Dr. Montiegel is a qualitative researcher who studies the role of talk-in-interaction in the construction and management of social meanings, identities, and relationships. She primarily applies this interest in the contexts of education, disability, and political communication. Her methods are conversation analysis and ethnography. She is currently launching a new research program that aims to understand how social equity/inequity and equality/inequality in the larger special education system might be reflected in interactions on the ground level, particularly in the context of special education meetings.
COMM 2400 - Discourse, Culture and Identities
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2024
Considers how communication is central to constructing who people are and examines social controversies related to talk and identities. Students learn to analyze and understand discourse, defined as everyday talk and conversation, through the practice of discourse analysis.
COMM 3740 - Qualitative Research Methods
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2025 / Fall 2025
Learn to collect and analyze qualitative data (interviews, observations, focus groups) in order to answer research questions about communication and society. Focuses on research that investigates meaning, understanding, process, and interpretation in order to enhance our knowledge of human interaction. Recommended prerequisites: COMM 1210 and COMM 1600.
COMM 5435 - Readings in Community and Social Interaction
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025
Focuses on how everyday communication practices shape and are shaped by community contexts. Contains theoretical and empirical readings that illustrate how interactions among group members negotiate and maintain distinct communities and how group communication practices reflect shared norms among community members. Also reviews methods to study everyday interactions among community members (e.g., discourse analysis, qualitative coding, surveys and applied approaches/methods).
