Distinguished Faculty Award for Research and Scholarship

GARY P. RADFORD

Professor of Communication
Director, Corporate and Organizational Communication Program
College at Florham

The American writer Zora Neale Hurston once wrote, “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

Your ability to poke and pry is only matched by your determined purpose to unveil what is perhaps most fundamental to human relations: the art of communication.

A native of England, you joined Fairleigh Dickinson in 1999 and have taught courses including Interpersonal Communication, Communication Theory and Corporate Communication. An active and admired professor, you have been named Becton College Teacher of the Year and received the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Outstanding Faculty Award.

Your research focuses on philosophical and critical treatments of the communication process, using as a foundation the pivotal work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. You have published four major books, including On the Philosophy of Communication and On Eco, a creative introduction to the work of cultural and literary theorist Umberto Eco. No less a figure than Eco himself reached out to congratulate you because, as he said, you “got it right.”

You have written more than 20 articles for prestigious publications like the American Communication Journal. You further have made presentations at nearly 100 national and international conferences, covering topics as diverse as John Locke, subliminal persuasion and popular images and conceptions of the library. On three occasions, your outstanding work has been selected as a Top Paper.

In 1993, you founded the New Jersey Journal of Communication — now known as the Atlantic Journal of Communication — which has gained a superior reputation in its field. In recognition of your vision and stewardship building the journal, you received the 1997 New Jersey Communication Association Leadership Award.

Both your teaching and your research are sprinkled with popular references ranging from Pink Floyd to Monty Python’s Flying Circus. How many have connected the theories of John Locke with the lyrics of Led Zeppelin?

And music for you is more than a means to bring academic lessons to life, it’s a source of immense passion. A guitarist, you can be frequently found with a Les Paul strapped around your shoulder, playing such original tunes as “Untenured Blues” and “Foucault Funk.”

For academic performances and compositions that string together great meaning, we bestow upon you the Distinguished Faculty Award for Research and Scholarship.