L. Shelley Rawlins | SIU

Communication Studies

Dr. Rawlins is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the School of Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She received her M.A. in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Maine (2014), and her Ph.D. in Relational Communication from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2020.

She currently serves as the Introductory Course Director for CMST 101 and teaches public speaking, small group communication, and nonverbal communication. Her research explores public and private relational contexts of fellowship and estrangement, currently through the lens of people participating in collective protest. She also is interested in legal and political relationships and identity (self-other) facets within law and policies, and how people pursue freedom and agency together through activism, allyship, and leadership. Dr. Rawlins has published articles in Women & Language, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Kaleidoscope, and Health Communication.