EIU Media Relations

EIU alum wins nationally prestigious memorial award

Clinton Brown receives Donald P. Cushman Memorial award from National Communication Association

(Charleston, IL) – Clinton Brown, a doctoral candidate in the School of Communication at Purdue University and a 2014 and 2019 communication studies double alumnus of Eastern Illinois University, recently received the 2019 Donald P. Cushman Memorial Award from the National Communication Association (NCA).

“Clinton was an exceptional student here at EIU and continues to impress others with his knowledge and compassion,” said Dr. Matt Gill, department chair of the School of Communication and Journalism at EIU. “Clinton’s personal and educational experiences will serve him well as he continues his academic and professional careers, and we wish him enduring success in all his future endeavors.”

Given annually, the Donald P. Cushman Award honors the top-ranked student-authored paper from all National Communication Association (NCA) units that competitively rank papers for programming at the association’s annual convention. Brown co-authored the essay, “Childfree and ‘Bingoed’: Competing Discourses of Reproductive Normativity and Autonomy Animated in Online Narratives of Conversations about Voluntary Childlessness” with Elizabeth Hintz. The essay examines how people communicatively negotiate family expectations and what constitutes a family.

“NCA’s annual awards honor communication scholars’ teaching, scholarship, and service,” NCA Executive Director Trevor Parry-Giles said. “Clinton Brown’s contributions to the communication discipline are noteworthy, and NCA is proud to recognize them with this award.”

Brown’s award will be presented November 16 at the NCA 105th Annual Convention in Baltimore. For more information about NCA’s awards program, visit http://www.natcom.org/awards/.

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