Research Focus: Interpersonal & Organizational Communication

Sophie Downing (B.S., University of Portland) is a 2021 graduate of University of Portland, majoring in organizational communication and English, with a minor in social justice. During her undergraduate studies, she explored research in a variety of disciplines, presenting papers at communication and literature conferences, completing a research project around Latin American (specifically Mexica) philosophy, and writing her English capstone on the capacity for community-building and empowerment in narratives of sexual assault. Likewise, her communication capstone looked at the ways in which narratives of college students engaged with gender, focusing on themes of enforcement and emancipation. Sophie’s research interests include the intersections of narrative and identity, intercultural tensions, the creation and maintenance of power structures, and the constructive power of language. Outside of academics, she enjoys being in community, reading novels, and decompressing with bad reality television.

Pronouns: she/her