By Amy Ludwig
Keon Pettiway has made a major impact in every community that he is a part of. The dedicated and ambitious Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media (CRDM) Ph.D. student’s impressive accomplishments, community work, and passion for diversity and inclusion certainly have not gone unrecognized.
In 2005, Pettiway graduated from NC State with a B.A. in Multidisciplinary Studies with an Africana Studies concentration. He then earned his M.F.A. in Graphic Design from East Carolina University in 2012. Now, Pettiway is back with the Pack and set to graduate again from NC State with a Ph.D. in CRDM in May, as well as with a Certificate in Documentary Arts from Duke University.
Keon Pettiway talks with Dr. Victoria Gallagher, professor in the Department of Communication
Last year, Pettiway received the Outstanding Student Award at the Chancellor’s Creating Community Awards. The award is coordinated annually by the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity. It recognizes outstanding faculty, staff, colleges, students, and student organizations that have made exceptional efforts and contributions in the areas of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
The Outstanding Student Award is a $500 cash prize that recognizes students who “exhibit leadership in promoting and facilitating dialogue and social engagement with and between individuals of varying ethnic, racial or religious backgrounds, gender identities, socioeconomic statuses, sexual orientations and/ or physical and mental capabilities.”
Pettiway’s initial reaction to winning the Outstanding Student Award was pure shock. He said, “I really wasn’t expecting it, it was a big surprise. I am very shocked but also very humbled.” For Pettiway, winning this award was a huge motivation for him to further his work. He said, “It settled in at that moment all of the responsibility that I have to keep doing my work. What I am doing really matters, and it isn’t for me anymore because people in the community are supporting my work and really care.”
He was nominated by Professor Victoria Gallagher of the Department of Communication and Dr. Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi of the English Department. Pettiway’s research is focused on visual culture, race, civic nationalism and national identity. He studies how our identity as a nation comes as a formation idea shaped by legal issues and the rhetorical construction of national identities — in particular, race, gender and post-colonialism.
Pettiway also researches ways that professors can use particular strategies that invite inclusion in the classroom. As a graduate instructor at State, he encourages inclusion in every aspect of his own classroom. He said, “I strive to make my classes more inviting and inclusive for the students’ visual voices. One thing I do to accomplish this is to open each class with public speaking roles in teams as a way of approaching topics while getting every student involved.”
One of Pettiway’s latest successes was working as a research assistant on developing the Virtual Martin Luther King, Jr. Project. He has previously worked on documentaries on the issue of national identity and civic engagement, as well as documentary and research projects on Juneteenth. He has also worked with Dr. James Kiwanuka-Tondo in the Department of Communication as a research assistant on a project on HIV/AIDS organizations in Uganda.
So what’s next for Pettiway? He will be looking at the intersection of design theory and communication theory in developing frameworks for studying communication at the intersection of rhetorical theory and design theory. Another research trajectory for him is looking at rhetoric of race, gender and post-colonial identity in consumer culture, particularly in nation branding. He says that his major goal is to research and understand the ways that political communication and civic communication work across different nations.
Pettiway believes that this point of his life is where everything is really just beginning. He said, “All of the work that I have done up to this point has prepared me for this next chapter. This is where it is all happening. This is where it is all really going to start.”