Rahul Mitra (fl1086)
University information
Contact information
Department of Communication
Rahul Mitra (PhD, Purdue University) is an Associate Professor of organizational communication. His scholarship focuses on environmental organizing, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR),and meaningful work discourses. He is a critical-interpretive scholar, and uses primarily qualitative methods, such as ethnography, interviews, focus groups, discourse analysis, and arts-based research methods. His work has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed publications such as Environmental Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, Human Relations, Communication Theory, International Journal of Business Communication, Public Relations Review, and Journal of Business Ethics. He also co-edited (with James McDonald) the book "Movements in Organizational Communication Research" (Routledge, 2019). His work has received external funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes Protection Fund, and Waterhouse Family Institute.
Learn more about his past and ongoing work at www.rahulmitraphd.com.
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Organizational Communication
- Sustainability & Environmental Organizing
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Research Translation
Ph.D. - Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (August 2013), Major area of study: Organizational Communication
M.A. - Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH (August 2009). Major area of study: Organizational Communication/ Public Relations
Postgraduate Diploma - Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, India (May 2004), Major area of study: Print Journalism
B.Sc. - University of Calcutta, at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, India (May 2003), Major area of study: Economics (Honors)
Books:
McDonald, J., & Mitra, R. (Eds.). (2019). Movements in organizational communication research: Current issues and future directions. New York: Routledge.
Select Journal Articles:
Nyawaga, C., & Mitra, R. (2023). Black frontline workers navigating everyday workplace tensions through professionalism. Journal of Professions and Organization. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpo/joad022
Lucas, A., & Mitra, R. (2023). Entrepreneurial support organization (ESO) narratives and transitional entrepreneurship in Detroit. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship. Avance online publication. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/NEJE-08-2022-0060/full/html
Tong, S.T., Stoycheff, E., & Mitra, R. (2022). Racism and resilience of pandemic proportions: Online harassment of Asian Americans during COVID-19. Journal of Applied Communication Research. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1080/00909882.2022.2141068
Stephens, K.K., Jahn, J., Fox, S., Charoensap-Kelly, P., Mitra, R., Waters, E., Xie, B., & Meisenbach, R. (2020). Radically changing work as we know it: Organizational scholars contributing to our future by collectively sensemaking around COVID-19. Management Communication Quarterly, 34, 426-457. doi:10.1177/0893318920934890
Bres, L., Mosonyi, S., Gond, J-P., Muzio, D., Mitra, R., Werr, A., & Wickert, C. (2019). Rethinking professionalization: A generative dialogue on CSR practitioners. Journal of Professions and Organization, 6, 246-264. doi:10.1093/jpo/joz009
Mitra, R. (2018). Natural resource management in the U.S. Arctic: Sustainable organizing through communicative practices. Management Communication Quarterly, 32, 398-430. doi:10.1177/0893318918755971
Mitra, R. (2018). Communicative management of tensions by multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) for water resilience. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 23, 257-273. doi:10.1108/CCIJ-04-2017-0041
Selected Book Chapters:
Mitra, R., Gaber, N., Bouier, R., & Howell, S. (2023). Contesting institutional narratives and core assumptions on Detroit’s mass water shutoffs: Collaborative writing for water justice. In S. Dempsey (Eds.), Organizing eating: Communicating for equity across U.S. food systems, (pp. 69-94). Routledge.
Mitra, R., Lucas, A., Johnson-Fambro, S., Van Raaphorst, C., & Lasky, S. (2022). A mosaic of researcher “back-stories” and oral history “front-stories”: COVID-19 and Metro Detroit BIPOC entrepreneurs’ resilience. In L. Browning, J-O Sørnes, & P.J. Svenkerud (Eds.), Organizational communication and technology in the time of coronavirus: Ethnographies from the first year of the pandemic (pp. 307-326). London: Palgrave.
Mitra, R., Brewster, N., Buzzanell, P.M., Grzywinski, J., & Pandzich, E-A. (2021). Structuration of U.S. Communication graduate students’ stress. In T.H. Housel (Ed.), Mental health among higher education faculty, administrators, and graduate Students: A critical perspective (pp. 53-67). Lanham MD: Lexington Books.
Mitra, R. (2020). Organizing for sustainability: Including and engaging diverse stakeholders. In M.L. Doerfel, & J.L. Gibbs, (Eds.), Organizing inclusion: Moving diversity from demographics to communication processes (pp. 180-199). New York: Routledge.
Undergraduate Courses:
COM 2000: Introduction to Communication Studies
COM 3250: Introduction to Organizational Communication
COM 4500: Leadership Communication
COM 4270: Group Communication
COM 5900: Senior Project in Communication Studies
Graduate Courses:
COM 6250/8250: Organizational Communication
COM 7010: Special Topics in Communication: Environmental Justice
COM 7150: Micro-Approaches to Organizational Communication
COM 7340: Interviewing
COM 7360: Qualitative Research Methods in Communication
COM 7365/8230: Ethnographiic Methods for Communication Research
COM 7410: Communication Theory
541 Manoogian Hall
