Kate Cooper is an associate professor of communication studies in the College of Communication. She received her PhD in communication from the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign. She teaches classes in nonprofit organizing, small group communication, communication consulting and organizational communication.
As a researcher, Kate is primarily interested in nonprofit organizations and interorganizational collaboration in response to social problems. Her research has been published in both communication and nonprofit journals, as well as outlets for nonprofit practitioners. She is the co-author of the book "Networks for Social Impact" (2022) and continues to work with nonprofit organizations.
Selected Publications
Books
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Cooper, K.R. & Carlson, E.J. (2025). Transparency and ambiguity in collective communication design. Communication Monographs, 1-21. 10.1080/03637751.2025.2456153
- Cooper, K.R., Wang, R., & Atouba, Y.C. (in press). Weathering the storm: Nonprofit resilience and resistance in response to the refugee “crisis." Accepted for publication in the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies.
- Cooper, K.R., Atouba, Y.C., & Wang, R. (2025). Are we all in this together? Examining nonprofits' perceptions of governmental actors in the management of the U.S. refugee crisis. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 16(2), 161-180. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2023-0064 https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2024.2407583
- Cooper, K.R., & Wang, R. (2024). From reactionary to revelatory: CSR reporting in response to the global refugee crisis. Business and Society, 63(1), 185-212 https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503221101882
- Cooper, K. R., Wang, R., Harris, J. L., Miles, J. P., & Shumate, M. (2024). Leading resilient, purpose-oriented networks through change. Management Communication Quarterly, 38(4), 978-1005. https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241241226
- Cooper, K.R., & Cooper, L. O. (2022). Inside, outside, or constituting community: Three perspectives on religious congregations. Journal of Communication and Religion, 45(4), 57-75.
- Fu, J.S., & Cooper, K.R. (2022). Reconsidering communication visibility in politically restrictive contexts: Organizational social media use in China. Journal of Communication, 72(5), 540-552. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqac024 (Winner, Outstanding Article of the Year, National Communication Association Organizational Communication Division; Winner, Best Faculty Article, Chinese Communication Association Best Faculty Article)
- Fu, J. S., & Cooper, K. R. (2022). Multiple identities in faith-based organizations: Exploring status and value homophily in idealized partnerships. Communication Research, 9(5), 733–759. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502211046246
- Cooper, K.R. (2021). “For everyone" means “for no one:" Membership tensions in community collaboration. Management Communication Quarterly, 35(3), 392-417. doi: 10.1177/08933189211000324
- Cooper, K.R., & Cooper, L.O. (2021). Partners, not providers: A collaboration typology for congregations and community. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 50(5), 919-938. doi: 10.1177/0899764021991669
Resources for Nonprofit Practitioners
- Shumate, M., & Cooper, K.R. (2022). How to build more resilient networks. Stanford Social Innovation Review.
- Cooper, K.R., & Shumate, M. (2022). The road to social impact: Leveraging community power and institutional influence. Nonprofit Quarterly.
- Cooper, K.R., & Shumate, M. (2022, January 3). 5 ways international funders can support networks for social impact. International Policy Digest.
- Cooper, K.R. (2021). Our democracy needs investors to fund nonprofit collaborations. The Fulcrum.
- Shumate, M., Wang, R., Cooper, K.R., Harris, J.L., Doughtery, S., Miles, J., Boyer, A.M., Gibson, Z., Richardson, M., & Kistler, H. (2021). The Networks for Social Impact in Education series.
- Wang, R., Cooper, K.R., & Shumate, M. (2020, Winter). Alternatives to collective impact: The Community System Solutions Framework. Stanford Social Innovation Review. (English and Chinese)