Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, interim dean of the faculty and vice provost for faculty affairs, was recently awarded the National Communication Association’s Charles H. Woolbert Research Award for her 2002 article, “Toward a Theory of Family Communication,” published in Communication Theory.

The Woolbert Award recognizes journal articles or book chapters that have been in print for at least a decade yet remain influential and continue to inspire new conceptualizations of communication phenomena.

The details: Fitzpatrick’s article emerged as the top candidate for the Woolbert Award thanks to the endurance of the family communication pattern theory, the generative impact of the theory on the field of family communication and the far-reaching impact of the theory across several communication subfields.

Who she is: 

• Mary Anne Fitzpatrick is an Educational Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
• Fitzpatrick, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has published in a wide variety of fields including communication, social psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, health psychology, family sociology and text and discourse studies.

What they’re saying: “The influence of Dr. Fitzpatrick's work extends far beyond the field of communication studies. Over the last two decades, this article has served as a touchstone for scholars across a diverse array of disciplines including psychology, sociology, family studies, and health.” – Anita Vangelisti, dean of the University of Texas Moody College of Communication