Melanie E. Loehwing, an associate professor in the department of communication at Mississippi State University, is the winner of the 2019 National Communication Association Diamond Anniversary Book Award. Dr. Loehwing will be honored at the 105th annual convention of the National Communication Association, which will be held in Baltimore this November.
“Receiving this award is such an honor for me because the list of past recipients includes such a distinguished collection of communication scholars — folks who have shaped the way I think about my field and conduct my research,” Loehwing said.
Dr. Loehwing is being honored for her book Homeless Advocacy and the Rhetorical Construction of the Civic Home (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018). The book examines homelessness and the relationship between public policy and ideas and practices of democracy.
“It’s more important than ever to think critically about the language we use to talk about issues of housing access and being ‘at home’ in the United States,” Dr. Loehwing said. “Our rhetorical choices reflect the implicit attitudes that shape our public judgment about who belongs in a community, what we value and what kind of shared future we want to pursue.”
Dr. Loehwing joined the faculty at Mississippi State University in 2013. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from Indiana University.