Faculty Profile: Dr. Joanne Gilbert
Dr. Joanne Gilbert, Professor of Communication teaches courses in Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural Communication, Performance, Advocacy, Humor, and many other areas of the field. She is deeply committed to service learning and often includes student-community interaction in her classes.
Last year, Gilbert interviewed six Holocaust survivors from the Detroit area to create a play based on the survivors' memories. Students in Gilbert's 2006 Spring Term "Performing Advocacy" class then performed the narratives in a production titled Up from the Ashes: Michigan Holocaust Survivors Share Their Stories.
Dr. Joanne Gilbert (standing at right), students from her 2006 Spring Term class and the Holocaust survivors (seated in front).
Dr. Gilbert’s book, Performing Marginality: Humor, Gender, and Cultural Critique (Wayne State University Press, 2004), has been featured on WCMU Public Television, WGVU Public Radio, KZSC Public Radio, and in The Chronicle of Higher Education and invited presentations at colleges and universities around the country.
Her scholarly work on gender and performance — focusing on the relationship between humor and power, autobiographical and cultural performance, and the discourse of marginalized groups — has appeared in journals and edited volumes such as Text and Performance Quarterly, Outsiders Looking In, and others.
Dr. Gilbert’s own performance background includes: acting, directing, and performing professional stand-up comedy. At Alma College, she has directed You Can’t Always Get What You Want (2005) and The Vagina Monologues (2002), a production that raised over $4,000 for the Women’s Aid Service of Gratiot County. Additionally, she is a communication consultant to groups and individuals nationwide, providing training in presentational and interpersonal communication skills.
Dr. Gilbert is the recipient of a 2007 Omicron Delta Kappa Faculty Excellence Award, the 2003 Alma College Posey Award for Faculty Excellence, a 2001-2002 Alma College Greek Community Outstanding Faculty Award and the 2000 Michigan Campus Compact Faculty Staff Community Service-Learning Award.
