Dawna I. Ballard (Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara) is associate professor of organizational communication and technology. An expert in chronemics—i.e., the study of time as it is bound to human communication—she researches what drives our pace of life and its impact on the communication practices and long-term vitality of organizations, communities, and individuals. Her new book, Time by Design: How Communicating Slow Allows Us to Go Fast (MIT Press, Fall 2025) introduces readers to chronemic design, a process through which we fashion time itself. Drawing on her research across a range of industries, she illustrates how the most effective people, groups, and organizations use relationships as a lever for speed and offers a practical toolkit for doing so.
Dr. Ballard is committed to engaged scholarship that makes a positive difference and has won multiple awards for her research. Most recently, she and her co-authors received the prestigious 2025 David Meyers Research Award for “Unhurried Conversations in Health Care Are More Important Than Ever: Identifying Key Communication Practices for Careful and Kind Care” published in the Annals of Family Medicine. She is a Public Voices Fellow, a Research Collaborator at the Mayo Clinic in the Knowledge & Evaluation Research (KER) Unit, and she serves on the Board of Directors for the Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas. Her research and commentary are also regularly featured in mainstream news outlets, such as The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Atlantic, Fortune, Forbes, Inc. as well as venues such as SXSW and Creative Mornings.
A member of the National Communication Association (past Chair, Group Communication Division), International Communication Association, and the International Society for the Study of Time (past Council Member), she co-directs the internship program and teaches courses on chronemics, communicating in groups, teams and communities as well as scale development. Her teaching has been recognized through multiple awards, including the 2024 President’s Associates Graduate Teaching Excellence Award to recognize “educational innovators whose commitment and performance not only teach, but inspire graduate student learners” and the 2023 Blunk Professorship for her “outstanding record both in undergraduate teaching and in concern for undergraduates as demonstrated through advising and general guidance given to students…within the context of excellent scholarship and high standards of performance.”
