College of Charleston communication professors Robert Westerfelhaus and Celeste Lacroix authored an article in The Encyclopedia of Identity (volume two) that was named the 2011 Outstanding Reference Source Award from the American Library Association. The article (on pages 723 through 729), titled “Sexual Minorities,” is a cultural, historical, and social overview of selected sexual minorities (e.g., polygamists, sadomasochists, transsexuals, etc.) in the United States and abroad.

Celeste Lacroix came to the College of Charleston as a visiting assistant professor in Fall 1998, and teaches a number of offerings within the department including Intercultural Communication (COMM 221), Small Group Communication (COMM 222), Gender and Communication (COMM 380) and Media Criticism (COMM 383), among others. Lacroix received her Ph.D. in Rhetorical Studies/Media Criticism from Ohio University (receiving several honors, including the Rhetorical Scholar Award) in 1999, after receiving her master’s in Communication/Performance Studies from Eastern Michigan University in 1987 and her bachelor’s in Speech from Emerson College in 1985. Her research interests include race and ethnicity in popular culture.

Robert Westerfelhaus came to the College of Charleston from the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD), where he taught as an assistant professor since 2006. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Ohio University (OU), from which he earned two awards for rhetorical scholarship and was named Graduate Student of the Year (1998). He was awarded a Fulbright Lectureship for 2009-2010 where he served as a Fulbright lecturer at the Instytut Anglistyki of the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, located in Lublin, Poland. His research applies critical, rhetorical, and semiotic theories to communication issues related to ethics, religion, and American popular culture.