about ruth d. anderson
Ruth D. Anderson, Ph.D., brings insights from her time as a professor of communication, a senior corporate executive, and director of a nonprofit organization. She earned a master's degree from Kent State University and a doctorate in communication from the University of Oregon. As a tenured faculty member at North Carolina State University for fifteen years, Ruth taught and wrote in the field of interpersonal and organizational communication as well as directed one of the largest service-learning programs on campus.
She left the university to apply her understanding of organizational communication theory to the development and growth of a fast-paced business, Kindermusik International, and then later to direct a fledging nonprofit, The Servant Leadership School of Greensboro, N.C.
Anderson's embrace of servant leadership principles has infused her work and volunteer activities. While serving as vice president of education at Kindermusik, she created and managed a scholarship program that distributed more than $100,000 to children at risk. Since her departure, the company has renamed the program the Ruth D. Anderson Children's Fund.
As director of the Servant Leadership School, Anderson writes grants, teaches, manages and markets a program of classes, trainings and workshops. She also works to build collaborative partnerships between the school and other area organizations. The Guilford Nonprofit Consortium honored Anderson in November 2009 with its first annual Service Award in honor of her work “above and beyond what is required in service to the Guilford County Nonprofit Consortium, and for inspiring others to support a significant cause for the betterment of life in Guilford County.”
An accomplished and acclaimed presenter for the past two decades, she has served as keynote speaker for organizations ranging from colleges and universities to corporate and nonprofit organizations.
Anderson and her husband, Phil Pratt, a videographer and massage therapist, have a college-age daughter and live in Greensboro, N.C.
Teaching and Curriculum Development
Courses developed and taught at North Carolina State University:
- Foundations of Communication Theory
- Organizational Communication
- Fundamentals of Interpersonal Relationships (Director of multi-sections)
- Research in Interpersonal Communication
- Nonverbal Communication
- Persuasion
- Participatory Management for Extension Agents
- Communication Skills for Managers and Supervisors
- Communication and First Impressions
- Managing Communication Apprehension
Courses developed and taught at The Servant Leadership School of Greensboro:
- Servant Leadership 1: Foundations for Growth and Transformation
- Community: Relationships Transformed and Transforming
- Compassion: Awakening the Heart to Humanity
- Call: Discerning Our Piece of God's Dream
- Money: From Cultural Addiction to Freedom
- Power Redefined: The Practice of a Third Way
- Gratefulness as a Spiritual Practice
- Service as a Spiritual Practice
- World Cafe Conversations on Local Community Issues that Matter
- Writing as a Spiritual Practice
Publications:
Ruth has published four books and many articles in the area of communication and leadership.
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