About Me

Teacher.  Scholar.  Author.  

I love culture, am fascinated by secrets, and enjoy the challenge of effectively communicating health.

(See below for further details).   

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Interests

Privacy management.

Intercultural communication.

​Interpersonal communication.

Critical communication pedagogy.

Health communication.

Competency-based education.

Photography.

Kayaking.

Cycling.

Running.

Pugs.

Selected Awards

Top Paper Award, Inter/Cultural Communication, Eastern Communication Association (ECA), 2015

Top Paper Award, Inter/Cultural Communication, Eastern Communication Association (ECA), 2013

Top Paper Award, Health Communication, Central States Communication Association (CSCA), 2012

Pamela J. Cooper Teaching Award Nominee, Central States Communication Association, 2014

Outstanding Teaching Associate, School of Communication Studies, Ohio University, 2013

Excellence in Teaching Award, Communication Department, Missouri State University, 2007

Selected Publications

Simmons, N. (2017). Cultural discourses of privacy: Interrogating globalized workplace relationships in Japan. Journal of International & Intercultural Communication, 10(1), 44-61. ​

​Simmons, N. (2016). (De-) legitimizing medical professional discourses: evaluations from foreign English teachers in Japan. Language and Intercultural Communication, 16(2), 274-291.

Simmons, N., & Tenzek, K. E. (2016). “Listening is an act of love”: Learning listening through StoryCorps. Communication Teacher, 30(1), 17-21.

Simmons, N. (2015). Using social lubricants to increase conversationally. Discourse, 2, 73-77.   

Beck, C. S., Chapman, S. A., Simmons, N., Tenzek, K., & Ruhl, S. (2015). Celebrity health narratives and the public health. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Simmons, N. (2015). Dining with Mama: Four newcomer socialization experiences inside a small-town diner. Ohio Communication Journal, 53.

Chen, Y.-W., & Simmons, N. (2015). “I was ‘fortunate’ enough to have been born a white male”: Identity, pedagogy, and cycle of whiteness in an intercultural communication course. Intercultural Cultural Studies, XXIV(2). 

Chen, Y.-W., Simmons, N., & Kang, D. (2015). “My family isn’t racist however…”: Multiracial/Multicultural Obama-ism as an ideological barrier to teaching intercultural communication in a post-racial era. [Special Issue]. Journal of International & Intercultural Communication, 8(2), 167-186. doi: 10.1080/17513057.2015.1025331

Simmons, N. (2014). “We’re a culture, not a costume”: Ethical analysis of a college student-led organizations’ anti-racism campaign. Public Voices, XIV, 97-114.

Simmons, N. (2014). My “big” blue health secret: My experience with privacy, or lack thereof, in Japan. Health Communication, 29(6), 634-636. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2013.786013

Simmons, N. (2014). Speaking like a queen in RuPaul’s Drag Race: Towards a speech code of American drag queens. Sexuality & Culture, 18(3), 630-648. doi: 10.1007/s12119-013-9213-2

Simmons, N., & Chen, Y.-W. (2014). Using six-word memoirs to increase cultural identity awareness. Communication Teacher, 28, 20-25. doi: 10.1080/17404622.2013.839050

Simmons, N., & Striley, K. M. (2014). Twisted leadership: A visual example of leadership style. Communication Teacher, 28(2), 80-84. doi: 10.1080/17404622.2013.865769

Beck, C. S., Aubuchon, S., McKenna, T., Ruhl, S., & Simmons, N. (2014). Blurring personal health and public priorities: An analysis of celebrity health narratives in the public sphere. Health Communication, 29(3), 244-256. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2012.741668

Simmons, N. (2012). The tales of gaijin: Health privacy perspectives of foreign English teachers in Japan. Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research, 11, 17-38.

Affiliations

International Communication Association (ICA)

International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies (IAICS)    

 Japan-U.S. Communication Association (JUCA)     

National Communication Association (NCA)     

Eastern States Communication Association (ECA)