Research Impact
The Department of Communication is home to some of the leading scholars in communication whose research has made a difference to the discipline and the public. Our faculty members conduct research on a variety of theoretical, methodological, and applied issues that have social impact.
A Department with National Impact
Our department ranks third on the Academic Analytics Scholarly Research Index (SRI) when compared to 10 peer and aspirant peer departments. Peer and aspirant peers included Arizona State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, University of California—Santa Barbara, University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Out of 161 communication departments nationwide, the A&M Department of Communication ranks 18th.
Research that Addresses Theoretical, Methodological, and Applied Issues
Our faculty are committed to generating research that tackles important theoretical, methodological, and applied communication issues. Our faculty members’ research engages a wide range of issues such as:
- How rhetoric shapes our understanding of politics and political leadership
- How technology and digital culture influences the way people construct their identity
- How face-to-face and mediated communication can be used to improve health outcomes by improving patient-provider interaction and designing health communication messages and health promotion campaigns that have impact
- How communication can be used to manage crisis within organizations
- How information policy and law connects with concerns regarding governance and fake news
- How issues of power and resistance are managed within organizations and communities
- How media literacy can be facilitated
- How the intersections of race, gender, and class influence identity and communicative practices
Research that has Social Impact
Our faculty members’ research engages the public in the United States and the world. Our faculty members’ research has been cited in legal briefs, has led to the creation of tools and interventions to improve health outcomes, and makes them frequently sought out commentators by media. According to Altmetric, our faculty members’ scholarly activity has caught the attention of the public with over 3,200 tweets regarding their work by 2,354 unique tweeters in 67 countries. There have also been 282 news stories about our faculty members’ scholarly activity by 178 unique news outlets in 15 countries. The Top 5 articles that have received the most attention by news outlets, Twitter, blogs, and Reddit are:
