Mizzou Department of Communication

Congrats to the ACGS award winners!🎉
On May 8, 2026, the Department of Communication celebrated the 2025–2026 academic year! We are grateful for everyone’s hard work, dedication, and contributions to our department community throughout the year. 💛 During the celebration, our grad student org recognized the following award recipients:

🌟 Outstanding Faculty: Dr. Rebecca Meisenbach
💬 Outstanding Advisor: Dr. Astrid Villamil
🔬 Outstanding Graduate Researcher: Evan Kirksey
🍎 Outstanding Graduate Teacher: Jinwen Yue
🤝 Outstanding Graduate Service: Emilia Lucía Ramírez Paguay
🌱 Outstanding Graduate Mentor: Makenzie Schroeder

Congratulations to all of the ACGS award recipients! 👏 Thank you for your meaningful contributions to our department and graduate student community. ✨

Congratulations to all of our COMM graduates! 🎓🎉

This weekend, we celebrate our undergraduate and doctoral graduates as they reach this exciting milestone. Your hard work, dedication, creativity, and resilience have brought you to this moment, and we are so proud of everything you have accomplished. 💛

As you begin your next chapter, we hope you carry with you the skills, relationships, and experiences you built in the Department of Communication. We cannot wait to see the meaningful ways you will use communication to connect, lead, serve, and make a difference. ✨

Congratulations, COMM graduates! We are cheering you on today and always! 👏🎓

Congrats to the COMM department award winners!🎉

As we wrap up the semester, please join us in congratulating the following Mizzou COMM award winners. These award winners were selected by the faculty for their excellence in scholarship, teaching, and service.

🏅 Graduate Service Award: Emilia Lucía Ramírez Paguay
🍎 Loren Reid Graduate Teaching Award: Kendal Lyssy & Kaitlin Koncilja
🔬 Frank & Lila Gilman Memorial Graduate Research Award: Makenzie Schroeder
🌟 Michael Kramer Award: Evan Kirksey
🎓 Steven A. & Susan J. Beebe Doctoral Student Fellowship: Emilia Lucía Ramírez Paguay
🌈 Inclusive Excellence Awards: Dr. Ben Warner, Emilia Lucía Ramírez Paguay, & Makenzie Schroeder

Congratulations to all award recipients! 👏 Thank you to everyone who helped make this academic year meaningful, successful, and full of community spirit. 💬✨

On May 5, 2026, the Graduate Student Experiences Committee held a graduate student writing retreat at Conley House. Participants used the time to make progress on their finals, write together, and enjoy lunch as a community.
Thank you to everyone who joined us!

Congratulations to Dr. Astrid Villamil on receiving the Gold Chalk Award from the Graduate Professional Council!

This prestigious award recognizes outstanding faculty members who have made significant contributions to graduate and professional education. The Gold Chalk Awards are especially meaningful because they are student-nominated and student-selected, highlighting Dr. Villamil's impact as a teacher and mentor to graduate students.

Congratulations, Dr. Villamil!

Kara Starnes, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication, is a recipient of the Bies Short-Term International Travel Award from the University of Missouri to attend the International Communication Association conference in Cape Town, Africa this summer.

Her research focuses on neurodivergent workers and how they organize. She will be presenting this co-authored work at the conference: Starnes, K., & Kirksey, E. "Cripping the chair: Neurodivergence, discourse, and workplace power in corporate hair salons." Congratulations to Kara!

🎉 New Publication Alert 👏
Congratulations to doctoral students Wendy Adjei and Esther Apreku on their recent co-authored publication in the Western Journal of Communication.

📚 This study examines how communication shapes experiences within complex health contexts, offering insight into issues of voice, agency, and care.

New Publication Alert 🎉👏

Congratulations to PhD candidate Steven Gardiner and Dr. Ben Warner on their recent co-authored publication in the American Behavioral Scientist, titled "Issue and Image Learning in Debates: Evidence from Two Televised Presidential Debates in 2024."

This study used the the 2024 Presidential debates in the US to determine if viewers update their perceptions of the candidates (Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris). Specifically, we investigated if they updated their perceptions on emergent issues or traditional issues more and if we should be redefining/expanding what issue learning constitutes. We also explored the contention between issue and image learning to determine what may be more important to viewers.

Read this paper now: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00027642261431484

Congrats to Mizzou COMM scholars! Dr. Ben Warner, PhD student Breck Gillespie, and MU alum Dr. Josh Bramlett were honored recently at the Central States Communication Association (CSCA). Their paper, “How the 2024 U.S. Presidential Debates Shaped Candidate Brand Associations,” won Top Paper in the Political Communication Division and is published in American Behavioral Scientist. Bramlett also accepted the Judith S. Trent Award for Early Career Excellence in Political Communication, and Warner was awarded the CSCA Warren Mentorship Award.

Last Tuesday, the Mizzou Story Lab, led by Dr. Haley Horstman, joined Science on Wheels for a Science Exploration Event at the Daniel Boone Public Library. 🌳✨
Kids and their families created their own “Tree of Life,” using art and storytelling to reflect on the people, strengths, hopes, and dreams that help them navigate tough times. Through this hands-on activity, participants got a glimpse into how social scientists study family, storytelling, and resilience.

We loved seeing so much creativity and thoughtful reflection - thank you to everyone who joined us! 💛🖤