Dr. Gabriela Morales
Assistant Professor, Tenure Track
Please introduce yourself:
Hello, all! My name is Dr. Gabriela Morales. I am an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies. I completed my B.A. and M.A. at the University of Texas at El Paso and earned my Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico.
What do you teach for the department?
At the undergraduate level, I teach courses in Communication & Culture. I also teach courses in Health Communication, Environmental Communication, and Introduction to Communication (both for Honors and my department). At the graduate level, I teach Communication & Culture and Qualitative Research Methods.
What is your research on?
I focus on culture and health communication topics such as addressing health disparities and social determinants of health. I look at the intersections of culture and health as they tie to underrepresented narratives in health and health care as well as health promotion. I have recently started doing interdisciplinary work which includes feminist and EID scholarship and have published several articles and book chapters on these topics.
What's your favorite teaching moment?
Too many to include on here! If I have to pick, the entirety of my Communication & Culture class in the Fall of 2022. We all built such a supportive and nuturing environment with each other. Students took ownership of their education and strived to challenge each other in ways the brought about new opportunities to practice critical thinking on the many topics we discussed. This came across in their facilitation assignments and in their attention to detail which demonstrated respect for one another. Going to that class just had an indescribable feeling and I thank my students for their willingness to learn and be vulnerable at times.
What do you like most about NMSU?
The community! I always said that if I stayed in academia, I wanted to teach students with a similar background to mine and I'm getting to do just that!
