2026 Media, Protest, and Resistance Research Symposium

This symposium brought together scholars to examine pressing questions about democratic decline, protest, media, and resistance. Participants explored how protest can contribute to social change, how different forms of media can help or hinder resistance efforts, and how movements can build connections across national boundaries. The symposium featured research from faculty across the United States as well as perspectives from University of Utah graduate students.

2024 Health & Environmental Justice in Latina/o/x Communities: Bridging the Gaps Among Diverse Methodological Perspectives

There are growing bodies of excellent research on the importance of cultural representation, challenges of cultural adaptation, and complexities of migration in addressing problems related to health disparities and environmental injustice from scholars using diverse methodological and theoretical approaches. Unfortunately, these scholars are often not in conversation with one another. Our goal with this symposium is to help bridge the gap among different approaches and traditions of communication research by creating a setting where those trained in different approaches can think together about this year's symposium theme. Specifically, we hope to provide an opportunity for emerging scholars to present and get feedback on their work from established scholars who approach our theme from both critical/cultural and computational perspectives.

2023 Identity and Social Media Symposium: Bridging the Gaps between Computational Methods and Critical/Cultural Perspectives

There are growing bodies of excellent research on problems related to identity and social media from scholars taking both critical/cultural and computation social science approaches. Unfortunately, these scholars are often not in conversation with one another. This one day symposium bridges the gap by creating a setting where those trained in different approaches can think together about the intersections of identity and social media. Emerging scholars will present and get feedback on their work from established faculty mentors who approach our topic from both critical/cultural and computational perspectives.

2017 Energy Democracy Symposium

The goal of this symposium was to chart out a new research agenda in energy democracy that: 1) fosters collaboration between scholars in Communication, STS, and interdisciplinary energy studies; 2) results in a white paper that identifies research streams in energy democracy; and 3) and prioritizes transdisciplinary scholarship that seeks to bridge divides between academia, local energy practitioners, and publics.