Last years Winner is Dr. Deborah A. Austin. Committed to keeping "a foot in the academy as well as the community," Dr. Deborah A. Austin currently serves Director of Outreach and Communication for REACHUP, Inc., a community nonprofit whose mission is to build community capacity aimed at improving racial and ethnic equity in healthcare and positive health outcomes for families in the Tampa Bay region.
She formerly served as Community Development and Communication Specialist for the Central Hillsborough Healthy Start Project, which was a program of The Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies at USF and is now a program of REACHUP. Inc. Additionally, she worked in various capacities in Boston, MA, central North Carolina, and central and south Florida, providing technical assistance to faith and community based organizations desirous of collaborating with local universities.
Dr. Austin received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her Doctorate in Communication from the University of South Florida. She has book chapters published in Nature of a sistuh: Black women’s lived experiences in contemporary culture; Composing ethnography: Alternative forms of qualitative writing; Perspectives on Womanist Theology, Black Church Scholars Ser. 7; and Studies in Symbolic Interaction. Her articles and book reviews can be found in the American Journal of Men’s Health; Women and Language; Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center; Text and Performance Quarterly and Communication Theory.
Her research and professional interests include Interpersonal, Family, and Spiritual Communication, Performance Ethnography, and Community-based Participatory Research.
Dr. Austin has been a member of LifePoint Church, Tampa, FL, since 2005. She serves as administrator for the UpLink Intercessory Prayer Team and facilitator of GriefShare, a grief recovery support group.
Deborah A. Austin, PhD
Outreach & Communication Director
10500 University Center Drive, Suite 100
Tampa, FL 33612-6494
P: (813) 712-6302
F: (813) 971-3000
www.reachupincorporated.org