Ryan Neville-Shepard, Associate Professor and Vice Chair

Ryan Neville-Shepard, associate professor in the Department of Communication, has been named the recipient of Fulbright College’s Outstanding Researcher Award for 2024. 

The Outstanding Research Award is given to up to three faculty each year. Recent winners in the Department of Communication include Lisa Corrigan, Steph Schulte, and Lindsey Aloia. 

Neville-Shepard’s research focuses on the rhetoric of political “outsiders” in the United States and their influence on democratic norms. His work has been published in top journals such as Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Argumentation and Advocacy, Women’s Studies in Communication, Communication Quarterly, Southern Communication Journal, Communication Studies, American Behavioral Scientist, Western Journal of Communication, and Feminist Media Studies.   

According to the study by Griffin et al (2023) on “Scholarly Productivity in Communication Studies,” a report issued every five years, Neville-Shepard was the sixth most productive scholar in the entire field of Communication according to the study’s measures. 

The award comes on top of other recent accolades. Neville-Shepard has been named the recipient of the Judith S. Trent Award for Early Career Excellence in Political Communication by the Central States Communication Association, and has won the Eastern Communication Association Article of the Year Award and the Aubrey Fisher Outstanding Article Award from the Western States Communication Association. Additionally, he was the co-recipient of the Southern States Communication Association’s James Madison Prize for Top Publication in First Amendment Studies in 2024. He has also received multiple honors for mentoring students in research, including Fulbright College’s Nolan Faculty Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship and the Central States Communication Association’s Warren Mentorship Award. 

“It has been an honor to receive Fulbright College’s top research award,” Neville-Shepard states. “However,” he added, “none of my success in research would have been possible without the department’s resources for early career faculty.” 

Written by Ryan Neville-Shepard, Associate Professor and Vice Chair

Photo from University of Arkansas Directory