Faculty

Dr. Davis has his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and Master of Arts and Ph.D. from Indiana University with special study in the Kelly School of Business at Indiana. He came to Belmont in 1987 and taught full-time in the Communication Studies Department for 12 years before shifting his attention to 15 years of administrative work where he served as a Dean and as Associate Provost for Academic Affairs before returning to full-time teaching.

His teaching interests include skills development for individual students in public, small group, and interpersonal settings as well as strategic and tactical leadership communication in organizational settings. He is well-known on campus for his use of the “sticky wall” as a decision-making and consensus-building tool and is particularly interested in the growing social movement around sustainability and local food. His scholarly pursuits have included presentations at many local, regional, and national academic meetings on topics related to improved efficiency and effectiveness in higher education.

At home he tends a small flock of chickens, builds stuff out of wood, thumps around on a dulcimer, reads poetry and prose with his wife (a Professor of English at Belmont), and enjoys the company of his children and friends. His favorite book is Jayber Crow (Wendell Berry). His favorite poems are “Dover Beach” (Matthew Arnold), Holy Sonnet #74 (John Donne), and “The Summer Day” (Mary Oliver). His favorite musician is the late but great John Hartford. And his favorite meal is breakfast.

Michelle E. Shaw is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Public Culture at Northwestern University. She earned her BA in Mass Media Arts from Clark Atlanta University, and while working as a full-time journalist she earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center. She later earned a Master of Theology degree from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.

Before returning to the classroom to pursue her graduate education, Michelle wrote for several newspapers in the South and Southeast, including The (Nashville) Tennessean and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, over the course of 15 years. As a result of her journalism career, Michelle is passionate about general and interpersonal communication, and particularly helping speakers craft clear, concise messages.

Michelle’s academic interests dwell at the intersection of rhetoric and religion. Her dissertation project focuses on Black women who teach preaching, and questions whether their memories and current experiences of being Black women in the world influence their pedagogical approaches and practices.

In her down time, Michelle enjoys traveling, watching movies, reading and re-reading books, and adding to her growing Build-A-Bear collection.