Thomas Socha, Ph.D.

Ph.D., (University of Iowa); M.A. (University of Illinois at Chicago), BA (Loyola University Chicago) is University Professor and tenured, Associate Professor of Communication.

Department of Communication & Theatre, Old Dominion University, Virginia Beach Higher Education Center, Room 205, 1881 University Drive, Virginia Beach, VA. 23453 

Curriculum Vita

Current

• SSCA Vice President-Elect. Undergraduate Honors Conference (Primary Planner)
• SSCA Local Arrangements Chair for 2009 annual meeting, Norfolk, VA
• Member of the Speech Communication Praxis Exam Advisory Board, ETS, Princeton, NJ. 
• Member of the Editorial Board of the Southern Communication Journal
• SSCA 2008 Paper--Communciation in Service of Positive Relationships: A Reflection on Values and Approaches.
• Co-editing a book with Dr. Glen Stamp (Ball State University) that examines communication interfaces between parent-child relationships and agents of societal organizations (e.g., teachers, physicians, coaches, law enforcement, etc.) Title--Parents & Children Communicating with Society (2009, NY: Routledge) 
• Co-autoring a book with Dr. Julie Yingling that provides a review of children's communication research and theory in the context of family life, Families Communicating with Children (working title) (2010, Polity Press, Cambridge,UK).

Upcoming

• July/August, 2008. Teaching a course, "A Positive Perspective on Family Communication" at the National Communication Association's Institute for Faculty Development, Randolph-Macon College (Ashland, VA.) Click here for details 

Selected Accomplishments

• Founding Editor of the Journal of Family Communication, a national research journal. Recipient of:
  • National Communication Association's, Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Distinguished Service in Family Communication.
  • Robert L. Stern Award for Excellence in Teaching (from ODU's College of Arts & Letters);
  • One of ODU's first "University Professors" for excellence in teaching;
  • Twice nominated by ODU for the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia's Outstanding faculty award;
  • Recipient of three "Most Inspirational Faculty Awards" from ODU honor students
  • Three top-three paper awards at national and regional conferences,
  • and more