Patty Sotirin

Contact

pjsotiri@mtu.edu
Walker 345

Professor of Communication, Humanities

PhD, Purdue University

Biography

Dr. Patty Sotirin's research involves critical-interpretive approaches to issues of culture, relationality, and gender. Her work draws on discursive theories of communication, critical management studies, cultural studies, feminist theories and qualitative methodologies. She has published articles in such journals as Text and Performance Quarterly, Women’s Studies in Communication, Qualitative Inquiry, Journal of Research Practice, Cultural Studies<=>Critical Methodologies, and Organization Management Journal.

Links of Interest

Faculty Web Page

Research Interests

Feminist theories
Humanistic qualitative methods
Gender and communication in the workplace
Family communication
Communication and civic life

Recent Publications

Patty Sotirin (2020). “Feminist Vigilance Against Gun Violence.” In Sotirin, P., Bergvall, V. L., & Shoos, D. L. (Eds.), Feminist Vigilance (pp. 1-22). Palgrave Macmillan.
Patty Sotirin (2020). “Introduction to Feminist Vigilance.” In Sotirin, P., Bergvall, V. L., & Shoos, D. L. (Eds.), Feminist Vigilance (pp. 193-218). Palgrave Macmillan.
Patty Sotirin (2020). “Copper Country Mothers on the WWI Home Front.” In Sotirin, P., Walton, S.A., & Collins, S. (Eds.), Homefront in the American Heartland: Local Experiences and Legacies of WWI (pp. 242-275). Cambridge Scholars Press.
Goltz, S. M., Sotirin, P., Minnerick, A., Mayer, A,, & Storer, A. (2019). “Continuous Improvement to Achieve Faculty Career Equity.” Academic Labor beyond the College Classroom: Working for our values. Routledge.
Laura L. Ellingson and Patty Sotirin (2019). “Data Engagement: A Critical Materialist Framework for Making Data in Qualitative Research,” Qualitative Inquiry, 26(7), 817-826. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800419846639
Patty Sotirin (2018). “Breastfeeding in the Military: A Feminist Communicology Analysis.” In Ann Marie A. Short, Abigail L. Palko, and Dionne Irving, Eds., Breastfeeding and Culture: Discourses and Representation (pp. 184-201). Demeter Press.
Patty Sotirin (2018). “Tropes of the U.S. Military Mother: A Feminist Analysis.” In Sarah Cote Hampson, Udi Lebel, & Nancy Taber, Eds., Mothers, Military, and Society (pp. 23-56). Demeter Press, 2018.

Awards

Sotirin, P. & Ellingson, L.L. “Critical Feminist Family Communication: Gender, Power, and Praxis.” In Dawn Braithewaite, Elizabeth Suter, and Kory Floyd, Eds., Engaging Theories in Family Communication pp. 110-121. Routledge, 2017.
- Engaging Theories in Family Communication received the 2017 Gerald R. Miller Book Award, Interpersonal Communication Division, NCA
Patty Sotirin (2010). Autoethnographic mother-writing: Advocating radical specificity. Journal of Research Practice, 6(1), online.
- 2012 Norman K. Denzin Qualitative Research Award. Reprinted in Autoethnography (4 volume set). Editor Pat Sikes. Volume One: What It Is and Critiques and What It Can Do. Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods, 2013.]

Recent Books

Patty Sotirin, Victoria L. Bergvall, & Diane L. Shoos, Feminist Vigilance. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
Patty Sotirin, Steven Walton, & Sue Collins, Eds., Homefront in the American Heartland: Local Experiences and Legacies of WWI. Cambridge Scholars Press, 2020.
Laura L. Ellingson & Patty Sotirin, Making Data in Qualitative Research: Issues, Ethics and Practices. Routledge, 2019.
Patricia J. Sotirin & Laura L. Ellingson (2013). Where the aunts are: Family, feminism, and kinship in popular culture. Waco TX: Baylor University Press.
Elizabeth Flynn, Patty Sotirin, & Ann Brady, Eds. (2011). Feminist Rhetorical Resilience. Logan, UT: Utah State UP.
Laura Ellingson & Patricia J. Sotirin (2010). Aunting: Cultural practices that sustain family and community life. Waco TX: Baylor University Press.

DEI projects

NSF ADVANCE Partnership: Joining Forces--A Midwestern Partnership of Research Intensive Institutions for Women STEM Faculty Success.” PI: Cinzia Cervato, Iowa State University; MTU PI: Adrienne Minnerick; Co-PIs S. Goltz, P. Sotirin (Awarded 2019).
NSF ADVANCE Adaptation Grant, “Continuous Improvement Process to Transform Institutional Practices and Culture”; PI: Adrienne Minnerick; Co-PIs: P. Sotirin, S. Goltz, A. Storer, A. Mayer. (Awarded 2018).
MTU ADVANCE Training Grant (with Sonia Goltz, Business) Development of Diversity Literacy Workshop (2011)

Teaching

Interpersonal Communication
Organizational Communication
Communication Theories
Gender and Communication
Qualitative Research Methods