National Communication Association Honors West for Distinguished Service

Communication Studies Professor Richard West has been named the winner of the National Communication Association’s (NCA) 2023 Samuel L. Becker Distinguished Service Award in recognition of a lifetime of contributions to the field.

Founded in 1971 and considered one of the most prestigious of the organization’s many awards, the Distinguished Service Award is presented to the person judged to have made the greatest contribution to the NCA and the profession in the areas of research, teaching, and service.

“To be recognized in this way, by my peers, is perhaps the most poignant marker in my three-decade career,” West said. “I am quite humbled to be part of a legacy of pioneers in the communication field.”

The NCA previously honored West with the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication in 2014.

West is the (co-) author of 10 books and dozens of book chapters and journal articles, and has presented more than 120 conference and convention papers or workshops. He also has participated in close to 70 association committees, currently sits on five editorial boards, and has served as president of both the NCA and the Eastern Communication Association. He has been named a “Distinguished Alum” of both Illinois State University and Ohio University, and won Emerson’s Norma and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award in 2013.

An Emerson faculty member since 2007, West teaches Communication Research Methods and Capstone in Communication Studies.