Essential Guide to Presentation Software

Allison J. Ainsworth serves as the Chair of the Department of Communication, Media Studies, and Journalism at Gainesville State College, Gainesville, Georgia. She teaches Communication courses in the areas of Business and Professional, Interpersonal, Intercultural, as well as the basic course. Additionally, she teaches Environmental Communication as a member of the Teaching Faculty of the Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis where she combines geospatial analysis with her research projects. She is actively involved with the National Communication Association and serves as the 2010-2011 Chair of the Community College Section and Past-Faculty Delegate to Sigma Chi Eta, one of the honoraries sponsored by NCA. She received her bachelor’s degree in English Education and her master’s degree in Speech Communication & Theatre from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. In Fall 2010, she successful defended her dissertation titled "The Communication Process: Impact of Ethnocentrism and Communication Apprehension on Foreign Language Student Competence,” and will be awarded her doctorate in Higher Education Administrative Leadership from Argosy University in Spring 2011.

Rob Patterson is an Assistant Professor in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He teaches communication, non-profit, and global citizenship segments in McIntire’s integrated core experience, as well as an upper-division course in public speaking and persuasion. Additionally, Patterson regularly teaches rhetoric and speech seminars in the University Seminars (USEM) program at UVA. Patterson received his BA, as a double major in speech communication and political science, from Texas State University, his MA in communication from the University of Oklahoma, and his PhD in communication studies (rhetoric and culture)  from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has fourteen years of experience teaching communication coursework at four different universities and several years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, most recently as the Associate Executive Director/Chief of Staff for a national higher education accrediting agency in Washington, DC. In this latter role, he worked on a number of international projects and traveled abroad. Patterson has published work in rhetorical theory, political communication, and communication pedagogy. He recently had his guide to using presentation software rereleased (Bedford/St. Martin’s). Patterson won a teaching excellence award from the University of Nebraska Alumni Association in 1997 and holds memberships in both the National Communication Association and the Association for Business Communication. He enjoys canoeing, travel, the outdoors, and especially his family life.