Jonathan Potter became the dean of the School of Communication and Information in 2015.
Dean Potter is an enthusiastic and engaged educator who has a distinguished record in administration and an international reputation for his research. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Liverpool, his master's degree in philosophy of science from the University of Surrey, and his doctorate in sociology from the
University of York.
Jonathan Potter's expertise is in the field of discourse studies, with a particular focus on the way careful analyses of interaction can be a route to understanding and reworking basic psychological questions. Throughout his research career, Dean Potter has addressed fundamental issues of theory and method, as well as made substantial research contributions in the area of language and racism, the operation of helplines, and the role of cognition in communication. His 1987 book, Discourse and Social Psychology, developed a new way of thinking about social psychology, highlighting the role of communication, and continues to be widely influential. His 1996 book, Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric
and Social Construction, focused on epistemics, fact construction, and communication, also has been heavily cited. He has sat on more than 20 editorial boards, is a member of the Academy of Social Sciences, and is an
honorary fellow of the TAOS Institute.
About the Dean
