Robin Boylorn, Ph.D., was recognized as a Distinguished Research Professor by The University of Alabama’s (UA) Board of Trustees on September 6. She was further recognized in-person at Fall Campus Assembly on September 11.
Boylorn said, “As someone who has always aspired for excellence and a global, interdisciplinary impact on my field, the recognition as a Distinguished Research Professor is one of the greatest honors and most humbling accomplishments of my career.”
The Board of Trustees recognized Boylorn for her work communication studies, amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities and individuals. Her scholarship focuses on social identity and justice, specifically characterizations of Black women in the American south.
She continued, “I am a storyteller, so this appointment is an endorsement and invitation for continuation and reinvention. I have always been inspired to humanize people in my research and tell stories that help people make sense of communication through the amplification of everyday lived experience. I will continue to do that, but this academic distinction also gives me permission to explore new ways to do and think about my work moving forward.”
Boylorn is a proud autoethnographer and co-wrote Advances in Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry: Reflections on the Legacy of Carolyn Ellis and Arthur Bochner and Critical Autoethonography: Intersecting Cultural Identities in Everyday Life. Currently, she is the Holle Endowed Chair of Communication Arts and the founding director of the Holle Center for Communication Arts.
“My work moving forward is inextricably tethered to the Holle Center’s mission to promote meaningful storytelling,” said Boylorn. “I will continue to explore important cultural questions about identity and community.”
Dr. Boylorn is also the editor for the communication, critical and cultural studies journal for the National Communication Association. She earned her Ph.D. in communication studies from the University of South Florida and is a professor of interpersonal and intercultural communications in the department of Communication Studies, where she teaches courses that help students evaluate how culture and identity plays into communication in and between communities.
To learn more about Boylorn’s work, visit her website.
Located on the fourth floor of Denny Byrant Stadium, The Holle Center for Communication Arts is a creative incubator, dedicated to helping students and community members create films, poetry and stories that represent underrepresented communities.