Grace A. Giorgio holds a B.A. in the Humanities from the University of California, Berkeley (1986), a Masters in Cinema Studies from San Francisco State University (1995) and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2001). Her research, writing and teaching examine communication  practices in interpersonal and public domains with the intention of bridging the personal and the political. She studies the experimental use of qualitative research methods to investigate the intersection of self, culture and the public sphere. Dr. Giorgio’s research interests branch into two directions: using writing as a method of inquiry to creatively and critically explore the cultural expectations and tensions in interpersonal and family communication contexts as well as writing, public speaking and debate as modes of civic engagement.

Dr. Giorgio studies the experimental use of qualitative research methods to investigate the intersection of self, culture and the public sphere. Her research interests branch into two directions: using writing as a method of inquiry to creatively and critically explore the cultural expectations and tensions in interpersonal and family communication contexts. Dr. Giorgio is particularly interested in the healing powers of writing in all of its creative and experimental formations. Living in rural Illinois has brought Dr. Giorgio to also  study questions of sustainability in public policy discourse. Her work also explores what James Howard Kunstler (2005) calls the Long Emergency, a time of contraction in resources and capital and of climate change. Dr. Giorgio's writings and public policy course attend to how we will manages these exigencies and the demands they place upon our culture; she hopes her work will help us imagine and manifest a more sustainable way of life.