Cathlin Clark-Gordon

Bio

As an Associate Professor of Communication at Seton Hill University, I foster a learning environment where students both engage deeply with communication theories and strategically apply them to real-world challenges. My teaching philosophy is rooted in experiential and community-engaged learning, ensuring that students develop practical skills while making meaningful contributions to organizations and communities. In my courses, such as Business Communication, Social Media Strategy, Integrated Marketing Communication, Event Planning and Implementation, and Crisis Management in PR, students engage in theory-to-praxis approaches, and complete projects with local impact, such as creating campaigns for real-world clients, collaborating with nonprofits on social media strategy, and planning and implementing major events, like Seton Hill's Celebration of Scholarship Day.

Beyond teaching, my research explores the impacts of communication technologies on instructional communication, investigating impacts that mediated environments, and their affordances have on the student-instructor relationship. My work has explored topics such as student perceptions of professor social media use, student-instructor multimodal communication, and both student and instructor perspectives on digital feedback technologies. These works have been featured in journals such as Communication Education, Computers & Education, Communication Reports and Social Media + Society.

Education

• Ph.D., West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV)

• M.A., Clemson University (Clemson, SC)

• B.S., Slippery Rock University (Slippery Rock, PA)

Publications

• Clark-Gordon, C.V. (2026). "Dont pet the fluffy cows": Strategic banter as entertainment education in the National Park Services's social media strategy. In O. Truban & V. McDermot (Eds.), The art and science of banter: Considering the future of the humorous approach to public relations. Lexington Books.
• Clark-Gordon, C.V.,& Pitts, S.E. (2026). Charty party: Gamifying the learning of variable relationships. In J. Bowman (Ed.) Teaching research methods in communication studies. Edward Elgar Publishing.

• Goodboy, A. K., Martin, M. M., Mills, C. B., Clark-Gordon, C. V. (2022). Workplace bullying in academia: A conditional process model. Management Communication Quarterly.

• Clark-Gordon, C. V., & Goodboy, A. K. (2019). Instructor self-disclosure and third-party generated warrants: Student perceptions of professor social media use. Western Journal of Communication.

• Clark-Gordon, C. V., Bowman, N. D., Goodboy, A. K., & Wright, A. (2019). Anonymity and online self-disclosure: A meta-analysis. Communication Reports.

• Baker, J. P., Clark-Gordon, C.V., & Myers, S. A. (2019). Using emotional response theory to examine dramatic teaching behaviors and student approach-avoidance behaviors. Communication Education.

• Clark-Gordon, C. V., Bowman, N. D., Hadden, A., & Frisby, B. N. (2019). College instructors and the digital red pen: An exploration of the adoption of digital written feedback technologies. Computers & Education.

• Clark-Gordon, C. V., Bowman, N. D., Watts, E. R, Banks, J., & Knight, J. M. (2018). “As good as your word”: Face-threat mitigation and the use of nonverbal cues on students’ perceptions of digital instructor feedback. Communication Education.

• Clark-Gordon, C. V., Workman, K. E., & Linvill, D. L. (2017). College students and Yik Yak: An exploratory mixed methods study. Social Media + Society.

Awards

Advisor of the Year, Seton Hill University, 2026

Career Champion Award, Seton Hill University, 2025

Organizations

National Communication Association, Eastern Communication Association