Center for Culture Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) proudly presents its Faculty Collaborators, an integral part of our dedicated team advancing culture-centered communication solutions. Our faculty members represent a diverse and esteemed group of experts committed to employing their specialized knowledge and experience in furthering our research initiatives.
Prof. Stephen M Croucher
Prof. Stephen M Croucher (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2006) is the Professor and Head of the School of Communication, Journalism, and Marketing at Massey University. He is also the Wellington Regional Director of the Massey Business School. He researches immigrant cultural adaptation, religion and communication, statistics, and conflict. He has also explored how religion influences communication behaviors. He is the winner of numerous top paper awards at regional, national, and international conferences, has authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, authored/co-edited 10 books, and given keynote addresses in more than 20 nations. He serves on the editorial boards of more than 10 journals, and served as the editor of the Journal of Intercultural Communication Research (2010-2019) and Speaker & Gavel (2010-2015). He has/held/holds various leaderships positions in the National Communication Association, International Communication Association, the World Communication, and holds Professorships at the University of Jyväskylä, Universidade Aberta, and the Universidade de Coimbra.
Dr. Steve Elers
Dr. Steve Elers is presently working as a Senior Māori Research Insights Advisor – NZ Police and is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University, New Zealand. He completed his Ph.D (Communication Studies) at Auckland University of Technology; his doctoral research used a kaupapa Māori approach to examine Māori perspectives of public information advertisements. His research interests include the analysis of representations of Māori and indigenous peoples and culture in news media, public relations and advertising. He has published in a range of communication journals, including Media International Australia, Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics, China Media Research, and Intercultural Communication Studies. He is a registered member of the following Māori iwi (tribes) – Kōkara: Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Hauā and Ngāti Raukawa; Pāpara: Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Rangitāne ki Wairarapa, Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Hikairo
Dr. Jagadish Thaker
JT or JAGADISH THAKER (Ph.D., George Mason University) is a Senior Lecturer in Communication at School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland. He has also taught at the University of Auckland and has been a Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University until 2021. He is an affiliate researcher with the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. His research examines ways to understand and enhance vulnerable communities adaptive capacity to climate change impacts in India. Dr. Thaker specializes in the fields of science and climate change communication, health communication, and strategic communication campaigns. His work at CARE relates to building community partnerships and implementing community-led campaigns related to women farmers voices on climate change, and stigma reduction campaigns with sexual minorities advocacy groups.
Dr. Franco Vaccarino
Dr. Vaccarino is an Italian, raised in South Africa, and now living in Aotearoa New Zealand. His career in the adult literacy field started at a commercial bank in Johannesburg where Dr. Franco provided adult literacy classes to employees. At the University of South Africa, he trained individuals who wanted to become literacy facilitators, including prisoners. He was the national coordinator of 650 prisoner-students in 55 prisons throughout South Africa. In a joint project by the University of South Africa and an NGO, he managed and coordinated a family literacy project in various sites throughout South Africa, including urban and rural areas, a farm school, a squatter camp, a mother-child prison, an AIDS-orphaned village, and a special needs school. He also designed and developed adult literacy, post-literacy and non-formal education curricula for the Ministry of Education (Direcção Nacional de Alfabetização e Educação de Adultos) in the Republic of Mozambique. Dr. Vaccarino worked in the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University where he taught and researched in the area of intercultural communication. He is involved in a number of joint projects that focus on the socio-cultural adaptation and integration of international students in New Zealand as well as in China and in an international project looking at societal transformations and climate change across cultures.