Department History
Department History | Department Names | Department Chairs | Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty
History of the Department of Communication
The study of communication at College Park is as old as the institution itself. The first students in the Maryland Agricultural College faced requirements in rhetoric, elocution, and declamation throughout the course of their degree. By 1901 a Department of Public Speaking was in place and, for nearly four decades, the department emphasized public speaking and public address in its course offerings. Beginning in the late 1930s, however, courses were added in other subjects related to spoken discourse. For example, new courses were announced in radio speaking for 1938, in speech pathology for 1939, and in drama for 1941. By 1946 coursework had developed to the point that the department could offer its B.A. degree in four areas of concentration: public speaking, drama, radio, and speech sciences.
The identification of these areas quickly gave rise to academic and administrative specialization within the department. One effect of this specialization was the formation of departmental divisions. The department maintained four such divisions until 1972, when the division of Speech and Hearing Sciences left the department for autonomous status in what is now the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. From that time until 1989 three divisions - Speech Communication, Radio-Television-Film, and Theater - existed; in 1989 each division became a separate department in the College of Arts and Humanities and in the Spring of 1998, the department was renamed the Department of Communication.
Communication maintains the disciplinary interests, goals, and subject matters that have animated speech instruction at Maryland from its beginnings. The department sustains a long-standing commitment to research and teaching in the history, processes, and effects of communication through speech and its extensions. Within the department, students may do graduate work in communication in programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees.
Names of the Department of Communication
Fall 1901 - Spring 1908 | Department of Public Speaking |
Fall 1908 - Spring 1914 | Department of Oratory |
Fall 1914 - Spring 1918 | Department of English and Public Speaking |
Fall 1918 - Spring 1936 | Department of Public Speaking |
Fall 1936 - Spring 1948 | Department of Speech |
Fall 1948 - Spring 1979 | Department of Speech and Dramatic Art |
Fall 1979 - Spring 1990 | Department of Communication Arts and Theatre |
Fall 1990 - Fall 1997 | Department of Speech Communication |
Spring 1998 - Present | Department of Communication |
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Chairs of the Department of Communication
![]() Charles Richardson
Fall 1901 - Spring 1940
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![]() Raymond Ehrensberger
Fall 1940 - Spring 1953
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![]() Warren Strausbaugh
Fall 1953 - Spring 1970
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![]() Thomas J. Aylward
Fall 1970 - Spring 1973 Fall 1975 - Spring 1983
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![]() Irving Linkow (Acting)
Fall 1973 - Spring 1975
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![]() Patti P. Gillespie
Fall 1983 - Spring 1989
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![]() Andrew D. Wolvin
Spring 1980 & Spring 1987 (Acting Chair)
Fall 1989 - Spring 1994
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![]() James F. Klumpp (Acting)
Fall 1994 - Spring 1995
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![]() Martha M. Watson (Acting)
Spring 1995 - Summer 1997
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![]() Edward L. Fink
Fall 1997 - Spring 2007
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![]() Elizabeth L. Toth
Fall 2007-Fall 2015
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Shawn J. Parry-Giles
Spring 2016 - present
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Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty Members— Department of Communication, 1998-present
Name | Rank | Dates |
Linda Aldoory |
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Lindsey Anderson |
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Shannon A. Bowen |
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Deborah A. Cai |
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Edward L. Fink |
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Robert N. Gaines |
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Jennifer Garst |
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James E. Grunig |
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Larissa A. Grunig |
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Dale Hample |
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Nicholas Joyce |
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Sahar Mohamed Khamis |
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Jiyoun Kim |
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James F. Klumpp |
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Sun Young Lee |
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Brooke Fisher Liu |
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Meina Liu |
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Katherine McComas |
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Kristy Maddux |
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Michael D. Meffert |
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Kang Namkoong |
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Xiaoli Nan |
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Nneka Ifeoma Ofulue |
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Shawn J. Parry-Giles |
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Trevor Parry-Giles |
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Damien Smith Pfister |
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Torsten Reimer |
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Anita Atwell Seate |
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Erich Sommerfeldt |
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Catherine Steele |
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Ursula Ströh |
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Mari Boor Tonn |
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Elizabeth L. Toth |
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Monique Mitchell Turner |
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Amber Westcott-Baker |
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Laura Drake Witz |
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Andrew D. Wolvin |
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Carly S. Woods |
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Michelle Murray Yang |
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