Christina Spadaveccia / Staff writer
Whether you’re a freshman, senior or transfer student, there’s a new face in the halls of the communication wing that you might encounter. The newest addition to the Cabrini communication staff, Dr. Dawn Francis, is no stranger to the campus.
A Cabrini graduate of 1993, Francis was a model student in the communication program. She was a part of the Loquitur, the radio station, the yearbook and the TV station in her day.
Francis met her husband Dan while she was at Cabrini. “He was a year ahead of me and we did all our video projects together in Cathy’s Yungmann’s class,” Francis said. She has two “wonderful” children, a one-year-old named Faith and a six-year old named Ryan.
“Any spare time I find is given to my children,” Francis said.
She made good use of the skills she learned here and moved on to jobs in the multimedia and marketing areas.
“I retired from being the vice president of marketing for a company in Philly to come to Cabrini to teach for the first time,” Francis said. And from 2002 to 2006 she taught communication classes much like the ones she teaches now.
When her son was diagnosed with developmental disabilities, Francis resigned from her teaching role to take better care of him. In her spare time she created a company called “Shifting Mindsets,” a consulting group for existing companies to “maximize the performance of their employees.”
This summer, Francis returned to what she loves best, teaching communication students at Cabrini. She now teaches freshman Mass Communication, Multimedia Storytelling and Senior Capstone Convergence.
The main things that Francis wants her students to understand are knowledge and skills. She feels that she is suited for this since she worked in corporate for 13 years.
“I liked to tell and share stories with my students about corporate,” Francis said.
A student in her senior class, Dan Ross, has nothing but positive things to say about Francis.
“She’s very interactive and asks our opinions,” Ross said. “And the senior capstone gives us something to show off when we graduate.” This course combines everything communication majors have learned by using multiple media to create a project.
“I want to help the students understand the skills they are going to need when they graduate.” Francis said. And her students are in agreement that she is effective in doing that. “She doesn’t just lecture, she cares about what she’s teaching,” Ross said. “She lives what she teaches.”
