Laura Ellingson shares personal journey and “Embodiment in Research� at annual Boase Lecture

, recipient of the Paul H. Boase Prize for Scholarship, delivered the annual Paul Boase Lecture in Communication on Sept. 15, 2025, at »¨¼¾´«Ã½. She said she hoped her talk would help students and faculty “find something that connects to what you do loveâ€� in communication studies. The Santa Clara University professor brought energy and personal stories to her presentation, “Embodiment in Research,â€� which explores how scholars’ lived experiences shape their methods and insights.

Ellingson, the Patrick A. Donohoe, S.J. Professor of Communication at Santa Clara University and a , was introduced by Lynn Harter, professor and co-director of the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact in the Scripps College of Communication.

“Dr. Paul Boase argued that questions and curiosity are not just encouraged in higher education but are essential,� Harter said. “Questions are catalysts for growth and push individuals to reach beyond the known and venture into the uncertain. This year’s recipient of the Paul Boase Prize is a distinguished scholar whose work has shifted the questions we ask, how we pursue answers and for whom we seek knowledge.�

Known for her work on communication in healthcare delivery and extended or chosen families, Ellingson has authored six award-winning books and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters, including a widely cited ethnographic study of communication in a geriatric oncology program.

Her lecture challenged the traditional view that scholarship is a purely cognitive exercise. Drawing on her own experience as a cancer survivor and amputee, Ellingson described how a scholar’s hands, eyes and lived experiences shape the research process and urged students to consider embodiment as a source of insight in their own work.

Ellingson told the audience that her own journey shaped this approach. She began as an English major, who fell in love with qualitative research for its ability to capture people’s lived experiences and stories. Her focus on health communication was shaped by her cancer diagnosis as an undergraduate and years of surgeries, which later led to an above-knee amputation. She said those experiences gave her a firsthand look at how health care communication works and taught her to empathize deeply with the people she studies.

After years of researching communication in medical settings, Ellingson turned her focus to extended families and chosen kin networks. She studied how aunts, nieces, nephews and niblings (a gender-neutral word for nieces or nephews) experience and represent family roles. She said the project gave her a break from the emotional intensity of health research and was a way to better understand how family communication extends beyond parents and children. The work, she said, deepened her appreciation for the variety of relationships that shape people’s lives and highlighted how chosen family members often step into caregiving and mentoring roles traditionally associated with parents or grandparents. This work helped her see how family identity is depicted in stories, media and everyday life.

Throughout the lecture, Ellingson urged students and faculty to recognize the opportunities that come from embracing embodiment in their work. “We can be mindful of the limitations of that, while also celebrating the really exciting possibilities for having different insights in ways of understanding that are part of being whole people,� she said.

Ellingson said this awareness of embodiment naturally extends to how meaning is expressed beyond words, citing research showing that gestures, tone, rate of speech and eye contact often communicate more than language itself. People tend to believe nonverbal signals when they contradict verbal statements, she said, which makes it essential for scholars to pay attention to embodied cues even when analyzing data or digital content.

“The Boase Prize lecture enriches our community by connecting »¨¼¾´«Ã½ students and faculty with leading voices in the field, reminding us of the power of communication scholarship to shape not only our academic pursuits but also the ways we understand and engage with the world,â€� said Ann Frymier, director of communication studies.

When asked what she hoped students and faculty would take away from her lecture, Ellingson hoped students and faculty would be encouraged to recognize their own bodies as an essential part of their scholarship. She said the mind and body work together to shape how people see, interpret and share information. “There are so many rich possibilities when we acknowledge and accept and even celebrate these possibilities,� she said. “Our bodies are not a barrier to doing great research. They are the vehicle through which it is done.�