Brittany Wheeler won a Top Poster Award from the Information Systems Division of ICA (Denver, June) for her poster entitled "Is Academic Online Bullying a Widespread Phenomenon? A Study of Scholarly Discourse on Twitter/X." 

Cynthia McLeod has accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Arts, Media and Writing Studies in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts at the University of California, Merced (see https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/majors/gasp).

The UCSB Graduate Student Association would like to congratulate the following winners and honorable mentions for this year’s Excellence in Teaching Awards (ETA). The applications this year were of incredible caliber and every applicant should be proud of their work. We have had an unprecedented number of applications and are proud that ETA has become an important part of the recognition of the work of graduate student teachers on our campus. This year 4 of the 12 winners were from the Department of Communication: Alan Crawley, Musa Malik, Lindsay Miller, and Hannah Overbye-Thompson!

Assistant Professor Madrigal has been selected as this year’s Chicanx/Latinx Graduación Ceremony Speaker. The Chicanx/Latinx Graduación, also known as CLG, or the UCSB Comunidad Latinx Graduación is a student-run organization that funds for its own graduation by coordinating fundraisers, finding generous sponsors, and collecting member fees. The UCSB Comunidad Latinx Graduación is an end of the year celebration for Latinx students and families.

Minghui and Robin Nabi have been awarded a top paper in the Health Communication division of the International Communication Association Conference (held in Denver, June) this year, for their paper entitled "Media versus Meditation: A comparison of the stress-relieving benefits of four media experiences". 

Karla Vazquez has been awarded the UCSB Grad Research Mentorship Program Fellowship (formerly called the Grad Opportunity Fellowship). This is a very competitive fellowship that will give her a stipend throughout the 25-26 AY, so she can focus on completing her thesis. 

Kylie Falcione and Veronica Wilson’s poster, “Leveraging AI for learning: Insights from a course on media & children” won 2nd place in the poster contest for the UC Santa Barbara AI Community of Practice 2025 AI Symposium. You can view the poster at https://otl.ucsb.edu/ai-cop-spring-symposium-2025, after the program listing.

The UC-wide Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award was established in 1983, and exemplifies the tremendous contributions of Emeriti to the continued excellence of the UC System (see https://emeritiassociation.ucdavis.edu/awards-and-recognition/constantine-panunzio-award). The award letter summarizes his contributions since becoming an Emeritus Professor in 2017:

Howard Giles, UC Santa Barbara, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Communication, has retained his influence in the multi-disciplinary fields of social psychology of language and communication; intergenerational communication and aging; and intergroup communication more broadly. He is widely consider the leading scholar in these disciplines and is one of the ICA “Architects of Communication Scholarship.” His research productivity since retirement focuses on three domains: aging, Communication Accommodation Theory, which he founded, and police-community relations. Works include a co-authored book, eight special journal issues, 47 co-authored peer-reviewed articles, and numerous other publications and significant editorial work, in addition to national and international paper presentations.

Recognition has been bestowed upon him with two professional associations naming awards in his honor: the “Inaugural Giles Mentorship Award” From the International Association of Language & Social Psychology, and the “Howard Giles Top Student Paper Award” from the International Communication Association. His contributions include continued service to his campus, teaching, and mentorship. Since 2021 he has been an affiliate of UCSB’s Center for Aging & Longevity Studies. Post retirement he became a fellow in a number of societies, and in 2023 he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. In addition to his dedication to students and UCSB, his commitment to campus-community relationships is reflected in his service as the Director of the Volunteer in Policing Program for the Santa Barbara Police Department, earning him a nomination as the SBPD Civilian Supervisor of the Year Award. His involvement in this area of police-community relations has also results in collaborations with the police department, including a handbook on policing and communication, as well as an intervention program called VOICES that promotes dialog between the police and marginalized members of the community.

Nancy Molina-Rogers has been awarded the UCLA Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship through the UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Her position will start July 1st.