Communications professor Jay Leighter shares some personal and professional perspectives on making sense of life through the practice of communication, research and insights into communication, community, and culture, including work with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and the ongoing social and ecological consideration of the Nebraska Sandhills, and his own family’s efforts towards creating a sustainable home.

Jay Leighter is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Sustainability Studies Program at Creighton University. He teaches courses on communication research and the intersection of culture and communication in everyday life. His research questions how culture influences communication and how people make decisions about the community in which they live. He also teaches a course in sustainability which is modeled after Jesuit teaching practices and discernment. Most recently, Jay is working with colleagues from Creighton University to develop a socio-ecological model of the Sandhills by combining ethnographic interviews of ranchers and ranching families with ecological data. Jay and his family are also trying to coax the land they live on to resemble a restored prairie.