UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A respected researcher who has conducted three separate studies focused on displays of aggression and attacks on opponents becoming the norm for political engagement, especially during U.S. presidential campaigns, will present the fall 2023 Robert M. Pockrass Memorial Lecture at 1 p.m. Oct. 16 in Carnegie Cinema on the University Park campus.
Dhavan V. Shah is the McLeod Professor of Communication Research and Maier-Bascom Chair at the University of Wisconsin, where he is director of the Mass Communication Research Center and research director of the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal.
Shah will present a free public lecture, “The Blame Game: Digital Traces of Rising Aggression in Political Debates.” He will focus on the intersecting power of framing and social capital has shaped his research on: (1) the influence of message construction and processing, (2) the communication dynamics shaping civic and political participation, and (3) the role of online interactions in chronic disease management.
At Wisconsin, Shah teaches courses on strategic communication, public opinion, research methods, political communication, media psychology, and information and communication technologies.
He has served on the editorial board of 16 journals and book series, numerous international advisory boards and external review committees, and held leadership positions in several international communications organizations. He has earned 24 top paper awards from national and international conferences and numerous other honors.
This annual Pockrass Memorial Lecture is named after the late Professor Robert M. Pockrass, a member of Penn State’s journalism faculty from 1948 to 1977. Pockrass, who specialized in public opinion and popular culture, served as the graduate officer and taught radio news writing for the School of Journalism, which became the College of Communications and, later, the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.