Opportunities for Giving

UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Communication is internationally known for its research and instruction in communication processes and effectsand is one of the top communication programs in the country. We prepare tomorrow’s leaders with the scholarly background and intellectual skills necessary to analyze and manage complex social issues critically and effectively.  Students develop in-depth understanding and abilities related to problem solving, relationship building, persuasion, message design, negotiation, and collaboration.  To that end, as a Department we have organized our funding opportunities into the following categories (for a two-page color version of this page, click here): 

1. Fund for Excellence
2. Undergraduate and Graduate Student Support
3. Research and Community Outreach
4. Faculty Support
5. Communication Lecture Series
6. Facilities and Capital Naming Opportunities

Fund for Excellence

Gifts to the Fund for Excellence allow the Department Chair to designate funds to the area of greatest need. This flexible funding account allows the Department to seize on new opportunities that emerge and support specific programs, for example, the senior honors' program, equipment expenses for teaching, and activities to support career education. It also enables us to allocate financial resources to all of our funding categories, which can be used for:

• attracting and hiring the best faculty and graduate students
• supporting and rewarding the research activities of students
• creating innovative and top quality undergraduate learning programs
• providing technology and equipment for teaching labs
• developing media and collaborative learning labs

Student Support

The strength of a university department is often evaluated on the quality of its students and their studies and research. Our ability to recruit and retain the verybest scholars is essential to the success of the Department. Your support of the outstanding undergraduates and graduates within the Department is instrumental in our ability to educate the next generation of citizens, researchers, and leaders.

Undergraduate Student Support

Gifts to the Undergraduate Learning Enhancement Fund help the Department, as one of the most popular majors at UCSB, educate the next generation to become informed citizens, effective researchers, and innovative leaders. These funds help students by providing scholarships, career education, and study abroad experiences. Specific funding needs include:

• Scholarships—$20,000 funds the cost of education for an undergraduate Communication major.
• Student Support Fund—$1,000 provides a one-time award to a deserving undergraduate student. Contributions at any level are greatly appreciated and significantly benefit and change the lives our students. Funds can be used for books, software, and other computer needs.
• Departmental Honors Program—$3,000 supports an independent research project for one Honors student for one year.
• Communication Student Associations—$100 - $1,000 supports the activities of the Communication Association or Lambda Pi Eta, the official Communication honor society.

Student Career Development

Provide students with career development opportunities. The department recently instituted two annual career-focused programs. Your contribution ensures their continued success.

• Named Donor for the Annual Communication Career Day:  Held in April, attracting Communication alumni as panelists and hundreds of Communication majors. Annual contribution:  $3,500
• Named Donor for the Annual Internship Workshop:  Held in October, attracting community employers and hundreds of Communication majors.  Annual contribution:  $2,500

Named Donor for the Annual Commencement Reception

Annual ceremony honors graduating students and their families. The reception takes place following the commencement ceremony, and is a tradition for graduates to celebrate their achievement with their classmates, family, and department faculty.  Annual contribution:  $3,000

Graduate Student Support

Graduate fellowship support enables us to compete with the very best universities in the nation to recruit and retain top scholars.  Our graduate students are critical to the Department’s top national rankings and its excellence in undergraduate teaching.

• Graduate Student Excellence Fund—$100 - $1,000 allows students to travel to and present their research at professional meetings, provides laboratory equipment, and/or funds special graduate student awards. 
• Named Fellowships—$10,000 supports a graduate student for one quarter; $35,000 supports a graduate student for a full year.
• Named Endowed Fellowship—$200,000 or more establishes a permanent named fellowship.

Established Named Fellowship Award.  The George D. McCune Dissertation Fellowship was established by and with Sara Miller McCune in memory of the co-founder of one of the leading social science publishers. Created in 1995, the award recognizes excellence in graduate student research and funds a student for one year during the dissertation writing process.

Research and Community Outreach

Support cutting edge research and programs that bring together research and application.

Research and Programs on Health, Communication, and Emotion. Robin Nabi, Ph.D. seeks to bring together scholars from across campus to address the critical role communication plays in the context of pressing health issues (e.g., obesity, autism, cancer, heart disease). This interdisciplinary initiative would examine a range of communication contexts, including new media and health, doctor-patient communication, and familial dynamics with a specific emphasis on the emotional issues fundamental to these health dynamics with the ultimate goal of contributing to the public dialogue on generating a healthier society.  The research group seeks initial funding of $50,000. Research would probe how emotions can affect health; for example:

• How does emotional news coverage of health issues (unrealistically hopeful or unnecessarily fearful) influence people’s health knowledge, attitudes, and behavior as well as public perception of science?
• In what ways do people use social networking sites to solicit emotional support, and how does such support influence users’ psychological well-being?
• How can positive emotions (hope, amusement, gratitude) be used in health communication campaigns to both motivate healthy behaviors and encourage people to share health messages with others?

Research and Programs on Children and Contemporary Media.  René Weber, Ph.D. and his Cognitive Communication Science Research Lab, are seeking funds for research on Children and Contemporary Media. They seek funding for studies that unite state-of-the-art media-research in children and young adults with modern brain science. The research group seeks initial funding of $300,000 for the initial two years. Research questions they would like to pursue include:

• Does the world of Facebook, Google, and Twitter change how children and young adults´ brains process information?
• Is video game addiction real? Does it lead to changes in brain chemistry (as other addictions)?
• How can findings from media-research and brain science help parents and policy-makers in their decisions?

Research and Programs on Aging in Society. Howard Giles, Ph.D., and several others researchers seek to form a research group focused on Aging. Globally, the number of elders is increasing exponentially and in ways the World Economic Forum recently underscored (February 2012) needs to be elevated to a social policy priority.  Past U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan, when recognizing this same international unpreparedness in 1999 and talking to the implications for people of ever-increasing (and oftentimes unanticipated) longevity, wrote that “life is becoming less of a sprint…and more like a marathon!”  Anan designated that year as the International Year of the Elderly and set up an interdisciplinary Taskforce to comprehensively investigate the social impact of these demographic trends.  While other social sciences were brought into this fold, the relevance of Communication has received virtually no attention.  As researchers in this area, our premise is that “successful aging is not so much about age being in the mind or how old you feel as it is about how you communicate and are communicated to.” The research group seeks initial funding of $50,000. The research group intends to study these and other concerns:

• How do individuals adjust their communication when they speak to “elderly” adults? How is that communication influenced by the elderly individual’s gender, ethnicity, class, social network and appearance of health?
• At what point in life do individuals begin to receive communication that has been adjusted to accommodate their relative elderly status? Does it begin as early as middle age?
• How can elderly individuals adjust their communication to attenuate potentially negative communication and its effects?

Research and Engagement in Organizational Social Responsibility.  Led by Professors Cynthia and Michael Stohl. Partnerships and dialogue among governmental and nongovernmental/non-profit organizations, corporations, and local businesses are the cornerstone of community efforts to address social problems. Our goal is to enhance a program that 1) identifies the communication factors of partnership success, 2) develops communicative indicators of organizational social responsibility and 3) provides support to local organizations in planning and carrying out collaborations. The program seeks funding of $100,000 to support graduate students for site travel and summer support.

Communication, Technology, and Organization Speaker Series.  Become the named sponsor of a distinguished speaker series on Communication, Technology and Organizations that would bring together world class scholars from multiple disciplines and CEOs/CIOs of global technology organizations.  Organized by David Seibold, Ph.D. these talks will be at the intersection of communication, technological advances, and organizational science, and would bring in stunning speakers that anyone from San Diego to Silicon Valley would come to hear—including alumni who are in tech firms. The program seeks $30,000 in annual funding for five years. 

Faculty Support

Throughout its history, the University of California, Santa Barbara has given priority to the recruitment, retention, and support of superior faculty the key to providing quality research and education. Endowments help the department attract gifted faculty members who draw the best students, build educational programs, and develop path-breaking research. Endowed chairs, which are highly prized academic positions, are supported through earnings in investment funds. A gift of $500,000 or more establishes an endowed chair, provides a legacy for the donor, and supports inspirational teaching, distinguished scholarship, and outstanding academic leadership.

Established Endowed Chair.  The Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication was established in 1998 by the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation to increase understanding of the effects of media on human behavior and society.  The funds provide the Chair holder with support for new initiatives, public research and outreach, and a bi-annual conference on media issues. 

Communication Lecture Series

The Department hosts regular lectures on topics of academic and public importance. These formal lectures bring internationally-recognized scholars to campus to present to students, faculty, and the local community. Expenses associated with our lectures can run as much as $2,500. Contributions of any amount help support these lectures and offer ways to enrich the classroom experience. The Department sponsors three lecture series:

• The James J. Bradac Lecture, inaugurated in 2004, is presented in honor of a distinguished scholar and former Department Chair.  The annual lecture focuses on health and interpersonal relations and the talk is published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology, a journal that Professor Bradac co-edited.
• The Steven H. Chaffee Lecture, inaugurated in 2006, supports a lecture on media and political communication every other year.  Professor Chaffee was the first Arthur N. Rupe Chair and this event honors his career and contributions to the Department.
• The Lambda Pi Eta Choice Lecture is an annual lecture sponsored by the department’s official honor society.  Officers of the society select a distinguished scholar to bring to campus for this important event.

Facilities and Capital Naming Opportunities

Classrooms, seminar rooms, teaching labs, and buildings are critical to the department’s mission of excellence in teaching and research.  These rooms often require special equipment and integrated labs.  Several naming opportunities include the Graduate Teaching Lab, the Honors Room, the Collaborative Lab, the Research Lab, the Seminar Room, and the Conference Room. 

For more information on any of these giving opportunities, contact:

Linda L. Putnam, Chair, Department of Communication
(805) 893-5316; lputnam@comm.ucsb.edu

Ann L. Hagan, Director of Development, Division  of Social Sciences
(805) 893-2774; ann.hagan@ia.ucsb.edu

How to Give

Our alumni and friends provide essential support for the Department of Communication’s  teaching programs and research enterprise.

The Department benefits from the unrestricted support and major gifts designated for special purposes. Your generosity plays a critical role in our ability to fulfill our mission and is truly appreciated. Every gift counts! 

There are many ways to support the Department in our educational and research endeavors.  Our top priorities (see Giving Opportunities for more detail) include:  

1. Fund for Excellence
2. Undergraduate and Graduate Student Support
3. Faculty Support
4. Communication Lecture Series
5. Facilities and Capital Naming Opportunities

We invite you to be part of the Department’s success in educating the next generation of leaders by making a gift to the Department either on-line, via mail or phone, or by wire transfer.

Online

To make unrestricted gifts to the Department by credit card, please click Give Now (www.giveucsb.com/comm.htm) to go to our online giving form.   

By Mail or Phone

To make a gift by mail (via check or credit card) or to designate your gift to a specific purpose, please fill out the downloadable form and return to:  

Ann L. Hagan
Director of Development, Division of Social Sciences
College of Letters & Science
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2013
o: (805) 893-2774 office; cell: (805) 451-4944; f: (805) 893-7656
ann.hagan@ia.ucsb.edu

Wire Transfers/Gifts of Securities (Stocks)/Planned Giving/Estate Gifts

For information about making a contribution via these methods, please contact Ann Hagan.

Matching Gifts

Many employers sponsor corporate matching gift programs and will match any charitable contributions that their employees or spouses make. Matching gift programs can double or possibly triple your donation. Please obtain your company’s matching gift form and return it with your contribution.