UNC Department of Communication

What a moment for our Tar Heels 🤩🩵 Congratulations to the Class of 2026! You did it 🎓

Congratulations to our 2025-2026 Student Award recipients🎖️

Family, friends, and colleagues gathered in Swain Hall’s Black Box Theatre on Friday, April 17 to celebrate in the accomplishments of our undergraduate and graduate students’ success.

COMM Day is this Friday! Join in Swain Hall starting at 10am to check out various films, game and sound designs, essays, performances and more from our students! There will be panels in the Black Box Theatre, Room 104 and an installation of works in the lobby until 1pm. See slide 5 for schedule ⏩️

Following COMM Day, we’ll induct the newest members into the Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society. And then we’ll cap the day off with our Student Awards ceremony. All events will take place in Swain Hall.

Friday is a big day for . Come out to celebrate a great academic year!

🗓️: Friday, April 17
🏛️: Swain Hall
🕒: COMM Day 10am-1pm, LPH Induction 1:30-2:00, Student Awards 3:00-4:30pm

We’re excited to announce UNC alum and film executive Tom Quinn as our 2026 departmental commencement speaker. He’s a 1993 alum and the Chief Executive Officer of NEON, boasting over 30 Academy Award nominations and 11 wins.

’s spring commencement ceremony will be held May 10th at 11am in Memorial Hall.

(Photo by Getty Images)

📚 Join us for a special faculty spotlight event featuring COMM professor and author, Dr. Lisa Calvente.

Dr. Calvente will deliver a conversational talk on her 2025 book, Moving Blackness: Black Circulation, Racism, and Relations of Homespace, in conversation with Dr. Antonia Randolph (American Studies, UNC) and Dr. Guadalupe García (Urban Studies, UCSD).

This event is free and open to the public. CLE credit is available.

🗓️ April 10 at 3pm
📍 MAS Room 112

🎬 TV writer and producer Bill Martin will join the department of communication for an alumni spotlight event. This live audience interview will be moderated by Joy Goodwin, the screenwriting minor program director.

🗓️ March 24
🕠 5:30pm
🏛️ Howell Hall, Room 115

Students can receive CLE credit for attending. This event is free and open to the public.

Let’s give rounds and rounds of applause for some recent news 👏👏

1️⃣ + 2️⃣ Slides: Congratulations to PhD candidate, Kayla Corbin, and PhD alumnus, Dr. Zari Taylor on their recently published article, Pawns of war: misogynoir, hip hop and cancel culture, in Social Semiotics.

Slide 3️⃣ - Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Russo on the successful defense of his dissertation, Gaming the Market: The Federal Reserve’s Management of Crisis Through Neo-liberal Governmentality, Bio-politics, and the State-of-Exception.

Slide 4️⃣ - PhD candidate Stephanie Kaczynski received Top Student Paper Award/Top Debut Paper Award from the Activism, Communication Ethics & Social Justice Interest Group.

Slide 5️⃣ - Assistant Professor Dr. David Dooling received Top Panel Award from the Health Communication Interest Group

Always a Tar Heel 🐏🩵

Thanks to the alums of and the former Department of Radio, Television and Motion Pictures (RTVMP) for joining us for our Back to Bingham Alumni Brunch. Faculty, staff and alums gathered to connect and share in memories of their time at UNC and in Bingham Hall.

Faculty emeritus Dr. Dick Elam (1977-1991) was honored with a plaque, received by daughter Mickey in attendance. Monty Hagler ’88 was recognized as a 2026 Distinguished COMM Alum award recipient.

Photos by Violet Worzella. Full gallery on homepage.