University of Wisconsin–Madison

News

Professor Jenell Johnson receives faculty fellowship and Rhetoric Society of America award

H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship Though her academic home is in Communication Arts, Professor Johnson works at the intersection of rhetorical studies, disability studies, and the medical humanities. Praised by colleagues for her productivity, academic rigor, and originality, Johnson has published five books and a wide array of additional works since joining the UW-Madison faculty in …

In Memoriam, John Fiske

With great sadness, we note the passing of John Fiske, Emeritus Professor of Communication Arts, on July 12, 2021 following complications from heart surgery. After beginning his career as an academic in the United Kingdom and Australia, Fiske joined the department in the late 80s. By the time he retired in 2000, to begin a …

Kelly Jensen and Matt St. John receive Letters & Science Teaching Fellow Award

The Department of Communication Arts is pleased to announce Kelley Jensen and Matt St. John’s receipt of the Letters & Science Teaching Fellow Award. Kelly Jensen Kelly Jensen is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric, Politics, & Culture. Jensen is highly regarded as a teaching assistant for several Comm Arts courses, and has served as lead instructor …

How are algorithms affecting how we find and experience music?

Until very recently, learning about new music carried a human element. Whether you heard something on college radio that peaked your interest, or someone cornered you at a wedding, insisting that you had to hear a great new band, you received recommendations originating with people. Recently, computer algorithms have taken on this task, sifting and …

Reclaiming the narrative: Professor Lori Lopez’s #AtlantaSyllabus spurs wider discussion about Asian Americans

If you’ve been paying attention—to the degree that Lori Lopez has been paying attention—then you know it didn’t start when a white man gunned down six female Asian American service workers at a series of spas as part of a mass shooting in Atlanta back in March. Lopez, a UW-Madison Professor of Communication Arts and …

Comm Arts graduate student interviewed by CNN for her (re)-discovery of the first late-night talk show host

In May 2017, late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel delivered a live, heartfelt, and tearful monologue about his newborn son’s open heart surgery and the importance of health care coverage. The monologue, and a subsequent outcry criticizing Kimmel for wading into politics, sparked Maureen Mauk’s interest in late-night television. Mauk, a graduate student and PhD …

Comm Arts congratulates Lynzee Klingman for Career Achievement Award

As a freshman at UW-Madison, Lynzee Klingman planned to major in math, but walking to early a.m. calculus classes in sub-zero Wisconsin weather proved too much, so she focused instead on history, studying with influential professors like George Mosse and William Appleton Williams. Klingman remembers the campus in the 1960s as a vibrant place, “rich …

Comm Arts alum Barbara J. Wilson becomes president of the University of Iowa

Barbara J. Wilson has been selected as the new president of the University of Iowa. A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, Dr. Wilson earned her BA at the School of Journalism and an MA and PhD in the Department of Communication Arts, all at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and served on Communication Arts’ CAPS alumni board. …

Day of the Badger, April 6-7

On Day of the Badger, we’re focusing on raising funds to help create undergraduate internships, support graduate research, and purchase equipment. From now through April 7 at 5PM CST, you can support Communication Arts and show your Badger pride. Thank you for your support,       Kelly Conway Chair, Department of Communication Arts

 Don’t Feed the Trolls: How to Navigate the New Terrain of Social Media and Academia

We all know that the internet, broadly speaking, is quick to generate and magnify controversy. At the same time, academics now regularly participate in social and digital platforms as well as online networks of communities around shared topics. What happens when these platforms, and the trolls who lurk on them, encourage harassment or doxing of …