Caroline Fitzpatrick

Dr. Caroline (Carrie) Fitzpatrick holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Linguistics, a Master of Arts in Communication Studies, a Master of Science in Educational Technology, and Bachelor of Science in Secondary English & Speech Education.

Fitzpatrick is a full-time faculty member of the Communications & English department at Alvernia University where she facilitates curricular initiatives that include new and revised courses, special topic studies, new program tracks, service-learning projects, and new media integration. Fitzpatrick has taught at every level of higher education: bachelor, master, and doctoral courses. Her teaching and research have been recognized with a number of awards including an Innovation Grant for Curriculum Development (2012), the Christian R. & Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence (2008), Sr. Mary Donatilla Legacy Award for Outstanding Faculty Service (2007), an IUP Doctoral Fellowship for Academic Excellence (2003), an Innovative Teaching Grant for Technology Integration (2001), and the St. Bernardine Award for Excellence in Teaching (2000). She has been inducted into the following honor societies:  Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society of Humanities & Social Sciences, Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society for Adult Students.

As a scholar, Fitzpatrick presents and publishes both nationally and internationally, traveling throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Her specialties include media advocacy, social media management, communication law, new media technology, qualitative research methods, community sustainability & cultural preservation. She serves on the Executive Board of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, and she chairs a special interest group on Mass Media and Society for the Pennsylvania Communication Association. She consults on qualitative research methods and design, serves as a communications media expert, and conducts personal interviews, focus groups, oral histories, narrative inquiry, and ethnographic projects. She is also certified in technical and grant-writing and has assisted in securing more than $500,000 in grants and federal appropriations within the last three years.

Fitzpatrick regularly coordinates educational overseas travel to Europe and the Caribbean that includes cultural readings, historical sites, and community-based research and service projects. Since 2011, she has been facilitating the completion of action research and service learning with undergraduate and graduate students on a Strategic Plan for Community Development, Fundraising, and Vounteerism in the Santo Domingo, DR, that includes grant-writing, feasibility studies, website development, and public service announcements. In 2010, she served as the Convention Chair of the International English Honor Society's Conference, Storytellers, held in St. Louis, Missouri.

She is active in adult and graduate education as a member of the research faculty; serves as a chair or committee member on several capstone, thesis, and dissertation committees; and serves on the University’s Institutional Review Board. She is the co-founder and co-director of the new Master of Arts program in Communication, Culture, and Leadership that is scheduled to launch in Fall 2013.

In addition to her teaching and scholarship, Fitzpatrick has served Alvernia University in administrative positions as the Founding Coordinator of the Schuylkill Center, Director of Instructional Standards; Director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies for Community Leadership; and as the first Director of Distance Education, during which distance education offerings increased by more than 150%. Currently, she is exploring social entrepreneurship ventures that tap into her values connecting creative expression, community-based research, and worldwide literacy efforts.

During her personal time, Fitzpatrick values time with her family, friends and pets; hikes the Appalachian trail; enjoys flat-water kayaking; reads and travels extensively; writes creative nonfiction; and collects classic/foreign films and indie music. A perpetual student, she experiments with digital photography for both professional development and personal enjoyment.

Professional Blog: http://thetragicoptimist.tumblr.com/

LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/caroline-fitzpatrick/26/763/21a