Dr. Suzanne Enck

Dr. Suzanne Enck is the Associate Director of the School of Communication, Journalism, and Media and Program Coordinator for Communication Studies at the University of North Texas. Dr. Enck also oversees UNT’s Communication & Civic Engagement Initiative.

Research

Dr. Enck works at the intersections of interpersonal/sexual violence and women's incarceration, blending scholarship and outreach. She has published feminist analyses of gendered violence in Communication & Critical/Cultural Studies, Communication, Culture & Critique, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and Women’s Studies in Communication. With funding from the Organization for Research on Women and Communication (ORWAC), she conducted 36 life history interviews with incarcerated women; the first article from this project was published in Text & Performance Quarterly. She is currently working on a book manuscript tentatively titled Storying Carceral Survival: Exploring Women's Pathways to Incarceration.

Teaching

Dr. Enck teaches courses rooted in rhetorical theory/criticism focused on social justice and civic engagement including Civic Collaboration, Gender & Communication, Social Movement(s) & Resistance, Feminist Criticism, and Rhetoric & Popular Culture.

Service

Dr. Enck actively attends the National Communication Association (NCA), Rhetoric Society of America (RSA), and Public Address conferences. She served on the leadership for the NCA’s Feminist and Gender Studies Division and Women’s Caucus between 2006-2020, in addition to serving in leadership for NCA’s Rhetoric and Communication Theory Division (2022-2025) and the Master’s Education Section (2024-Present).  

Outreach

Dr. Enck has volunteered for nearly 30 years with domestic violence prevention programs, rape counseling centers, and university-based prevention initiatives, earning a national peace award for this work from the Sunshine Lady Foundation in 2004. Trained as a “Green Dot” facilitator at UNT, she has worked to offer sexual assault prevention programming on various campuses over the past several decades. Dr. Enck has served previously for multiple terms on the board of directors for Denton County Friends of the Family. Between 2010–2015, she also worked with the Dallas-based organization Resolana, planning workshops in the Dallas County Jail on communication and life skills, critical media literacy, and trauma response as part of efforts to end cycles of women's incarceration.

Honors

Dr. Enck has been awarded a number of honors for her scholarship, mentoring, and outreach, including the Dr. Marilyn Morris Award for Outstanding Academic Contributions in LGBTQ Studies (2026), the Francine Merritt Award for Contributions to the Lives of Women in Communication (2022), UNT Foundation Award for Community Engagement (2021), and the National Communication Association’s Critical & Cultural Studies Division’s Outstanding Scholar-Activist award (2016). Notable Activities & Awards

Suzanne Enck’s current CV