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Research

SC&I Scholars Present Research and Earn Recognition at the 76th Annual International Communication Association (ICA) Conference

By

Lorraine Seabrook

Date

June 1, 2026

Media Contact

Carol Heher Peters

carol.peters@rutgers.edu

Aerial view of Cape Town with Table Mountain and the stadium, promoting the 76th Annual ICA Conference in June 2026.
Photo Credit: ICA

School of Communication and Information (SC&I) faculty members and doctoral students presented research and earned Top Papers and Conference awards at the 76th Annual International Communication Association (ICA) Conference, June 4–8, 2026, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. ICA’s annual conference brought together about 3,000 in-person and remote participants for over 400 presentations across the field of communication.

The ICA 2026 theme, “Communication and Inequalities in Context,” invites critical reflection on the dynamics between communication and inequality across social, cultural, and geographic settings. It highlights how structural divides shape communication processes and how disinformation, polarization, and algorithmic discrimination may affect communities unevenly depending on context—and it encourages the field to examine inequalities within communication scholarship itself.

Top Papers Recognition and Conference Awards

  • Organizational Communication (organizational listening and stakeholder engagement): Associate Professor of Communication Sophia Fu is a co-author with doctoral student Katherine Scrivani (lead author) and Katherine R. Cooper on a paper featured in ICA’s Top Papers in Organizational Communication programming. The work examines organizational listening and stakeholder engagement through mutual vulnerability: “Organizational Listening With and at the Edge: Stakeholder Engagement Through Mutual Vulnerability” (Scrivani, Fu, and Cooper).
  • Human-Machine Communication (AI and youth mental health): Associate Professor of Library and Information Science Charles Senteio is a co-author on a paper featured in ICA’s Top Papers in Human-Machine Communication programming. The paper focuses on AI chatbots as communicative agents in youth mental health and stigma reduction: “Human-Machine Communication for Mental Health: AI Chatbots as Communicative Agents in Stigma Reduction Among African Youth” (Agyemang, Chi, Mutava, and Senteio).
  • Children, Adolescents, and Media (faculty-led paper award): Doctoral student Jack Anderson (Journalism and Media Studies) is the second author on a paper that received the Top Faculty-Led Paper Award in ICA’s Children, Adolescents, and Media division. The project is led by AnneMarie McClain (Boston University, PI and first author) with Anderson and colleagues contributing.
  • Organizational Communication (article of the year): Professor of Communication Matthew Weber and his colleague Jeffrey Treem received the Management and Communication Quarterly’s article of the year for “Organizational Metrics of Technology Use and Transparency Paradox.”
  • Organizational Communication (dissertation award): Assistant Professor of Communication Eu Gene Lee was honored with the Organizational Communication Division’s highly competitive W. Charles Redding Dissertation Award.
  • Association-level recognition (IDEA award): Associate Professor of Communication Kristina Scharp received ICA’s IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Excellence Award.

ICA Division Leadership

  • Associate Professor of Communication DaJung (DJ) Woo was elected Vice Chair of ICA’s Organizational Communication Division and began her term at the conclusion of ICA 2026. Under ICA election terms, Vice Chairs continue on to serve as Chair in the subsequent term—positioning Woo in the division’s leadership line. ICA’s Organizational Communication Division also describes itself as a highly active community with approximately 600 members worldwide, underscoring the scale of this leadership role.
  • Associate Professor of Communication Sophia Fu serves as Secretary of ICA’s Organizational Communication Division—an elected role that supports division governance and conference programming.
  • Professor of Communication Matthew Weber serves as Chair of ICA’s Computational Methods Division, a large and growing community within ICA; division records report membership in the hundreds.

SC&I Presenters

Faculty:

Doctoral Students:

Explore More

Learn more about SC&I’s Communication Department, Journalism and Media Studies Department, and Ph.D. Program in Communication, Information, and Media on our website.

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