Allyson L. Wilson
PhD Student, George Mason University
Allyson L. Wilson is a PhD student in Strategic and Organizational Communication at George Mason University and the Chief Operating Officer of a boutique criminal defense law firm. Nearly twenty-five years in business management have given her a systems oriented view of legal practice and communication in high-stakes environments. Her research and professional work focus on how founder-led organizations adapt, manage risk, and sustain culture under specialized pressures. Drawing on strategic, interpersonal, and organizational communication theory, she examines how structure, leadership, and interpersonal meaning-making influence decision-making, reputation, and client experience...
Wilson’s poster presentation at the 111th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association introduces her conceptual framework, titled The Holistic EVT–PIT Framework. The project reconfigures Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) by replacing its binary evaluative step with Problematic Integration (PI), illustrating how meaning-making and sensemaking processes make structural recursion visible at the interpersonal level...
The Holistic EVT-PIT Conceptual Framework Report
Wilson’s report, which conceptualizes, The Holistic EVT–PIT Framework, provides the foundation for her NCA 2025 presentation, When Desires Collide With Reality. The report develops the theoretical integration of Expectancy Violations Theory and Problematic Integration Theory, explaining how meaning-making and emotion reveal communication as both medium and outcome...