Lauren Johnsen

My name is Lauren Johnsen (she/her) and I am currently in my first tenure track position at Stout as an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies. My degrees have all focused on interpersonal and family communication, I graduated in 2021 from the University of Missouri while I was an Assistant Teaching Professor on the Lambuth campus of the University of Memphis. I study relationships at the intersections of interpersonal, family, and health communication contexts and teach those classes along with other communication skills classes.

TEACHING AND LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

My teaching is guided by three main principles – building community, learning collaboratively, and forming connections. I think its important that my classrooms are community spaces where everyone feels welcome, and that we learn together. I want my students to work together, learning from each other and from me, and I learn just as much from them. I also focus on how they can use the skills gained in my communication classes in their other classes and their career and lives outside of college. In general I try to be a student-centered teacher and focus on backwards course design in all of my classes.