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Paul’s study explores how requiring different types of reasoning (abduction, deduction, or induction) during creative problem-solving and brainstorming affects creative performance and brain activity. It has long been assumed that abductive reasoning best serves creative purposes (Dunne & Martin, 2006; Martin, 2009). Yet, there has been no reported study that manipulated reasoning type during idea-generation …

Thanks to the generosity of Kim and Kelly Kahl (BA ’89), we are celebrating the creation of the Kahl Family Media Production Professorship. Kim Kahl, a publicist, and Kelly Kahl, president of CBS entertainment, have long supported UW-Madison through their participation in alumni events and an internship program for Communication Arts majors at CBS. Kelly …

Nearly two decades ago, when Communication Arts alum Scott Broetzmann founded Customer Care Measurement & Consulting, he launched a longitudinal study to track customer satisfaction with corporate complaint handling efforts. The study was branded the National Customer Rage Survey. The 2020 results were written up in the Wall Street Journal. Congratulations, Scott Broetzmann! Broetzmann completed …

Sara McKinnon was awarded the 2020-2021 Vilas Associate Award for a project titled Violent Rhetoric: Constructions of Mexico in US Media and Politics. Violent Rhetoric examines contemporary US discourses of violence in Mexico to question how violence is imagined, the material impacts of the discourse on daily life in the country, and what this image …

Lea Jacobs, Mae D. Huettig Professor of Communication Arts, specializes in the production practices and organizational structure of the American film industry and in the development of film styles and genres. Her research areas include the history of the American studio system, silent film, film melodrama, and the relationship between film style and technology. She …

Allison Prasch is the winner of the Center for the Humanities First Book Program Award for her manuscript “The Global Rhetorical Presidency: Cold War Rhetoric on the World Stage.” The program supports tenure-track, junior faculty in the humanities and interpretive social sciences with manuscripts that are near completion to turn solid and promising manuscripts into …

In teaching everything from large introductory courses to small graduate seminars, Professor Lori Lopez has earned high marks and glowing comments from students for her approach to controversial topics such as racism. As the creator and chair of her department’s Diversity and Equity Committee, she has added mini trainings to monthly department meetings, on topics …

Jeff Smith, professor of film, specializes in American film history. He has made important contributions to the study of the Hollywood Blacklist, music in film, and the psychological effects of the film soundtrack. Smith has written two books on American cinema and is coauthor of the 11th and 12th editions of Film Art: An Introduction. …