Corya Kennedy Channing

Continuing Lecturer
channing@calumet.purdue.edu
Phone: (219) 989-2267
Office:Porter Hall 116-E
Fax: (219) 989-2008

Biography:

Corya Channing enjoyed a dozen years in the television post production and computer graphics industry as a marketing and sales representative before returning to college in 1991 to renew her teacher's license. The two courses she took at Purdue Calumet were wonderful so she decided to continue until she had completed a minor in Speech Education. She then went on to earn a second Master's degree in Communication, while serving as a graduate teaching assistant in the Communication and Creative Arts Department. Channing also taught at IU Northwest, Valparaiso University and Davenport College, and then joined the PUC faculty full-time in 2000. Since then, she has been teaching a variety of communication courses in the area of Theatre, Voice and Diction, Business and Professional Speaking, Interviewing and Small Group Communication. She is currently directing a play for the Purdue Theatre Company, "Come Back, Little Sheba."

Her emphasis has been on performance: a performance art piece entitled "The Homeless Women's Hall of Fame" was presented on campus in 1996, in 2000 at the National Communication Association conference in Seattle and again in 2004 at Central States Convention in Cleveland, OH. She has presented several one-woman shows based on characters of her own design: Tushka Babushka, the Gypsy Storyteller, has performed at area libraries and elementary schools, as well as FAME's 10th Annual Festival of the Arts in Merrillville, IN. Her original scripted performance piece "The Sexy Crone" was presented at Central State's Speech Conference in Milwaukee in 2002. She created a performative ethnography based on the life of Alberta Rehm Schulz, one of the original Brown County artists.

Besides theatre and acting, Channing enjoys cooking (her catering company, Corya's Bliss, prepared meals for the Ethnic Women's Writer's Conference at PUC in 1999) and gardening. She is a member of the Miller Garden Club, co-writes a recipe and cooking column on its website and serves as co-chair of their annual garden tour, Secret Gardens. Recently widowed, she lives with her Siamese cat Kinky in Miller Beach, Gary, Indiana.

Education:
M. A. in Communication, Purdue University Calumet
M. S. English major, Radio-TV minor Indiana University, South Bend
B. S. in Education, English major, Radio-TV minor Indiana University, Bloomington