ICA division names award in Lang’s honor
The International Communications Association has honored Distinguished Professor Annie Lang with a dissertation award in her name.
The Information Systems Division announced the Annie Lang Dissertation Award at the spring ICA meeting. Lang has been a member of ICA for nearly 30 years and has served as chair and vice chair of the division.
“Its focus aligns with my research, and it has been my conference home for many years,” said Lang of the division. “Most of my graduate students get their degrees and become members, too.”
Lang has drafted more than 20 of her doctoral students to become members of the division over the year. She said she is honored for her name to be associated with this specific award.
“I think it is important to honor excellent research at every level, even at the doctoral level,” Lang said.
Colleagues said Lang’s dedication to her doctoral students is a deed that deserves recognition. Professor Walt Gantz said her devotion to her students is unparalleled.
“Annie Lang is an extraordinary mentor who expertly and lovingly nurtures graduate students from the time they arrive to well after they’ve earned their Ph.D.s,” he said. “For her long-standing contributions as a mentor to so many in the field, Annie richly deserves the honor bestowed on her.”
The dissertation award is not the first way ICA has honored Lang. In 2006, she was named an ICA fellow, a title that recognizes significant scholarly contributions to the communications field.
Lang also was awarded the Steven H. Chaffee Career Productivity Award in 2009. The award is given to scholars who have addressed a specific problem in communications for an extended period of time. Preference is given to work that makes an original advance in the field, and the research must consist of multiple projects and publications, according to the association’s website.
Lang’s research focuses on motivated cognition and media. She teaches classes in effects and media and society, and advises graduate students in the school’s Institute for Communication Research lab.