Edna Anderson-Taylor Communication Institute
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This semester, student journalists immersed themselves in documenting the creative communities shaping our state. Please celebrate their hard work with us during a special showcase.

Join us for the 2026 Parry D. Sorensen Distinguished Lecture, presented by the Edna Anderson Taylor Communication Institute.

This symposium brings together a wide range of experts to address pressing questions about media, protest, and resistance. Six professors from across the U.S. will present research highlighting different topics, cases, and approaches, and an additional panel will feature the perspectives of four Department of Communication graduate students. Sessions are free and open to all.

The University of Utah has long been recognized as a powerhouse of applied research, fielding a deep bench of talented scholars and students taking on some of the most complicated and intractable problems society faces. The College of Humanities is no exception, boasting many faculty who are deeply committed to research that translates directly into the public good.

In this talk, Dr. Leandra H. Hernández and Dr. Stevie M. Munz will discuss their recent book project Queer, Women of Color, and Critical Approaches to Feminist Mentorship and Pedagogy.

Previvors—survivors with a predisposition to hereditary cancer who have not been diagnosed with cancer—face chronic uncertainty that shapes their health and family-building decisions.

In this talk, Dr. Anderson-Horne examines the transformation of Black religious practices within the digital religious deconstruction movement. She discusses how Black content creators and podcasts hosted by or featuring Black guests illustrate the relationship between race, religion, and technology. Black religious deconstruction is not digital by accident, but a demonstration of the ways decolonial and progressive activism must also challenge (religious) technoculture.

This talk situates sound as a critical resource in the rhetorical arsenal of contemporary activism. Advancing his theory of “sound tactics,” Justin Eckstein argues that the qualities of immediacy, intensity, and immersion uniquely position sound to compel institutional response. T

How do various forms of media shape what we think about gun violence and what gets left out of the story? This panel brings together theater artist Dan Froot (Dan Froot & Company) and media researcher Pamela Mejia (Berkeley Media Studies Group) for a candid conversation about how gun violence is represented across theater, news, and entertainment.

Climate change is often portrayed as a universal threat (a “great equalizer”), yet it disproportionately impacts socially and economically disadvantaged communities across the globe. In this talk, Professor Jonathon Schuldt traces the implications of this reality in a decade of original national-level public opinion surveys.

Reporters and leaders from the award-winning Salt Lake Tribune will share their expertise with the emerging journalists, storytellers, and communication professionals at the U throughout September as part of COMM 4555: Intermediate Journalism.

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized creative production, challenging traditional copyright frameworks designed for human-centered creativity. This talk examines how adopting less restrictive copyright policies could foster innovation and economic growth in creative industries.

Artificial intelligence (AI) manifests in various forms—from social media algorithms to generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini—shaping the content we encounter online. What does that mean for the effect and spread of misinformation on people’s perceptions of scientific and other societally relevant topics? This talk will address this question by exploring the roles of both algorithms and generative AI.

Social media platforms are typically conceptualized as spaces for communication. In this talk, Dr. Pandey will show emerging models of citizen science and community-expert engagement that challenge this dominant—and restrictive—framing. Increasingly, people use social media to critique institutional processes with multimodal representations that showcase their lived experience.

Hardly a week goes by without another report of a data breach, cyberattack, or campaign of online disinformation and harassment. Data breaches result in individuals' personal information being stolen and held for ransom, sold to the highest bidder on the dark web, or dumped on the open web for anyone to exploit. Cyberattacks do not just impact governments or large organizations, but increasingly target education, health, and other civil society organizations, disrupting their activities.

Call for Proposals for Health & Environmental Justice in Latina/o Communities: Bridging the Gaps Among Diverse Methodological Perspectives. The Edna Anderson-Taylor Communication Institute at the University of Utah invites proposals from advanced doctoral students who are studying the intersections of health and environmental justice in Latino/a communities. In this symposium, 12 doctoral students from communication and related disciplines will have the opportunity to present their work in progress to one another and to a panel of faculty mentors from around the country. Each student will participate in a panel of 4 other students. Each panel will be overseen by two faculty mentors who research issues related to health and/or environmental justice in Latino/a communities, one with critical/cultural expertise and one with quantitative social science expertise. Faculty mentors will provide detailed feedback and lead panel discussions on their student panelists' work.

Join ESPN reporter and Utah alum, Holly Rowe, for a roundtable discussion exclusively for student journalists. This unique opportunity offers aspiring reporters a chance to engage directly with Rowe and learn more about her career, including her time at the U's Daily Utah Chronicle as a sportswriter to winning the 2022 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Personality and Reporter. Whether you're curious about breaking into the news industry or navigating the ever-shifting landscape of sports media, bring your questions and learn from one of ESPN's most versatile commentators.

Dr. Dalaki Livingston collected government issued apologies towards Indigenous people in the United States and is evaluating the image repair strategies utilized by US agencies. The usage of image repair strategies is typically used to save face or at least repair perceptions about public image. Utilizing apologia strategies, US agencies have issued a myriad of apologies in various contexts to repair public perceptions about relations with Indigenous peoples. The scope of this research is not measuring the success but the type and frequency of apologia strategies being used. Using a western paradigm to critique the formal attempts at reconciliation and reclamation, he hopes to better understand the baby steps needed to find a path forward in establishing equitable relationships with Indigenous communities. Before problems can be fixed, those problems need to be addressed.

Since the early 1990s, the “Nones”—people with no religious affiliation—have grown from a single-digit minority to roughly a third of the U.S. population. For many years, Latter-day Saints resisted the national trends toward secularization, their numbers bolstered by three reliable factors: religious conversions, deep religious commitment, and large families. But the last decade has seen all three of those pillars weakening, judging from multiple national studies as well as a fresh wave of data from the Next Mormons Survey, which was fielded in 2016 and again in 2022–23. Today, Latter-day Saints remain more religious than most other Americans, but less committed to church activity than they used to be. What’s going on? This lecture will give an overview of current research about Mormons’ religious affiliation and commitment, and place that into the context of the overall secularization that’s happening throughout the United States. It will also discuss why some people leave the LDS Church and the language they use to describe that decision and their post-Mormon lives.

Join us for "Cyberwarfare during the Russia-Ukraine War: A Panel Discussion with Leading Cyber Conflict Scholars," where our three panelists - Dr. Nadiya Kostyuk, Dr. Erica Lonergan, and Mr. Gavin Wilde - will lead a discussion regarding the history and complexities of the Cyberwarfare in the Russia-Ukraine war. Feb 26th | 12-1 PM | GC 2018

Hardly a week passes without another report of a data breach, cyberattack, or a campaign of online disinformation and harassment. Data breaches result in the theft and ransom of individuals' personal information, selling it to the highest bidder on the dark web, or dumping it on the open web for exploitation. Cyberattacks no longer solely impact governments or large organizations but increasingly target educational, healthcare, and other civil society institutions, disrupting their operations. Online trolls spread disinformation to incite outrage and harass their ideological opponents, often by discovering and posting personal information online and encouraging others to participate in harassment and threats. In this workshop, Dr. Sean Lawson, a cybersecurity expert and Professor of Communication at the University of Utah, will introduce tools and tactics you can use to enhance the security of your electronic devices and personal information. While the risks of malicious cyber activities are real, there are straightforward ways to improve your security and make yourself a more challenging target for malicious actors

Katie Hill is senior vice president of communications at the National Football League, directing global communications strategy and media relations for America’s most popular sport. Previously, she was communications director for President Barack Obama from 2017-2021, helping guide President Obama’s public profile in his post-presidency, from his public appearances to his political campaigning to the launch of his memoir. She served in the Obama administration from 2014-2017, first as national press secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services before joining the White House as assistant press secretary and spokesperson for a variety of domestic policy areas, including health care, education and veterans. She has also worked on Capitol Hill, on political campaigns, and at a public relations firm. She was named to Outsports’ “Power 100” list in 2023 and selected as one of OUT Magazine’s “Out 100” honorees in 2016. A Nashville native, Hill majored in classics (ancient Greek) and minored in art history at the University of Virginia as an Echols Scholar. She lives in Manhattan with her wife, Andrea.

Leah Sottile speaks about her unlikely career path from music critic to reporter of the extremes, and how public records, social media and Internet archives helped her tell the full story of some of America's most notorious far-right characters.

Jim Ferris, PhD The University of Toledo 2023-2024 Health Humanities Lecturer presents "Is Your Mama White?" What do you do when you learn you're not exactly who you think you are? And why does my uncle want me to just shut up about it? This performance digs into one family's past to explore the fabrication of race, the implications of disability, and the lattice of assumptions making up cultural identity. This event will be a reading of a script by Dr. Ferris followed by a discussion with the audience. lighten your workload. Thursday, September 28th, 2023 | 3:00pm - 4:00pm | LNCO 2910

In this workshop, Professor Sean Lawson will introduce some essential methods and digital tools for effectively managing time, attention, and research materials in graduate school and beyond. These will include tools and techniques for implementing methods such as PARA, time blocking, Kanban, zettelkasten, and more. If you find it difficult at times to keep your head above water in graduate school, you will come away with some new tools and methods that will help lighten your workload. September 14, 2023 | 3:00pm - 4:30pm | LNCO 2910

Call for Proposals for the Identity and Social Media Symposium: Bridging the Gaps between Computational Methods and Critical/Cultural Perspectives 28-29 September 2023 Salt Lake City, UT Submissions close 5 May 2023

This day-long event will tackle the question: What needs to change so that newsrooms and their audiences become more diverse and aligned? Through a series of conversations between leading scholars and stakeholders, this event will offer a comprehensive look at the challenges and opportunities when it comes to journalism's troubled past and its hopefully brighter future. If you were unable to attend this event, you can view it here.

The Department of Communication and the Utah Refugee Workforce Services collectively explore the notion that storytelling necessitates both reflexive narrators and empathic audiences. With the refugee panelists, we aim at identifying actionable items for communicating refugee stories that we can apply in our classrooms, workplace, neighborhood, and beyond.

The Missing Cyber Thunder Run: CYBER OPERATIONS DURING THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR In this presentation, Dr. Brandon Valeriano will examine the evolving nature of Russia’s use of cyber operations and the digital domain to disrupt, spy upon, and degrade the adversary. Cyber operations remain a potent modern manifestation of political warfare expanding competition short of war.

In this talk, Chris Ingraham shares his working thoughts about the ways modularity operates as a hierarchical structure valued for its presumed efficiency and support of theoretically endless growth.

In between mobility and containment is a juncture that is neither mobility nor containment that is neither mobility nor containment, neither possible nor impossible. I enter that juncture through frames of im/possibilities and im/mobilities as I build a theory of rhetorical race making at the U.S./Mexico border.

In this presentation, journalist Sara Cincurova discusses her experience reporting from Ukraine during the first days of the Russian invasion in late February 2022. She is interviewed by journalist Nate Carlisle of FOX 13 News in Utah and takes questions from students and faculty.

Join us for this talk with assistant professor of communication Ben Lyons April 7, 2022 at 2:00 - 3:30pm.

In this talk, Ph.D. candidate in the Citizen AI Lab at Northeastern University Claudia Flores-Saviaga will first present their large-scale data analysis research on how a political troll community fabricates disinformation and engages people to participate with them.

Students from the John R. Park Debate Society will debate the topic: Resistance Journalism should be accepted as a journalistic norm. The debate will be followed by a panel discussion with experts in journalism, law, and disinformation.

"Korean Food Television and Gastronationalism," presented by Dr. Jaehyeon Jeong of the University of Utah Asia Campus, grows out of a line of research that analyzes the conjuncture of food, television, and nation and explores the semantic and ideological roles of food television. He seeks to gain insight into how the state appropriates the banality of food to raise South Korea’s global image and how it utilizes domestic television to disseminate statist discourse of the nation.