Department of Communication Chair Claudio Moreira is delighted to welcome new and returning students, faculty and staff as the 2025-2026 academic year begins. He started teaching at UMass Amherst 17 years ago, but Dr. Moreira says he still looks forward to the arrival of students every autumn:
Even after all those years I enjoy the excitement of a new academic year.
Seeing the new faces in the fall – the kind of excitement freshmen bring to the classroom -- those are the moments that reinforce my decision to become a professor.
Do you have any advice for students?
Seize the moment. Enjoy! It’s a new phase of your life with new knowledge, with excitement.
There’s so much that we professors want to offer you. What college can do is expand your horizons and help you discover new possibilities.
And not just in the classroom. Have fun. Make friends.
Come with an open mind, with excitement! Embrace this experience.
What was your experience like as a student?
I grew up very poor in Brazil. I wouldn’t be talking with you today if I didn’t find a few teachers and professors along the way that helped me, that validated me, that honored the street knowledge I carried with me and the questions I had as a young person. I wouldn’t be here without them.
What aspect of the Department of Communication are you most proud of?
We have a large group of faculty who really care about teaching, who really care about the undergraduates and really care about student success.
I am also very proud of our advising team. They are fantastic, including the peer advisors. They really help the students. If someone is having difficulties, the advisors will always try to solve them. The advisors understand students’ struggles -- and their successes.
Do you have any suggestions for students who decide to be part of the Department of Communication?
Once you encounter our department, explore it! There are different theoretical approaches -- from film studies to the media industry, from cultural communication to personal communication to political economy. There will be some ideas or theories or careers that are going to be more appealing to you, so explore them.
When we survey our seniors, they say the breadth of the department -- the many different approaches to communication that we offer -- helped them find their place in the world, find careers and find jobs.
Are there aspects of the department that students really value?
Access to our classrooms, facilities and most of all—professors. The professors in the Department of Communication make time for their students.
I tell my students, ‘You are the most important part of this department, at this university. Without you, it cannot exist.’
As Chair, my door is open to undergraduate and graduate students. They are always welcome to meet with me.
Students also gravitate to the department’s ‘Hub’ – an open, sunny space in the Integrative Learning Center, with a big view of the campus pond. Students come here for quiet time, to study, and to spend time with friends.
It's a welcoming oasis on a busy campus.
Why is studying communication worthwhile?
The ability to communicate is what makes us human beings.
And yet we have so much to learn about improving our ability to understand each other, understand the differences, and understand people who believe in different things.
As a human species, it’s our only hope.
Claudio Moreira is the chair of the Department of Communication and a professor of Performance Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In 2016, he won the UMass Distinguished Teaching Award. He is the author of two award-winning books on performance autoethnography and dozens of articles in academic journals focused on qualitative research and critical methodologies.