School of Communication (SOC) Professor Laura DeNardis has been named the 2018 American University (AU) Scholar/Teacher of the Year. This is one of AU’s highest honors and recognizes a faculty member who has made significant contributions to research, service or teaching. 

DeNardis is a globally recognized and renowned scholar on Internet governance and an author of a list of books, including The Global War for Internet Governance (Yale University Press 2014), Opening Standards: The Global Politics of Interoperability (MIT Press 2011), Protocol Politics: The Globalization of Internet Governance (MIT Press 2009), among others. 

“I congratulate Professor DeNardis on this honor; she has contributed enormously to SOC and to the University. The epitome of a Scholar/Teacher, she is recognized by colleagues, peers and students as a thought leader in her discipline and a dedicated member of the SOC community,” said SOC Dean Jeff Rutenbeck. 

Her research focuses on Internet governance and politics, freedom of expression, cyber security, net neutrality and Internet architecture. She addresses the social and political implications of Internet policy and design and her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, and periodicals such as The Economist, National Public Radio (NPR), Time Magazine, The New York Times, Science Magazine, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. 

The Internet Governance Lab at AU, which DeNardis co-founded and co-directs, aids to the study of the implications of Internet governance on society and the global economy, to inform the public and policymakers, and to advance original research. It focuses on evidence-based research teachings on Internet architecture and governance, and policy formation. The lab helps to promote areas of public policy, including civil liberties, global economic development, human rights and access and inclusion. 

DeNardis joined SOC after previously teaching at New York University, Yale Law School, and Volgenau School of Engineering at George Mason University. Before teaching, she received her AB in Engineering Science from Dartmouth College, a Master of Engineering Degree (MEng) from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Tech. She currently teaches in the SOC doctoral program, in particular, seminars in Advanced Research and Project Development, Media Law and Policy, and Media, Technology & Democracy. 

“Prof. DeNardis is an extraordinary, multi-talented professor. She is a leader in scholarship governance, and her students give her top ratings every semester. She is a welcoming colleague and a model of scholarly collaboration. She is the very model of the scholar-teacher. We are very lucky to have Prof. DeNardis in our midst,” said Patricia Aufderheide, Director of Communication Studies at SOC. 

DeNardis is also an adjunct Senior Research Scholar in the faculty of international and public affairs at Colombia University and is an affiliated fellow of the Yale Law School Information Society Project. She is also an appointed member of the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communication and Information Policy (ACICIP) and currently serves on eight doctoral committees and chairs five. 

As the 2018 Scholar/Teacher of the Year, DeNardis will deliver the keynote address at the Convocation this fall, Friday, August 24, 2018.