NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar on Tuesday-Friday, June 17-20.

12 October 2024

Deadline for applications: Friday, April 11, 2025. Apply here

General Information

The 2025 National Communication Association Doctoral Honors Seminar (DHS) will be hosted by the School of Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee. The DHS will take place June 17-20 in Knoxville, Tennessee, with participants traveling to TYS on June 17 and departing on June 20. Primary seminar programming will happen on June 18 and 19. This year’s DHS theme is, “Hills, Hollers, and Rising Scholars: The Future of Communication Research.”

The seminar will offer mentors and students the exciting opportunity to engage in research development, discuss professional development, and have fun in the heart of the Smoky Mountains.

The Doctoral Honors Seminar brings together promising doctoral students and distinguished faculty members from across the discipline and around the nation to present work and discuss current topics in communication. For this year’s DHS, we have organized mentors and invite participants to apply to one of three theoretically oriented mentoring seminar areas: (1) communication theory and research, (2) media theory and research, and (3) rhetorical and performance theory and research. We encourage prospective applicants to choose the seminar area with mentors they are most interested in working with during the DHS. The outstanding mentors for this DHS include:

Communication Theory and Research

Andrew High, Pennsylvania State University
Tim Kuhn, University of Colorado Boulder
Charee Thompson, University of Illinois

Media Theory and Research

Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, University of Arizona
Julius Riles, University of Missouri
Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Minnesota

Rhetorical and Performance Theory and Research

Jeff Bennett, Vanderbilt University
Omedi Ochieng, University of Colorado Boulder
Kimberlee Pérez, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Application Details

Applications are due Friday, April 11, and must include all materials as a SINGLE PDF file, which can be uploaded when applicants complete the online form:

A three-page application narrative (single-spaced, size 12 type, 1” margins), that includes (a) a personal research statement, (b) an extended abstract for a research project (which could be your dissertation) for which you want to receive mentorship on during the DHS, and (c) what you hope to accomplish and take away from the DHS. Each of these components should be no longer than one single-spaced page. More specifically:
1. - Personal research statement. This statement will be unique to you, but should discuss some or all of the following topics (but need not be limited to just these topics): (i) your research background, (ii) current research program/interests, (iii) future research plans/career goals, (iv) motivations for your research interests, (v) challenges you’ve faced as a researcher, etc. The goal of this statement is to provide mentors some background information on you and your interests.
  - Extended abstract. One of the central purposes of the DHS is to provide research mentoring to students. Students will have the opportunity to receive mentorship on any project of interest, which could include but is not limited to dissertation-related work. For this one-page section of the application narrative, please provide an extended abstract that provides sufficient project background and information about plans to engage with the project to provide a clear overview of the research you want to work with the mentors on during the DHS.
  - DHS expectations. For the final page of the application narrative, we ask applicants explain what they hope to get out of the DHS in terms of mentorship and professional development. This information allows mentors to better prepare for the DHS and allows the planning department to tweak activities based on the interests and expectations of applicants.
A current CV.
A brief, no more than one page, letter of support from your doctoral advisor.

Applicants will be notified of their acceptance near the end of April. Selected applicants will be asked to provide an additional 5-10 page document detailing more information about the project described in the extended abstract.

Information on travel, lodging, and meals

Mentors will work with members of the hosting department’s planning committee to select up to 10 applicants for each of the three seminar areas. Applicants accepted to the DHS will receive hotel accommodations and all meals covered during the DHS in Knoxville. Any transportation costs for events during the DHS will also be covered. Other incurred travel costs unrelated to housing accommodations and meals will not be reimbursed.

Questions regarding the DHS can be directed to the Knoxville planning chair, Dr. Jenny Crowley (jcrowle3@utk.edu).

2025 Event Recap

NCA’s Doctoral Honors Seminar, held almost annually for more than 50 years, was held this year at the School of Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, June 18-20. Thirty doctoral students were divided into three mentoring groups, Communication Theory, Rhetoric/Performance Theory, and Media Theory, each led by three senior faculty members from universities around the country.

This year’s DHS was intensively focused not just on dissertation work, but also professional development sessions, which included up to five panelists each addressing the topics of: The Value of Communication as a Discipline, Navigating the Academic Job Market, The Changing Landscape of Higher Education, The Tenure Track: Publishing, Grants, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and Community-Based Projects; and We’re All Human Here, Work-Life Balance, Imposter Syndrome, and Making a Difference. Panelists included both DHS mentors and UT faculty.

The dissertation mentors were Andrew High, Pennsylvania State University; Charee Thompson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Omedi Ochieng, University of Colorado, Boulder; Kimberlee Perez, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, University of Arizona; Tim Kuhn, University of Colorado, Boulder; Julies Riles, University of Missouri, Columbia; Jeffrey Bennett, Vanderbilt University; and Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

This year’s DHS also included “Breakfast Breakouts,” three simultaneous informal sessions to talk about research in three broad areas: Knowledge, Power, and Organizing; Gender, Sexuality, and Social Media; and Health, Stigma and Social Effects.

A social highlight of the DHS was an evening at Yeehaw Brewing, a brewery and restaurant with expansive inside and outside seating areas and large screen televisions showing sports events. The buffet style dinner was representative of popular food in the region.

Both the National Communication Association and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville provided funding for this year’s DHS. NCA’s National Office was represented at the DHS by Dr. Dane S. Claussen, NCA’s Director of Research, Publications, and Professional Advancement.

(NOTE: Three students’ reflections on their experiences at the 2025 DHS are being published this month in this month’s Spectra magazine.)

Sixty Faculty Worldwide Attend Reformatted Online Faculty Development Institute

For only the second time in more than 50 years, and the first time since the COVID pandemic, this year’s Institute for Faculty Development was held July 7-11 online (Zoom), allowing about 60 faculty members from the USA and other countries to participate. (When the Institute has been held in person, it typically has been capped at 30 attendees.)

The Zoom format allowed and required a different approach to the Institute than in past years, when content was divided into two or more sessions during the week in a “short course” type of arrangement. This year, each short course was contained within one three-hour session, with attendees being able to interact individually both in Q&A time during the session and also in designated “Office Hours” periods.

The Institute’s sessions were: “Crafting Meaningful Qualitative Research: Enhancing Inquiry, Rigor and Resonance in an AI-Integrated Era,” by Sarah Tracy, Arizona State University; “Mediated Work: Communication, Power in the Gig Economy,” by Cheryll Ruth Soriano, De La Salle University, the Philippines; “Teaching About Digital Media in the Age of the Creator: Platforms, Power, and Identity,” by Jess Rauchberg, Seton Hall University; “The Cyclical Nature of Diversity in the Cultural Industries,” by Nessa Keddo, King’s College London, England; “Introduction to Africana Philosophy and Rhetoric,” by Omedi Ochieng, University of Colorado, Boulder; and “Teaching With/To Social Media: Bringing Internet Culture and Social Media Platforms into the Classroom,” by Jessica Maddox, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

On Wednesday, July 9, a one-hour “Future Planning Session” was held, followed by a Friday, July 11, session called “Wrap-Up and Unconference: IFFD Debrief and Collaborations.” Attendees who expressed opinions about it generally thought that holding the Institute on Zoom worked well although, unlike previous years, attendees did not get informal networking time during meals or in the evenings.

This year’s Institute organizers were Katherine Thweatt, SUNY Oswego; Janie M. Harden, Duquesne University; and Ryan D’Souza, Chatham University.

The Institute for Faculty Development was, as always, primarily funded by the NCA, with additional support from the organizers’ institutions. The NCA National Office was represented at the Institute by Dr. Rachael Purtell, Research Associate; and Dr. Dane S. Claussen, NCA’s Director of Research, Publications, and Professional Advancement.