CAHSS Professor Lynn Schofield Clark Inaugurated into 2025 Class of ICA Fellows

Lynn Schofield Clark, PhD, professor in the Department of Media, Film & Journalism Studies (MFJS) and director of the Estlow Research Center, was recently inaugurated into the 2025 Class of International Communication Association (ICA) Fellows. ICA is the largest professional organization of communication and media researchers and educators in the world, and Clark is the first woman and second professor from the University of Denver (DU) to receive this recognition.  

“Fellow status in the International Communication Association (ICA) is primarily a recognition of distinguished scholarly contributions to the broad field of communication,” according to Rich Ling, Chair of the ICA Fellows and Professor at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore. Professor Clark’s path to this recognition was shaped by her deep commitment to both scholarly collaboration and to community engaged research. 

Clark says that she was thrilled to be named an ICA Fellow. She is the author and coauthor of several award-winning books and many scholarly articles on social media uses among diverse U.S. young people and their families, including “Young People and the Future of News,” “The Parent App: Understanding Families in a Digital Age,” and “From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural.”  

Clark has served as a professor and director of the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at the University of Denver since 2006, and in February 2025, DU recognized the Center with an official Research Center designation.  

“I hope to continue to have opportunities to mentor and collaborate with first generation scholars and others who are committed to addressing societal inequalities through scholarship and community partnerships, and I hope that my role as an ICA Fellow will open more doors to support the Center’s initiatives,” says Clark, who credits her success to the University of Denver’s commitments to inclusive excellence and public good.   

Clark teaches courses on social and digital media, journalism and AI, critical race, gender, and technology. She is also the co-principal investigator of the research project “Documenting the Past, Fostering the Future: Youth Voices in El Movimiento,” a community-engaged research project that involves 12 DU faculty members and numerous undergraduate and graduate students in the collection of oral histories in local Chicano/a communities. Their research is enriching the undergraduate curriculum at DU and contributing to community-centered storytelling that enhances local archives. 

MFJS department chair and professor Derigan Silver considers Clark an internationally renowned media scholar and valuable mentor to junior faculty who frequently collaborates with other DU scholars. In addition, he notes that she continues to contribute to the university in other ways: “While many scholars of her stature would shrink away from service and teaching, Dr. Clark instead continues to serve in a wide variety of roles and constantly works to make her classes engaging and meaningful for her students,” Silver said. “She is an asset to our department, our college and our university.” 

To learn more about Professor Clark and the Estlow Research Center, visit here.