Katherine (“Kathy”) Kelley joined the ORU family in August 2016 as an associate professor
of communication. She was promoted to Chair of the Communication & Media Department
in August 2017. Kathy earned a B.A. at the University of Oklahoma in Communication.
She earned her M.A. in Communication at Pepperdine University, with special emphasis
in training and development. Pepperdine hired her where she served as a Visiting Professor
& Speech Program Coordinator before returning to OU where she earned her Ph.D. in
Communication.
Dr. Kelley has over 15 years of collegiate-level teaching. Her main area of research
is organizational communication, specifically investigating supervisor-subordinate
communication, and how trust is communicated in the workplace. Her research has been
published in highly regarded academic journals, such as The Leadership Quarterly, Communication Research, and Journal of Business Communication. In addition to her research, she actively teaches, mentors, trains and consults
outside the classroom. Her venues include college groups, women’s ministries, city
offices, schools and franchised-owned businesses, such as McDonald’s.
She was presented with one of ten Phenomenal Woman awards at her last institution. Kathy loves to travel. She has served in supervisory capacities on mission trips to Costa Rica and Haiti. Kathy’s daily prayer is Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.”