Keeping your relationships strong
Former professor of NAU stresses the importance of communication and how it benefits us as a society
By Brent Whiting
Editor-at-Large,
The VOICE
Students at Glendale Community College (GCC) have been told that communication is the single most important behavioral skill in defining the rest of their lives.
"Communication has the ability to create relationships, to create opportunities … but also to sustain them," said Brant Short.
Short, a communication professor at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff explained that, "those two things [communication and opportunities] should be worked together."
Short, who has taught at NAU for 14 years, spoke the evening of April 9 to about 80 students and faculty members who gathered at the Student Union.
He said there are more than 100 scholarly definitions of communication, but he prefers to look upon it as "human interaction that creates meaning."
Communication is an important lifelong skill because it will define success in the workplace and will guide a person's ability to be a good friend, spouse, sibling, parent, aunt or uncle, Short said during his 60-minute address.
Conversely, lack of communication skills can lead to problems in the workplace, as well as troubled relationships or a denial or opportunities, Short added.
In addition, communication skills can help manage daily conflicts, he said.
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