Christine Menges
Elayne Shapiro, a communication studies professor, said she chose her field of study because she wanted to know what to say.
When she started out, she first thought she wanted to study broadcast communication in developing countries. She changed her mind when she was introduced to interpersonal relationship communication in graduate school.
“It’s so critical to every part of our lives,” she said. “It has inherent value to everything that we do.”
Shapiro’s career will come to an end this May, when she begins retirement after 30 years of teaching. She started teaching at the University of Portland in 1987. Since then, the University has seen a lot of changes.
“Back then, Franz Hall did not exist, but the dinosaurs did,” Shapiro said.
Students who have taken classes from Shapiro say she has a down-to-earth teaching style that makes the class engaging. In addition to cracking jokes, students say Shapiro has them sign up for days to bring food, something else they say makes class warm and inviting.
If there’s anything she could make her students remember from her classes, Shapiro says two important concepts come to mind.
“There are perceptual distortions that come out of every conflict, and we are all subject to them,” Shapiro said. “I think that’s really important to understand, that our perceptions in conflict are distorted.”
Another principle she wants to leave with her students is that fights over trivial things are often not based on the objects themselves, but something deeper.
“We’re really fighting because we’re ruffled over the relationship,” Shapiro said. “We don’t feel empowered. We feel that power is somehow threatened.”
Some of Shapiro’s students have been able to take the lessons they’ve learned in the classroom and apply them to real life.
Becky Wauson, both a graduate student and an assistant hall director in Mehling Hall, said Shapiro’s lessons in mediation have given her practical applications in her work with mediating conflicts between residents.
“Taking the time to thank the people you’re mediating with to do the hard work of being honest and being able to see when I do that, people really feel supported,” Wauson said.
Senior Mikayla Posey works with children at a nonprofit and has been able to apply concepts she has learned in Shapiro’s classes to dealing with children.
“It’s really about feelings and validating their emotions,” Posey said, referring to times she has consoled children when they were upset.
“It can help them process their emotions in the future,” she said.
Shapiro’s career at UP has been marked by important accomplishments, like serving as the first Title IX coordinator.
Shapiro is often asked what she will do when she retires.
“That’s kind of like being asked what you’re going to do when you graduate,” she said.
Shapiro said she might come back and teach a class or two, but there is something else she plans on doing in the meantime.
“I plan on becoming addicted to the game World of Warcraft,” she said.
Christine Menges is a reporter for The Beacon. You can reach her at Menges15@up.edu or on Twitter @ChristineyBird.
