Indiana University East is pleased to welcome its newest faculty member to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Renee Kaufmann joined the school at the start of the spring 2015 semester.

Kaufmann, assistant professor of communication studies, received her Ph.D. in Communication Studies, her Master of Arts in Communication Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Distance Learning Development and Implementation from the University of Kentucky. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Middle Childhood Education from Ohio University.

Previously, Kaufmann was an instructional designer in the Office of eLearning at the University of Kentucky. While at the university, she also was an assistant to the director of the Division of ICR and was a graduate teaching assistant in the College of Communication and Information. Before working at the University of Kentucky, Kaufmann was a language arts teacher for Morton Middle School in Lexington, Ky., and formerly held the same position at Glen Este Middle School in Cincinnati.

Kaufmann is presently a member of the National Communication Association, Central States Communication Association, and a Life Member Alpha Phi Omega.

She has received honors and awards including the Top Paper from the College of Communication and Information Graduate Symposium and the Graduate Student Research Spotlight from the Division of Instructional Communication and Research. Both were awarded in 2014 at the University of Kentucky. In 2013, Kaufmann also received a Research Fellowship from the College of Communication and Information and she was the Academic Excellence Graduate Student Award Recipient while at the University of Kentucky.