Communication, The Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University
  • MA, Communication, University of Central Florida

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Biography

Tara Schuwerk is a professor of communication and media studies and is also affiliated with the Sustainable Food Systems program and American Studies. She earned her interdisciplinary doctorate from Arizona State University. Her research revolves around the intersections of communication, culture and identity, with a focus on food within those intersections, such as food in the media. She has also published several articles on how to effectively use various forms of popular media as pedagogical tools in the classroom. In addition to teaching Communication courses, Schuwerk serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.

More About Tara Schuwerk

Areas of Expertise

  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Food and Communication

Course Sampling

  • Qualitative Theory and Methodology
  • Food, Culture and Communication
  • Internship
  • Senior Project

  • Food and communication
  • Food and nutrition discourse in the media
  • The social construction of food and identities
  • The scholarship of teaching and learning

  • Schuwerk, T. J., & Prody, J. (Eds.). (2022). Reconnecting: Food, popular culture, and the COVID-19 pandemic [Special issue]. Popular Culture Studies Journal, 10(1).
  • Schuwerk, T. J., & Prody, J. (2022). Food, popular culture, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Special issue introduction. Popular Culture Studies Journal, 10(1), 4-7.
  • Schuwerk, T. J. (2022). Altered foodways and (non)utilization of technology: COVID-19 and Baby Boomers. Popular Culture Studies Journal, 10(1), 141-157.
  • Schuwerk, T. J., & Cramer, S. E. (2022). Repackaging Leftovers: Health, food, and diet messages in influencer Instagram posts. In E. Contois and Z. Kish (Eds.), Food Instagram: Identity, influence, and negotiation (pp. 148-162). IL: University of Illinois Press.
  • Schuwerk, T. J. (2018). Exploring the relationship between multiple identities and communication through a classroom art gala. In J. Seiter, J. Peeples, & M. Sanders (Eds.), Communication in the classroom: A collection of GIFTS (pp. 251-254). New York: Bedford/St. Martins.
  • Graham, L., & Schuwerk, T. J. (2017). Teaching qualitative research methods using Undercover Boss. Communication Teacher, 31(1), 11-15. doi: 10.1080/17404622.2016.1244345
  • Schuwerk, T. J. (2016). [Review of the book Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli, by Ted Merwin]. The Popular Culture Studies Journal, 4(1-2), 470-473.
  •  Schuwerk, T. J. (2014). Critical consumption: Analyzing food and nutrition in media artifacts. Teaching Media Quarterly, 2(2).
  • Schuwerk, T. J., & Davis, A. (2013). Influencing factors on social media adoption in county-level emergency management departments. Florida Communication Journal, 41(2), 11-24.
  • Schuwerk, T. J. (2011). Food bank culture: Food & nutrition communication in a hunger-relief organization. In J. M. Cramer, C. P. Greene, & L. M. Walters (Eds.), Food as communication/ Communication as food (pp. 381-403). New York: Peter Lang.
  • LeGreco, M., Hess, A., Lederman, L. C., Schuwerk, T. J., & LaValley, A. G. (2010). An innovative dialogue about college drinking: Developing an Immediate Response Technology Model for health promotion. Communication Education, 59(3), 389-404.
  •  Schuwerk, T. J. (2010). Verbal language use: Translating for the situation. In L. A., Janusik, R. M. Berko, & L. Graham (Eds.), Instructor's resource manual for communicating: A social, career and cultural focus (11th ed., pp. 94-95). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
  • Lederman, L. C., LeGreco, M., Schuwerk, T. J., Cripe, E. T. (2008). A final word: Framing the future of health communication. In L.C. Lederman (Ed.), Beyond these walls: Readings in health communication (pp. 395-408). New York: Oxford University Press.
  •  Lederman, L. C., Stewart, L., Greenberg, J., Bates, C., LeGreco, M., & Schuwerk, T. J. (2007). LET'S TALK ABOUT IT. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Health Services.