Critical legal communication; race, sexuality, gender and biopolitics; rhetoric and semiotics; queer and feminist theory
Jackie is the Director of the university's nationally ranked intercollegiate debate team. She received her PhD and M.A. in Communication from George Mason University in 2019 and 2015. Jackie's research centers on critical legal communication, specifically the ideological and rhetorical justifications for legal doctrines. Her dissertation performed a critical analysis of the Supreme Court's use of the Chevron doctrine. Jackie has also pursued work in queer rhetorical analysis, critical media studies, co-cultural activism research and research in anti-blackness studies. As an academic, Jackie's paper submissions to the National Communication Association have been nominated for the Cross Examination Debate Association's top paper panel five times.
Outside of her academic work, Jackie's large focus is on skills development and tournament travel with the top nationally ranked GMU Debate Team. Jackie also currently serves as the Director of the George Mason Debate Institute, which is the largest middle school and high school debate camp in the state of Virginia.
Jackie is currently the President for the Cross Examination Debate Association. In 2018, the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Cross Examination Debate Association nominated Jackie to serve as their regional representative. She was also chosen by the National Debate Tournament in 2019 as the Rankings Director. Jackie served as the Vice President of Public Relations for the American Debate Association from 2017-2022. For her excellence in coaching, Jackie was awarded the Frank Harrison Excellence in coaching award in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
Jacquelyn Poapst, Legal Lacuna, Sovereignty, and Deference: A Radical Critique of Liberalism and the Chevron Doctrine, PhD Dissertation, proquest
Jackie Poapst, From the Closet to Saint Patrick's Cathedral: Acts of Rage and Opacity within Queer Social Movements, M.A. Thesis, proquest
Jackie Poapst & Allison Harper, Debate Like a Girl: An Analysis of the George Mason Celebration of Women in Debate Tournament, Presented at Penn State Communication Conference and published in the Penn State Communication Journal, 2014
COMM 101, Interpersonal and Group Interaction
COMM 260, Basic Debate Theory and Practice
COMM 261, Argumentation Theory
COMM 302, Foundations of Media Theory
COMM 335, Organizational Communication
COMM 362, Argument and Public Policy
COMM 380, Media Criticism
COMM 430, Persuasion
COMM 454, Free Speech and Ethics
COMM 465, Gender Communication
PhD, Communication, George Mason University, 2019
M.A., Communication, George Mason University, 2015
B.S., Criminology and Psychology, Liberty University, 2012
Interviewed by the New York Times about high school debate and civic education: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/us/politics/2020-debate-students.html