Support to Communication Studies

Give Now

For more information on ways to give, contact:

Peter Rozga
CLA Office of Institutional
Advancement

220 Johnston Hall
101 Pleasant Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
[email protected]
612-624-2848

You Make Us Great

For more than one hundred years, the Department of Communication Studies has contributed to making our students better citizens—articulate communicators, better critical thinkers, and able advocates. We continue the rich tradition of helping undergraduate and graduate students to understand, explore, and research the many facets of the communications discipline.

Your tax-deductible contribution encourages those students and provides them with vital financial support. It supports an acclaimed faculty in their research and teaching. It sustains a department that stands as a shining example of innovative scholarship and excellence in education. 

What Your Gift Can Do

Your contribution allows us to ensure:

  • A diverse and engaged undergraduate student body: Although we are attracting better students than ever before, too many other outstanding students choose other institutions—often for financial reasons. Merit and need-based scholarships are needed to recruit outstanding students.
  • An excellent and competitive graduate program: Faculty choose institutions that attract the best graduate students. Ensuring the excellence and competitiveness of our graduate programs allows us to attract and compete for the brightest students and the best faculty.
  • A distinguished faculty: Maintaining lines of tenure and supporting interdisciplinary programs and research centers help us recruit and retain outstanding faculty, many of whom are leaders in their field of study. These faculty in turn attract outstanding undergraduates and graduates, and the circle of excellence is continued.

"As a graduate of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota, I realize just how much my excellent education contributed to my life and career and helped prepare me to lead the National Communication Association. As a faculty member and a graduate program director myself, I know that departments need alumni support to help current students. If a large number of us become regular donors, it will make a big contribution to the department and the new generation of students. Our donations also tell the faculty members who gave so much to us that we appreciate their efforts and are proud to be graduates of the University of Minnesota!"

Dawn Ohlendorf Braithwaite (PhD 1988)
Willa Cather Professor of Communication Studies and National Communication Association President, 2010

Choose a Fund

There are a number of ways your gift can help support graduate and undergraduate students—the next generation of leaders and thinkers—in the Department of Communication Studies:

  • Communication Studies Special Projects Fund
    Provides valuable discretionary support, allowing the department to make strategic investments in unexpected opportunities.
  • Tim Behme Teaching Faculty Award
    Created in memory of alumnus and teaching faculty member Tim Behme, this award is dedicated to non-tenure stream teaching faculty members in the Department of Communication Studies. If sufficient funds are raised, this fund will be converted to an endowment. Created in 2018, the Tim Behme Teaching Faculty Award is the only award dedicated to non-tenure stream, teaching faculty members in the Department of Communication Studies. We believe that endowing the award is essential in honoring Tim Behme’s legacy and our teaching faculty members’ dedication to undergraduate teaching. Please visit this page for stories about the award and Dr. Tim Behme. Please contact Dr. Elaine Hsieh (Chair, Communication Studies) if you are interested in providing a matching gift.
  • Debate Competition Fund
    Fuels the drive of the Minnesota Debate Team to prepare and participate in regional and national competitions.
  • Old Buffalo Fellowship and Scholarship Fund
    Carries on the tradition of distinguished excellence started by retired faculty members by offering graduate and undergraduate student support.
  • Bart, Brown, Ziebarth, and Rarick Critical Media Studies Fellowship
    Provides graduate fellowship support for students pursuing critical media studies.
  • Shapiro, Howell, Cashman & Smith Ethical Leadership Fellowship
    Provides graduate fellowships for students pursuing a program that emphasizes the study of ethical leadership in politics, business, or academia.
  • Ernest Bormann Symbolic Convergence Theory Fellowship
    Provides graduate fellowships for students with high potential in their field and offering a preference for those interested in symbolic convergence theory.