Keri K. Stephens, PhD, is the George Christian Centennial Professor in Organizational Communication Technology, a UT Austin Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Co-Director of the Technology and Information Policy Institute at the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. With over 25 years of interdisciplinary research experience, Dr. Stephens' expertise includes organizational communication, mobile technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), crisis and disaster communication, infrastructure communication, and health communication.
Dr. Stephens is an International Communication Association Fellow and has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and five academic books, including the Handbook of Infrastructure Communication (Wiley, 2026) and The Social Scientist's Grant Guide (Bloomsbury, 2026). She has received 25 top-paper and panel awards and four article-of-the-year awards. Her research has attracted more than $10 million in external funding, including 15 National Science Foundation grants, sustained state support from the Texas Water Development Board, the Texas General Land Office, and the Texas Department of Transportation. She regularly delivers keynote talks internationally and across the U.S., including a TEDx Talk. Her community-engaged work has been recognized with awards from both the National and State Association of Counties.
In her professional service, Dr. Stephens currently serves on the National Weather Service NOAA Central Texas Integrated Warning Team and on the Executive Advisory Council of the Schreiner University Institute for Hazard Risk and Readiness. She has served on the National Academies' Gulf Health and Resilience Board and the Texas Integrated Flooding Framework Technical Advisory Committee, and has held leadership roles including Chair of the International Communication Association (ICA) Mobile Communication Division, Secretary of the ICA Organizational Communication Division, Chair of the Training and Development Division of the National Communication Association (NCA), and Associate Editor for Management Communication Quarterly. She recently guest edited a special collection for Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability and serves on eight journal editorial boards.
Dr. Stephens teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in Organizational Communication, Communication Technologies, Crisis Communication, Disaster Communication and the Future, Grant Writing, Communicating to Build Sales Relationships, and Communication Studies Internships. She is the founding Co-Chair of the joint McCombs-Moody Professional Sales & Business Development Minor. Additionally, she has collaborated on publications with over 100 different graduate students, 15 undergraduate students, and 12 industry/community partners.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
- Fellow, ICA
- Distinguished Partner, Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas
- Edited Book of the Year for the Organizational Communication Division of NCA, New Media in Times of Crisis, Routledge
- Book of the Year for the Human Communication & Technology Division of NCA, Negotiating Control: Organizations & Mobile Communication
- Outstanding Book Award in the Organizational Communication Division of NCA, Negotiating Control: Organizations & Mobile Communication
- Professional Achievement Award, NCA Training & Development Division
- Fellow, UT Austin Research Leaders Academy 2023-2024
- Member, Crisis Communication Think Tank, Athens, GA
- Outstanding Mentor of the Year, Organizational Communication Division of NCA
- Graduate Faculty Member of the Year, UT Austin Communication Studies (two times)
- Academy of Distinguished Teachers, UT Austin
- President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award, UT Austin
- Eyes of Texas Teaching and Mentoring Award, UT Austin
- UT Austin President's Award for Global Learning, UT Austin
- UT Tower Award for an Outstanding Service-Learning Project, UT Austin
