Tags: Core Faculty


Mackensie Minniear

Dr. Mackensie Minniear (Ph.D. University of Nebraska) is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia. She uses critical and intergroup theories to study how family communication shapes, dismantles, and reifies marginalized people, inspiring radical hope and creating a healthier, more tolerant world for traditionally disenfranchised families and people. Recently, her work has focused on addressing health disparities for women of color,…


Chelsea Ratcliff

Chelsea Ratcliff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at UGA. She uses empirical research methods to address pressing questions in ComSHER (Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk), especially questions about how to effectively convey complex and uncertain scientific evidence to diverse audiences.  Current projects of the Communicating Uncertain Science to the Public (CUSP) Lab include examining…


Svilen Trifonov

Recent publications: Trifonov, S. (2025). Whistleblower Rhetoric: Mistreatment of Migrant Children in U.S. Detention Facilities. From a Whisper to a Movement: Investigating the Shared Rhetorical Spaces of Whistleblowing and Social Protest, eds. Joshua Guitar and Alan Chu. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Trifonov, S., & Sotirova, N. (2024). Political Prudence in Times of Protest: The Rhetoric of Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev. Presidential…


Jessica Chaplain

Dr. Jessica Chaplain (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Georgia. She holds a PhD in Communication from the University of Utah and MA in Communication from the University of Georgia. Her research spans across the areas of rhetoric, critical/cultural studies, and environmental communication, with particular focus on feminist and anti-colonial approaches that attune to the depth and…


Soroya Julian McFarlane

Soroya Julian McFarlane (Ph.D., University of Miami) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating communication interventions that address health disparities at the community level. Dr. McFarlane’s research agenda is driven by understanding how culture influences health, and how communication interventions that translate science for…

Embodying Justice: 2018 Public Address Conference
Dr. Celeste Condit Honored by the 2018 Public Address Conference

The Department of Communication is pleased to announce that Dr. Celeste M. Condit has been honored by the 2018 Public Address Conference. The biennial PAC has a long tradition of recognizing scholars who have influenced the field in profound and far-reaching ways with their scholarship. Previous honorees include Edwin Black, Stephen Lucas, and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, among many others. Dr. Condit’s long record of outstanding interdisciplinary…
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Faculty and Staff News, Honors & Awards, Core Faculty


Hillary Palmer

Dr. Hillary Palmer is a Senior Lecturer in Rhetorical Studies. She completed her Ph.D. here at the University of Georgia, her M.A. in Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder, and her B.A. in Communication at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Palmer's teaching and research interests lie at the intersection of rhetorical theory and criticism and environmental communication.


Belinda A. Stillion Southard

Belinda joined the department in fall 2011 to teach and research in the general areas of feminist rhetorical criticism and public address. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication and a Women's Studies Certificate from the University of Maryland. Her research and teaching interests are grounded in the public address tradition and are guided by questions regarding gender, transnationalism, and social movements. These interests are reflected in her most…


Bjørn Stillion Southard

Dr. Bjørn Stillion Southard is an Associate Professor and Director of Debate in Communication Studies. He holds a PhD and MA from the University of Maryland. Bjørn is interested in early U.S. Public Address, particularly in discourses concerning race and law. His first book, Peculiar Rhetoric: Slavery, Freedom, and the African Colonization Movement (University Press of Mississippi, 2019), explored the tenuous middle ground constructed and…


Roger Stahl

Roger Stahl (PhD, Penn State University) is Professor of Communication Studies and director of the Luminous Room Documentary Production Program at UGA.  His research broadly engages the areas of rhetoric, media, and culture, but his primary focus has been understanding propaganda as it relates to state violence, conflict, and security.  He is author of two books: Through the Crosshairs: War, Visual Culture, and the Weaponized Gaze…
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