BETHLEHEM, PA, November 5, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Rebecca Kay Dean, Ph.D., Professor of Communications and Founder of the Communications Studies Department at Northampton Community College, has been recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in all aspects of higher education.

Rebecca Kay Dean, Ph.D. has an impressive 25 years of professional experience, 20 of which have been in her current position at Northampton Community College as full professor where she specializes in teaching the spoken word. As an assistant professor, she was initially responsible for writing and teaching the first courses in the nascent program: Speech Communication, Public Speaking and Introduction to Film. She also teaches one of the newer courses in the department, Intercultural Communication.

Dr. Dean considers the writing of her dissertation, a cultural study of Southern Appalachian cultural maintenance via affective Pentecostal and Holiness preaching, which required collecting taped sermons transmitted from extremely remote areas of the mountains, as the highlight of her career. Professor Dean has accumulated over 80 hours of Holiness/Pentecostal radio preaching, and transcribed them from tape to hard copies, for both its opportunities in cultural studies as well as documents of a quickly fading act of spoken word by ordinary Southern Appalachian mountain people. Professor Dean is a contributor to the first West Virginia Encyclopedia writing on her specialty, old style, big affect inspired radio preaching. In recognition of outstanding contributions to her field, Dr. Dean was named "Professional of the Year" by Cambridge Who's Who for the 2008-2009 year.

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Dean holds a doctorate in English/Cultural Studies, a double major Master's degree in Communication and English, and a double major Bachelor's degree in English and Slavic Studies. She is a designated moderator of her chapter of the League of Women Voters and regularly moderates such events as City Council, School Board Debates, and Pennsylvania State Senate and Representatives. She is professionally affiliated with the American Association of University Women and the National Organization for Women. She is a proud volunteer for the 19th Street Theatre and the South Side Film Society of the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, and is a long standing member of Planned Parenthood, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Sierra Club and The Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Dean attributes an enormous amount of her award for Excellence in Higher Education by Cambridge Who's Who to teaching at one of the most academically rigorous, student centered, multicultural and community involved community colleges on the east coast, Northampton Community College. NCC was recently profiled on CNN for its decision to waive tuition to those people in its community who have been laid off their jobs during this global recession. Moreover, NCC is one of the few community colleges with dorms and apartments which safely house students from nearby New Jersey and New York, but also offer on-campus housing for international students from over 30 countries. Their flags are displayed in the college's cafeteria. Dean believes her education, travel and life's experiences are more deeply tapped, immediately beneficial, and thereby effective due to the multicultural student body; one that is more diverse than some baccalaureate colleges and even some universities. Furthermore, NCC, though a community college, is larger than many advanced degree institutions with a fulltime enrollment of over 11,000 students: this does not take into account part time students and non-credit community education. These numbers are testimony to NCC's quality and reputation.

For additional information about Northampton Community College, Professor Dean encourages all readers of her profile to please visit the college's website, http:www.northampton.edu, and browse its state of the art programs and facilities, learn of its burgeoning branch campuses in the rural Pocono Mountains counties to its north which bring the opportunity of higher education to people who formerly had no access. Furthermore, NCC has opened a new branch campus on the South Side of Bethlehem in order to participate in that region's economic and cultural renaissance. The South Side, a former steel industry giant of the past, had deteriorated into growing brown space, joblessness and low income challenges to its community. In a very short time the region has transformed into a vibrant, innovative, multicultural neighborhood known for its many artistic venues and is becoming one of the East's newest and nationally recognized centers for hospitality, haute cuisine and gaming; NCC's branch campus educates the employees of these new businesses.

As if this was not enough to make a faculty member proud, NCC also has one of the most technologically advanced, successful and nation-wide available, accredited on-line cyber campuses in the country with students enrolled as far away as Wyoming. The word community is taken literally at Northampton Community College and it is an ideal model for even more community colleges that President Obama is repeatedly urging be opened across the country

Again, Professor Dean invites all who are interested in NCC's Communication Studies Department as well as more information about the institution to please visit its website, and to not hesitate to contact her personally for additional information at her office phone 610-861-7468 and by e-mail at [email protected].

About Cambridge Who's Who
Cambridge Who's Who is an exclusive membership organization that recognizes and empowers executives, professionals and entrepreneurs throughout the world. From healthcare to law, engineering to finance, manufacturing to education, every major industry is represented by its 400,000 active members.

Cambridge Who's Who membership provides individuals with a valuable third party endorsement of their accomplishments and gives them the tools needed to brand themselves and their businesses effectively. In addition to publishing biographies in print and electronic form, Cambridge Who's Who offers an online networking platform where members can establish new business relationships and achieve career advancement within their company, industry or profession.

For more information, please visit our site: Cambridge Who's Who.

# # #