Maria Dixon
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia

Dr. Maria Dixon is a “Navy brat” who grew up all over the southern United States. After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from the University of Alabama, she was a sales specialist for Dow Chemical-North America in the pulp and paper and specialty chemical market and a sales supervisor for Diamond Exteriors, Inc., the home improvement division of Sears and Roebuck. In 1995, she left corporate America to begin her seminary education at The Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Atlanta, with an emphasis in Biblical studies and homiletics. She served as the president of the graduate school’s student body and was awarded the Owens Outstanding Preaching and the Prophetic Preacher distinctions in 1998. She earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1998 and returned in 1999 to earn a Master of Theology. In May 2004, she graduated with her Ph.D. in organizational communication from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research emphasis is organizational rhetoric, power and organizational culture. Her work focuses on non-profit, religious and Greek-letter organizations. She is the author of “Silencing of the Lambs: An Analysis of the 2002 Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandal,” featured in the Journal of Communication and Religion.