
Assistant Professor
- SSpates@MissouriState.edu
- 417-836-6700
- Craig Hall 368
- Add to address book
Communication
Dr. Stephen Spates is an award-winning Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication. His primary research focuses on organizational communication within health environments. Specifically, Dr. Spates looks to explain and predict communication behaviors of individuals, or teams, who work in hospitals or medical centers. His secondary research focuses on exploring source credibility of information disseminated in the Black community. He has published research in academic journals such as Southern Communication Journal, Communication Teacher, Communication Studies, Howard Journal of Communications, Frontiers in Communication, and Communication Research Reports.
In the classroom, Dr. Spates holds an exceptional teaching record and is recognized as an outstanding teacher by the Central States Communication Association. Dr. Spates puts his research into application through community workshops on diversity communication, family dynamics, and spiritual communication. He has partnered with several community organizations as well as campus organizations like the Center for Dispute Resolution. His success in the community continues to grow as the lead researcher on a grant (worth over $500,000) from the United States Department of Homeland Security. The grant will be used to provide educational resources to help individuals learn about bias and discrimination.