The department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGS) is composed of administrators, a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) and Teaching Faculty.

WGS Administrators oversee planning, programming, and day-to-day operations.

The WGS Program Advisory Committee (PAC) is made up of faculty and staff who consult on curricular matters, choose scholarship and award winners, and advise on vision and programming.

The WGS Teaching Faculty includes numerous faculty members (from several colleges at UAH) who teach classes designated as Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies courses.

 

Dr. Eletra Gilchrist-Petty

Department Chair of Communication Arts Professor

Contact

1310 Ben Graves Drive
Morton Hall
Room 278F
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map

256.824.2304
Eletra.Gilchrist@uah.edu

Biography

Dr. Eletra S. Gilchrist-Petty is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Arts at The University of Alabama Huntsville. She teaches a wealth of communication classes, Senior Seminar, Business and Professional Communication, Dark Side of Communication, Research Methods, Public Speaking, Culture and Communication, Small Group Communication, Persuasion, and Media Writing. Her programs of research focus on communication and culture, interpersonal communication, and instructional communication, from both the quantitative and qualitative perspectives. She has published three books and dozens of other publications. Additionally, Dr. Gilchrist-Petty is a former UAH Distinguished Teaching Awardee, and she has won several awards from various communication associations.

Education

  • Ph.D., Communication, University of Memphis, 2004
  • M.A., Communication Studies, University of Alabama, 2001
  • B.A., Communication Studies, University of Alabama, 1999

Affiliations

  • Southern States Communication Association (2026-2027 2nd Vice President; 2027-2028 1st Vice President; 2028-2029 President)
  • National Communication Association
  • International Communication Association
  • World Communication Association
  • Alabama Communication Association

Expertise

  • Culture and Communication
  • Communication Pedagogy
  • Interpersonal Communication

Recent Publications

  • Gilchrist-Petty, E. S. (2026). Reimagining administrative support of transgressive teaching amid anti-DEI legislation. Southern Communication Journal, 91(1), 67-71, doi: 10.1080/1041794X.2025.2543469

  • Spencer, L., & Gilchrist-Petty, E. S. (2025). A response to antiblackness ideology in missing person alerts: A fragment analysis of Ebony Alerts’ media coverage. Women and Language, 48(1), 205-244.

  • Gilchrist-Petty, E. S. (2024). Benchmarking: Assessing competitive metrics to become a more attractive educational destination. In Camara, S. (Eds.), Communication Training and Development: Exploring the Cutting Edge (3rd ed., pp. 169-177). Kendall Hunt.

  • Gilchrist-Petty, E. S., & Bennett, L. K. (2019). Cross-sex best friendships and the experience and expression of jealousy within romantic relationships. Journal of Relationships Research, 1-9. doi: 10.1017/jrr.2019.16

  • Gilchrist-Petty, E. S. (2018). Taking interest in students’ disinterest: Best practices for mitigating amotivation in the basic course. Journal of Communication Pedagogy, 1(1), 101-108. doi: 10.31446/JCP.2018.17

  • Gilchrist-Petty, E. S. (2018). Deviant communication in teacher-student interactions: Emerging research and opportunities. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

  • Gilchrist-Petty, E. S., & Long, S. D. (Eds., 2016). Contexts of the Dark Side of Communication. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.

  • Gilchrist, E. S., & Jackson II, R. S. (2012). Articulating the heuristic value of African-American communication studies. Review of Communication, 12(3), 1-14. doi: 10.1080/15358593.2012.666670

  • Gilchrist, E. S., & Camara, S. (2012). Cultural dis/continuity in African American and Ghanaian mothers’ voices and identities. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 41(1), 81-108. doi: 10.1080/17475759.2011.651152

  • Gilchrist, E. S. (2011). Experiences of single African-American women professors: With this Ph.D., I thee wed. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.