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Email: fala@juniata.edu
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Biography

Professor Fala teaches courses in public speech, small group presentations, interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and rhetoric at Juniata. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in speech communication and a minor in music, and has an M.A. in philosophy from West Chester University. She received her Ph.D. in speech communication at The Pennsylvania State University. Her scholastic honors include the Kathryn DeBoer Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992 (P.S.U.); The West Chester University Foundation Award in 1976; The Institute for Women Graduate Award in 1986, and the Woman of the Year Award in 1997. In 1998, she earned the Junior Faculty Teaching award at Juniata.

She taught communication courses at Penn State's Delaware County Campus, Villanova University and West Chester University, and was an elementary music teacher before pursuing her doctorate in communication. In addition to her teaching at Juniata, she teaches continuing education courses at Penn State.

Dr. Fala has presented conference papers for the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, the Eastern Communication Association, and the Speech Communication Association of Pennsylvania. She has conducted research on the rhetoric of woman's suffrage, the rhetoric of sexual orientation, the coming out process, language & empowerment, communication & diversity, gender communication, creativity and communication, and transactional listening.

An active member of the Speech Communication Association of Pennsylvania, she has chaired numerous interest councils and has been a member of the Executive Board for the past nine years.

She has worked as a debate judge, a communication consultant, and a speech coach. While teaching at Juniata, Grace supervises the annual Soap Box Speeches, the Great Orations (GO) Program, and the Alternative Ways of Loving (AWOL) Program.

Her personal and professional views of education can be summed up in a few sentences: 'My vocation/avocation is to create possibilities for learning/loving to occur. That's why I think good teachers do less talking & more listening.'

She and a friend share a farmette with two horses, 8 hens, 5 ducks, 2 cats, and 2 bunnies.