Sydney Graham, M.A
Sydney Graham is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri specializing in organizational communication. She is interested in how individuals make sense of and communicate their relationship to their work. Through research and teaching, Sydney aims to build more inclusive, collaborative, productive, and empathy-driven work environments.
Her research has investigated the relationship between stigma, identity, and gender in both organizational and occupational contexts as well as the role of Generative AI in new employee experiences. Sydney’s published research explores identity narratives of legal sex workers in the state of Nevada and focuses on topics of identity fragmentation and overlap, concealment and disclosure, and agency. Her current ongoing research projects investigate tensions of occupational, organizational, and industry stigma, work identities, and the relationship between organizational policies and social discourses. Sydney's dissertation is a post-intentional phenomenological study examining industry stigma and gendered, religious, and neoliberal discourses in the context of network marketing.
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In addition to her academic research, Sydney recently completed a 12-week research internship at Microsoft using mixed methods to study generative AI, new employee ramp up, and productivity. Her internship was a partnership between Microsoft Research and Microsoft Experiences and Devices. In this role, she used communication and identity theorizing to understand how new employees use Generative AI to become integrated and productive team members.
She has co-authored several book chapters and presented at national and international communication conferences including the National Communication Association (NCA) and Central States Communication Association (CSCA) conferences as well as the international conference, “Prostitution in Nevada and the Basque Country.”
Sydney is currently an instructor of Organization Advocacy. She has experience teaching Business and Professional Communication and Public Speaking, as well as working with the Trulaske EDGE program's Advanced Professional Development course in Mizzou's Trulaske School of Business. In 2023, Sydney was awarded the Writing Intensive Teaching Excellence Award by the University of Missouri Campus Writing Program and the Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award as voted on by the Association of Communication Graduate Students.
Outside of research and teaching, Sydney currently serves as the President of the Association of Communication Graduate Students at the University of Missouri and co-chair of the Social and Awards Committee.
Regarding professional experience, Sydney has facilitated professional trainings on inclusive organizational communication and sessions on public speaking. In 2023, she served as a Summer Communications Associate for Heart of Missouri United Way. In this position, Sydney interviewed nonprofit agency partners and drafted communications for the organization’s website and newsletter. Prior to beginning the doctoral program at Mizzou, Sydney worked in communications and social media for a private museum in Washington, D.C.
