Awards and Honors

Named for the founding chair of the Department of Public Speaking at the University of Maryland. Presented to the most outstanding Ph.D. student in the department. Nomination for the award is made by the student's advisor and/or any member of the graduate faculty. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged, but students self-nominating should discuss the nomination with their advisor and secure the necessary letter of support. Nominees must submit a current CV. A letter of support should be received from the student's advisor and/or another member of the graduate faculty. Any Ph.D. student in good standing in the department is eligible for the Richardson Award. Students cannot be nominated for this award and the Raymond Ehrensberger Award during the same award period. Nominations must be submitted electronically to the chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee by the second Friday in April.

2005: Qi Wang
2006: Lisa Corrigan
2007: Belinda Stillion Southard
2008: Bjorn Stillion Southard
2009: Brian G. Smith
2010: Timothy Barney
2011: Lucinda L. Austin
2012: Abbey Blake Levenshus
2013: Rowena Briones
2014: Kelly Madden Daily
2015: Julia Daisy Fraustino & Michael Steudeman
2016: Irina Iles & Stephanie Madden
2017: Megan Fitzmaurice
2018: Will Howell & Zexin Ma
2019: Rong Ma
2020: Jungkyu Rhys Lim & Samantha Stanley
2021: Sara Aghazadeh & Victoria Ledford
2022: Darrian Carroll
2023: Kathryn Thier & Matthew Salzano
2024: Meg Itoh                              

Named for the second chair of the Department of Speech at the University of Maryland. Presented to the most outstanding student in the department currently in the first two years of graduate study beyond the bachelor's degree. Nomination for the award is made by the student's advisor and/or any member of the graduate faculty. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged, but students self-nominating should discuss the nomination with their advisor and secure the necessary letter of support. Nominees must submit a current CV. A letter of support should be received from the student's advisor and/or another member of the graduate faculty. A nominee must be in good standing and students cannot be nominated for this award and the Charles Richardson Award during the same award period. Nominations must be submitted electronically to the chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee by the second Friday in April.

2005: Stephanie Materese
2006: Ben Krueger
2007: Timothy Barney
2008: Terri Donofrio
2009: Elizabeth Gardner
2010:Rowena Briones
2011: Jade Olson
2012: Abigail Seiler
2013: No award given
2014: Stephanie Madden
2015: Zexin Ma
2016: Lauren Hunter
2017: JungKyu Lim
2018: Alyson Farzad-Phillips
2019: No award given
2020: Matthew Salzano & Jeannette Viens
2021: Drew Ashby-King & Ari Perez Montes
2022: Umisha KC
2023: Abigail Vázquez Rosario
2024: Siqiao "Austin" Ao

The Outstanding Research Paper Award is given to the best nominated research paper. Papers nominated for this award should have been presented at a professional conference or symposium or accepted for publication in an academic journal in the calendar year preceding the granting of the award. For all papers nominated, all authors must be graduate students. Self-nominated papers are welcomed and encouraged, but students should discuss the nomination with a faculty member. Applications should include a copy of the paper plus a letter of nomination/support from a graduate faculty member in the department. Any Ph.D. student in good standing in the department is eligible for this award. The recipient of this award shall receive the department's student membership in the National Communication Association. Nominations must be submitted electronically to the chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee by the second Friday in April.

2005: Belinda Stillion Southard
2006: Tiffany Thompson
2007: Jennifer Vardeman
2008: Timothy Barney
2009: Timothy Barney
2010: Stephen Underhill
2011: Terri Donofrio & Alyssa Samek
2012: Tiffany Lewis
2013: Michael Steudeman
2014: Michael Steudeman
2015: Thomas McCloskey
2016: Michael Steudeman
2017: Bo Yang
2018: Randall Fowler
2019: Randall Fowler
2020: Alyson Farzad-Phillips
2021: Jeannette Iannacone
2022: Drew Ashby-King & Ashley Aragón
2023: Fielding Montgomery & Brooke Phipps
2024: Meg Itoh & Fielding Montgomery

The Andrew D. Wolvin Outstanding Teaching Awards are given for up to five graduate students who are in good standing in the department, up to two professional-track faculty members and up to two tenure-track faculty members. Nominations for the Wolvin Outstanding Teaching Awards may be made by faculty, staff, or graduate students. Nominations should be accompanied by a letter of support providing the reasons the nominee should receive the award. A nominee must submit a current CV or résumé and a teaching portfolio. Nominations must be submitted electronically to the chair of the Teaching and Service Awards Committee by the second Friday in April. The Teaching and Service Awards Committee is a five-member committee appointed by the Faculty Advisory Committee. Nominees may not serve on the committee. The chair of the Teaching and Service Awards Committee will be a faculty member. 

2005: Tiffany Derville, Erica Lamm, Tiffany Thompson

2006: Timothy Barney, Kelly Carr, Abbe Depretis & Ric Winston

2007: Terri Donofrio & Xiaoying Xie

2008: Heather Adams, Ioana Cionea & Sejal Patel

2009: Lucinda Austin, Rowena Briones & Ben Krueger

2010: Yoav Magid, Katie Place & Alyssa Samek

2011: Steven Cohen, Abbe Depretis, Sejal Patel & Artesha Taylor

2012: Sean Luechtefeld, Kelly Madden, Jade Olson & Adam Richards

2013: Melissa Janoske & Michael Steudeman

2014: Jessica Lu, Thomas McCloskey, Annie Laurie Nichols, Yvonne Slosarski & Michael Steudeman

2015: Jaclyn Bruner, Lauren Harris, Irina Iles, Stephanie Madden & Devin Scott

2016: Rebecca Alt, Brooke Fowler, Lauren Hunter, Liang Ma & Timothy Penn

2017: Lindsey Anderson (Faculty), Anita Atwell Seate (Faculty), Luke Capizzo (Graduate Student), Chien Hsin-Yi (Graduate Student), Megan Fitzmaurice (Graduate Student), Devin Scott (Graduate Student), Meridith Styer (Graduate Student), Jean Marie VandenBosch (posthumous, PTK) & Susan Whyte Simon (PTK)

2018: Hagar Attia (Graduate Student), Nora Murphy (Graduate Student) & Michelle Murray Yang (Faculty)

2019: Kang Namkoong (Faculty), Raphael Mazzone (PTK), A.B. Smithson (PTK), Skye de Saint Felix (Graduate Student), Alyson Farzad-Phillips (Graduate Student), Victoria Ledford (Graduate Student), Samantha Stanley (Graduate Student) & and Misti Yang (Graduate Student)

2020: Sun Young Lee (Faculty), Carly S. Woods (Faculty), Darrian Carroll (Graduate Student), Randall Fowler (Graduate Student), Sumin Fang (Graduate Student), Duli Shi (Graduate Student) & Jeannette Viens (Graduate Student)

2021: Nick Joyce (Faculty), Catherine Knight Steele (Faculty), Jeremy Grossman (PTK), Ashley Aragon (Graduate Student), Taylor Hourigan (Graduate Student), Meg Itoh (Graduate Student), Xiaojing (Romy) Wang (Graduate Student), & Gareth Williams (Graduate Student)

2022: Jiyoun Kim (Faculty), Brooke Fisher Liu (Faculty), Mollie Kaufer (PTK), Janna Soeder (PTK), Drew Ashby-King (Graduate Student), Alisa Hardy (Graduate Student), Victoria McDermott (Graduate Student), E. Brooke Phipps (Graduate Student), & Carolyn Robbins (Graduate Student)                       

2023: Kristy Maddux (TTK Faculty), Dionne Clemons (PTK Faculty), Daviana Fraser(Graduate Student), Umisha KC (Graduate Student), Fielding Montgomery (Graduate Student), Ari Perez Montes (Graduate Student), Matthew Salzano (Graduate Student)

2024: Dr. Jiyoun Kim (TTK Faculty), Dr. Ray Bailey (PTK Faculty), Jin Choi (Graduate Student), Jonathan Leach (Graduate Student), Daviana Fraser (Graduate Student), Crystal Stone (Graduate Student), Grace Kim (Graduate Student)

Outstanding Service Awards are given to up to three members of the department who have made substantial contributions to the welfare of the department, college and/or university through their service activities beyond their regular job responsibilities. Nominations for the Outstanding Service Awards may be made by any faculty, staff or graduate students. Nominations should be accompanied by a nominating letter outlining the nominee’s contributions to the department. Graduate student nominees must be in good standing. All nominees must submit a current CV or résumé. Nominations must be submitted electronically to the chair of the Teaching and Service Awards Committee by the second Friday in April. The Teaching and Service Awards Committee is a five-member committee appointed by the Faculty Advisory Committee. Nominees may not serve on the committee. The chair of the Teaching and Service Awards Committee will be a faculty member.

2009: Terri Donofrio
2010: Timothy Barney, Ioana Cionea & Terri Donofrio
2011: Elizabeth Gardner
2012: Sean Luechtefeld
2013: Jade Olson
2014: Melissa Janoske
2015: Irina Iles
2016: Yvonne Slosarski
2017: Rebecca Alt (Graduate Student), Brooke Fisher Liu (Faculty) & Lillie Sullivan (Staff)
2018: Nora Murphy (Graduate Student), Damien Pfister (Faculty) & Carlin Bokal (Staff)
2019: Alyson Farzad-Phillips (Graduate Student), Elizabeth Toth (Faculty) & Julie Gowin (Staff)
2020: Sara Aghazadeh (Graduate Student), Kristy Maddux (Faculty) & Adina Oved (Staff)
2021: Lindsey Anderson (Faculty), Darrian Carroll (Graduate Student), & Victoria Ledford (Graduate Student)
2022: Meg Itoh (Graduate Student), E. Brooke Phipps (Graduate Student), & Xiaojing Wang (Graduate Student)
2023: Kang Namkoong (Faculty), Ieva Young (Staff), Drew Ashby-King (Graduate Student)
2024: Dr. Anita Atwell Seate (TTK Faculty), Dr. Janna Soeder (PTK Faculty), Taylor Kleiner (Staff), Umisha KC (Graduate Student), Kalin Schultz (Graduate Student) 

Given by COMMGrads to an outstanding faculty member.

2014: Shawn J. Parry-Giles
2015: James F. Klumpp
2016: Dale Hample
2017: Kristy Maddux
2018: Anita Atwell Seate
2019: Damien Pfister
2020: Lindsey B. Anderson
2021: Anita Atwell Seate
2022: Anita Atwell Seate                                                                           
2023: Kang Namkoong & Carly Woods
2024: Carina Zelaya

Named in honor of Richard and Elizabeth Toth. The award is given to the student/s who have demonstrated: 1) academic excellence, especially in PR classes; 2) leadership in PR; 3) contributions to the PR track; and 4) professional excellence. 

2016: Natasha Paulmeno & Samara Tu
2017: Tish Carmona
2018: Elizabeth Fletcher & Alyssa Zinar
2019: Gillian Casey
2022: Daisy Yu                                                                     
2023: Brooke Ivler                                                                   
2024: Leah Weiss

Named for Vincent Tran (1994-2016) who was a PRSSA, an InTERPret officer and former TA. The award will be presented to an undergraduate public relations student who celebrates multiculturalism and professionalism in public relations. Applications will be available in late March. 

Named for an outstanding graduate student community builder known for her informal mentoring, participation in shared governance, and contributions to student groups. Dr. Yang's excellence in research, service, and teaching flowed from her deep commitments to supporting colleagues and developing community because, in her words, "we all do better when everyone does better." Presented in recognition of extraordinary contributions by a graduate student to the community of the Department of Communication, the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, and/or surrounding region. The award includes financial support for conference travel and networking. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged, but students self-nominating should discuss the nomination with their advisor and secure the necessary letter of support. Nominees must submit a current CV and a one-page letter detailing their contributions to community. A letter of support from a member of the Department of Communication should be included in the nomination package. Any Ph.D. student in good standing in the department is eligible for the Yang Award, but preference will be given to advanced graduate students in residence. Nominations must be submitted electronically to the chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee by the second Friday in April. 

2024: Alisa Hardy & Kalin Schultz

• 
  Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development
• Best Journalism and Mass Communication History Book Award
• The Dorothy Bowles Award for Outstanding Public Service
• The Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award
• Covert Award
• The Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research
  • James Grunig, 2000
• The AEJMC Equity & Diversity Award
• AEJMC-Knudson Latin America Prize
• Krieghbaum Under 40 Award

• 
  Steven H. Chaffee Career Achievement Award
• James W. Carey Urban Communication Award
• Outstanding Book Award
• Applied Research Award
• Outstanding Article Award
• Young Scholar Award
• B. Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award
• ICA Fellows Book Award
• ICA Fellows

• 
  Donald Ecroyd Award for Outstanding Teaching in Higher Education
• Wallace A. Bacon Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award
• Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication
• Charles H. Woolbert Research Award
• Diamond Anniversary Book Award
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2007
• Donald P. Cushman Memorial Award
• Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award
  • James F. Klumpp, 2014
• Franklyn S. Haiman Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Freedom of Expression
• Gerald M. Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Scholarship
• Gerald R. Miller Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award
  • James Kimble, 2003
  • Timothy Barney, 2013
  • Adam Richards, 2014
  • Nick Joyce, 2015 (as faculty; for doctoral dissertation at the University of Arizona)
  • Michael J. Steudeman, 2017
• Golden Anniversary Monographs Award
• Winans-Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric & Public Address
  • Carly S. Woods, 2019
• James L. Golden Outstanding Student Essay Award in Rhetoric
  • Theresa Donofrio, 2007
• Karl R. Wallace Memorial Award
• Leslie Irene Coger Award for Distinguished Performance
• Lilla A. Heston Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Interpretation and Performance Studies
• Mark L. Knapp Award in Interpersonal Communication
• Stephen E. Lucas Debut Publication Award
  • Yvonne Slosarski, 2017
• Robert J. Kibler Memorial Award
• Samuel L. Becker Distinguished Service Award
• NCA Distinguished Scholars

• 
  Distinguished Service Award
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2020
• ECA Article of the Year Award
• Everett Lee Hunt Award
  • Shawn J. Parry-Giles, 2003
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2003
• Applied Urban Communication Research Grant
• ECA Centennial Scholarships
  • Timothy Barney, 2010
  • Theresa Donofrio, 2011
  • Sean Luechtefeld, 2012
  • Michael Steudeman, 2014
  • Stephanie Madden, 2015
  • Victoria Ledford, 2022
• Ecroyd Teaching Excellence Award
  • Andrew Wolvin, 2016
• Past Officers' Award
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2007
• ECA Distinguished Research Fellows
  • James F. Klumpp, 2000
  • Kathleen Kendall, 2005
  • Mari Boor Tonn, 2007
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2011
• ECA Distinguished Teaching Fellows
  • Andrew Wolvin, 1998
  • Mari Boor Tonn, 2003
  • Kathleen Kendall, 2005
  • James F. Klumpp, 2007
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2016

• Board of Regents Faculty Award
• Creative and Performing Arts Award
• Departmental Award for Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching
  • Department of Communication, 2000
• Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award
  • Edward L. Fink, 1988–89
  • Kathleen Hall Jamieson, 1981–82
  • Xiaoli Nan, 2020–21
• Distinguished University Professor
• Elkins Professorship
• Faculty Disability Achievement Award
• Global Partnerships-Faculty Travel Grants
• Invention of the Year Awards
• Joint Research Workshops
• Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize
• Kirwan Undergraduate Education Award
• Lilly-CTE Teaching Fellows
  • Sahar Khamis, 2011–12
    • Meina Liu, 2010–11
    • Leah Waks, 2003–04
    • Robert Gaines, 2003–04
    • Linda Aldoory, 2002–03
    • Andrew Wolvin, 1998–99
• Minority Achievement Awards for Faculty
• Outstanding Woman of the Year Award
• The President's Medal
• The Regents Professorship
• Research & Scholarship Awards (RASA)/Faculty-Student Research Awards (FSRA)
  • Lindsey Anderson, 2015 (Summer); 2019 (Summer)
  • Kristy Maddux, 2014 (Semester)
  • Xiaoli Nan, 2009; 2013 (Semester); 2016 (Summer)
  • Sahar Khamis, 2010 (Summer); 2020 (FSRA)
  • Shawn J. Parry-Giles, 2010 (Semester); 2021 (FSRA)
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2011 (Semester); 2004; 2001
  • Erich Sommerfeldt, 2017 (Summer)
  • Damien Pfister, 2019 (Semester)
  • Michelle Murray Yang, 2016 (Summer)
  • JiYoun Kim, 2020 (FSRA)
  • Anita Atwell Seate, 2019 (Semester)
  • Sun Young Lee, 2021 (FSRA)
• Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year Awards
  • Shawn J. Parry-Giles, 2017
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, 2019
  • Anita Atwell Seate, 2020
• Outstanding Director of Graduate Studies Award
  • Shawn J. Parry-Giles, 2014
• Research Communicator Impact Award
  • Sahar Khamis, 2019

• Flagship Fellowships
  • William Howell, 2014
  • Stephanie Madden, 2014
  • Randall Fowler, 2016
  • Samantha Stanley, 2016
  • Naette Lee, 2017
  • Kathryn Their, 2019
  • Jin Choi, 2020
  • Alisa Hardy, 2021
  • Faith Otchere, 2021
• McNair Graduate Fellowships
  • Ari Perez Montes, 2019
• Summer Research Fellowships
  • Xinyan Zhao, 2013
  • Megan Fitzmaurice, 2016
  • Sifan Xu, 2017
  • Nora Heist, 2019
  • Jungkyu Lim, 2019
  • Darrian Carroll, 2021
  • Matthew Salzano, 2021
  • Duli Shi, 2021
• Kulkarni Summer Research Fellowships
• International Graduate Research Fellowships
• Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowships
  • Megan Fitzmaurice, 2017
  • Rebecca Alt, 2018
  • Rong Ma, 2018
  • Lauren Hunter, 2019
  • Samantha Stanley, 2019
  • Jungkyu Rhys Lim, 2020
  • Naette Lee, 2021
• Lee Thornton Dissertation Fellowship
• Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowships
  • Michael Steudeman, 2015–16
• Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Awards
  • Meridith Styer, 2018
• All - S.T.A.R. Fellowships
  • Irina Iles, 2016
• Outstanding Graduate Assistant Awards
  • Irina Iles, 2015
  • Annie-Laurie Nichols, 2016
  • Meridith Styer, 2016
  • Luke Capizzo, 2017
  • Samantha Stanley, 2017
  • Zexin Ma, 2018
  • Alyson Farzad-Phillips, 2018
  • Hagar Attia, 2019
  • Nora Heist, 2020
  • Gareth Williams, 2020
  • Skye de Saint Felix, 2021
  • Victoria Ledford, 2021
  • Alex Thomas, 2022
  • Xiaojing (Romy) Wang, 2022
  • Yumin Yan, 2022
• CIC-Smithsonian Research Fellowship
• Three-Minute Thesis Video Award
  • Brooke Fowler, 2018 (Finalist)
• Dr. Mabel S. Spencer Award for Excellence in Graduate Achievement
• Dr. James W. Longest Award Memorial Award for Social Science Research
• The Michael J. Pelczar Award for Excellence in Graduate Study
  • Irina Iles, 2017
  • Zexin Ma, 2018
• Phi Delta Gamma Graduate Award
  • Max Erdemandi, 2021

• The Mary Savage Snouffer Dissertation Fellowship
  • William Howell, 2018
• University of Maryland Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award—ARHU Nomination
  • Michael Steudeman, 2017
  • Meridith Styer, 2018
  • Megan Fitzmaurice, 2019
• James F. Harris Arts & Humanities Visionary Scholarship
  • Megan Fitzmaurice, 2016
  • Darrian Carroll, 2021