Top-ranked Faculty
The department’s top national ranking is due in large part to our dynamic and energetic faculty. Currently, we have 31 faculty members in communication, several of whom hold joint appointments in other units and departments.
Our faculty members have a strong record of excellence in scholarship. Our research has been funded by grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Rand Corporation, and the William T. Grant Foundation. In addition, our faculty in health, technologies, and media regularly consult with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH, and NSF. In the past several years, three of our faculty members have been named Helen Corley Petit Scholars by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, one has been named a University Scholar, four have been fellows/associates of the Center for Advanced Study, five have been fellows at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, and two have been named Mellon Fellows.
Along with these scholarship achievements, our faculty have received numerous career distinctions in the discipline. Our newly hired assistant professors have won dissertation awards from the National Communication Association, the American Political Science Association, the International Communication Association, and the International Association for Relationship Research. Our more senior faculty members have won book awards from Harvard University, the National Communication Association, the American Political Science Association, and the International Communication Association as well as research awards and career awards from the International Communication Association, the International Society for the Study of Argumentation, the National Communication Association, and the International Association for Relationship Research. Three of our faculty members are elected fellows of the International Communication Association. Collectively, we hold dozens of positions on editorial boards of various academic journals within and outside the field of communication. In short, we have an active and highly talented group of scholars in the department.
Our faculty members and graduate students are also recognized for their teaching. A full 90% of our faculty and teaching assistants consistently rank four out of five on a five point instructor scale of the student evaluation (ICES) ratings for campus. Our faculty includes four recipients of campus and/or college teaching awards. Much of our instructional activity is devoted to our large undergraduate population, but we have a vibrant graduate program as well. We also teach several public speaking and writing courses (CMN 101, public speaking; CMN 111/112, oral and written communication) to undergraduates from across campus.