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Department ofCommunication

Chad Raphael

Chad Raphael

Professor

B.A., Harvard University

Ph.D., Northwestern University

A scholar of political and environmental communication, Chad co-edited and co-wrote Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice (University of California Press - Luminos), based on a guide and an article he recently published on this topic. Previously, he co-authored Deliberation, Democracy, and Civic Forums: Improving Equality and Publicity (Cambridge University Press) and wrote Investigated Reporting: Muckrakers, Regulators, and the Struggle over Television Documentary (University of Illinois Press), which won three awards for best book of the year in his field. He has published in journals such as Political Communication, Environmental Communication, New Media and Society, Politics and Society, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Communication Law and Policy, Computers in Human Behavior, and Journal of Public Deliberation. He integrates his research and teaching by regularly co-publishing articles with undergraduate students.

At SCU, Chad is the Faculty Associate for Sustainability across the Curriculum and Co-Coordinator of the university’s Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative. He has chaired the Communication Department, as well as committees that designed the university’s Core Curriculum and that helped draft Santa Clara’s Strategic Plan.

Chad also helps to steer several environmental justice organizations, serving on the board of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation (which he previously chaired) and as a Design Team member of the Clean Electronics Production Network. Previously, he chaired the board of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and led a task force on greening the International Communication Association. He has consulted on designing communication campaigns for environmental organizations.

Courses

Media and Technology Studies (COMM 50)
Dialogue and Deliberation (COMM 153)
Environmental Communication (COMM 157)
Community Organizing (COMM 158)
News and Democracy (COMM 166)

In the News

June 2023

The rationale is that the public and the democracy is best served by timely reporting... and that could be threatened if the news media feared punishment for making honest mistakes. Listen to the podcast.

January 11, 2023

Chad Raphael, Alison Benders (Mission and Ministry), and Lindsey Kalkbrenner (Sustainability) discuss The Laudato Si’ University Pathways in Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education. They offer an urgent and generational opportunity for Catholic higher education to advance environmental and social justice.