Maggie Pitts to Receive Women of Impact Award

Maggie Pitts is the associate dean of the Graduate College and an associate professor in the Communication Department. 

With more than 50 scholarly publications, Pitts researches areas of interpersonal and intercultural communication and approaches the study of human interactions from a positive social scientific lens. She implements optimism in her study of human communication — asking questions like, "what is going right" and "how can we make good things even better?"

Pitts applies this unique approach to her program of research, which focuses on the ways people talk to each other as they navigate transitions in life (such as health decision-making, end-of-life and later-life conversations, and retirement). Currently, she is working with her doctoral students to build a grounded theoretical model of communication savoring — the "process of mindfully attending to a moment to enhance feelings of pleasure associated with that experience."

In their letter of nomination, the Graduate College commended Pitts' dedication to her work and "unwavering commitment to outstanding service for our students and wider community. This is reflected in her teaching, publications, committee service, and student mentoring." Maggie won this award along with three other SBS Women of Impact recipients: Director of Anthropology - Diane Austin, Director of School of Government and Public Policy - Edella Schlager, and Linguistics Regents Professor - Ofelia Zepeda.

A big congratulations to Maggie and all the 2023 award recipients!