Christina G. Nickerson is an Underrepresented Postdoctoral Fellow at Gonzaga University, working as part of the Integrated Media Department. She’s a first-generation college student as well as a diverse student from Mexican and Chinese descent....
Ph.D., Communication, Washington State University
M.A., Communication, Washington State University
B.A., Speech Communication, Oregon State University
B.A., Sociology, Oregon State University
Please email Christina if you're interested in viewing her most recent CV!
Christina G. Nickerson is an Underrepresented Postdoctoral Fellow at Gonzaga University, working as part of the Integrated Media Department. She’s a first-generation college student as well as a diverse student from Mexican and Chinese descent. Christina is motivated by her passion to teach students about communication and media, which has cultivated her teaching philosophy over the last 7 years. She has a large variety of teaching experiences from teaching Washington State University’s public speaking course for 6 years, in addition to serving as to graduate assistant course director for a year and a half. Christina has also had lots of fun developing courses like the first iteration of a face-to-face youth & media class. She also has experience in developing and teaching courses such as Women in the Media or Trends in Social Media at the University of Idaho. Christina is always seeking new, fun ways to engage students using diverse teaching methods and honing in on personal, meaningful experiences. As a new member of the Gonzaga community, Christina is excited to diversify her teaching portfolio to extend to public relations as a Zag!
Christina’s research interests play a large role in her overarching career goals to create or help develop programs that may work to strengthen relations between families to help minority youth, especially people of color, to make safer sexual health + substance use decisions. Much of her passion in research has developed from the direct result of growing up in a suburb (Henderson) of Las Vegas, Nevada, where many adolescents faced consequences from engaging in risky sexual behaviors. This may have likely been the result of abstinent-only sexual health education many received in conjunction with silence around having discussions about sexual health within the family. Christina is currently looking for ways to enhance parent-child discussions on sexual health and substance use, given that much of research has identified parent-child communication to serve as a protective factor. If you would like to learn more about Christina’s research, please email her to set up a time to chat!
Outside of Gonzaga University, you can find Christina finding ways to get involved with the community or exploring the Inland Northwest with her husband. This fall, Christina will be serving as a photographer for the WSU Cougar Marching Band. She looks forward to building connections within the Gonzaga and Spokane community soon! Go Zags!