Dawna I. Ballard (Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara) is an expert in chronemics—the study of time as it is bound to human communication. She researches what drives our pace of life and its impact on the communication practices and long-term vitality of organizations, communities, and individuals.
Dr. Ballard is currently completing a book, Time by Design (under contract at MIT Press), about how effective organizations routinely communicate slow to go fast. She has published an edited book, Work Pressures, as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles in outlets such as Communication Monographs, Communication Research, Small Group Research, Human Communication Research, Management Communication Quarterly, Communication Yearbook, Journal of Applied Communication Research, and KronoScope: Journal for the Study of Time. She is a Public Voices Fellow and a faculty affiliate at the Center for Health Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research and commentary are regularly featured in mainstream news outlets, such as The New York Times, Fortune, The Atlantic, Forbes, Inc., NBC News, HuffPost, and TexasStandard as well as venues such SXSW and Creative Mornings.
She is Associate Editor of Management Communication Quarterly, a member of the National Communication Association (past Chair, Group Communication Division), International Communication Association, and the International Society for the Study of Time (past Council Member). She co-directs the internship program and teaches courses on communication in groups, teams and communities, scale development, and chronemics.