By: Ameara Ditsche
Editor-in-Chief
Emma Bedor Hiland is new to Saint Rose, but to academia as a whole, she is no stranger. Most recently, Bedor Hiland won The David Roscoe Award for Early Career Essay on Science, Ethics and Society, from The Hastings Center; she will attend their ceremony in Seattle and give a speech on her topic. Bedor Hiland’s research often focuses on bioethics and health communications. Her award winning essay, “How Smart Tech Tried to Solve the Mental Health Crisis and Only Made It Worse,” discusses mental health care struggling in favor of evolving the industry to a tech space.
Native to the tri-state area, she has received degrees from SUNY Geneseo and Pennsylvania State University for her bachelors and masters respectively. She obtained her doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 2018. Since then, she has taught at James Madison University and Texas Tech University. She has also been a Postdoctoral fellow at The Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.
Bedor Hiland interned at a radio station in high school and went into undergrad thinking she wanted to be a media producer, whether it be print or broadcast. However, as she researched and learned about these industries, she found a love in just that. Following the completion of her PhD, she worked as a Lecturer at Texas Tech University. There, she worked with TA Mahedi Hasan.
Hasan’s first semester with Bedor Hiland was also his first semester in the U.S. He praised her understanding and flexibility. Hasan had just moved from Bangladesh and was adjusting to an incredibly new culture while navigating a demanding academic schedule. His area of interest is in Political and International Communications, so Bedor Hiland introduced him to faculty with expertise. “Thank you to Dr. B, she was so kind to me,” said Hasan.
Liz Richards, Associate Professor of Communications has observed Bedor Hiland’s teaching. Despite being on sabbatical, Richards was able to attend Bedor Hiland’s teaching demo. “I’m so glad I was able to attend her teaching demo, however, as she was very organized in her delivery, scaffolded information from the beginning of the lesson until the end, and radiated empathy for students” said Richards over email.
“Emma is a fantastic colleague; as I mentioned before, she is a great listener, which sets her up to be a great learner,” she added.
Bedor Hiland’s interest in research ethics culminated at University of Minnesota, where she earned her PhD. During her time there, she worked with Carl Elliot, a bioethics faculty member who pushed for research reforms following the death of Dan Markingson, a young man who died after being coerced into a psychiatric research study.
Health communications have been prevalent in the media recently as coronavirus dominated headlines. At Texas Tech, Bedor Hiland worked with students who had never been exposed to strict masking or vaccine guidelines. “As an educator, it’s my job to expose them to diverse ideas,” she said. She explained that students were often open to new ideas, some even staying after class to tell her they agree and that they had just never had it explained to them the way she did.
Taking a niche spin on health care and self care, Bedor Hiland is writing a book about the tiny homes movement. She is examining the lifestyle as a way to combat things like poverty and homelessness, which impacts mental health.
As the communications department goes under restructuring, Bedor Hiland will be involved in expanding course offerings to include some focusing in health communications. For now, students can take her for Communication and Culture, Intro to Mass Communication, Media Literacy, or Communication Law.
She expresses excitement at the variety of courses; “it shows how broad communications is,” she said.
“There’s always room for you and your interests.”
