Maria Blevins Ph.D.  is an Associate Professor of communication at Utah Valley University.  Her research focuses on conflict and organizational and environmental communication. Before becoming an academic, she was a whitewater rafting guide on the New, Gauley, and Snake Rivers. She has a passion for helping people enjoy rivers and the outdoors.  Her current research focuses on sexual harassment in the whitewater rafting industry.  She is also one of the founding members of A-DASH, an anti-discrimination organization for river professionals through the River Management Society.  She received her  BS in Outdoor Recreation Management from the University of Maine and Machias, MA in Communication and a certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution for Natural Resources from the University of Montana and her Ph.D. from the University of Utah.