About the Hart Awards
In 2015, former dean Rod Hart, professor in the Department of Communication Studies, announced a permanent endowment to create the Roderick P. Hart Student Achievement Awards to honor the two things he prizes most — Moody College students and their intellectual accomplishments.
Each year on Honor’s Day, three students in each Moody College department or school — one undergraduate, one master’s and one doctoral student — are awarded Hart Awards for exceptional work in their communication field.
The awards also provide a financial stipend to recognize each students’ hard work and research.
About Roderick P. Hart
Roderick P. Hart is one of Moody College’s most renowned scholars and teachers. An expert of politics and mass media, he has taught in the Department of Communication Studies since 1979 and is the author of 12 books. His courses have focused on political communication, rhetoric and government, and he is a member of UT Austin’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Hart founded the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, a research and outreach center committed to reversing civic and political apathy. From 2004 to 2015, he served as dean of the Moody College of Communication, transforming the college through his commitment to students, faculty and philanthropy. In 2015, he returned to teaching students and advancing communications scholarship.
Under Hart’s leadership, Moody College:
- Secured a $50 million gift from the Moody Foundation, resulting in the largest endowment for the study of communication of any public university in the nation.
- Raised the funds to construct the $55 million G. B. Dealey Center for New Media, the foremost facility for the study of new and convergent media.
- Raised funds to renovate the Jesse H. Jones Communication Center, the historic home of the Moody College of Communication.
- Created groundbreaking new programs, including the Texas Program in Sports and Media, UT3D, Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, the Center for Health Communication, the Michael and Tami Lang Stuttering Institute and the Senior Fellows honors program.
- Supported the creation of the new KUT and KUTX studios.
- Championed the cause of Texas Student Media by assuming its oversight.
- Completed the $10 million campaign to establish the Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations.