Nickesia Gordon Headshot

Nickesia Gordon

Associate Professor

School of Communication
College of Liberal Arts
nsggpt@rit.edu
585-475-5765
Office Location
EAS-3043

Nickesia Gordon

Associate Professor

School of Communication
College of Liberal Arts

Education

BA, University of the West Indies (Jamaica); MA, Clark University; Ph.D., Howard University

Bio

Nickesia S. Gordon, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the School of Communication, RIT. Her research focuses on communication and gender, race and nationality as well as communication for social change.

Additionally, her research agenda includes examining how the Communication curriculum in higher ed can engage experiential learning practices and help foster civic/community engagement among college students.  

Dr. Gordon earned her doctoral degree in Communication and Culture from Howard University and also holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Clark University, Massachusetts.  

nsggpt@rit.edu
585-475-5765
Areas of Expertise
Communication and gender
Communication and race
Communication and social change

Select Scholarship

Book Chapter
Gordon, Nickesia. "Making Ourselves Visible." and Communication Theory: Racially Diverse and Inclusive Perspectives. Ed. Austin, Jasmine T.; Orbe, Mark & Simms, Jeanetta. San Diego, US: Cognella Press, 2022. 127-155. Print.
Gordon, Nickesia. "Decolonizing communication rhetoric: A case study of Caribbean feminist discursive practices." Decolonizing Communication Studies. Ed. Kehbuma Langmia. Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars, 2022. 103-124. Print.
Gordon, Nickesia S. and Yuhan Huang. "The Oppositional Gaze as Spectacle: Feminist Visual Protest Movements in China." The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Communication. Ed. Marnel Niles Goins, Joan Faber McAlister, and Bryant Keith Alexander. New York, United States: Routledge, 2020. 585-600. Print.
Gordon, Nickesia Stacyann. "Branding the Nation: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Commercial Campaigns." Brand Jamaica: Reimagining a National Image and Identity. Ed. Hume Johnson and Kamille Gentles-Peart. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. 31-50. Print.
Journal Paper
Gordon, Nickesia S. "Discourses of Consumption: The Rhetorical Construction of the Black Female Body as Food in Hip Hop and R&B Music." Howard Journal of Communications 31. 4 (2020): 1-20. Web.

Currently Teaching

COMM-291
Communication for Social Change
3 Credits
The course introduces students to the role of communication, information, and media in social change messaging, particularly in the areas of activism and public advocacy. It takes a critical approach toward understanding the role of communication and communication technologies in the creation and dissemination of messages geared towards social change in a variety of mediated contexts. Students will review relevant theoretical frameworks that commonly inform the study and practice of activism and public advocacy, as well as analyze specific examples and case studies contemporarily, as well as select examples at moments of profound activism since the Civil Rights era of the 20th Century. Students will analyze various forms of activism and examine the role of communication in each. Finally, through the design of a social change communication campaign proposal, students will apply strategic communication approaches that will respond to a social issue that may be local, national or global.
COMM-302
Interpersonal Communication
3 Credits
Interpersonal communication provides analysis and application of the major theories of interpersonal communication in various situations. The course focuses on perception of self and others, language use, nonverbal communication, and symbolic interaction in the communication of shared meanings in face-to-face and mediated interpersonal relationships. There is a strong focus on both conflict management and intercultural interactions.
COMM-357
Communication, Gender, and Media
3 Credits
This course examines the relationship between gender and media communication with specific attention to how gender affects choices in mass media and social media practices. Students explore how gender, sexual orientation, sexuality and social roles, affect media coverage, portrayals, production and reception. They consider issues of authorship, spectatorship (audience), and the ways in which various media content (film, television, print journalism, advertising, social media) enables, facilitates, and challenges these social constructions in society. The course covers communication theories and scholarship as it applies to gender and media, methods of media analysis, and topics of current interest.
COMM-402
Qualitative Research Methods
3 Credits
Introduction to the methods and ethics of qualitative and critical research. Students are introduced to interviewing, participant observation, naturalistic study, and ethnography. They also develop a disciplined ability for the critical appraisal of public discourse, cultural phenomenon, and designed objects. Both qualitative and critical research methods rely on the researcher's observational, analytic, and critical skills, and seek to understand the behaviors, beliefs, values, attitudes, assumptions, rituals, and symbol systems that characterize relationships between the source, message, media, and audience of specific communication acts. Students will also investigate the processes of rhetorical action. By the end of the course, students will have developed a research proposal suitable for implementation as the senior thesis in communication. This course should be taken during the student's third year.
VISL-120
Introduction to Film
3 Credits
This course provides the student with an introduction to film as an art form. The course presents a vocabulary for film analysis as well as the critical and analytical skills for interpreting films. The course examines the major aesthetic, structural, historical, and technical components of film. It considers how a film works, by looking internally at the multiple aspects that comprise the construction of a film, and externally at how a film affects the viewers. Students will watch a variety of feature films, primarily American, ranging in date from the 1940's through the 2000's. Clips from alternative films and foreign films will also be screened and discussed. Any artistic background in film, music, theatre, painting, sculpture, etc., is helpful, but no specific technical knowledge of film, video, or photography is required or expected.
WGST-357
Communication, Gender, and Media
3 Credits
This course examines the relationship between gender and media communication with specific attention to how gender affects choices in mass media and social media practices. Students explore how gender, sexual orientation, sexuality and social roles, affect media coverage, portrayals, production and reception. They consider issues of authorship, spectatorship (audience), and the ways in which various media content (film, television, print journalism, advertising, social media) enables, facilitates, and challenges these social constructions in society. The course covers communication theories and scholarship as it applies to gender and media, methods of media analysis, and topics of current interest.

In the News

  • October 2, 2023

    a photo of women gathered in front of the tait preserve during the sisters connect writing retreat in september

    RIT Faculty Host Inaugural Sister Scholars Connect Writing Retreat

    Only two percent of full professors at US colleges and universities are Black women, according to National Center for Education Statistics data, and Black faculty as a whole make up about six percent of all faculty. During the Sister Scholars Connect Writing Retreat held last month at RIT’s Tait Preserve, more than 30 Black women faculty from throughout the region met for a day of scholarly writing, collaboration, mentoring, and support. 

  • May 26, 2021

    side-by-side portraits of professor Nickesia Gordon, student Trinity McFadden, and professor Carol Anderson.

    Podcast: Race, Gender and Voting Rights 

    Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 49: New restrictive voting laws in states across the country present obstacles to the polls via voter ID laws, voter role purges, and poll closures. The collective impact on American citizens’ right to vote follows the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment and women’s suffrage. Nickesia Gordon, School of Communication, and Trinity McFadden '21 (criminal justice), talk with historian Carol Anderson, Emory University.

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