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Erin Willer

Erin Kristine Willer

Professor; 4D Director of Faculty Innovation

erin.willer@du.edu

303-871-4308 (Office)

Community Commons, 2055 E. Evans Ave. Denver, CO 80208

What I do

Professor
4D Director of Faculty Innovation

Specialization(s)

grief, compassion, embodiment, arts-based research

Professional Biography

Dr. Erin Willer's research/teaching/community work answers the question: how can we engage narrative, art, and embodied practices to cultivate well-being, creativity, compassion, and community in the face of illness, death, and loss? This work includes scholarship on critical grief pedagogy, infertility and perinatal loss, suicide, and mother/fatherhood. Dr. Willer teaches several community-engaged courses at DU—Communicating Grief and Loss, Visual Narratives of Women's Health, Communicating Empathy and Compassion, and Running as Feminist Embodiment—partnering with organizations such as Colorado Pregnancy and Newborn Loss Support, Girls on the Run of the Rockies, lululemon, and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Communication Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009
  • MS, Communication, Illinois State University, 2006
  • BS, Speech Communication Education, Illinois State University, 2001

Professional Affiliations

  • National Communication Association
  • Pregnancy Loss and Infant Death Alliance
  • Western States Communication Association

Media Sources

Research

Dr. Erin Willer's research/teaching/community work answers the question: how can we engage narrative, art, and embodied practices to cultivate well-being, creativity, compassion, and community in the face of illness, death, and loss? This work includes scholarship on critical grief pedagogy, infertility and perinatal loss, suicide, and mother/fatherhood. Dr. Willer teaches several community-engaged courses at DU—Communicating Grief and Loss, Visual Narratives of Women's Health, Communicating Empathy and Compassion, and Running as Feminist Embodiment—partnering with organizations such as Colorado Pregnancy and Newborn Loss Support, Girls on the Run of the Rockies, lululemon, and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

Areas of Research

death
grief
infertility
perinatal loss
reproductive health
empathy
compassion
suicide
running
narrative
embodiment
arts-based research methods
pedagogy

Featured Publications

Willer, E. K., & Willer, M. J. (2019). The heARTist part: Turning the point of mothering toward 100%. Health Communication. Health Communication, 34, 1069-1073.
Willer, E. K., Droser, V., Hoyt, K., Hunniecutt, J., Krebs, E., Johnson, J., & Castaneda, N. (2018). A visual narrative analysis of children's baby loss remembrance drawings. Journal of Family Communication, 18, 153-169.
Willer, E. K. (2014). Health-care provider compassionate love and women's infertility stressors. Communication Monographs.
Willer, E. K. (2022). At a loss for/words studio: Practicing the art of mad grief. In B. L. Peterson & L. M. Harter (Eds.), Brave space-making: The poetics and politics of storytelling, 2nd ed.. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.
Willer, E. K., Krebs, E., Castaneda, N., Hoyt, K., Droser, V., Johnson, J. A., & Hunniecutt, J. (2020). Our babies['] count[er story]: A narrative ethnography of a baby loss remembrance walk ritual. Communication Monographs.
Willer, E. K. (2020). Running-in(to) transition: Embodied practice under the load of infertility, loss, and motherhood. Health Communication.

Performances

Willer, E. K. (2017). The He(ARTery) of Pregnancy and Baby Loss. The Scraps of the Heart Project and Service Learning Students in Communicating Empathy and Compassion and Museums and Public Culture. University of Denver Museum of Anthropology.

Presentations

Willer, E. K. (2019). Keynote Address- At a loss for/words: Narrating the heA/R/T of grief. . Great Plains Undergraduate Communication Research Summit. University of South Dakota.
Willer, E. K. (2019). Empathy. Mixed Taste. Denver Center for the Performing Arts: Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Off Center.

Awards

  • Service-Learning Faculty of the Year Award, University of Denver, Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning
  • Outstanding New Teacher Award, Central States Communication Association
  • 2020 Western States Communication Association Distinguished Teaching Award , Western States Communication Association