USF’s department of communication is sponsoring Communication Day today to celebrate communication and showcase its importance in everyday society.

The day-long event will begin with presentations, lectures and awards at the CIS building during the day, and finishes with more awards during a dinner banquet at Viva La Frida.

“It’s a chance to show both the research accomplishments of the students and faculty as well as the pervasiveness and importance of communication in everybody’s life,” said Eric Eisenberg, professor and chairman of the department of communication.

“Showcasing Our Work: Communication Graduate and Undergraduate Students on Display, In Writing, In Performance” will begin at 10 a.m. in CIS Room 3020. Visiting Professor Michael LeVan will host the showcase of over a dozen works created by communication students.

“Honoring Our Best: A Celebration of Communication Students and Their Work” will begin at 1 p.m., also in CIS Room 3020. Featuring presentations from excellent undergraduates, the program includes the awarding of The Ruth and Frank Coleman Award for Excellence in Short Fiction Writing and USF’s Provost’s Teaching Award.

Each year, the event also sponsors a lecture made possible by an endowment in the name of Allen Grazier, a once prominent supporter of education and father of an alumna of the department who established the endowment in her father’s name.

“It’s a special lecture every year to celebrate Communication Day,” said Eisenberg. “Every year we bring in somebody who’s really famous outside of USF to bring a presentation of their work and to expose them to everything that’s going on at USF.”

This year’s lecturer is Donna Marie Nudd, an associate professor in the department of communication at Florida State University. Nudd’s lecture, “Galloway’s gallows Humor,” will focus on the career of Terry Galloway, a medically deaf performance artist whose works highlight disability issues. The lecture will include clips of Galloway’s work.

Nudd and Galloway jointly received the Irene Coger Award from the National Communication Association, a tribute to the artistic contributions made throughout their lives to the field of Performance Studies.

The lecture will take place at 2 p.m. in CIS Room 1048. A food and drink reception will follow in the CIS Atrium. Tickets for tonight’s banquet at Viva La Frida are available by contacting the department of communication.