DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Students study the complexities and intricacies of communication within our increasingly intercultural and mediatized world, emphasizing communication’s role in creating a just and equitable society.
Our undergraduate and graduate programs embrace the centrality of communication in all aspects of personal, professional, and public life as well as the centrality of culture to communication. The curriculum approaches Communication as a practice of and means toward achieving social justice, primarily via multifaceted forms of storytelling and dialogue. We offer courses that reflect the entirety of the discipline, rather than two or three areas; we consciously commit to providing Villanova students with a comprehensive education that spans the range of the discipline from a critical perspective, including rhetorical studies, media production and media studies, journalism, interpersonal and intercultural communication, organizational communication, performance studies, public relations and advertising.
Chair
Heidi Rose, PhD
Professor
Performance Studies
610-519-6434
Administrative Assistant
Loretta Chiaverini
Jarryd Kainz
Garey Hall, room 28
610-519-4750
WATERHOUSE FAMILY INSTITUTE
The Waterhouse Family Institute (WFI), highlights the centrality of Communication in the creation of social change. Our goal is to serve as the center of an international network of Communication scholars, practitioners, and activists working to create a more just social world.
NEWS & EVENTS
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Communication students Chloe Cherry, Lauryn Hayes, Ryan Henry, Kourtney McCoy, Faith Robinson and Megan Wang, under the direction of Evan Schares, PhD, created "PWLies," a 20-minute show that speaks to anti-racist work necessary on the campuses of primarily white institutions. The piece has been submitted to this year's virtual Patricia Pace Performance Festival. MORE...
DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR
Raka Shome, PhD, is the 2020 recipient of the RCT Division's Distinguished Scholar award (NCA), which honors a current member of the division for significant contributions to scholarship in rhetorical and/or communication theory during the past ten years. The award recognizes Dr. Shome for a body of research that has significant and enduring value. She was also awarded the Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award. First presented in 1987, the award honors scholars who have executed research programs in rhetorical theory, rhetorical criticism and/or public address studies. Recipients must demonstrate intellectual creativity, perseverance, and impact on academic communities through multiple publications and presentations around a rhetorical topic or theme. MORE...
"SANKOFA" WINS GOLD
The Villanova University student-produced social justice documentary, "Sankofa," was one of 16 Student Academy Award winners for 2019 and earned the gold medal in the Documentary/Domestic Film Schools Category. This is the first Student Academy Award for Villanova in the University’s fourth time selected as a finalist for one of its films in the documentary category. (Photo Credit: Valerie Durant / ©A.M.P.A.S.) MORE...
RESEARCH RECOGNITION
Evan Schares, PhD, won the dissertation of the year award from NCA's GLBTQ Communication Studies Division for his work, "An Archive of Pain: In Queer Suicide's Cultural Wake." The dissertation is a queer of color ideological critique of the white affective investments surrounding a number of recent queer suicides or suicide attempts. Melissa Meade, PhD, received the 2020 Constance Coiner Dissertation Award from the Working-Class Studies Association for her dissertation, "In the Shadow of 'King Coal:' Memory, Media, Identity, and Culture in the PostIndustrial Pennsylvania Anthracite Region." The recognition praised the dissertation "provides insightful and engaging depictions of working-class life, culture, and movements." MORE...
Journalism During Divisive Times
Lauren Dugan '15 CLAS, '19 MA talks about the new media environment and how coming back to Villanova for her master's degree helped prepare her to thrive in an era when facts are disputed and every issue is politicized. MORE...
EDUCATION WITH IMPACT
AN EDUCATION IN THE LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES promotes intellectual curiosity and rigor; instills the fundamentals of critical insight, mature judgment and independent thinking; and strengthens students’ sense of their moral responsibility for others and for the betterment of society.