Janis Teruggi Page, PhD
Clinical Associate Professor
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About
Janis Teruggi Page joined the Department of Communication at UIC in Spring 2019 upon completing a Fulbright distinguished chair appointment in the Czech Republic at Masaryk University. After a 20-year career in public relations and creative direction in the magazine industry, she joined academia in 2005 to teach a wide range of PR and strategic communication courses. She enjoys bringing career-focused learning to her classes. Her faculty appointments have included George Washington University, American University, the University of Florida, and one illuminating year at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, during the Arab Spring.
Janis is co-author of the 2026 Sage textbook, Introduction to Public Relations: Strategic, Digital, and Socially Responsible Communication, 3rd ed (Page & Parnell). The first edition was named “2019 most-promising new textbook” by the Textbook and Academic Authors Association; the second edition was named “Breakthrough Book of the Year” by Sage Publishing. She is also the author of the forthcoming textbook, Visual Communication Insights and Strategies, 2nd ed (Wiley-Blackwell, 2026). Her research streams include: visual rhetorical analysis of PR/ advertising campaigns, and ethnographic case studies of public interest communication for social change. Janis has presented and/or published more than 60 studies at national and international academic conferences and in handbooks, edited volumes, and refereed journals.
Education
Ph.D., Missouri School of Journalism
Selected Presentations
· Research-evaluate-create: Developing multicultural perspectives and approaches for strategic visual communication. In B.N. Frisby & R. Kaufmann (Eds.), Teaching Communication Series: Pedagogical Resources. Solano Beach, CA: Cognella. 2024.
· Trump as global spectacle: The visual rhetoric of magazine covers. In S. Josephson, J. Kelly, and K.L. Smith (Eds.), Handbook of Visual Communication, 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. 2020.
· Community-based social justice organizations and practices of public interest communication with marginalized groups. ICA 2025.
· Teaching outside the classroom: Conducting research on PR brand activation through ethnographic exploration. AEJMC 2025.
Research Currently in Progress
· Transgender youth healthcare: A solution-oriented messaging approach to polarized & politicized perspectives
· Talking books, talking gender: PLACE as catalyst for intergroup communication, boundary breaking, and cross-cultural integration