
The Tennessee Speech and Debate Society (TSDS) had a successful year competing under the direction of their first-ever faculty coach and with the support of their new home, the School of Communication Studies. The varsity squad had qualifiers advance to the final round at every competition below the national tournament level. “I was more than…
A unique two-year Department of Defense (DoD) grant that pairs civilian researchers with military experts was recently awarded to Professor Catherine Luther, director of the Information Integrity Institute housed at the College of Communication and Information. Luther teamed up with U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jahara Matisek of the U.S. Naval War College to create…
James Cartee has been in the business of communication for a while now and has even been teaching in the field at higher education institutions for several years. But, four years ago, he decided it was time to take the next step and follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and father and become a…
Distance education student Melissa Espinales was so thrilled to graduate with a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, that she, her parents, and husband all flew here from Texas for the Graduate Hooding Ceremony. “You’re not going to tell me that I’m not coming, I’m graduating with my master’s!” Espinales exclaimed a few…
As technology advances, new problems will always arise, both technical and societal. It is the latter that drew Jessica Barfield into the world of human-computer interaction (HCI). She successfully defended her doctoral dissertation this spring that delved into how humans are biased towards social robots depending on their perceived gender or ethnic identity, and she…

“I showed up the first day to class knowing nothing about organizational communication and I got goosebumps. I was totally hooked,” said Tori Bertram as she recounted how she got where she is today, a graduate of the College of Communication and Information PhD program. Though Bertram minored in mass communication, her major was in…