Teaching Professor Emeritus Dr. Lisa Coutu specializes in the study of communication and culture, the ethnography of communication, and discourse analysis. In particular, her research involves examining the ways groups’ methods of speaking are created and maintained within the context of coexisting and competing ways of speaking. Now retired, she taught undergraduate courses in language, culture, intercultural communication, and communication approaches to the study of war. She was also the associate director of the UW Center for Local Strategies Research and an associate director of the Communication Leadership program. In 2003, she received the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2008, received the UW Educational Outreach Award for Teaching Excellence in Distance Learning.

“I love students and I love my subject matter,” Coutu said. “It was an amazing privilege to teach so many students in so many different contexts over my career — I miss them in my retirement. I also love learning. My career as an instructor has kept me learning and has kept me optimistic about the world I envision our students creating.”