Webster University Non-verbal Communications Professor to be on TLC's "What Not to Wear" Feb. 19

Campus episode watch party planned for Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. will feature two Webster faculty researchers on the ‘female academic dress code’ and the pressure to look ‘frumpy’

Gina Jensen, assistant director of the Webster University forensics and debate team and an authority on non-verbal communications, is the ironic featured contestant of the Friday, Feb. 19 episode of TLC's "What Not to Wear." Jensen was nominated to be on the program more than a year ago by several of her current and former students. She was officially selected for the show in October when she was lured to a local television studio for what she thought was a feature news segment on ‘what your clothes say about you.’ There, she was ‘ambushed’ by the TLC show’s hosts and asked to be on the show. As a result of her participation, she was given $5,000 for a new wardrobe during a week-long shopping and makeover trip to New York City. A watch party will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Webster University’s University Center Sunnen Lounge, 175 Edgar Road, Webster Groves, Missouri. Gina, her husband and colleague Scott, their three children and numerous Webster students, staff and faculty will be in attendance.

Coincidentally, Webster Professors Monica Moore and Gwyneth Williams are currently researching the clothing choices made by women in academia. Both Moore and Williams will be in attendance at Friday’s watch party to discuss their research. They acknowledge that there is no written or unwritten dress code for academic men or women, but say that the pressure to communicate authority and intellectual expertise in the classroom is greater and more difficult to attain for women than for men. They say women “must be very careful to choose clothing that signals a ‘seriousness of mind.’”

Professors Jensen, Moore and Williams will be in attendance at Friday’s watch party and are available for interviews. For more information, contact Christine Eason, director of media relations, at: 314-968-5976 or 314-565-5745 or eason@webster.edu

For more information about TLC's "What Not to Wear" go to: http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/whatnottowear/whatnottowear.html.

With its home campus in St. Louis, Webster University is a worldwide institution committed to delivering high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence. Founded in 1915, Webster offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs through five schools and colleges, and a global network of more than 100 campuses. Its 20,000-plus student population represents almost 150 nationalities. Since opening its first campus overseas in Geneva in 1978, Webster has become a recognized leader and innovator in global education, with an international presence that now includes campuses in London; Vienna; Amsterdam and Leiden, the Netherlands; Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu, China; and Bangkok and Cha-am, Thailand. Webster also has educational partnerships with universities in Mexico and Japan.

###