Department of Communication at Clemson University

The Clemson University Department of Communication is committed to educating and producing leaders who can navigate the challenges of an ever-changing global community. The department espouses an environment of collegiality and collaboration and aims to achieve goals for inclusive excellence set forth by the Clemson Elevate strategic plan.

Housed in the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences, the Department of Communication offers three academic degree programs: a BA in Communication, a BA in Sports Communication, and an MA in Communication. The department also offers a graduate certificate in Health Communication, minors in Communication and Sports Communication, and serves the university through two introductory general education communication courses that serve over 3,000 students each year. The department is affiliated with Clemson University’s Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute, a multi-disciplinary platform for the academic study of sport sciences across the University, and houses the Charles Campbell Professorship in Sports Communication. The department also is home to student-run operations for television, radio, newspaper and two magazines under the banner of Tiger Student Media. We also have the Social Media Listening Center, Communication Center and Research Lab, a nationally and internationally-recognized debate team, and student study abroad programs.

A Brief History

The history of Clemson University’s Department of Communication dates back to the 1980s when Communication courses were taught in the Departments of English and Performing Arts in the College of Liberal Arts. A Department of Speech and Communications was created in 1995 in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, a new college created after a comprehensive university reorganization that same year. In the early 2000s, the department was renamed the Department of Communication Studies and, over the next 15 years, the department added new faculty, launched a new undergraduate degree in sports communication, opened a Social Media Listening Center, reinvigorated the debate program, and launched a new master’s degree program. During an academic college reorganization in 2016, the newly renamed Department of Communication joined the new College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences.

Approximately 40 faculty (14 tenured/tenure-track, 17 full-time non-tenure-track, and several adjunct faculty), 325 undergraduate majors, 300 undergraduate minors, 20 graduate students (nearly all on funded assistantships), and three staff members study and work across the department’s programs and engage through its facilities and co-curricular initiatives.

Vision | Mission | Goals
Vision

The Department of Communication at Clemson University aspires to be a national leader at the undergraduate and graduate levels among public research universities in the discipline of Communication.

Mission

The Department of Communication at Clemson University is committed to providing students with a theoretically-grounded communication curriculum featuring personalized educational opportunities that emphasize students’ strengths and interests and motivate students to embrace innovative technologies. Faculty members with expertise in health communication, sports communication, strategic communication, and media and technology studies are dedicated to developing students’ critical thinking, ethical judgment, and decision-making skills with the intent of empowering students to positively contribute to our ever-evolving social world.

Goals

The Department of Communication at Clemson University aims to prepare its students, the communication discipline, and its faculty and staff by:
1. Generating high quality, creative, and innovative scholarship
2. Fostering engaged learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate students
3. Delivering high-impact undergraduate and graduate education experiences
4. Nurturing a positive culture indicative of an outstanding place to learn and work; and
5. Communicating and promoting its vision, mission, activities, and successes to internal and external audiences and stakeholders.

Our People

The Department of Communication is home to nationally known scholars conducting cutting-edge communication research in media and technology studies, health communication, strategic communication, and sports communication. Faculty regularly publish in prestigious academic journals, including Communication Research, Communication Theory, Journal of Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Communication Education, Health Communication, Computers in Human Behavior, Popular Communication, and Mass Communication & Society.

Name	Title	Phone/Email
Ash, Erin	Associate Professor	864-656-1567 ASH3@clemson.edu
Baker, Caitlin	Principal Lecturer	864-656-1567 CBAKER4@clemson.edu
Boatwright, Brandon	Assistant Professor	(864) 656-1567 BOATWR5@clemson.edu
Brewer, Charles	Senior Lecturer	757-806-0043 CJBREWE@clemson.edu
Calabrese, CJ	Assistant Professor	(864) 656-1567 cgcalab@clemson.edu
Condon, Vanessa	Senior Lecturer	864-656-1567 VCONDON@clemson.edu
Covert, Marshall	Senior Lecturer	864-656-1567 MCOVERT@clemson.edu
Cranmer, Gregory	Associate Professor	GCRANME@clemson.edu
Crocker, Sara	Senior Lecturer	864-656-1567 SGCROCK@clemson.edu
Davis, Alexis Zachary	Principal Lecturer	864-656-1567 AZACHAR@clemson.edu
Davis, Alyssa	Director of the Communication Center	864-656-5427 ALYSSA8@clemson.edu
Davis-Bryant, Kevin	Lecturer	864-656-1567 klb5@clemson.edu
Denham, Bryan	Campbell Professor of Sports Communication	864-656-1567 bdenham@clemson.edu
DiRusso, Carlina	Assistant Professor	864-656-1567 cdiruss@clemson.edu
Dixon, Lindsey	Director of Debate	219-895-0841 LDIXON2@clemson.edu
Durrance, Amy	Administrative Assistant	864-656-1567 ADURRAN@clemson.edu
Fecher, Leland	Principal Lecturer	864-656-1567 DFECHER@clemson.edu
Gardner, Kaela	Academic Advisor	864-656-5495 kaelag@clemson.edu
Garza, Mattelyn	Lecturer	864-656-1567 mgarza@clemson.edu
Gilmore, Elizabeth	Director of Basic Courses	GILMOR5@clemson.edu
Gilmore, James	Graduate Coordinator, Associate Professor	JNGILMO@clemson.edu
Glaser, Marianne	Principal Lecturer	864-656-1567 herr@clemson.edu
Hakim, Samuel	Lecturer	sdhakim@clemson.edu
Haney, Shawn	Adjunct Lecturer	864-656-1567 sdhaney@clemson.edu
Harrison, Virginia	Assistant Professor	vsharri@clemson.edu
Hoffman, Jessica	Lecturer, Associate Director, Clemson Social Media Listening Center	864-656-5747 jhoffm8@clemson.edu
Johnson-Stokes, Wanda	Director of Student Media	864-656-8933 WJ@clemson.edu
Jones, Karyn	Associate Professor	karynj@clemson.edu
Kabir, Enamul	Research Associate, Social Media Listening Center	mekabir@clemson.edu
Linvill, Darren L	Professor	864-656-4182 darrenl@clemson.edu
McKenzie, Ashley	Assistant Professor	864-656-1567 ashmcke@clemson.edu
Min, Bumgi	Post Doctoral Fellow	864-656-1567 bumgim@clemson.edu
Pikel, Ashley	Senior Lecturer	APIKEL@clemson.edu
Pindar, Lori	Adjunct Lecturer	864-656-1567 lorip@clemson.edu
Pyle, Andrew	Associate Professor	864-656-1567 APYLE@clemson.edu
Ratliff, Will	Lecturer	wcratli@clemson.edu
Robertson, Nigel	Adjunct Lecturer	864-656-1567 nigelr@clemson.edu
Rodgers, Eric	Adjunct Lecturer	864-656-1567 rodgers@clemson.edu
Saucier, Camille	Assistant Professor	864-656-1567 csaucie@clemson.edu
Scarbrough, Alice	Student Services Coordinator	864-656-0799 amscarb@clemson.edu
Sellnow, Deanna	Chair, Professor, Department of Communication	864-656-1567 dsellno@clemson.edu
Sellnow, Timothy	Professor	864-656-1567 tsellno@clemson.edu
Smith-Rey, Rikishi T.	Assistant Professor	rrey@clemson.edu
Team, Morgan	Lecturer	864-656-1567 TEAM2@clemson.edu
Troutman, Bailey	Adjunct Lecturer	864-656-1567 btroutm@clemson.edu
Walker, Brittanny	Lecturer	blw6@clemson.edu
Watkins, Carrie	Administrative Coord I	864-656-5747 clwatki@clemson.edu
Wingate, V. Skye	Assistant Professor	vwingat@clemson.edu

TV News Partnerships

WYFF 4 and Clemson University have established an academic partnership that will allow members of Clemson student media to work alongside industry professionals in a satellite news bureau located on Clemson’s campus. The partnership makes Clemson the only university in South Carolina to feature an on-campus news bureau occupied by an outside media organization. WYFF 4 is the top station in South Carolina’s largest media market. The station houses the news bureau alongside Clemson’s student media organizations in the Hendrix Student Center. The station set up its news bureau in the Hendrix Student Center alongside Clemson’s student media organizations.

The academic partnership will provide valuable experiential learning opportunities for students interested in a wide range of careers in media. The directory of the Department of Communication says the partnership also brings the communication department more in line with the makeup of those in the country’s top research universities. Clemson students get a view of the current media landscape that no other institution in the state can provide. The student media experience at Clemson is now much richer with seasoned professionals reporting right from our campus on breaking and general news across the state.

The news bureau places reporters on Clemson’s campus where they can be close to faculty experts and breaking news at the university. Space set aside in the student media suite also allows reporters to go live from campus whenever necessary. WYFF 4 reporters and Clemson students work in tandem with the nearby Anderson bureau to more effectively cover news in the Upstate region.

The opportunities for student involvement include reporting and videography, producing, promotions, marketing, directing and more. Our students gain the kind of experience departments, schools and colleges of communication across the nation will no doubt envy as they gain resume building experience as communicators. Read more about the the launch of this partnership.
Professional Affiliations

Faculty in the Department of Communication are members of many of the following professional associations. Our faculty members hold leadership roles within these organizations and regularly present their research at annual meetings. Click the logos to learn more about each association:

International Communication Association

National Communication Association

Eastern Communication Association

Southern States Communication Association

Western States Communication Association

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Central States Communication Association

Broadcast Education Association
Tiger Media

Chronicle

The Chronicle is Clemson University's first and only student art and literary magazine. Twice a year, our staff promotes, produces, and distributes a new issue representing the best artistic and literary work that Clemson students have to offer.

Pendulum

Clemson's magazine on international affairs.

The Tiger

The Tiger is South Carolina’s oldest student-run newspaper, serving the Clemson University community as its newspaper of record. The Tiger publishes print editions every other Thursday during the semester and online content throughout the week.

Tiger Vision

Tigervision started with humble beginnings as the Clemson Cable Network in 1994 in the Holtzendorf Building. The transition to HD brought the latest and final rebranding of the organization. Tigervision was born at the beginning of the 2014 school year. In the years that followed, the channel began to strengthen in both the quality and quantity of student programing. New shows were created while older ones were molded and developed into even stronger programs. The foundation that CCN and CTV provided enabled Tigervision to reach its full stride.

WSBF FM Clemson

WSBF has a decades-long commitment to providing the best alternative programming in a world of commercially-dominated radio. Since the 1980s, we’ve endorsed and fostered alternative lifestyle and culture: from our eclectic music selections to our educational ethos and public service announcements, we always strive to promote diversity, open-mindedness, and awareness, and we offer our listeners exciting/alternative/independent content you won’t hear anywhere else. As a 100% student-run radio station, we also offer invaluable hands-on experience in radio broadcasting and operations to our student staff.
Alumni Newsletter

Fall 2023

Spring 2023
Contacts

Departmental

Main Office

430 Daniel Hall
Phone: 864-656-1567
Fax: 864-656-0599

Communication Center
216 Watt Family Innovation Center
864-656-2028

Academic Advising Center
309 Edwards Hall
864-656-5123

Tiger Media Offices and Studios
Third Floor, Hendrix Student Center

Clemson Debate Society
306 Daniel Hall

Social Media Listening Center
Cooper library, 5th floor

Administrative

Department Chair
Deanna Sellnow
dsellno@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Office Manager & Assistant to the Chair
Carrie Watkins
clwatki@clemson.edu
864-656-5747

Administrative Specialist
Amy Durrance
adurran@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Academic Advisor
Kaela Gardner
kaelag@clemson.edu
864-656-8960

Business Center Manager
Stefan Bock
sbock@clemson.edu
864-656-9572

Programs and Centers

Director of Graduate Studies
James Gilmore
jngilmo@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Undergraduate Program Coordinator
Andrew Pyle
apyle@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Director of Basic Courses
Beth Gilmore
gilmor5@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Director of Student Media
Wanda Johnson-Stokes
wj@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Director of Debate
Lindsey Dixon
ldixon2@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Director of the Communication Center
Alyssa Davis
alyssa8@clemson.edu
864-656-1567

Director of the Social Media Listening Center
Brandon Boatwright
boatwr5@clemson.edu
864-656-1567