Communication and Media

Education

• Ph.D., Rutgers University – New Brunswick
• M.A., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• B.A., University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

Brief Bio

Stephen M. DiDomenico (pronouns: he/they) joined the West Chester University community in 2020 and has previously held faculty positions at the State University of New York (in New Paltz and Plattsburgh), Syracuse University, and Rutgers University.

Interests

• Discourse & everyday talk
• Relationships & identities in interaction
• Talk in organizational settings related to mental health
• Use of technology & objects in interaction
• Oral narrative

Courses Taught (only WCU listed)

• COM 209 - Principles & Practice of PS I
• COM 211 - Comm. Research Literacy & Inquiry
• COM 309 - Principles & Practice of PS II
• COM 345 - Comm & Gender
• COM 375 - Language, Thought, & Behavior
• COM 397 - Special Topics in Relational Communication

Research Program

Most broadly, Dr. DiDomenico’s research lies at the intersection of language & social interaction, interpersonal/relational communication, and organizational communication. Their research interests are interdisciplinary and broadly focus on the moment-by-moment dynamics of everyday interpersonal encounters. In particular, they use qualitative methods - especially conversation and discourse analytic approaches - to examine the situated communication practices that participants use to construct activities, identities, and relationships in a variety of ordinary and professional settings. Recent topics of interest have included mental health help seeking and support services, technology use and embodiment in face-to-face conversation, and genres of oral narrative in LGBTQ communities.

Dr. DiDomenico’s teaching interests span a wide range of areas in Communication Studies. In the past, he has taught courses on topics such as interpersonal communication, research methods, language & social interaction, oral communication, nonverbal/embodied action, oral storytelling, gender & sexuality, interviewing, and technology & communication design, and basic surveys of the discipline, among other courses.

Recent Publications

(For information about all of my previous publications, check out my profiles on Academia.edu or Google Scholar)

Robles, J. S., DiDomenico, S., & Raclaw, J. (2021). Using objects and technologies in the immediate environment as resources for managing affect displays in troubles talk. In J.S. Robles & A. Weatherall (Eds.), How emotions are made in talk (pp. 101 – 128). John Benjamins Press.

DiDomenico, S. M., Raclaw, J., & Robles, J. S. (2020). Attending to the mobile text summons: Managing multiple communicative activities across co-present and technologically-mediated interactions. Communication Research, 47(5), 669-700.

DiDomenico, S.M. (2019). Telling stories, enacting institutions: Learning how to narrative LGBTQ “coming out” experiences. In E. Falconi & K. Graber (Eds.), Storytelling as narrative practice: Ethnographic approaches to the tales we tell (pp. 53 – 84). Brill Press.

Robles, J. S., DiDomenico, S., & Raclaw, J. (2018). Doing being an ordinary technology and social media user. Language & Communication, 60, 150-167.

Committee Memberships & Professional Organizations

• Researcher, Rutgers Conversation Analysis Lab (RUCAL)
• Member, National Communication Association
• Member, International Communication Association
• Member, International Pragmatics Association
• Member, International Society for Conversation Analysis

Certificates & Licenses

• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) Certificate