Rate My Professor Christy Seifert

Christine Seifert is a Professor of Communication at Westminster College of Salt Lake City, where she has served as full-time faculty since joining the communication department in the summer of 2005 following the completion of her PhD dissertation. She earned her PhD in English with an emphasis in rhetoric and composition and professional writing from Oklahoma State University in 2005, her MA in English from North Dakota State University in 2000, and her BS in political science from North Dakota State University in 1997. Prior to her appointment at Westminster, Seifert taught at Salt Lake Community College while pursuing her doctorate, which focused on a rhetorical analysis of countermovements such as creationism and global-warming denial. Since 2013, she has taught in the competency-based Master of Strategic Communication program, which she directs, advocating for mentored teaching, competency-based education, and collaborative learning to foster students' independent problem-solving skills. Her teaching areas include rhetoric and persuasion, professional writing and communication, and self-directed and online learning.

Seifert's research interests encompass dis/misinformation, media coverage of crime, the history of science, and writing for publication. She is the author of five books, two of which are social histories, including the young adult novel The Predicteds (2011), Virginity in Young Adult Literature after Twilight (2015), and Whoppers: History’s Most Outrageous Lies and Liars (2015). As a freelance writer, she has contributed to Harvard Business Review, The Atavist, Bitch, Inside Higher Ed, Bookmarks, and Bitterroot; her historical article for The Atavist was nominated for Longform’s Best Crime Writing in 2019. Her academic publications appear in Business Communication Quarterly, The Journal of Self-Directed Learning, and The Journal of Competency-Based Learning. Seifert has gained recognition as an expert on young adult popular culture through her articles in Bitch magazine, which received national media attention. She continues to explore human behaviors and motivations in her writing, with plans for additional young adult nonfiction on themes like famous liars and historical figures.