Research is an integral and vital activity in the department of communication. Our research activity has been recognized with a #1 national ranking from Academic Analytics / Chronicle of Higher Education, and with top 10 National Research Council rankings.
Faculty in the department have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, as well as numerous private foundations. Our work is internationally respected within the field of communication, and also is often published in other disciplines such as family studies, journalism, psychology, gerontology, political science, and public health.
All research in our department is driven by the dual goals of being highly socially relevant, while also generating and testing communication theory. As a result, we have faculty studying political campaigns and speeches, childhood obesity and violence, family function and dysfunction, stereotyping and prejudice, and the ways in which communication relates to health outcomes. Our research is also collaborative; our graduate students participate in faculty-led research teams and co-author much of the research that the department produces.
