Tamara Afifi, a professor of communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the winner of the 2021 Gerald M. Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Scholarship from the National Communications Association. The Phillips Award is presented annually to scholars responsible for authoring bodies of published research and creative scholarship in applied communication. Dr. Afifi was chosen for the award in part because of her sustained commitment to at-risk and underserved populations, and for highlighting communities that have been largely overlooked, including mothers and adolescents in Palestinian refugee camps and families coping with natural disasters. Professor Afifi was also named a Distinguished Scholar by the association.
“I am extremely humbled and honored to receive these awards,” said Dr. Afifi, who also serves as chair of the communication department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “These particular awards mean a great deal because they represent years of work in the field helping families.”
Professor Afifi first joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2006 after teaching at Pennsylvania State University. She is a graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Professor Afifi holds a master’s degree from North Dakota State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.