Shaun McAvoy 22’
Associate Sports Editor
With all of the recent changes due to COVID around campus at Merrimack this semester, it is easy to not notice some of the changes in faculty. One of the newest professors to join Merrimack, and the most recent addition to the Communications department, is Dr. Megan Cullinan. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Cullinan earlier this week and was able to learn more about her path to joining the Merrimack community.
Cullinan is from Washington state and is very excited to be working here now at Merrimack College. Cullinan spoke about how she thinks that she found her dream job and already achieved one of her long-term goals by joining the staff at Merrimack. She went to a small liberal arts college called Willamette and likes the similar feel that Merrimack has compared to it and its focus on teaching and students.
Cullinan went on to speak about how nice everyone is at Merrimack as well as how you can feel the sense of community that Merrimack College is known for even while we’re all socially distanced and doing a lot of stuff virtually. Cullinan particularly enjoys how students seem excited for class everyday, although with COVID there have been some hiccups. She also enjoys how the faculty seem closer and more collaborative than at previous institutions she has been at. Something at Merrimack that also is interesting to her is how she can pursue her own projects in research while also teaching and can come up with different kinds of environmental studies courses.
After completing her undergrad,Cullinan moved to Portland and worked as a waitress while looking for an opportunity to work at a nonprofit organization. She then decided to get her masters degree in Montana, leading to her getting her PhD in communications studies at the University of Utah.
Some of the things that she likes to do in her free time include hiking, camping, arts and crafts, going to national parks, and also skiing in the winter.
Cullinan says she’s enjoying Merrimack and it’s clear students are also enjoying her teaching and presence on campus.
“Megan is a great professor. She’s good at teaching a subject that gives many people fear (public speaking) and provides helpful tools on how to overcome these obstacles. Not only that but she teaches how to deliver an effective speech which can be very powerful. She goes out of her way to make sure everyone has what they need to succeed,” said freshman Alex Conte, who has Cullinan on Public Communication.
This semester Cullinan is teaching Public Communication as well as environmental studies gateway, but next semester she will be teaching Health Communication and Communication, Science, Health, and the Environment. So, if you have an open slot for a class next semester, and are interested in taking a course with the newest communications professor, enroll in one of these classes.
