Mark Aakhus Named SC&I Interim Dean
- iSchools News
- Aug 1
- 3 min read
Mark Aakhus Named SC&I Interim Dean Effective August 1, 2025 Aakhus is an internationally renowned expert in the relationship among communication, argumentation, and design in digital society.
The School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University-New Brunswick is pleased to announce the appointment of Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Communication Mark Aakhus as Interim Dean, effective August 1, 2025.
“The staff and faculty at SC&I are hard-working, dedicated people who hold themselves to the highest standards in educating our students and advancing knowledge about communication, information, and media to make a just and desirable world for all,” said Aakhus. “It is an honor to be appointed to this role. I look forward to working together with my colleagues, especially in these challenging times, to achieve the mission of SC&I and Rutgers.”
Aakhus will succeed current Interim Dean and Distinguished Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Dafna Lemish, who has served as SC&I Interim Dean since July 2022.
“I am delighted that Mark was named as the next interim dean for the school, while the dean search is still open,” said Lemish. “Mark is a prominent scholar, innovative thinker, dedicated SC&I member, highly networked on campus, and well-prepared for the role. With nine years as associate dean for research working closely with two different deans, he had intense preparation for the job.”
In an announcement sent to the SC&I community by Francine Conway, Ph.D., Chancellor and Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Conway wrote, “Mark Aakhus brings to this role a deep understanding of the School’s mission, a collaborative leadership style, and a longstanding commitment to advancing the fields of communication and information. His leadership during this transitional period will help ensure continuity and momentum across SC&I’s teaching, research, and service endeavors. Please join me in thanking Interim Dean-Designate Aakhus for stepping into this important role and in supporting him during this time of transition.”
Aakhus recently led the Chancellor-Provost Taskforce on Cyberinfrastructure and Data Science at Rutgers, New Brunswick, which helped launch the Rutgers Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (RAD) Collaboratory and the Cluster on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. He also co-developed the Fair and Responsible Data Science initiative at RU-NB. At SC&I, he has fostered the faculty’s development of several new working groups and labs dedicated to interdisciplinary research on communication, information, and media.
Aakhus’ research focuses on the conceptualization, conduct, and consequences of technological and organizational interventions that seek to augment interaction and reasoning in decision-making and conflict-management. The aim of his research, along with his teaching and engagement, is to improve understanding of the intentional, and emergent, design of institutions and infrastructures for communication and the co-creation of innovative and accountable democratic practice. This work is grounded in multiple methods of discourse analysis that also incorporate computational social science and digital ethnography.
Aakhus recently co-authored the award-winning book “Argumentation in Complex Communication: Managing Disagreement in a Polylogue.” Published by Cambridge University Press, the book offers an innovative account of argumentation in digital society that updates the twentieth-century revival of reasoning as communicative, situated practice while re-imagining a classical concern with many-to-many communication.
Aakhus co-edited the pioneering book, “Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance,” also published by Cambridge University Press, that anticipated social transformations afforded by mobile phones.
In addition, Aakhus has published extensively and edited multiple special issues and proceedings about how emerging technologies are entangled in the pragmatics of human communication.
His current research addresses key cross-cutting contemporary themes: Artificial Intelligence as a puzzle of communication; Designability: making the case for what can and should be designable; Contestability by design for accountable algorithmic systems, platforms, and organizations; AI in research and professional practice; Designing common(s) ground for open innovation and maintenance; and Sustainability communication: Deliberation and collective intelligence for environmental and wellness decision-making.
Aakhus earned a Ph.D. in Communication and Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona, a master’s degree in communication with a focus on Language and Social Interaction from Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Journalism from the University of North Dakota.
Interested in who else is joining the Library and Information Science Department at Rutgers in Fall 2025? Read more here.
Comments