2023-01-08 - Fewer than 120,000 U.S. World War II veterans are still alive in 2023. People who lived through the war are relatively few. Why then, in an age of shortening attention spans and character limits, would a three-hour-long biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer interest the modern audience? Although...
2023-01-08 - Compared to J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head of a scientific revolution that ended the Second World War and caused hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, a toy might seem to be an inconsequential figure in history. However, such is Barbie’s influence that professor Grace Giorgio uses the...
2023-01-08 - Barbenheimer, the portmanteau for Barbie: The Movie and Oppenheimer, captured headlines this summer. But how did two films that were seemingly polar opposites get grouped into a suggested double-header and become so inextricably linked? At face value, the only thing they share is a premiere date:...
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...
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'...
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...
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-...
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...- 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...
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...- 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...
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...
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...
“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 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...