A month ago, East Tennessee State University welcomed Brianna August-Rae as a new Communications and Storytelling Department assistant professor. In the field, she will be teaching many classes including health communication, qualitative methods, intercultural communication and classes for the developing medical humanities program, as well as building her research conjoining health and narrative exposition in the form of storytelling. Excited to be a part of the Buc community, she looks forward to sharing her perspective and ideas in the classroom.
August-Rae has spent the last six years in Florida, Tampa is where she got her master’s and Ph.D. at the University of South Florida. USF being a larger-scale university, August-Rae mentioned she was very content with the size of ETSU in terms of having a close-knit community and a closer connection with her students she hadn’t felt in Florida.
“One difference that I have really felt in coming here is that at ETSU, I really feel like there is this commitment,” August-Rae said. “Everybody is very proud of our Appalachian heritage, everybody is very invested in trying to benefit the region and lifting up our community.”
In addition to her degrees from USF, she also earned a certificate in narrative medicine from Columbia University which explains how creative expression translates into healthcare, and what is produced as a result.
“How can we understand health and illness as stories, and how can we use stories, storytelling, artistic creation, to improve healthcare in a variety of different ways,” August-Rae said.
Believing strongly that research is “me-search,” August-Rae shared how her research project came to be after a personal experience affected her life from a health standpoint and how from her experiences, storytelling in that field came to light. After facing illness as an undergraduate and having to take time away from school, she mentioned how experiences with her doctors sprouted her interest in how stories and stigmas travel throughout the healthcare system and affect patient care.
“I knew I wanted to pursue that path [health] and understand health communication and how we can make it better,” August-Rae said.
Growing up with learning disabilities, August-Rae mentioned how she was able to overcome hurdles in her academic career with the help of her undergraduate mentor, Vesta Silva, who introduced her to the communications field and encouraged her to apply to communications graduate school.
“She had a massive influence in saying she thought I could do it and that I had a valuable perspective to bring,” August-Rae said.
With unique ideas and experiences, August-Rae has started to meet her students and connect with them in the last two weeks and is looking forward to the years to come at ETSU. To contact August-Rae, email cusanno@etsu.edu. For more information on the communications and storytelling department, visit https://www.etsu.edu/cas/comm_perform/academics/storytelling.php.
