Sheila McNamee
Sheila McNamee is an American academic known for her work in human communication and social constructionism theory and practice. She is a Professor of Communication at the University of New Hampshire and founding member, Vice President and board member of the Taos Institute. She has authored numerous, books, chapters, and journal articles. Her work focuses on appreciative dialogic transformation within a variety of social and institutional contexts including psychotherapy, organizations, education, healthcare, and local communities. She engages constructionist practices in a variety of contexts to bring communities of participants with diametrically opposing viewpoints together to create livable futures . McNamee is married to a scholar of communication (Professor John Lannamann). They reside in Durham, New Hampshire. Work. Founding Member. McNamee is a founder, board member and vice president of the Taos Institute. The Taos Institute is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the development of social constructionist theory and practices for purposes of world benefit. With over two hundred Associates around the world, the Taos Institute achieves their educational ends through conferences, workshops, publications, a Ph.D. program, distance learning programs, newsletters, learning networks, and web-based offerings. The Taos Institute also engages in collaborative partnerships with other national and  international organizations. Awards. Awards received by McNamee include Class of 1944 Professorship at the University of New Hampshire (2001-2004) and the Lindberg Award for Outstanding Scholar/Teacher in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire (2007–2008). Most recently, Sheila was added to the Fulbright Specialists Roster (2012-2017) and received a Fulbright Specialist Grant to work with faculty and students at the University of Caldas in Manizales, Colombia (May–June, 2012), exploring social constructionist theory and practice in social work, family development, social sciences, social research, conflict resolution, and mediation. Author. Sheila McNamee is the  author of several books on social construction. Sheila co-authored "Relational Responsibility: Resources for Sustainable Dialogue" (1992) with Kenneth Gergen. In "Relational Responsibility", Sheila and Ken question the tradition of individual responsibility and transform the concept of responsibility by giving centre stage to the relational process rather than to the individual - replacing alienation and isolation with meaningful dialogue. McNamee co-authored "Research and Social Change: A Relational Constructionist Approach" (2012) with Dian Marie Hosking. In this book, Sheila and Dian Marie bridge scholarly forms of inquiry and practitioners’ daily activities. They introduce inquiry as a process of relational construction, offering  resources to practitioners who want to reflect on how their work generates practical effects. Sheila and Diane Marie lay out relational constructionist premises and explore these in terms of their generative possibilities both for inquiry and social change work.