Amy Pason (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, specializing in rhetoric. Growing up in Spring Creek, Nevada, Dr. Pason has been at the University since 2010. Dr. Pason’s research and teaching centers on multiple facets of democracy in the US, especially in the ways that we can foster and support democratic culture. She has explored advocacy strategies of activists, intersections of the First Amendment and protest, and public deliberation of legislation. She is interested in the ways that publics are invited to or restrained from engaging in democratic governance, and works to foster skills in students to deliberate and understand how to engage across differences to solve society’s “wicked problems.” Her students facilitate the “Wolf Pack Community Howl” deliberative discussion events at the University. She is currently developing research to understand how negative political rhetoric and incivility by elected officials undermines political participation.
