Bio
Dr. Wasson’s work is motivated by a passion for three Cs: communication, collaboration, and community-building. Her research investigates how technology can bring together people who are geographically separated. She applies her findings to the design of technologies and organizational change processes. She also actively participates in virtual collaborations and community-building herself. Dr. Wasson’s current research projects include: the development of large-scale virtual communities of environmental scientists; virtual communication and collaboration in business settings; a comparison of online and on-campus student experiences; and how practicing anthropologists are addressing the challenges of globalization. She was trained as a linguistic anthropologist. After finishing her Ph.D., she worked for E-Lab, a design firm that used anthropological research to develop new product ideas. Here she developed an interest in the emergent field of design anthropology. She is a founding member of the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC) steering committee. Dr. Wasson led the development of UNT's online master's program in anthropology, as its director from 2003 to 2007. The program went live in 2006; it is the first of its kind in the United States.
Education
Ph.D., Yale University, 1996
M.Phil., Yale University, 1989
B.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1987
Courses
ANTH 1010: General Anthropology
ANTH 2250: Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
ANTH 4500: Language and Culture
ANTH 4701/5110: Design Anthropology
ANTH 4701: Anthropology of Virtual Communication
ANTH 4610/5610: Ethnography of Product and Technology Use
ANTH 5010: Anthropological Thought and Praxis I
ANTH 5050: Preparation for Practice and the Applied Thesis
Selected Publications
Wasson, C., Butler, M.O., & Copeland-Carson, J. (2012). Applying anthropology in the global village. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.
Wasson, C. (2012). Virtual organizations. A Companion to Organizational Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell.
Wasson, C. (2009). Linguistic anthropology. The Handbook of Business Discourse. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 194-212.
More Publications
Wasson, C. (2006). Making history at the frontier: Women creating careers as practicing anthropologists. NAPA Bulletin, 26.
Wasson, C. (2006). Being in two spaces at once: Virtual meetings and their representation. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 16(1): 103-130.
Wasson, C. (2004). Multitasking in virtual meetings. Human Resources Planning, 27(4): 47-60.
Wasson, C. (2004). The paradoxical language of enterprise. Critical Discourse Studies, 1(2): 175-199.
Wasson, C. (2002). Collaborative work: Integrating the roles of ethnographers and designers. Creating Breakthrough Ideas: the Collaboration of Anthropologists and Designers in the Product Development Industry. Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 71-90.
Wasson, C. (2000). Caution and consensus in American business meetings. Pragmatics, 10(4): 457-481.
Wasson, C. (2000). Ethnography in the field of design. Human Organization, 59(4): 377-388.
Selected Presentations
Wasson, C. (2011). Design anthropology at the global-local interface. University of Copenhagen and the Danish Design School, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Wasson, C. (2009). When design met anthropology. Big D(esign) Conference, Dallas, TX.
Wasson, C. (2009). Interdisciplinary collaboration in the world of practice: The rapprochement of anthropology and design. Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.
More Presentations
Wasson, C. (2008). Designing with users: From objects to experience models to business models. University of Southern Denmark, Sonderborg, Denmark.
Wasson, C. (2006). User-driven innovation as competitive advantage: The value of ethnography. Conference on User-Driven Innovation, Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, Copenhagen, Denmark.
