Communication Studies Organization Names West Distinguished Teacher

Professor Rich West

Professor Rich West was named a Distinguished Teaching Fellow by the Eastern Communication Association (ECA), a professional organization of Communication Studies scholars, teachers, and students founded in 1910.

The Teaching Fellows program recognizes ECA members with a “distinguished career of teaching excellence in the field of communication.” No more than 1 percent of the ECA membership earns the award in a given year, and members must be nominated by colleagues.

West is a past president of ECA, and has chaired or served on more than two dozen ECA committees. The organization previously presented him with the Distinguished Service Award.

The co-author of seven books in multiple editions, West’s most recent co-authored book, An Introduction to Communication, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. He is co-editor of The Family Communication Sourcebook, named Outstanding Book by the National Communication Association (NCA), and Handbook of Family Communication, recognized as “the leading compendium of scholarship in family communication” by the Association of College and Research Libraries.

West has been recognized by Emerson as Distinguished Faculty, and with the Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Award. He has earned the Bernard J. Brommel Award in Family Communication from the NCA, Outstanding Alum in Communication from both Ohio and Illinois State universities, as well as Outstanding Graduate in Teacher Education and Distinction in Forensics from ISU, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees.