Mr. Michael R. Palmer

Michael Palmer is an Associate Professor of Communication in the Communication, Media, and Culture department at Bryan College. He previously taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His personal and family roots are tied to being born and raised in South Africa, Zambia, and the United States, with academic roots in both communication and religious studies. His undergraduate program was at Samford University and Southeastern Bible College, and his graduate studies were at Southern Nazarene University and the University of Oklahoma. His academic interests and concentrations include communication and culture; film studies; the psychology of communication; meaning and semantics; interpersonal and corporate communication; media studies; and pop and intercultural studies. He is the advisor for the college debate team and directs the International Student Association. 

His time at Bryan includes having been on the coaching staff for the men’s soccer program and started and ran the college rugby team. As a part of the community experience, there has been ongoing participation in reading groups and also a film group known as ‘the not-so-secret society of men who meet occasionally on Mondays and sometimes on Tuesdays.’

He is on the extended faculty of the American Enterprise Institute and Free Market Forum. He also works with the Advancement office in traveling and making and maintaining connections with Bryan grads and friends of the college. This venture is called Indaba, which is Zulu for ‘intentional conversation and connection for their greater good’. He creates and directs the yearly Communication Department’s CMC Festival of Music, Film, and the Arts. This is a college and a community event.

The last 12 years have included annual trips to the Czech Republic, specifically Prague and Olomouc. This has included taking students as teaching assistants, the oversight of student internships in places like Raiffeisen Bank, teaching at Palacky University, and presenting papers at their annual International Week.