Janis Teruggi Page, PhD

Janis joined the Department of Communication at UIC in Spring 2019 upon completing a Fulbright distinguished chair appointment in the Czech Republic at Masaryk University. She has previously taught at the University of Florida, American University, and George Washington University. Her academic career began in 2005. Prior to that she held management positions in advertising, marketing and creative services for lifestyle, home, and regional magazines--including Chicago magazine. She also ran an independent consultancy specializing in community relations, government relations, and media relations with nationally syndicated columnists and cable television networks.

She enjoys bringing career-focused learning to her classes, drawn from her career experience and research. Her PR lessons have been recognized as “GIFTS” (Great Ideas for Teaching) at four national academic conferences. Janis combined both her professional experience and contemporary research to co-author the textbook, Introduction to Public Relations: Strategic, Digital, and Socially Responsible Communication, now in its 3rd ed (Page & Parnell). It was named “Breakthrough Book of the Year” in 2022 by Sage Publishing. She is also the author of the forthcoming textbook, Visual Communication Insights and Strategies, 2nd ed (Wiley-Blackwell). Her research streams include visual criticism 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.

Ph.D., Missouri School of Journalism

· Research-evaluate-create: Developing multicultural perspectives and approaches for strategic visual communication. In B.N. Frisby & R. Kaufmann (Eds.), Teaching Communication, Volume 1. Solano Beach, CA: Cognella. 2026.

· Community-based social justice organizations and practices of public interest communication with marginalized groups. International Communication Association annual conference, 2025.

· Teaching outside the classroom: Conducting research on PR brand activation through ethnographic exploration. Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference, 2025.

· 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