Chris Xaver, PhD

Professor, Communication and Media Arts

Bachelor of Science, Syracuse University
Master of Science, Syracuse University
Doctor of Philosophy, Capella University

Chris Xaver is the program chair of Communications and Media Arts at Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, N.Y. TC3, as it's known, is part of the State University of New York system (SUNY).

Chris brings to TC3 a strong and varied background. She received her B.S in broadcast journalism, cum laude, from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, her M.A. from Syracuse in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship, and her PhD in Higher Education Leadership from Capella University.   

For more than 20 years Chris worked as a reporter and anchor in both television and radio. She still fills in more than 10 weeks a year to keep her skills sharp and her finger on the pulse of what is happening in the industry.

At TC3, Chris has embraced a strengths-based approach to teaching and leading. She’s a certified StrengthsQuest trainer with the Gallup Organization. StrengthsQuest is a revolutionary program from The Gallup Organization that focuses students on strengths rather than weaknesses.