Faculty in the UNCW Department of Communication Studies have received awards recognizing excellence in research and service from the National Communication Association, the largest scholarly society in the communication discipline.
“These awards are ideal recognition of our commitment to powerful teaching and relevant research,” said Dr. Rick Olsen, department chair. “Our faculty are smart and hardworking and public recognitions like this are meaningful.”
Professor Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock received the NCA Mid-Career Award in Ethnography and the Best Aural/Visual Ethnography Award. The awards recognize Dr. Scott-Pollock’s outstanding contributions to ethnographic and narrative research in the discipline and her livestream digital performance of “Gazed At: Stories of a Mortal Body,” which she wrote and performed, directed by Frank Trimble, professor in the Department of Communication Studies, with digital art by Dr. Evan Scott-Pollock, senior lecturer in the UNCW Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography. Her work focuses on how people tell stories of their embodiment, such as what it means to live with physical disability, anxiety, memory loss, and bulimia. Dr. Scott-Pollock also received a Presidential Citation for Service to the Discipline for being a leading voice in developing accessibility in teaching and research across the discipline.
Assistant Professor Kati Sudnick is the recipient of the NCA Leadership and Service Recognition Award. The award is presented by the Communication Ethics Division and honors outstanding leadership qualities and service work within this sub-discipline. Dr. Sudnick received the award for her extensive work within the Communication Ethics Division beginning in 2020 as vice-chair elect and becoming chair of the division. Dr. Sudnick served as division planner for the 2022 National Communication Association Conference, participated in the Legislative Assembly as a voting member, and oversaw the division for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Associate Professor Yiyi Yang is the recipient of the NCA Excellence in Nonverbal Pedagogy Award. The award is presented by the Nonverbal Communication Division and honors outstanding pedagogical activities or teaching strategies. Dr. Yang received the award for her pedagogy submission titled “Are you emoji savvy? Teaching nonverbal communication through emojis.” In it, she describes an activity that demonstrates how nonverbal communication shapes content and relational meaning and how nonverbal communication is rule-guided and influenced by culture.
“I am pleased to congratulate our colleagues in the Department of Communication Studies on this national recognition of their impactful work by their professional association,” said Dr. Stephanie Caulder, founding dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts. “They are tremendous models of teaching, research, and service for our students here in the college.”
Founded in 1914, the NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry.
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