Robert Denton, Jr., a professor and head of the Department of Communication, published Social Fragmentation and the Decline of Democracy in America: The End of the Social Contract (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), with Ben Voth.

Denton was the recipient of the 2016 Carl Couch Center Director’s Service Award from the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research at the University of Iowa; the award was presented at the Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, Political Communication Division, which was held November 10–13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.