Degrees
PhD, Wayne State University
MA, Eastern Michigan University
BS, Eastern Michigan University
BS, Eastern Michigan University
Biography
Jenny Tatsak, Ph.D. and Associate Provost, Associate Vice President, Director of Doctoral Programs, Professor of Business Communications at Walsh. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses as well as courses in the doctoral program.
Dr. Tatsak has extensive leadership communication experience as a senior strategist and primary spokesperson for municipal, statewide, regional, and national campaigns. She developed general messaging strategy, direct mail, web content, as well as television and print advertisements to generate support and raise unprecedented dollars.
She developed and enacted crisis communication and image restoration plans and served as a speech writer and media coach for on-camera interviews and debate preparation. She was selected by the non-partisan National Commission on Presidential Debates to study presidential and vice-presidential debates. Her findings led to recommendations used to improve the presidential and vice-presidential debate formats.
Knowing firsthand impact of innovative and audience-relevant communication, Dr. Tatsak designed the first-ever service-learning course in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University and subsequently wrote and was awarded a Michigan Campus Compact Venture Grant that expanded the service-learning partners and opportunities available to Schoolcraft College students and faculty.
Consequently, the National Communication Association invited her to conduct a seminar on best practices for service-learning. She began her career in the Office of Student Affairs at Lawrence Technological University.
Dr. Tatsak researches persuasive campaigns, organizational communication and rhetoric, and teaching pedagogy. She serves as a presenter, on strategic communication, to professional and community organizations. She presents her research at regional and national conferences.
Her research was recognized by the National Communication Association with two top paper awards. Her research on the impact of positive communication in higher education is included in two books: Positive Communication in Health and Wellness and Communication in the Classroom: A Collection of Great Ideas in Teaching Speech (G.I.F.T.S.). She is a contributor to the London School of Economics’s USAPP-American Politics and Policy blog on issues related to the American political process.