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News Archive - September 2007

Communication Department Welcomes New Faculty Members

DR. READ M. SCHUCHARDT, Assistant Professor of Communication

Born in Vermont, but raised on the island of St. Martin in the Carribbean, Dr. Schuchardt is no stranger to travel. In 1993, he completed his undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College, where he met and married his wife Rachel Guy. After receiving his M.A. in Media Ecology from New York University in 1997, he was personally invited by Dr. Neil Postman to enter the Ph.D program there. In 2003, he received the Spiritus Award for his film interpretation website Metaphilm.com, co-founded with former Wheaton professor Dr. E.J. Park. His other media accomplishments include unpaid and uncredited symbolism consulting for “The Da Vinci Code” film. He completed his doctoral degree in Media Ecology in 2005 and then spent a year in Switzerland teaching International Communications at Franklin College.

Leaving a writing fellowship in Maine to teach at Wheaton College, Dr. Schuchardt welcomes the challenge of the infamous Chicago weather. “After Maine,” he chuckles, “nothing can bother me in the winter.” His wife and their six children, Constance, Mercer, Chesterton, Walker, Jasper, and Oliver are frequent visitors to his book-filled office here on campus.

Dr. Schuchardt will be teaching classes formerly taught by Dr. E.J. Park. His Media Changes and Corporate Branding class (COMM 434) focuses on the evolution of symbols from religion to corporate culture, and their ubiquity in today’s media. He looks forward to teaching a Media, Culture, and Religion course this coming spring semester.


TIFFANY OLSON, Director of Debate

A native resident of the Midwest, Tiffany Olson grew up in central Illinois and earned her B.S. and M.S. from Illinois State University. Over the past ten years, she has taught Communication courses at community colleges and four-year universities in Illinois, Tennessee, and California. After the birth of their daughter, 18-month-old Liliana, Tiffany and her husband Chad moved from Los Angeles, CA to Lombard, IL, to be closer to her family.

Director Olson brings with her nearly 20 years of competitive speaking and coaching experience. In 1995, she was awarded the Bovero Tabor Award at the Phi Rho Pi National Tournament, an honor that distinguished her as the top speaker in the nation. Additionally, she helped coach the Illinois State University Speech Team to a national championship in 1999.

Olson maintains high hopes for Wheaton’s Debate Team. Already 30 members strong, the team will travel to tournaments in Indiana, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and California. She welcomes fellow coaches Nicole Liberto and Wheaton alumnus Ammon Simon, calling them “essential to the instruction and structure that must accompany a team of this size.”

Their goal this year is to qualify several teams for the NPTE (National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence) tournament and to advance multiple teams to out-rounds at the NPDA National Tournament. “With our talented students and dedicated coaching staff, I know that’s a very real possibility.”