Angela Ragsdale is a master’s student specializing in Mediated Communication and Identity, Diversity, and Communication. Her work examines the effects of mass media on ethnic-racial identity formation and maintenance, focusing particularly on the Hispanic/Latinx population, as well as media effects on gender conception. She also wishes to examine topics within political communication in how the news media can contribute to the development of political identities and beliefs within minority communities, specifically within the Hispanic/Latinx community. Within all of these topics, Angela wishes to incorporate aspects of interpersonal communication in the future. 

Angela received her B.A. in Psychology and Anthropology, as well as a minor in Linguistics from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). At UTSA, Angela was a Senior Research Assistant in the Team on Acculturation, Risk, and the Development of Identity and Self (T.A.R.D.I.S. Lab) working with Dr. Alan Meca and played an important role in establishing the lab’s presence at UTSA. In the TARDIS lab, Angela helped develop a project titled ‘Maximizing Assessments and Surveys on Identity to Venture Enthusiastically (MASIVE),’ a portion of which focused on the impacts of positive minority representation on ethnic-racial identity among the Hispanic/Latinx population. Angela then incorporated the data from this study in her Undergraduate Honors Thesis which she completed in Fall 2022. 

Angela currently teaches two sections of COMM 1200 – Public Speaking within the Communications department.