Ronald E. Taylor (MS ’71, advertising; PhD ’83, communications, ICR), devoted scholar, teacher, and mentor, passed away at his home in Tennessee on September 11.
After receiving his PhD from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Taylor joined the University of Tennessee as the head of the Department of Advertising, where he built a nationally recognized advertising program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
During his tenure, the Department of Advertising was rated by US News & World Report as one of the top eight advertising graduate programs in the country. After a reorganization of the college, Taylor served as the director of the School of Advertising and Public Relations until 2011.
Taylor was an active member of the American Academy of Advertising, where he served as secretary. In 2013, he was awarded AAA’s Charles H. Sandage Award for Teaching Excellence, which recognizes outstanding contributions to advertising education.
Academically, he was a champion of qualitative research and a recognized leader in advertising message strategy. He is best known for his “Six Segment Strategy Wheel” conceptualization, which he published in the Journal of Advertising Research in 1999.
My research interests lie at the intersection of computational communication and political communication. Specifically, I am interested in using computational methods to learn about online misinformation and incivility contagion inside and between different countries and the possible factors that foster these processes.
Recent Publications/Presentations
Li, Y., & Su, C. (2022). “Toxidization” of social media discussion: Comparing online incivility expressed about the Russian-Ukraine war in China and the United States. Paper presented at the 73rd ICA annual conference, Toronto.
Chaikulngamdee Chawannuch, Janaki Riji Nair, Yanbo Li, Yanling Zhao, Cathleen Cusachs, Danilo Martinez, Yangyang Duan, Zige Chen, Xuanqi Ye, & Kelsey Prena. (2022). Learning through gaming: Examining the learning outcomes of EEK! game. Paper presented at 2022 International Conference on Meaningful Play, East Lansing, MI.
Se Il is a doctoral student at the Institute of Communications Research (ICR). Se Il’s interdisciplinary research focuses on persuasive messages in the context of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Metaverse, and Web 3.0. He wants to examine the difference in consumer behavior in a more immersive and intelligent virtual environment.
Prior to joining ICR, Se Il received his master’s in advertising and bachelor’s in communication, both from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In addition, he worked for the Korean government agency, KOTRA, as a marketing consultant in Chicago and for a blockchain project, WEMIX, as a business development and PR manager in Korea.
Courses Taught
ADV 250/283: Advertising and Brand Strategy (Fall 22–present)
Awards and Honors
Teachers Ranked as Excellent By Their Students: FA22, *SP23 *Outstanding
Weiting Du is a first-year Ph.D. student at the Institute of Communications Research. Weiting’s research interests encompass media effects and risk communication under the context of climate change, with a particular interest in climate inactions. In parallel, Weiting explores how contemporary visual imagery represents the complex interplay between human-environment relationships, collective memories, and broader societal issues.
Weiting’s past research covers topics such as the social power of photography in China and persuasive health messages. Prior to joining ICR, Weiting earned his master’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, specializing in science and environmental journalism, and holds a bachelor’s degree in ecological environmental engineering from Chongqing University.
Recent Publications/Presentations
Du, W., Sanders-Jackson, A., Neumann, D., & Tan, A. (2022, May 26-30). The effects of applying visual cues in culturally tailored anti-smoking messages for sexual minority women. Presented at the 72nd Annual ICA Conference, Paris, France (virtual session).
Du, W. (2021, June 19). The Desert Protector: How did an environmental photojournalist trigger a storm of environmental protection in China. Presented at the 35th Annual Visual Communication Conference, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States.
Courses Taught
JOUR 205 History of American Journalism
What Most People Don’t Know about Me
I love Not to Be Reproduced (1937), On Fire (1989), and The Shadow Play (2018).
“I on the Media” is a series from the University of Illinois College of Media in which faculty, staff, and students at the college address current issues and research. It began in 2020 to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on media-related issues.
Hear from our experts
9/8/2023
In this Q&A, Professor Brant Houston, Knight Chair of Investigative and Enterprise Reporting in the Department of Journalism, discusses the implications of the August 11 police raid on the Marion County Record, run by retired associate professor of journalism Eric Meyer.
9/7/2022
Angela Aguayo, associate professor of media and cinema studies, discusses the Illinois Community Media Project, funded by Chancellor Jones’s Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program. The project supports people making and circulating media that is most aligned with the interests of that community. (Video produced by Andrew Hall.)
1/18/2022
Nikki Usher, associate professor of journalism, discusses their new book, News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism. They argue that “the future of journalism conversation is actually a future of democracy conversation.” (Video produced by Andrew Hall.)
12/8/2021
Brian K. Johnson, professor of journalism, demonstrates how he applies a photojournalism methodology to his creative works and how to find the unseen in the seen.
11/5/2021
Kevin Wise, professor of advertising, discusses current studies at the MAD (Media and Advertising) Lab, where researchers have access to psychophysiology, eye-tracking, and virtual reality equipment. (Video produced by Andrew Hall.)
2/9/2021
Victor Font, lecturer in media and cinema studies, discusses how the pandemic affected film production in his class last spring, how he approached fall semester, and why he’s optimistic going forward. (Interview conducted by Connor Ciecko, Videography and Photography Intern.)
Derek Long, assistant professor of media and cinema studies, discusses trends in movie exhibition since the pandemic, distribution and production studio strategies to mitigate losses, and the shift to streaming. (Interview conducted by Connor Ciecko, Videography and Photography Intern.)
11/5/2020
Brant Houston, Knight Chair Professor in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting in the Department of Journalism, discusses student-driven investigative reporting of COVID-19 on the website he oversees, CU-CitizenAccess.org, which serves as a lab for digital innovation and data journalism. (Interview conducted by Connor Ciecko, Videography and Photography Intern.)
10/5/2020
Ewa Maslowska, assistant professor of advertising in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, discusses the changes in consumer behavior and brand advertising strategies that researchers observed in the first few months of the pandemic.
5/11/2020
Mike Yao, professor of digital media and head of the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, explains the mental and social impacts of using computers and digital devices while working and learning from home.
4/22/2020
Alison Davis, a lecturer in journalism who teaches documentary production and has won seven regional Emmy Awards, recommends five documentaries to watch while we’re in quarantine and shares tips for documenting your own experience during this unprecedented time.
4/15/2020
Eric Meyer, associate professor of journalism, discusses how his weekly paper in Kansas, the Marion County Record, has temporarily removed its paywall and has begun distributing the paper free for 13 weeks to county residents to keep people better informed.
Congratulations to all of the College of Media faculty and teaching assistants who were ranked as excellent by their students!
This list is based on Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms completed by students during the Spring 2023 semester. Only those instructors who distributed ICES forms at least once during this time period and who released their data for publication are included in the list. View the complete list.
Note: * denotes that the instructor ratings were outstanding. + denotes Summer 2023 course.
Veranika’s master’s thesis focused on the topic of time perception during media use. Her current research focuses on time perception, message fatigue, and computational approaches to communications research.
Veranika completed her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and art history at Emory University, and her master’s in advertising at UIUC.
Recent Publications/Presentations
Paltaratskaya, V., Wise, K. Time perception, cognitive load, and memory for short form video applications (SVAs). 73rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association. Toronto, Canada, in review.
Courses Taught
ADV 284 Consumer Insights
Awards and Honors
Earl M. Cummings Advertising Education Research Award (Spring 2022)
Melodie is a doctoral student at the Institute of Communications Research, primarily researching the social and psychological effects of media messages and digital media use. Her specific interests revolve around the interactions between interactive media technologies and individuals’ identity, perceptions of “otherness,” and social relationships, as well as their role in driving social mobilization or polarization.
Melodie earned her BA and MA degrees in journalism from the University of Missouri. She had industry experience as a journalist and producer, having worked with media organizations including Warner Bros. Discovery, CGTN America, and several others.
Junwei’s research interests are centered around the relations between subjectivity, governmentality, global media network and the network’s interpretive power, which eradicate the boundary between public/private space, human/posthuman and self-governing/self-enslaving. Besides his academic research on communication and media, he is also a cross-disciplinary artist. Junwei received his master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Oregon. Before joining ICR, he explored gardens and vehicles in Japan as media to better understand the condition and method of language/culture.
Cuteness, aesthetics, affect, game, critical theory, cultural studies, cultural analysis
Recent Publications/Presentations
Puzar, Aljosa and Yewon Hong. “Korean Cuties: Understanding the Performed Winsomeness (Aegyo) of South Korean Women.” Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, vol.19, no. 4, 2018: pp. 333 – 349.
Hong, Yewon and Dustin Hellberg. “Transient Labor: Past and Present of Young Female White-collar Work Force in South Korea.” The Journal of Human Studies, vol. 42, 2017, pp. 39 – 60.
“Cultural Geography of Dating in South Korea’s Urban Landscape,” 9th East Asian Regional Conference in Alternative Geography, Daegu, South Korea.
“The End of Boredom: Introducing Fun in Workspaces in South Korea,” Politics of Boredom, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Awards and Honors
Illinois Distinguished Fellowship, 2023 Fulbright Graduate Student Program Award, 2023 Horizon Fund, University of Amsterdam, 2018
What Most People Don’t Know about Me
I’m an early bird and I’m a night owl. So I’m wise and I have worms.
