Rate My Professor John Oetzel

Professor John Oetzel is Professor of Management Communication in the Waikato Management School at the University of Waikato. Originally from the United States, he holds a PhD from the University of Iowa and previously taught at the University of New Mexico. Oetzel teaches courses in health communication, conflict management, and research methods. His research focuses on conflict communication in teams and across cultures, health service delivery, and partnerships between communities and academics to address health outcomes and inequities through implementation science. Key areas include community engagement, community-based participatory research, public health communication, and intercultural communication, with particular emphasis on Māori health organisations and age-friendly communities for older Māori.

Oetzel has edited the book The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Communication: Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice (2013, with Stella Ting-Toomey). His work has garnered over 16,000 citations on Google Scholar, with an h-index of 59 and i10-index of 130. He has led major projects including He Pikinga Waiora under the Healthier Lives National Science Challenge, where he serves as principal investigator alongside Associate Professor Mary Simpson, and the CBPR Engage for Equity project (2015-2020). Other initiatives include the Healthier Lives Implementation Research Network for Māori health organisations. Oetzel received the Waikato Management School Research Impact Award in 2022 with Mary Simpson and has been a previous recipient of the Research Excellence Award. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association. His contributions extend to editorial roles and committee service in advancing community-engaged health research.