Arvind Singhal, Ph.D.

Professor of Communication and Director of the Social Justice Initiative

Arvind Singhal

Dr. Arvind Singhal ( asinghal@utep.edu ) is the Samuel Shirley & Edna Holt Marston Endowed Professor of Communication and Director of the Social Justice Initiative at The University of Texas at El Paso. He also holds courtesy appointments as the William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellow at the Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock, Arkansas, Distinguished Professor 2, Faculty of Business Administration & Social Sciences, Inland University of Applied Sciences, Norway, and Chancellor’s Honorary Professor, Amity University, India.

Singhal teaches and conducts research on the diffusion of innovations, the positive deviance approach, organizing for social change, the entertainment-education strategy, and liberating interactional structures. His outreach spans public health, education, human rights, poverty alleviation, sustainable development, civic participation, democracy and governance, and corporate citizenship.

Singhal is co-author or editor of 14 books – Handbook of Communication and Development (2021); Inspiring Change and Saving Lives: The Positive Deviance Way (2014); Health Communication in the 21st Century (2014); Inviting Everyone: Healing Healthcare through Positive Deviance (2010); Protecting Children from Exploitation and Trafficking: Using the Positive Deviance Approach (2009); Popular with a Purpose (2008); Communication of Innovations (2006); Organizing for Social Change (2006); Entertainment-Education Worldwide: History, Research, and Practice (2004); Combating AIDS: Communication Strategies in Action (2003); The Children of Africa Confront AIDS: From Vulnerability to Possibility (2003); India's Communication Revolution: From Bullock Carts to Cyber Marts (2001); Entertainment-Education: A Communication Strategy for Social Change (1999); and India's Information Revolution (1989).

Three of Singhal’s books won awards for distinguished applied scholarship. In addition, he has authored over 225 peer-reviewed essays in outlets such as the American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Communication, Communication Theory, Communication Monographs, PLOS ONE, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, Communication Quarterly, and others.

Singhal won Top Paper Awards from the American Public Health Association (APHA), International Communication Association (ICA), and National Communication Association (NCA) over a dozen times, and Ohio University’s Baker Research Award twice. His recent distinguished lectures include the Harvey M. Shein Lecture at the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (2024); Suzana Makowski Lecture at UMass Memorial Medical Center (2020); Andrew W. Mellon Lecture at Hendrix College (2018); Anna Endowment Lecture at Anna University, India (2017); Carroll Arnold Lecture at National Communication Association (2015); and Elizabeth Andersch Lecture (2014), Scripps College of Communication, Ohio University. The Social Science Research Council & the International Communication Association recognized him with the Communication Research as Collaborative Practice Award in 2009 and the Communication Researcher as an Agent of Change Award in 2008. The NW Communication Association honored him with the 2007 Human Rights Award for Steadfast Commitment to Social Justice, Social Change, and Freedom, and in 2005, USC’s Norman Lear Center recognized him with the first Everett M. Rogers Award for Outstanding Contributions to Entertainment-Education.

Singhal's research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, The National Science Foundation, The Dutch Health Research Council, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the State of Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services. He has served as an advisor to the World Bank, UN-FAO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS, UNFPA, U.S. Department of State; U.S. A.I.D., Family Health International, PATH, Save the Children, the BBC World Service Trust, International Rice Research Institute, Voice for Humanity, and private corporations such as Procter & Gamble (U.S.A and Thailand), Telenor AS (Norway), SpareBank (Norway), and others.

He has taught previously at Ohio University, University of Southern California, University of California - Los Angeles, and held visiting professorships at the USC Annenberg School; the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University; Royal Roads University, Canada; Kumamoto (National) University, Japan; Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany; Institut Teknologi (Malaysia), Bangkok University (Thailand); and visited and lectured in over 100 countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australia, Europe, and North America.

For his publications and more: http://utminers.utep.edu/asinghal/