Kenneth Lachlan

Professor

Department Head

Department of Communication

---

Education

Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2003

About

Kenneth A. Lachlan is Professor and Department Head in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. Prior to joining UConn in 2015, Ken was the Founding Chair of the Communication Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He served as the Editor in Chief of Communication Studies from 2016 to 2018, and currently serves on the Executive Board of the National Communication Association. His publication record was ranked in the top 1% of published scholars in the field between 2007 and 2011 (Communication Education, 61 (4), 381-392), and again between 2012 and 2016 (Communication Education, 67 (1), 88-101). He was also ranked third in crisis communication publications in the field between 2000 and 2018 (Journal of the Association for Communication Administration, 38 (2), 39-56). His research interests include media dependencies during crises and disasters, community-level risk mitigation interventions, and the role of cognitive processing styles in responding to emergency messages.

Courses Taught

• Comm 2000Q: Research Methods in Communication
• Comm 2300: Effects of Mass Media
• Comm 3310W: Media Literacy and Criticism
• Comm 5002: Research Methods (graduate level)
• Comm 5150: Crisis and Risk Communication (graduate level)

Research Interests

• Psychological Effects of Mass Media
• Emergency and Crisis Communication
• Risk Communication
• Information Seeking and Uncertainty Reduction

Research Affiliations

UConn Video Game and Media Effects Laboratory

Curriculum Vitae