About
Dr. Christina Knopf
(she/her/hers)
Bio
Specializing in political communication, Dr. Knopf [pronounced: "nope"] is a rhetorician and sociologist who teaches speech and human communication. She studies rhetoric of the popular arts (ex., cartoons, comic books, letters, films, and shows) for what, and how, it communicates about our socio-political world. Her work particularly focuses on depictions of war and the military (banal militarism) and on depictions of politics and campaigns (politainment), with special attention to issues of representation and democracy.
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​​Dr. Knopf is a professor, and the presentation skills coordinator, in the Communication & Media Studies Department at the State University of New York (SUNY) Cortland. She is a co-editor of the Routledge Advances in Comics Studies series, a member of the editorial board for the Home Front Studies journal, and a Past President of the New York State Communication Association.
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A frequent presenter at academic conferences in the humanities and the social sciences, and the author of dozens of scholastic publications, her work has been celebrated through awards from Finger Lakes Community College, SUNY Potsdam, the Eastern Communication Association, and the New York State Communication Association. As a recognized expert in the intersection of politics, the military, and comics, Dr. Knopf has been interviewed by the Washington Post, Newsy, and other media outlets. She has been an invited speaker with the National Park Services, Border Town Comic-Con, San Diego Comic Con, Radford University. The Ohio State University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Microsoft.
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A life-long New Yorker, Dr. Knopf grew up in the Finger Lakes Wine Region, attended college in the mid-Hudson Valley, went to graduate school in the Capital District, worked in the Greater Rochester Area and in Western New York, spent eleven years working and living in Northern New York, and now works and resides in Central New York. In her free time, she enjoys crafting while bingeing fiction in various media, while her dog snores beside her.
Education
Dr. Knopf completed her PhD concentrating in political communication and cultural sociology at the University at Albany in 2005. Her dissertation was a study of "Providence, Presidents, and the Press: Inaugural Rhetoric of Religion in a Historical Perspective." She earned an MA concentrating in political communication from U. Albany in 2001. Her thesis, "Power Plays by the Powerless: A Study of Attempted Diffusion of Innovative Reforms by the New York Assembly Minority Conference," was based on a graduate practicum with the New York State Assembly.
She earned a BA majoring in public relations and minoring in journalism from SUNY New Paltz in 2000, and an AA in liberal arts, concentrating in social science, from Finger Lakes Community College in 1998.
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Dr. Knopf continues her education through a variety of professional development opportunities.
Employment
In August 2017, Dr. Knopf joined the Communication & Media Studies Department at SUNY Cortland, where she teaches three courses a semester, predominantly lower-division public speaking and media literacy classes in General Education.
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Previously, she was a member of the Department of English & Communication, and affiliate faculty to Women's & Gender Studies and to Africana Studies, at SUNY Potsdam from 2006 to 2017. There, she taught four classes a semester, primarily upper-division rhetoric and public address courses for Speech Communication majors and minors, including the communication theory capstone class. She also served as the college's Oral Skills Coordinator, the Lambda Pi Eta honor society (Delta Omicron chapter) faculty sponsor, and SUNY Potsdam Comic Book Club faculty advisor.
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Dr. Knopf started her teaching career as a part-time instructor at the University at Albany, the College of St. Rose, Monroe Community College, and Genesee Community College.
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Prior to teaching full time, she gained experience as a government researcher, web designer, newspaper photographer, technical writer, and community relations aide.
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