Dolly Mullin’s primary interests while at UCSB were in teaching communication to undergraduates and building the instructional skills of our graduate student Teaching Assistants. She specialized in teaching large introductory courses, including research methods, theory, and a broad introduction to the communication discipline.
Dolly Mullin joined the faculty as a Lecturer in 1996, after serving many years as a Teaching Assistant at UCSB while completing her Ph.D. Her scholarly research was in the area of media policy and effects, but early in her career she shifted her emphasis from research to instruction. She became passionate about teaching large pre-major courses, particularly Introduction to Communication (Comm 1) and Communication Research Methods (Comm 88), serving more than 1,500 students each year. She was recognized for her excellence in teaching with a Distinguished Teaching Award. She was also actively involved in UCSB’s programs to support effective teaching and improve student learning, including the Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning (CITRAL) and the Transfer Student Center. Dr. Mullin was also the Department’s TA Coordinator, training new graduate student Teaching Assistants through her seminar Teaching College Communication (Comm 500). She supervised many TAs in her classes, always with an aim to promote excellent teaching skills among the professors of the future. Dr. Mullin retired in 2023, but continues to stay active in communication instruction, particularly in her ongoing work as an author on a premier introductory textbook, Real Communication.
Ph.D. (1998), UC Santa Barbara, Department of Communication