Three SJMC Faculty Win Prestigious International Awards

Three School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty members were honored at the May 2017 International Communication Association conference in San Diego.

Professor Emeritus Sharon Dunwoody and Professor Doug McLeod were named ICA Fellows, joining a select group of only 130 other fellows worldwide. Fellow status in ICA recognizes distinguished scholarly contributions to the field of communication. Dunwoody, who retired from SJMC in 2012, is a leading researcher in science and risk communication. It is no exaggeration to say that Dunwoody helped invent the field of science and risk communication as a field of social science inquiry, and her work has influenced researchers around the world. She has also advised and mentored more than 50 MA students and nearly 20 doctoral students.

McLeod, who joined SJMC in 2000 after six years at the University of Delaware, is an expert on media, priming, framing and social conflicts. McLeod has contributed some of the key theory-building insights within these areas of research. His work on framing, in particular, has been highly influential for a generation of students investigating the effects of media messages on social and political behavior. A dedicated teacher and mentor, McLeod has been on more than 100 M.A. and Ph.D. committees at Delaware and Wisconsin. Many of his advisees have gone on to distinguished careers of their own.

Dunwoody and McLeod join two other ICA Fellows on the SJMC faculty, Professor Emeritus Jack McLeod and Professor Dhavan Shah.

Professor Al Gunther received the Steven H. Chaffee Achievement Award in recognition of sustained contribution to the development of communication theory over an extended period. Gunther’s research represents the core empirical work on media theories related to the third-person effect and the hostile media effect. Gunther’s work is widely published and heavily cited and has inspired second- and third-generation research in these areas. Chaffee, one of the giants in the field of communication research, was Gunther’s Ph.D. adviser at Stanford. Gunther is the first Chaffee advisee to win this award.

“These honors are so well deserved,” said SJMC director Hemant Shah. “Not only are these three scholars exemplary researchers, they are also absolutely wonderful teachers and mentors.”