UCLA Communication

Communication Studies Information Session
2014-05-14 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)

Communication Studies Department 40th Anniversary
2014-04-24 18:00
Tim GroelingProfessor and ChairUCLA Department of Communication StudiesInvites you to theUCLA Department of Communication Studies40th Anniversary CelebrationFor the conversation Communication Studies: The Next 40 Years Moderated by Tim Groeling Featuring Judy Johnson ’84 President, Western Region, GolinHarris Andrew Lenchewski ’98 Creator and Executive Producer of Royal Pains Julia Lam ’05 Co-founder and CEO of Enchanted Labs Ron Pitts ’86 sportscaster and entertainment reporter Thursday, April 24, 20146:00 p.m.Reception to followCalifornia NanoSystems Institute (CNSI)UCLA Campus Click here to RSVP by Thursday, April 17Parking available for $12 in Structure 9 Inquiries: LSevents@support.ucla.edu or (310) 825-4038

“The Structure and Functions of Human Laughter”
2014-04-14 12:00 - 13:30
Greg BryantUCLA, Department of Communications and Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture “The Structure and Functions of Human Laughter”Laughter is a universal vocal signal ubiquitous in human social interaction and homologous to play vocalizations across several primate species. In this talk I will describe two different lines of research on the production and perception of laughter. One series of experiments examined the perception of spontaneous versus volitional laughter. Specifically, we explored relationships between particular acoustic features of laughs and judgments of how “real” they sounded, as well as a study examining the connection between spontaneous human laughter and nonhuman animal vocalizations. In another series of studies, participants across 24 societies reliably identified affiliative partners from extremely brief, decontextualized clips of recorded conversational co-laughter. Several acoustic dimensions contributed to people’s judgments of affiliation, and these results did not vary substantially across population samples. Overall, laughter is an important social vocalization with deep evolutionary roots, unique acoustic features, and a variety of possible communicative functions, both within and between groups.The Office of the Dean of Social Sciences, the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics, and the UCLA Department of Anthropology are Primary Sponsors of the BEC Speaker Series. Additional Sponsors are listed at http://www.bec.ucla.edu/support.php.

Symposium: “After the terror”
2014-03-03 09:00 - 2014-03-04 12:30
The Department of Communication Studies would like to invite you to three talks linked to a symposium titled “After the Terror: Negotiating Values and Identities” on March 3rd and March 4th in the Conference Room at the Charles E. Young Research Library. The talks are given by Simon Cottle (Professor at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies), Mark Turner (Professor at the Case Western Reserve University), and Henrik Syse (Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo). Please see abstracts below, and poster attached. A light lunch will be served. If you would like to attend either one of the talks, please send an e-mail to Rojan Ezzati, rojezz@prio.no. Abstracts”A History of Violence and Communication: Expanding the Human Circle?”By Simon Cottle (09:15 – 10:40 on Monday, March 3rd)This talk deliberately sets out to ‘bring history back in’ to the study of media and communications and violence. It offers some preliminary reflections on how different forms of media and communications have historically represented, performed and enacted violence in different historical contexts and in relation to deep historical forces of change culminating in the globalizing present. A non-teleological but nonetheless dynamic and developmental view of history is argued for, one where different forms of media communications become deeply inscribed within processes of violence and change (whether causatively, constitutively, as a contested terrain or communicatively). Recent images of ‘symbolic violence’ and ‘violent symbolism’ post 9/11, for example, deliberately choreographed by military machines and terrorists, also serve to remind us of both the not-so-subtle and viscerally shocking enactments of violence in today’s image wars. And finally we consider today’s fast changing media ecology and its possible contribution in the race to global consciousness (and the return of the globally repressed) in a world of crises and media witnessing. In these ways the lecture aims to invite a more historically grounded and engaged approach to how media and communications have entered into forms of conflict and violence across the centuries and how contemporary media and communications are no less conditioned by and contributing to a radically globalizing age in and through today’s globally expansive media ecology.“Shooter Stories”By Mark Turner (16:25 – 17:10 on Monday, March 3rd) Mass shootings of innocent victims by one or two individuals have become increasingly common in the US and worldwide. In their presentation of mass shootings, the various media make sense of the events according to a series of culturally specific stories. These stories express and embody certain cultural values and structure the events according to theories of human nature. In addition, the shooters themselves are typically motivated by their own stories, whether personal or social. There is often a sharp tension between the stories told by the shooters themselves, sometimes directly to the media, and the stories told by the media. In this talk we will present our own story of the unifying cognitive processes at work in the disparate modes of storytelling, and explore how modern mass media have recruited and morphed the ancient communicative techniques of storytelling into their own powerful instrument.”Norway after 22 July – Lessons and Critical Reflections”By Henrik Syse (11:20 – 12:30 on Tuesday, March 4th)On 22 July 2011, Norway was shaken by its worst terror attack in peacetime history: 77 people brutally killed, many of them youths coldly gunned down at a political summer camp. Seemingly, the act came out of the blue. No warning. No particular event to precipitate it. No societal situation to indicate that this should happen. And the perpetrator: A young Norwegian man, very much part of the society he wanted so harshly to rebuke. What are the key questions that Norwegian society has asked itself after the tragedy? And what does this post-terror debate say about Norway in particular and about modern, industrialized welfare societies in general? Syse will summarize parts of the post-terror debate, and formulate some theses about the debate and the road ahead. He will look at some of the criticisms and possible lessons that have been formulated in the wake of the terror attacks. These show us a Norway that wants to shake off complacency, lack of preparation, and naïveté, yet wants to remain a low-tension, low-security society. Once again, we see a peculiar meeting between the normal and the extreme, arguably typical of modern society.

Information Session
2014-02-19 12:00 - 13:00
Questions about our major?If you would like more information about the Communication Studies undergraduate program, we invite you to attend our quarterly information session.

CS Professor Tim Groeling Speaking on “Partisan Media and Democracy: An Historical Perspective”
2014-02-05 16:00 - 18:00
UCLA Communication Studies Professor Tim Groeling and Harvard Global Communications Professor Matthew Baum have written an HKS working paper on the subject “Partisan News Before Fox: Newspaper Partisanship and Partisan Polarization, 1881-1972.” To further explore this topic, Professor Groeling will be presenting at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard on Wednesday, February 5 at 4:00-6:00PM Eastern Time. The talk entitled, “Partisan Media and Democracy: An Historical Perspective” is part of the Partisan Media Seminar Series with Matthew Gentzkow, Richard O. Ryan Professor of Economics and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow, University of Chicago; and Tim Groeling, Associate Professor and Chair of Communication Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. Moderator: Marion Just, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College and an associate of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Leading scholars in the field of partisan news, including Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Natalie Stroud, Matthew Gentzkow, Jesse Shapiro, and Kevin Arceneaux will also be participating in these public seminars series that will be presented in February, March, and April of 2014.

Send Us Your Photos!
2014-02-03 12:00 - 2014-02-28 12:00
Please send us pictures of your time here at UCLA so we can include you in a slide show that will be presented at the Communication Studies Department 40th Anniversary Celebration!Email .JPEG images to uclacommstudies@gmail.com

Benjamin Lewis talk on the Future of Deaf Culture in America
2013-11-14 14:00 - 15:00
Comm Studies lecturer Benjamin Lewis (and Prof. Carol Padden, of UCSD’s Communication Department) will discuss cultural and social forces that shape the Deaf community in the U.S.

Scott Johnson: Using Small Groups for Large Class Assessment
2013-11-13 12:00
Scott Johnson (UCLA Dept. of Psychology) will be sharing his experiences with assessing student learning in large classroom environments. He will be discussing how and why he has moved away from using written exams in favor of having students assessed through small-group interactions.

Shanto Iyengar Speaks on "Fear and Loathing Across Party Lines: New Measures of Polarization"
2013-11-12 12:15
Shanto Iyengar will be speaking to the American Politics Workshop on the topic “Fear and Loathing Across Party Lines: New Measures of Polarization.” The talk is co-sponsored by Communication Studies.Iyengar holds a joint appointment as the Harry and Norman Chandler Chair in Communication and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. Iyengar is also a senior fellow (by courtesy) at the Hoover Institution.Abstract:When defined in terms of social identity and affect toward in- and out-groups, the polarization of the American electorate has clearly increased. We document the scope and consequences of affective polarization using implicit, explicit, and behavioral indicators. Our evidence demonstrates not only that hostile feelings for the out-party are ingrained or automatic in voters’ psyches, but also that affective polarization based on party surpasses polarization based on race and other social cleavages. After documenting the extent of implicit party polarization, we show that party cues exert powerful effects on non-political judgments and behaviors. Partisans discriminate against out partisans, and do so to a degree that exceeds discrimination based on race. In concluding, we note that heightened partisan affect and the intrusion of partisan bias into non-political domains means that American parties now resemble the model of the “mass membership” party.

Startup UCLA Demo Day 2013
2013-09-13 14:00 - 16:00
Save the date! The event will feature presentations from two companies founded by Comm Studies alumni (Jude Baldo ’13 and Jonesy Harp ’11).

2013 Graduation!
2013-06-16 10:30 - 12:00
The C.S. Graduation Ceremony will be held on Sunday, June 16th, in Royce Hall. The event will start at 10:30 a.m., and our Keynote Speaker is Andrew Lenchewski (Creator/Executive Producer/Writer of Royal Pains). He graduated from Comm Studies in 1998. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

The Myth of Partisan Echo Chambers and Media Bias
2013-06-03 14:00 - 15:30
Michael LaCour – Ph.D Candidate in Political Science and StatisticsThe Myth of Partisan Echo Chambers and Media Bias: Empirical Evidence Online and Offline from 1940 to 2011

Second Annual Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership
2013-05-30 17:00
Laura Ling (’98) will be moderating a talk by Kofi Annan Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. in Royce Hall. The talk is titled Interventions: A Life in War and Peace and is the Second Annual Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership.Ticket and other info can be found here: http://bit.ly/zLz7s1

BEC - Nancy Segal
2013-04-22 12:00 - 13:30
Twins!!Califonia

Brown Bag Talk: Travis Dixon - How Media Consumption Contributes to the Formation and Maintenance of Racial Stereotypes
2010-11-19 10:00 - 11:30
UCLA Communication Studies Brownbag TalkTravis DixonAssoc. Professor, University of Illinois, Dept. of CommunicationHow media consumption contributes to the formation and maintenance of racial stereotypes.

Brown Bag Talk: Raymond Nasr - Retweet This: Comm Majors Are Now In The Driver's Seat In Silicon Valley
2010-11-12 13:00 - 14:00
UCLA Communication Studies Alumni TalkRaymond NasrUCLA Communication Studies ’84Cambridge University ’86Retweet This:Comm Majors Are Now In TheDriver’s Seat In Silicon Valley

Brown Bag Talk: Emily Falk - How The Brain Changes Its Mind: Neural Prediction Of Behavior Change In Response To Persuasive Messages
2010-06-03 10:00 - 11:00
UCLA Communication Studies BrownbagEmily FalkAssistant Professor, Comminication Studies, University of Michigan, Ann ArborHow The BrainChanges Its Mind:Neural Prediction Of Behavior Change In Response To Persuasive Messages

Brown Bag Talk: Rowell Huesmann - Why Those Who Observe Violence Behave Violently
2010-04-08 11:00 - 12:00
UCLA Communication Studies Brownbag TalkRowell HuesmannProfessor of Communication Studies and Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann ArborWhy Those who Observe Violence Behave Violently

Brown Bag Talk: Ramesh Srinivasan - Global 'New' Media: Considering The Importance Of Culture In Shaping Digital And Social Systems
2010-02-22 10:30 - 11:30
UCLA Communication Studies BrownbagRamesh SrinivasanAssistan Professor, Information StudiesGlobal ‘New’ Media:Considering The Importance Of Culture InShaping Digital And Social Systems

Brown Bag Talk: John Zaller - What is Ideology?
2010-01-25 11:00 - 12:00
UCLA Communication Studies BrownbagJohn ZallerProfessor, UCLA Political Science DepartmentLiberals and Conservatives disagree about almost everything.They say their views are due to ideology.What is Ideology?

Fall Quarter Ends
2026-04-28 06:49

Winter Quarter Instruction Begins
2026-04-28 06:49
If you are still looking for a class to take this summer, checkout the excellent Communicatino Studies winter courses!http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=15W&subarea…

Winter Quarter Ends
2026-04-28 06:49

Spring Quarter Instruction Begins
2026-04-28 06:49
If you are still looking for a class to take this spring, checkout the incredible Communicatino Studies spring courses!http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=15S&subarea…

Spring Quarter Ends
2026-04-28 06:49

Summer Session A Instruction Begins
2026-04-28 06:49
If you are still looking for a class to take this summer, checkout the fabulous Communicatino Studies Summer Session Courses!

Communication Studies students at Undergraduate Research Week
2026-04-28 06:49
The following Communication Studies students will be presenting their work at the 2015 Undergraduate Research Week:Oral Presentations (Powell Library second floor):Nicole Nour: Friday, May 15 from 12:00-1:00pmYerin Yoon: Friday, May 15 from 12:00-1:00pmPoster Sessions (Powell Library rotunda):Omar Nieto: Thursday, May 14 from 12:00-1:00pmClick here for more information:

Summer Session C Instruction Begins
2026-04-28 06:49

Fall Quarter Instruction Begins
2026-04-28 06:49
If you are still looking for a class to take this fall, checkout the fantastic Communicatino Studies fall courses!http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/detmain.aspx?termsel=14F&subareas…
