News
Finding Your Voice: Jackie Gartner-Schmidt Held Workshop on Public Speaking and Vocal Biology
Public speaking is more than just words—it’s a science.
Undergraduate Spotlight: Lily Peters '26
Lily Peters, a junior media and professional communications major, has always been a storyteller.
“I was the girl who was always writing in a journal,” Peters said. “I have loved writing for such a long time and so that’s why I ultimately decided to major in communications at Pitt. I knew that being a communications major would provide me with so many different opportunities and different ways to story tell.”
In her past two and half years at Pitt, Peters has found a particular passion for storytelling within the world of sports.
Congratulations to Dr. Lane Grafton on new publication, “The Bias of Mediation"
Congratulations to Dr. Lane Grafton on his latest publication, “The Bias of Mediation: How Communication Technologies Transform Social Relations,” which will be published in Explorations in Media Ecology this spring.
Dr. Grafton is a faculty member in the department who currently teaches Argument, Public Speaking, Rhetoric & Society, and Communication & Society. His scholarship focuses on the effect that technology has on individuals as well as society.
HCUAP receives grant from Andy Warhol Foundation
Congratulations to Dr. Caitlin Bruce and her colleagues at the Hemispheric Conversations Urban Arts Project (HCUAP) for receiving two years of funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts to be used towards their research on public art and graffiti in Pittsburgh!
Egolf Award Application Announcement
Attention Department of Communication graduate students, applications for the Donald B. Egolf Memorial Teaching Award are now open!
William Pitt Debating Union Slays at Gorlok Gala with Debate Lock-Out
St. Louis, MO — The William Pitt Debating Union (WPDU) made an impressive showing at the prestigious 27th Gorlok Gala Forensic Tournament, held January 24–26, 2025, in St. Louis, Missouri. Hosted by Webster University’s forensic program, the tournament featured 16 speech events and two debate formats, drawing some of the most competitive teams in the nation.
COMMRC students awarded at 2024 College Media Business and Advertising convention
We're proud to announce that COMMRC students contributed to two award-winning submissions at this year's College Media Business and Advertising Managers convention! Their work was completed as part of The Pitt News Marketing Internship, supervised by TPN marketing advisor and part-time COMMRC instructor Tara Adamczyk.
See below for more information about the winning submissions. Congratulations to everyone involved in our award-winning TPN Marketing Internship!
Best Multimedia Ad Campaign - 3rd Place: Smashed Waffle Campaign Spring 2024
Congratulations to Corinne Sugino ('22 PhD) on the publication of Making the Human: Race, Allegory, and Asian Americans (2024, Rutgers UP)
We're excited to announce the publication of Making the Human: Race, Allegory, and Asian Americans by COMMRC alum Corinne Sugino ('22 PhD). In Making the Human, Sugino offers the lens of racial allegory to consider how media, institutional, and cultural narratives mobilize difference to normalize a white, Western conception of the human.
HCUAP Panel Discussion
Title: Freedom of Expression, Stigmatizing Narratives, and Graffiti Policy in Pittsburgh
Panel discussion with the Hemispheric Urban Art Project (HCUAP)
When: Friday November 15th 5:30 – 7pm
Location: The Understory Cathedral of Learning C4C
4200 Fifth Avenue
**light dinner will be provided
This event explores ways in which we might create more spaces for free expression.
Call for Participants: Graffiti Narrative Change Project community dialogue on Nov. 15
On November 15, 2024, the Community Scholar Program for Pitt's Center for Civil Rights and Justice will be hosting an event to share findings from community-based research and outreach conducted by current Community Scholars: addressing issues of racial justice, civil rights, and resource access throughout Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
Creating Legends - Rivers of Steel Festival
Creating Legends: Graffiti Writers of the Past, Present, and Future brings together select local, national, and internationally-renowned graffiti artists for a weeklong residency and community workshop series in Pittsburgh celebrating the origins of the graffiti movement and its influence across generations.
This multi-day, multi-site festivals offer lots of fun events happening throughout the week of Oct 14-20:
PhD Alumni, Andrew Allsup, wins NCA division Dissertation of the Year Award
Dr. Andrew Allsup ('24 PhD) has been awarded the Dissertation of the Year Award from the Philosophy, Communication, Theory, and Critique Division of NCA. This award is is recognition of Dr. Allsup's 2024 dissertation, "Martin Heidegger and the Inventive Destruktion of the Corpus Aristotelicum: Addressivity, Receptivity, and Synchronicity in the Archival Politics of SS1924."
Associate Professor, Dr. Paul Johnson, wins Hochmuth-Nichols Award at NCA
In recognition of his recent book, I the People: The Rhetoric of Conservative Populism in the United States, Dr. Paul Johnson has been awarded the Hochmuth-Nichols Award by the Public Address Division of NCA. This award honors research that extends or alters our understanding of public address and/or rhetorical practice through its exceptional originality, research, intellectual creativity, and writing.
William Pitt Debating Union (WPDU) Shines at Recent Speech and Debate Events
The William Pitt Debating Union (WPDU) recently showcased its talent at three major debate and speech competitions, earning impressive accolades.
At the Washburn Warm Up, the first debate tournament of the season, Henry Anastasi-Scott won first place in the novice division and was ranked second top novice speaker.
Associate Professor, Dr. Caitlin Bruce, wins NCA Outstanding Book Award
Visual Communication Division: Outstanding Book Award
Dr. Caitlin Frances Bruce, University of Pittsburgh
Voices in Aerosol: Youth Culture, Institutional Attunement, and Graffiti in Urban Mexico (University of Texas Press, 2024). https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477327678/