August 12, 2026 This year’s conference theme was “Jazz & Jambalaya: Nurturing Harmony and Health in Higher Education.” Presenters included faculty in the Institute of Communications Research, the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, and the Department of Journalism; and graduate students in ICR’s PhD program and the MS advertising program. A Science Communication paper, “Exploring […]
July 1, 2026 | MediaCat A new study from College of Media faculty and students claims that consumers pay more attention to shoppable ads when streaming than when browsing social media—for better or for worse. The research article, “Why Some Shoppable Ads Persuade: Expectancy Violations and Ad Value Across Streaming TV and Social Media,” was […]
June 25, 2026 This year’s conference theme addressed “Communication and Inequalities in Context.” College of Media presenters included faculty in the Institute of Communications Research and the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising; graduate students in the MS advertising program; and doctoral students in the Institute of Communications Research PhD program. College of Media research […]
April 22, 2026 Advertising faculty with appointments in the Institute of Communications Research, doctoral students in ICR, graduate students in advertising, and ICR alumni participated in the 2026 annual conference of the American Academy of Advertising, held March 26-29 in Austin, Texas. Through presentations and panels, they discussed research and ideas related to teaching AI and advertising, […]
April 20, 2026 Update June 2, 2026: The team of journalism students who presented “They Want to Go Home: Ghana’s Kayayei” received an Outstanding Poster Presentation Award. *** At the Undergraduate Research Symposium, the signature event held on Thursday, April 30, at the Illini Union, students across campus will present their research. Below is a list of […]
October 29, 2025 Faculty and graduate students across the College of Media are pursuing a range of activities aimed at understanding challenges to media literacy and developing interventions to improve it. Recent activities include: A team including Michelle Nelson, professor of advertising, Amanda Ciafone, associate professor of media and cinema studies, Stephanie Craft, professor of […]
August 20, 2025 | Sharita Forrest, University of Illinois News Bureau Teachers and high school students live in vastly different media worlds, and that’s one of several digital divides that undermine the efficacy of state-mandated media literacy instruction in Illinois high schools, a recent study suggests. The researchers—Institute of Communications Research doctoral student Sakshi Bhalla and Michelle Nelson, […]
July 1, 2025 | The News-Gazette I suspect AI will continue to be used to help political strategists in creating, testing and managing campaigns. This means we’ll probably receive even more personalized ads—I’m hopeful that we, as citizens, are able to know what is AI and what is not, and what is truthful and what […]
March 21, 2025 Advertising faculty and graduate students in the MS advertising and ICR doctoral programs, as well as several alumni, participated in the 2025 annual conference of the American Academy of Advertising, held March 6-9 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Faculty and graduate students participated in eight paper presentations and three panels, discussing research and ideas […]
April 10, 2024 | Kelly Youngblood The College of Media is collaborating with University of Illinois and community partners to present educational workshops to local children this spring as part of a new public engagement effort. The collaboration between the College of Media and the Center for Social and Behavioral Science focuses on creating hands-on […]