Department Of Communication Studies News & Announcements
April 2021
The Department of Communication Studies welcomes new Assistant Professor of Interpersonal Communication Colter Ray who will be joining us in the fall.
Colter Ray (PhD, Arizona State University, 2018) is an interpersonal communication scholar whose research focuses on social support following a cancer diagnosis and aims to improve communication between people with cancer and their supporters. Oftentimes his research focuses on the negative aspects of supportive interactions, including instances of unwanted support or times when supporters choose to avoid communicating support. Colter also researches the role of memory in social support and how people recall and reuse previous support messages when coping with new stressors. Colter teaches courses on quantitative research methods, relational communication, and health communication.
NCA 2020
Professor Patricia Suchy Wins Prestigious Leslie Irene Coger Award for Distinguished Performance from the National Communication Association
Patricia Suchy, Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Director of the Screen Arts Program at Louisiana State University, recently received the 2020 Leslie Irene Coger Award for Distinguished Performance from the National Communication Association (NCA).
Given annually, the award honors a body of performance or an outstanding career in performance. Dr. Suchy has been instrumental over the last three decades, almost beyond compare, in furthering the practice and study of live performance. Reviewers of Dr. Suchy’s work have described it as: “pioneering, generative, magnificent, boundary-expanding, exemplary, and without peer.” This work takes a variety of forms, from a chamber theatre adaptation of Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping, to a multi-media performance Persistence of Vision: Antarctica, a large installation project, which juxtaposes historic photographs with contemporary video portraits of life in Antarctica. Few scholars in the history of our discipline can match the sheer abundance, interdisciplinary originality, and wide-ranging impact of Dr. Suchy’s achievements in live performance.
“NCA’s annual awards honor communication scholars’ teaching, scholarship, and service,” NCA Executive Director Trevor Parry-Giles said. “NCA is proud to recognize Dr. Suchy’s significant contributions to the Communication discipline with this award.”
Dr. Suchy’s award will be presented virtually on November 21 at the NCA 106th Annual Convention. For more information about NCA’s awards program, visit the NCA website.
May 2020
An Announcement from the Chair:
The Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University acknowledges that the traumatic events surrounding the death of George Floyd and the nationwide protests stem from institutionalized and systemic racism and that our students and colleagues of color face racially-motivated injustice on a daily basis. We stand united with them and our larger community to build a more equitable, tolerant, and just world. We reaffirm our commitment to create learning environments that value difference, encourage critical and compassionate communication, and model anti-racism.
Tracy Stephenson Shaffer, Ph.D.
Chair and Professor
Department of Communication Studies