Nagesh Rao, Ph.D.
Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1994  Office: Room 236, 277-2653	Associate Professor Communication

Research:

1974, Madras, India. My grandmother, who was visiting us from Bangalore, woke me up one morning at 6 a.m., pulled me outside the house and said, “Look! Only a foreigner will wear shorts and run so early in the morning.” She thought it was particularly funny that someone would run to exercise. In her worldview, our day-to-day activities were filled with enough physical rigor that one didn’t need to “exercise” separately. This was an early introduction to my research interest, the intersection of culture and health. I am particularly interested in how our objective and subjective culture shape our health beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, and vice versa.

Sample Publications:

• Torres, M.B., & Rao, N. (in press). "Disclosure and truth in physician-patient communication: An exploratory analysis in Argentina, Brazil, India and the United States." Journal of Creative Communications.

• Rao, N., Singhal, A., Ren, L., & Zhang, J. (2007). "Is the Chinese Self-Construal in Transition?" Reprinted in Hinner, M.B. (Ed.), The Influence of Culture in the World of Business, Volume 4. Freiberger Beitraege zur Interkulturellen und Wirtschaftskommunikation (A Forum for General and Intercultural BusinessCommunication). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang GmbH.

• Singhal, A., Rao, N., & Pant, S. (2006). "Entertainment-Education and Possibilities for Second-order Social Change," Journal of Creative Communications, 3(1), 2006.

• Song, Y.J., Hale., C.L., & Rao, N. (2005). "The South Korean Chief
  Negotiator: Balancing Traditional Values and Contemporary Business Practices." International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p313-328.

• Rao, N. (2004). “'Two roads diverged in a yellow road …' The role of culture in shaping global and local realities." The Milestone, 2(1), 3-16.

Authors: Watzlawick, Bennett, Hofstede, Helman, Kleinman, Fadiman, Friere, Boal, Bach, Feynman, Doyle, Gibran, R.K. Laxman.

Teaching Style: To create a space of co-learning where the participants and I can become better scholars, practitioners, and citizens.

Why UNM?: I am excited to be back in a department that brings great people and great ideas together. And who can resist the natural beauty, the spiritual energy, and the outstanding chile?