Dr. Vanessa Wynder Quainoo,
Associate Professor of Communication Studies

211 Davis Hall
Office: (401) 874-4730 | Fax: (401) 874-4722
Email: vquainoo@mail.uri.edu

Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1993
M.A., Western Illinois University, 1984
B.A., Wheaton College, 1980

Dr. Vanessa Wynder Quainoo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies. Originally from Illinois, she is a graduate of Wheaton College, IL, Western Illinois University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Quainoo's primary interests are social rhetoric and race discourse. She has a profound regard for the power of the spoken word to create community and shared justice. Along with her Communication degrees, Dr. Quainoo has a degree in theology and sustained interest in the African American Church. She is an ordained minister and serves as an international director for an West African women's empowerment organization. At present her research includes, the analysis of sermonic texts by African American women clergy and the role of the African American spiritual in the works of Maya Angelou. Dr. Quainoo offers courses in oral performance, race and media, and the rhetoric of the civil rights movement.