Dr. Zoltan P. Majdik
Assistant Professor
Email Dr.
Majdik
Office: Minard 321F
Phone: (701) 231-8038
I received my Ph.D. at the University of Southern
California's Annenberg School for Communication in 2008, and
joined NDSU's Department of Communication in the Fall of that
year. Prior to completing my Ph.D, I earned an M.A. in
communication and a B.A. in communication and in English from
the University of Southern California.
My research takes place in the fields of rhetoric and ethics,
with a focus on the rhetoric of science. Currently, I'm
researching an emerging biotechnological practice called
direct-to-consumer genetics, in which I'm analyzing how
perspectives on risk, complexity, and agency are rhetorically
constituted, and how complex genetic science is translated
into a variety of social and medical practices. More broadly,
my research deals with the intersection of language and
nature, and how we use language as a means of selecting,
shaping, and making sense of complex elements of nature
(which can range from scientific discovery to medical disease
to conditions of environmental risk).
This semester, I'm teaching COMM 431: Communication Ethics to
undergraduates and COMM 711: Communication Theory to graduate
students. In Spring 2010, I will be teaching COMM 431:
Communication Ethics and COMM 705: Advanced Communication
Theory.