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Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) and Message Strategies: What to Communicate and How to Communicate
Co-Authored Book Chapter in "Strategic Communication for Corporate Social Advocacy"
Author/Lead: Sun Young Lee, Najwa AlbaqamiFocusing on the two basic aspects of message strategies—“what to communicate” and “how to communicate”—the chapter provides a comprehensive overview of CSA message strategies. For the “what” strategies, a company can communicate about the social issue it is addressing, its stance on the issue, and what advocacy efforts it is making, as well as highlighting its motives and its history of commitment. For the “how” strategies, we review strategies for tone, value-oriented vs. action-oriented strategies, strategies of emotional appeals, and visual strategies. We identify valuable insights attained so far but point to areas where more research is needed. The chapter ends with a mini-case study comparing the message strategies of Lyft and Levi’s CSA supporting abortion rights in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and wars: How global news media frame actors, threats, and solutions in 19 countries
Collaborative research from the COMM department published in Media, War & Conflict
Author/Lead: Taufiq Ahmad, Seyeon ParkThis study analyzes 308 news articles published by 19 newspapers across 19 countries to examine the actors behind deepfakes, the associated threats, and the proposed solutions. Using the Russia–Ukraine war as a case study, the authors examined how newspapers frame deepfake-related actors, threats, and solutions during the conflict. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, and framing theory to interpret the findings. Findings reveal that the actors responsible for creating, distributing, and supporting deepfakes include state and political entities, technology companies and developers, criminal networks, covert channels, and propaganda agents. The threats posed by deepfakes span political, ethical, legal, social, security, and economic domains. Proposed solutions to counter deepfakes fall into several categories: technical, policy-based, regulatory, institutional, and educational. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on modern warfare, AI-generated disinformation, deepfakes, and the rapidly changing digital information ecosystem in the post-truth era.
Frontline Voices of care: How community health workers cultivate relationships
Many UMD COMMunity members collaborate on this new publication for Public Relations Review
Author/Lead: Brooke Fisher LiuContributor(s): Lahne Mattas-Curry, Anita Atwell Seate, Carina Zelaya
The importance of communities is central to public relations theory, which has recently received renewed scholarly attention. The COVID-19 pandemic put in sharp focus the importance of community – and the detrimental consequences for society when community life is disrupted. This study combines theorizing on communities and the care-based relationship cultivation model to investigate public relations in a non-traditional setting. We conducted 41 interviews with community health workers (CHWs) engaged with Latino communities during and after the pandemic. Our findings uncover a variety of strategies CHWs employ to sustain community relationships, culminating in the new care-based community cultivation framework. To support community involvement, CHWs communicate their competency, are part of the communities they serve, and meet people where they are. To support community nurturing, CHWs actively listen, communicate with empathy, and educate while working from the heart. They also serve as safe harbors, acknowledge their role limitations, build trust through sustained relationships, and overcome challenges while respecting culture. To support community organizing, CHWs make service connections while acknowledging system limitations and tailor official health guidance. Additionally, CHWs work to overcome obstacles to community members’ well-being. Ultimately, we echo calls for more public relations scholarship to uplift marginalized communities, especially during crises, so that our work supports community well-being and safety.
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