UCCS Interim Provost Kelli Klebe announced Monday that Constance Staley, Professor of Communication, will serve as Acting Dean of the Graduate School beginning Aug. 1. She will remain in this role until Klebe concludes her time as Interim Provost.
“I am eager to work with Dr. Staley and believe she offers a valuable perspective on student achievement and academic excellence that will help us examine our graduate student needs and determine next steps based on the results from our recent graduate student survey,” Klebe said.
Staley, who has been a UCCS faculty member for 45 years and was the second department chair of the Communication Department, teaches courses in conflict management, professional speaking and training and development for both graduate and undergraduate students. She helped develop the original communication graduate program and has spearheaded its transformation to a fully online program. She was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to teach in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union, has won the University of Colorado Outstanding Teacher Award and was nominated for a CASE U.S. Professor of the Year Award.
In addition to teaching communication full-time, for nearly 25 years she directed the UCCS First-Year Seminar Program — now known as GPS, which grew to more than 150 sections. Staley also conducts organizational training on personality profiling and team building, intergenerational communication, virtual and face-to-face training design and employee engagement and effective speaking and writing.
Her work has appeared in “Group and Organization Studies,” “Communication Quarterly,” “Public Personnel Management,” “Communication Education” and “Human Relations.” She has published 20 books and editions, including “Teaching College Success,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lectern,” four first-year seminar textbooks from Cengage Learning (2008-2021) and a co-authored text with Dr. Steve Staley, “FOCUS on College and Career Success.” She also recently published “Public Speaking: The Inside Word.”