Renu Pariyadath, Ph.D.

Teacher-Scholar and Culture Builder

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    about

    I’m an Assistant Professor of Communication at University of South Carolina Upstate. I study strategic organizing around issues of development in the Global South and environmental justice, especially in the context of transnational resistance to global restructuring. My scholarship engages critical cultural studies, environmental communication and non-profit organizational communication, and borrows widely from transnational feminist theory, and sociological and anthropological scholarship on transnationalism. I teach environmental communication, communication for social change, ethics in human communication, organizational communication, and gender and communication. I received my doctorate in communication studies from the University of Iowa with a graduate minor in gender, women’s and sexuality studies, and have a master’s degree in communication from The Ohio State University. I am actively involved in environmental justice movements in the U.S. and in India and was previously an international working journalist.

    Teaching

    Experiential Learning in Communication Studies

    Over the past 18 years, I have independently designed and/or taught a wide range of courses focused on communication, culture, and social change, including:

    • Public Speaking
    • Environmental Communication
    • Introduction to Organizational Communication
    • Ethics in Human Communication
    • Gender and Communication
    • Small Group Communication
    • Communicating for Social Change
    • Transnational Feminist Rhetorics
    • Intercultural Communication
    • Rhetoric
    • Business and Professional Communication
    • Social Marketing Campaigns
    • Persuasion
    • Communication Theory
    • Research Methods
    • Senior Seminar in Communication Studies

    My teaching is strongly applied and experiential, with an emphasis on real-world connection. At University of South Carolina Upstate, my award-winning service-learning course examines environmental health and justice. In collaboration with community partners such as the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, the Spartanburg Earth Day Festival, the Spartanburg Humane Society, and the South Carolina Aquarium, students engage directly with organizations doing meaningful environmental work.

    I also mentor undergraduate student research, often leading to co-authored publications and/or conference presentations.

    • Image of Table-top signs in the cafe after anti-plastic straw service-learning presentations to Dining
      Table-top signs appear in the cafe after anti-plastic straw service-learning presentations to Dining Services
    • Image of Students performing a Cube of Truth about the Bhopal gas disaster
      Students performing a Cube of Truth about the Bhopal gas disaster
    • Image of Table-top signs in the cafe after anti-plastic straw service-learning presentations to Dining Services
      Table-top signs appear in the cafe after anti-plastic straw service-learning presentations to Dining Services