Hannah Shinault Deuyour has been named associate director of the School of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, effective July 3.

Shinault Deuyour has been a faculty member in the school since 2010. She replaces Douglas Cannon who retires this summer after serving as the assistant department head and associate director for the school. 

“We’re thrilled to welcome Hannah into this new role,” said John Tedesco, director of the School of Communication. “She has been an integral part of the School of Communication for the past 14 years. Her extensive knowledge of Virginia Tech will allow us to see continued growth and serve our students as best as possible.”

As a collegiate professor, Shinault Deuyour has taught principles of public relations, issue management in public relations, and intro to health communication, among other classes. She will continue to teach alongside her new role where she will work in conjunction with Tedesco to ensure smooth operations within the school — part of which includes a dedicated effort to improve the student experience.

“I grew up in Wytheville, so I’m a Southwest Virginia girl,” Shinault Deayour said.  “I absolutely love working with first-generation students because I was a first-generation college student. I was the only person up until a few years ago even in my extended family to get a four-year degree. I really understand the value of having those students on campus. I love meeting other students from Southwest Virginia or places like the place where I grew up.”

Shinault Deuyour’s expertise comes in pedagogy and health communication. She developed the undergraduate pathways health communication minor in the School of Communication and a new graduate health communication class. She’s also working on developing a graduate certificate program in health communication.

“I’m really proud of the graduate health communication course because I think it will serve a lot of different students across the university,” Shinault Deuyour said. “Obviously with the pandemic, health communication is a really big area of interest. Overnight it exploded. People are really interested, so we want to give them some courses in that area.”

Currently, Shinault Deuyour serves as the faculty advisor for Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Association's official honor society, and Spark, a student organization that brings together creatives of all art mediums. She was honored with the PRSA Shooting Star Award in 2021 and has served as the chair of the School of Communication honorifics committee since 2019.

Shinault Deuyour received her Ph.D. in communication & information from the University of Tennessee and her master’s in public health from Virginia Tech.

Written by Cory Van Dyke