The Communication and Social Influence Department at Klein College of Media and Communication contains some of the most recognized communication scholars in the world. For his outstanding contributions to communication scholarship, Professor Lance Holbert was recently was named a Fellow from the International Communication Association (ICA), a title earned only after nomination by the association’s members and an approval process by the association’s previously named fellows and board of directors. With his new title, Holbert will be expected to review nominations of future ICA fellows.

According to ICA, the most important criteria for a prospective fellow is proof of “distinguished scholarly contributions to the broad field of communication,” and Holbert’s record speaks for itself. He is a Distinguished Research Fellow in the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the nearby University of Pennsylvania and has written or co-written over 90 peer-reviewed books, book chapters and articles. He also has an impressive history with ICA, and is currently the editor-in-chief of the association’s Journal of Communication, one of the most competitive academic journals in the field. When he started in ICA as a graduate student, he worked his way through the association, mostly serving in the political communication and mass communication divisions. Before his head editorial position, he worked as the chair of the mass communication division and as the associate editor of Journal of Communication and Human Communication Research.

Edward Fink, a Laura Carnell professor in the Department of Communication and Social Influence, is also an ICA fellow. By the time he was recognized in 2014, he had already served as the chair and vice-chair of the information systems division and had previously been the editor-in-chief of Human Communication Research. He believes that Holbert is an exemplary scholar whose appointments within ICA are a reflection of his dedication to the advancement of communication.

“Being editor means that you have a lot of...judgment that’s going to be significant to the field,” Fink says. “Being head of a division is work more than anything else, but being selected to be head of a division indicates recognition as well; that your colleagues in that specialty want you to have a role in that specialty.”

In the future, Holbert hopes that he can focus on helping ICA build stronger relationships with scholars in areas without as much recognition, such as the Global South. He enjoys witnessing the digital conferences the association has implemented to communicate more frequently with these scholars, and is excited to interact with them and their research.

“I like doing things like that, I think it’s very important work,” Holbert says. “So I’ve been on task forces in the past relative to those types of efforts so I could see trying to do that more in the future once the editor position comes to a close.”

Holbert is especially grateful to Klein and Temple University for understanding his commitments to ICA and working with him to make sure that he can adequately fulfill his role as an instructor and a dedicated scholar.

“Temple is very kind to give me the resources and the time I need to be [an] editor. It’s actually a big part of the process of becoming one, that there needs to be a showing of institutional support for the job. Because it’s a big bit of service and an important service to the field, but you need institutional support. So I’m very appreciative of Temple and what it has afforded,” he says.

In honor of his recognition, Holbert and the rest of the ICA Fellow class of 2020 will receive formal plaques in May 2021 along with the ICA Fellow class of 2021 during the presidential awards ceremony in Denver, Colorado.