Dawn Werner

Title

Adjunct Instructor

Department

Communication and Media Arts

Phone

dwerner@mmm.edu

About

Dawn Werner brings to education, and the field of communication studies, a background that draws on professional experience in both academic and organizational environments.  She designs and delivers innovative curricula for higher-education institutions in courses ranging from interpersonal communication to contemporary media.  In addition, she has worked with students and professionals to build communication skills in areas that include presentation style, advocacy, diversity, conflict management and interviewing.  Participants in her programs have consistently credited them with enhancing their ability to achieve personal, educational and professional success.

Affiliated with New York University’s Steinhardt School since 1994 as an Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies, Ms. Werner designs and delivers courses for undergraduate and graduate students in Speech Communication, Organizational Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Interviewing Strategies, Conflict Management, Intercultural Communication and Communication for Professionals. In recognition of her record of accomplishment in teaching, she was selected by the Media, Culture and Communication Department to redesign Interviewing Strategies from small-class models to a large lecture setting, with the challenge of integrating active learning methodologies into the changing classroom dynamic. On an ongoing basis, she serves as a mentor to her colleagues, guiding them in their presentation of new pedagogical approaches to optimize course instruction.

Since 2004, Ms. Werner has concurrently served as an Adjunct Professor of Communication Arts at Marymount Manhattan College, where she has designed and delivered courses including Principles and Theories of Communication, Public Speaking in the Digital Age and Communication Today.  She also serves as a curriculum advisor and career counselor for Marymount’s undergraduate students, and served numerous times as a judge for the J.P. Morgan Chase Lincoln Douglas Debate Competition for New York Urban Debate League (NYUDL) for high school students.  

While earning her B.A. in English Literature at Dartmouth College, Ms. Werner worked as a research assistant in organizational behavior at the Amos Tuck School of Business. Her appreciation for the importance of analyzing the learning process was instilled during a role as a teaching assistant for Dr. Christian Jernstedt, a preeminent researcher in the psychology of learning. Ms. Werner received her M.A. in Speech and Interpersonal Communication from New York University, where she was a valedictory nominee. More recently, she completed a Case Method Teaching course affiliated with Harvard Business School, and was a featured speaker at the Dartmouth College 2010 Conference on Global Learning.

 

Professional Experience

Drawing on both her educational and corporate experience, Ms. Werner has served throughout her career in an advisory role to develop communication programs for a wide variety of organizations from large U.S. corporations, including Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch, to smaller nonprofits and charitable groups. Building on an initial needs assessment, she integrates her knowledge of organizational dynamics and active learning techniques to craft individually tailored communication programs whose quality can be measured in terms of tangible results.

 

Long active in community programs, Ms. Werner has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Kennebunk Beach Improvement Association, a Maine nonprofit focused on meeting children’s summer recreational and educational needs.  She has also served as a Fund-raising Co-chair for the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society, a network of preschools serving challenged neighborhoods in New York City.  A native of upstate New York, she resides with her family in Connecticut.