Press Room

Rachael Purtell, Ph.D., will join the NCA National Office staff on April 10 as Research Associate, working with Dr. Dane S. Claussen, Director of Research, Publications, and Professional Advancement.

She is the author or co-author of articles in Communication Reports, Journal of Family Communication, International Journal of Inclusive Education, Ohio Communication Journal, Carolinas Communication Annual, and Journal of the International Ombudsman Association.

Since November, she has been the part-time Communications and Development Lead for the Modern Family Institute in California as well as a full-time staff member at Marymount University (Arlington, VA) since July.

Purtell, a New York native, completed her Ph.D. in communication studies at West Virginia University in 2023 after completing her M.A. in communication studies there in 2020. Her Ph.D. program focused on organizational communication, interpersonal communication and diversity. Her M.A. program concentrated on instructional communication, media and mass communication, research methods, and leadership.

Purtell’s B.A. is in communication studies and psychology from SUNY at New Paltz, where she was editor-in-chief of The New Paltz Oracle student newspaper.

At WVU, Purtell worked with two dozen other researchers on statistical analysis of about 15 studies presented at conferences and/or published, trained at about 10 researchers on qualitative research methods, taught communication studies courses to adult learners, and developed training materials for other instructors.