Ryan M. Milner
Associate Professor | Chair
Ryan M. Milner joined the department in 2012, after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. During this time, he’s combined an active research agenda with a heartfelt commitment to the classroom.
He studies internet culture, which means he studies everything from funny GIFs to Twitter debates to large scale propaganda campaigns. Throughout this work, he assesses how online interaction matters socially, politically, and culturally. He’s the author of The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media (2016), and the co-author of The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online (2017) and You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape (2021). Ryan has also contributed commentary to outlets like TIME, Slate, The Los Angeles Review of Books, NBC News, and The New York Times.
This research is central to Ryan’s teaching on mediated communication. He’s an anchor for the department’s introductory media studies course, which he teaches alongside upper-level classes on media ethics, media production, and scholarly research. He infuses these courses with hands-on examples, engaging technology, and old-fashioned conversation, emphasizing collaboration, application, and rigor as he does.
Dr. Milner was appointed Department Chair in 2021. He previously served as Associate Chair from 2020-2021.
*Read Dr. Milner's Message from the Chair for the Department of Communication.*
Education
Ph.D. The University of Kansas
M.A. The University of Kansas
B.A. University of Missouri-Kansas City
Research Interests
- Online Interaction
- Internet Culture
- Visual Communication
- Communication Ethics