Renea Gernant

Renea B. Gernant

Professor of Communication and Aging Studies

Chair, School of Health and Human Science
Program Director, Gerontology and Human Services
English, Communication and Theatre Department

Profile

Renea Gernant has been at Concordia full-time since 1991. Gernant currently serves in the areas of gerontology and aging as well as in communication studies. She serves as the chair of the School of Health and Human Sciences as well as the chair of the English, communication theatre department. In addition to these roles, she serves as the program director for gerontology and for human services and as a professor of communication studies.

Gernant's primary area of research is older adult communication with a particular interest in how older adults comprehend information. Her related research interests include political communication, language theory, debate education, crisis stress management, older adult ministry and the human-animal connection in later life. Gernant presents regularly on issues of older adult communication, intergenerational marketing, animal assisted therapy and intercultural communication.

Co-curricularly, Gernant directed the forensics team from 1988 to 2007. Gernant is currently the faculty advisor to Pi Kappa Delta, a national honorary forensics and communication organization, and to the intercultural awareness organization, R.A.C.E. Having worked extensively with the mission school in Tisovec, Slovakia, Gernant helps advise those in the international studies program who have an interest in teaching or mission work in Eastern Europe.

Education

Certificate in Gerontolody, University of Nebraska-Omaha
Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
M.A., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
B.S.Ed., Concordia College, Seward, Neb

Courses taught

Adult Development and Aging, Aging Programs, Policies and Services, Long Term Care Administration, Social Gerontology, Death, Dying and Trauma, Issues in Gerontology and Aging Studies, Communication and Educational Ethics, Communication Research, Survey of Mass Communication (Mass Media and Society), Written and Oral Communication, Intercultural Communication, Basic Human Communication, Freshman Seminar, Rhetoric of Religion, Speech Practicum, Forensics, Business Communication, Public Speaking, Communication Theory, Interpersonal Theory, Small Group Theory, Argumentation and Debate, Methods of Secondary Education in Speech/Drama, English Language and Linguistics. Modules in: Family Dysfunctions—Crisis Intervention, Lifespan Development, Family Dynamics and Interpersonal Communication for the Lutheran Institute on Aging and the Family.

Other

On a state level, Gernant currently holds a Nebraska state appointment to the Nebraska Board of Nursing Home Administration, a licensure unit of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Gernant currently serves as the President of the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA), the largest collegiate debate organization in the United States. She was President of the National Christian College Forensics Association (NCCFA) until spring of 2008. In 2004, she was given the outstanding coaching award from the NCCFA. In 2002, she was awarded the outstanding service award from the Nebraska Intercollegiate Forensics Association. In 1998, Gernant coached the National Champions in NPDA debate.

Gernant volunteers with area care agencies doing animal assisted therapy and hospice work. She is president of the board of NOAH'S Assistance Dogs in Crete, NE and is a member of NOAH'S Canine Crisis Response Team.