McClain Watson, PhD
Naveen Jindal School of Management
SM43, 800 West Campbell Road
The University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, TX 75080-3021
(972) 883-4875
mcclain.watson @ utdallas.edu
PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
2019 – Clinical Professor, Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas
2012 – 2019 Clinical Associate Professor, Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas
2011 – 2020 Director of Business Communication Programs, JSOM, The University of Texas at Dallas
2007 – 2012 Senior Lecturer, JSOM, The University of Texas at Dallas, Director, JSOM Business Communication Center
EDUCATION
Ph.D. – The University of Iowa. Department of Communication Studies
Dissertation: “Biology, Behavior, Betterment: Stimulating the Plastic Brain.”
M.A., Wake Forest University. Department of Communication
B.S., with Honors, Appalachian State University. Departments of History and Education
RECOGNITION
2016 – UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, UT-System
2016 – POP Project selected as one of AACSB’s Innovations That Inspire, an initiative to highlight “ways that business schools are changing the face of management education.”
2015 – President’s Outstanding Teaching Award, The University of Texas at Dallas
TEACHING AND SERVICE INNOVATIONS AND IMPACT
- Built a student-centered team of 7 full-time faculty and 14+ part-time instructors to teach business communication courses. This team consistently achieves some of the highest teaching evaluations in JSOM.
- From 2012 to 2019, two Business Communication courses achieved the highest number of ‘Extremely Satisfied’ responses on the Overall Course Satisfaction question of the exit survey completed by JSOM students before they graduate.
- Created the JSOM Business Communication Center, a high impact student support service that provides individual and small group writing and speaking assistance to over 1200 JSOM students each semester.
- Created and teach a 3 credit hour Doctoral Writing and Teaching Seminar that is required for all JSOM PhD students. This course also houses the JSOM PhD student teaching assessment to ensure a high quality experience for students taking courses taught by PhD students.
- Created the ‘Professional Online Portfolio’ initiative in the Jindal School of Management. In 2016, the POP project was selected from over 300 nominees for international recognition by AACSB as a business education ‘Innovation That Inspires.”
- Served as Teaching Leader for JSOM and coordinated over 15 teacher development workshops.
PUBLICATIONS
“Who’s Afraid of ChatGPT? Thinking Through Generative AI for Business Educators Who Teach Writing-Intensive Classes.” Under Review at The Journal of Education for Business (ABDC-listed).
“Business Commun-ification at the Capitol Insurrection.” Business Communication Research and Practice 5, no. 2 (2022): 74-78.
“Identifying a Key Opportunity to Grow the Field.” (2019) Business Communication Research and Practice, 2(2):93-96.
“Using Online Portfolios to Enhance Student Transition into the Post-Student World.” (2019). Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 82(2): 153-169.
“Doing Well by Doing Good: Ray Anderson as Evangelist for Corporate Sustainability.” (2011). Business Communication Quarterly, 74(1): 63-67.
“From Interpretation to Identification: A History of Facial Images in the Sciences of Emotion,” History of the Human Sciences, 17(1): 29-51.
Review of The Biology of Communication: A Communibiological Perspective, by Michael J. Beatty and James C. McCroskey with Kristin M. Valencic. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2001. Southern Communication Journal, 68(4): 78-79.
RECENT PRESENTATIONS
“Who’s Afraid of ChatGPT? Comparing Model Documents in Top Textbooks to Those Produced by a Large Language Model.” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, Denver, October 2023
“The World is Your Workplace: Business Communication at the Capitol Insurrection.” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, Tampa, October 2021.
“Research Roundtable (invited participant).” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, Detroit, October 2019.
“Teen Bo$$: Using Popular Texts to Examine and Contextualize the Figure of the ‘Child Entrepreneur.’” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, Miami, October 2018.
“Whole-Class Feedback Conversations: A New Way to Enhance Student Speaking Skills.” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, Albuquerque, October 2016.
“Every Student Can Be a POP Star: Lessons from the Implementation of a Business School-Wide Professional Online Portfolio Requirement.” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, Seattle, October 2015.
“My Favorite Assignment for ESL Students.” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, Philadelphia, October 2014.
“Do We All Teach ESL Now? Advice for Seizing a Critical Educational and Professional Opportunity” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, New Orleans, October 2013.
“Guiding Digital Natives On Their Own River: Responding and Adapting to the Challenge of Teaching Social Media in the Classroom.” Convention of the Association of Business Communication, New Orleans, October 2013.
RECENT COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS/SERVICE
“Communicating with Graduate Advisors and Other Professors.” Workshop for Office of Graduate Education, UT-Dallas, October 2, 2023.
“The Ins and Outs to Succeeding in a Class at UT Dallas.” University Success Scholars, UT-Dallas, September 9, 2023.
“Professional Relationship Building and Networking.” College Forward, Virtual, May 2021.
“Virtual Interviewing in the Time of COVID.” Plano Library Professional Development Workshop, Plano, November 2020.
“Engaging Small Talk.” Plano Library Professional Development Workshop, Plano, October 2020.
“Virtual Interviewing.” Plano Library Professional Development Workshop, Plano, July 2020.
“Effective Email for Teens.” Plano Library Professional Development Workshop, Plano, March 2020.
“Engaging Small Talk.” Plano Library Professional Development Workshop, Plano, April 2020.
“Dealing with Challenging Student Situations.” Jindal School of Management Lunch and Learn presentation, Richardson, September 2017.
“Best Practices for Teaching Well, Or, Why Does This Matter to Me?” Invited presentation to McDermott Library public service librarians, Richardson, July 2017.
RECENT CONSULTING
TXU Energy, Luminant, City of Garland, Elberon LLC
UNIVERSITY / COMMUNITY / SCHOLARLY SERVICE
2023 – present Faculty Mentor, Provost’s Office Faculty Mentoring Program, UT-Dallas
2019 – present Manuscript Reviewer, Business Communication Research and Practice
2020 – present Facilities Committee, JSOM
2020 – present Course Coordinator, BCOM3300
2017 – present International Conference Reviewer, Association for Business Communication
2017 – present Senior Faculty Member, Teaching Observation Program, UT-Dallas
2017 – present Family Leader, Undergraduate Success Scholars, OUE, UT-Dallas
2016 – present Teaching Award Committee, UT-Dallas
2013 – present Faculty Advisor, Alif Laam Meem (IFC member)
2009 – present Coordinator, JSOM PhD Student Teaching Certification
2020 – 2021 Member, Library Advisory Board, City of Plano (appointed by City Council)
2010 – 2019 Chair, Student Media Operating Board (University-level oversight)
2015 – 2018 Teaching Leader, Center for Teaching and Learning, UT-Dallas
2009 – 2018 Faculty Advisor, TEDxUTD
2007 – 2017 Member, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee