Contact:

Frank D. Martinez, 277-1811

Feb. 27, 2002

COMMUNICATION/JOURNALISM PROFESSOR SELECTED FOR UNM'S HIGHEST FACULTY HONOR

University of New Mexico Regents' Professor of Communication and Journalism Everett M. Rogers has been selected as the University's 47th Annual Research Lecturer, the highest honor UNM bestows upon members of its faculty.

The title of the public lecture he will deliver on Wednesday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the UNM Continuing Education Auditorium, 1634 University Blvd. NE, is "Applications of the Diffusion Model: Spread and Consequences of the Internet."

Rogers says "diffusion is the process through which an innovation, defined as an idea perceived as new, spreads via certain communication channels over time among the members of a social system." Up to 5,000 studies have been conducted on the diffusion of innovation over the past six decades, he says, which helped in the development of a model that he will discuss in connection with the recent spread of the Internet.

Rogers' selection was made by the UNM Research Policy Committee and recommended to UNM President William C. Gordon by Dr. Terry Yates, UNM vice provost for Research.

"Dr. Rogers' work has had a tremendous impact on the field of communication," Yates says. "His book, "Diffusion of Innovations," represents an innovative approach of integrating theory with practical approaches to the adoption and dissemination of novelinformation and is classified as a 'Citation Classic' by the Institute for Scientific Information. Dr. Rogers' research is diverse and includes the spread of solar energy among California households, the spread of the HIV/AIDs virus in Tanzania, and the consequences of adopting new communication technologies of social change."

Rogers has written more than 450 journal articles and book chapters and 30 books on diverse topics, including his awarding-winning "Entertainment-Education; a communication strategy for social change" and "Communication networks: a new paradigm for research."

"He successfully integrated his research accomplishments into his teaching. His external research funding supports an average of four or five research assistants per year. During his 44-year faculty career, he has directed 72 Ph.D. dissertations and 50 M.A. theses," Yates said.

Rogers is the recipient of numerous awards from scholarly and professional organizations. Among them are the Distinguished Service Award of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 1993; Thomas Jefferson Award of the Technology Transfer Society, 1995; Honorary doctorate in Political Economy, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, 1996; the Lifetime Achievement Award, Division of Intercultural and Development Communication, International Communication Association, 2000; and UNM Regents Professor, 1999-present.

Rogers was named a Fellow of several prestigious organizations, including the American Sociological Association, 1965; the International Communication Association, 1982; the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1984; the Association for Consumer Research, 1985; the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1991-92; and the Senior Research Fellow of the IC2 Institute, University of Texas, Austin, 1989-present.

His book, "Diffusion of Innovations," was selected by Inc. Magazine as one of the ten classic books in business in 1996; was selected as the winner of the First Fellows Book Award in the Field of Communication by the International Communication Association, 2000; and was named as a Significant Journalism and Communication Book of the Twentieth Century by the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 2000.

He has served on numerous editorial boards and with many professional organizations, including as president of the International Communication Association, 1980-81.

Rogers earned his bachelor's degree in 1952, his master's in 1955 and his doctorate in 1957, all from Iowa State University. He then served as an assistant professor of Rural Sociology at Ohio State University, 1957-63; a Fulbright Lecturer on the Faculty of Sociology, National University of Colombia, Bogotá, 1963-64; an associate professor and professor of Communication, Michigan State University, 1964-73; a professor of Population Planning in the School of Public Health and Professor of Journalism, University of Michigan, 1973-75; Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, and, by courtesy, Professor of Sociology and Professor in the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease PreventionResearch, University of Southern California, 1985-92; and, since 1993, professor of Communication and Journalism, UNM. From 1999-2000, Rogers also served as a Visiting Professor at the Center for Communication Programs, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.

# # #

The University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813
Fax: (505) 277-1981