{"id":35885,"date":"2023-07-13T12:20:22","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T16:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmst.utk.edu\/beta\/?page_id=35885"},"modified":"2026-07-17T16:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T20:08:14","slug":"jon-hess","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/about\/directory\/jon-hess\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Hess"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jon Hess<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Professor and John Haas Director’s Chair of the School of Communication Studies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Jon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Contact Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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jonhess@utk.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

865-974-0696<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Professor Jon Hess\u2019s scholarship centers on communication in maintaining relationships, and on how communication and learning interface.  In the former, he has published research on how people can get along with those they dislike, and how people manage closeness and distance in relationships.  In the latter, he has explored how teacher immediacy and face threat mitigation impact classroom outcomes, and how curriculum and pedagogy need to adapt to current social and workplace changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon is a former editor of the discipline\u2019s leading journal for social scientific research on communication and learning, Communication Education.<\/em>  He combined his interests in interpersonal and instructional communication by writing a textbook about interpersonal communication, Because You Asked: Questions Shaping Interpersonal Communication,<\/em> using an innovative approach grounded in instructional research to foster greater student interest and higher-level cognitive processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon has spent much of his career serving in academic leadership roles \u2014 as introductory course director, graduate director, department chair, associate dean, and academic senate president.  He has provided leadership beyond his university by serving on the National Communication Association\u2019s Chairs Advisory Council, co-facilitating training institutes for introductory communication course directors, and serving as a facilitator for a national teaching retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Education<\/div><\/h2>
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  • PhD, University of Minnesota<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • MA, Ohio University<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • BS, Manchester College<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Research Interests<\/div><\/h2>
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    • Closeness and distance in relationships<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Communication strategies for managing difficult relationships<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Impact of teacher communication on student engagement and learning<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Curriculum design and pedagogy for today\u2019s educational environment and needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Scale development<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Jon Hess Professor and John Haas Director’s Chair of the School of Communication Studies Contact Information jonhess@utk.edu 865-974-0696 Professor Jon Hess\u2019s scholarship centers on communication in maintaining relationships, and on how communication and learning interface.  In the former, he has published research on how people can get along with those they dislike, and how people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":35189,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"no-title","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-35885","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nJon Hess - School of Communication Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/about\/directory\/jon-hess\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jon Hess - 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