Each year, the Department of Communication presents the Illinois Tradition Awards to recognize outstanding students whose achievements embody excellence in scholarship, teaching, and service.
Earlier this month, both graduate and undergraduate students were honored in separate ceremonies. The department presented the undergraduate winners with their awards in a virtual...
Cecilia Espinosa, a sophomore majoring in communication and political science with minors in Spanish and business, has been selected as a Key into Public Service Scholar by the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society. The award recognizes students who have demonstrated interest in working in the public sector and possess a strong academic record in the arts, humanities, mathematics, and natural...
Travis Dixon, professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Communication, will present the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Distinguished Lecture on Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 4 pm in Foellinger Auditorium. The event will be livestreamed. A reception will follow from 5-6 pm. Dixon's lecture, "The Centrality of Media Stereotyping and How It Impacts Us," will...
The Health Communication Online Master's (HCOM) Program and the Department of Communication are pleased to announce that Professor Gary L. Kreps of George Mason University will deliver this year's Dale Brashers Memorial Lecture. Sponsored by the HCOM program, the Dale Brashers Memorial Lecture...
Professor Emeritus Joseph Wenzel passed away on December 30, 2021. The department is greatly saddened by this loss. Joe was a respected scholar, teacher, leader, and mentor, and a wonderful member of our community for many decades. And he remained engaged with us throughout his retirement. His obituary, crafted by his family, is shared below. Joseph W. Wenzel, 88, of Champaign passed away at 2:...
Popular wisdom suggests that the internet plays a major role in shaping consumers’ political attitudes in the U.S., and some recent studies blamed partisan news outlets’ coverage for the increasing polarization of the nation’s electorate. However, a study of 1,037 internet users during the 2018-19 U.S. midterm election found that online partisan media may have little direct impact on consumers...
Communication Majors Continue to Secure Internships During COVID-19: Director Kate Ditewig-Morris discusses the success of the Department’s Internship Program As a socially distanced fall semester nears its end, students are applying for spring and summer internships. Before the COVID-19 health crisis, students could gain real-life work experience by interning at office spaces and networking...- The recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Breonna Taylor by current and former police officers compel us both to condemn these specific acts as well as recognize and acknowledge the long history of systemic racism and anti-Black violence that perpetuates them. In doing so, we must also acknowledge that systemic racism and anti-Black violence take place in our own...
The images in the media have been strong and often disturbing in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. We process them through our biases, both conscious and unconscious. That’s the domain of Travis Dixon, who studies media stereotypes and their impact as a professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He spoke with ...- The Department of Communication is pleased to share a video celebrating this year's graduates. It features alumni speaker, Graham Grady (a CMN alumnus and partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP), messages from a number of faculty members, and a personal recognition of each graduate. Although we can't gather together in our usual way in Krannert's Great Hall, we want all of our graduates...
The Department of Communication lost a beloved colleague and longtime teacher when Tom Costello passed away on April 15, 2020. Tom taught decades of University of Illinois students, and was especially influential in the lives of our undergraduate majors. While many across Champaign-Urbana will remember Tom for how he made life better for everyone in this community, we remember him best as the...
It may seem incredible in an age of polarized division, but Ned O’Gorman is making a proactive case for politics. His new book “Politics for Everybody” is true to its title. It’s a “defense of politics for people who have lost faith in it.” It’s also a call for renewed engagement in public life, though with an...
“Shelter in place” is now the norm in much of the country, thanks to COVID-19. As a result, connections once made face to face are now happening electronically in both work and personal lives. John Caughlin heads the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and specializes in...- The University of Illinois Library celebrates the tenure and promotion of faculty by giving them the opportunity to select a book to be added to the Library collection in their honor. As the Library states, each book is book-plated and "stand as a reminder now and into the future of the remarkable accomplishments of the faculty at this university." See below for a sample of some of the books...
E-cigarettes get teenagers hooked on nicotine. Or they aid cigarette smokers seeking to quit. Or they may be harmful in other ways. Those competing messages make the devices a tricky subject for health communicators, says Cabral Bigman, a professor in the Department of Communication whose research focuses on health communication issues around vaping. She spoke with News Bureau...