Wayne State University named chairmen for the departments of communication and theatre in the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts.

After a nationwide search Craig Allen Smith of Detroit has been named professor and chair of the department of communication.

The former professor of communication at University of North Carolina at Greensboro began his tenure as the new department chair on August 16.

Prior to coming to Wayne State, Smith had been at UNC Greensboro since 1990,taking one semester off in 1997 to serve as a John Adams Fellow at the University of London, England. He was an associate professor of speech communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1981-1990 and, prior to that, taught at Memphis State University and Mississippi State University.

Smith received a bachelor of arts degree in speech and government from Baldwin-Wallace College and both master's and doctorate degrees in communication from Purdue.

Smith's research interests include presidential rhetoric, election campaigns, social protest rhetoric and American political relationships. He has written or coauthored several books, chapters, journal articles and papers as well as editorials in many journal issues regarding political communication.

He has been the editor of Southern Communication Journal and serves on the editorial board of the American Communication Association electronic journal.

Blair Anderson of Royal Oak was named interim chair of the department of theatre.

Anderson, a faculty member since 1989, has previously acted as assistant chair of the department and has served on various departmental and college committees including the faculty council and the theatre graduate committee.

He has directed more than 20 productions for the Hilberry and Bonstelle theatres including "Scapin" (Oakland Press theater award nomination for best ensemble), "Of Mice and Men" (Detroit Free Press theatre award nomination for best director and best production), "A Taming of the Shrew"(The Detroit News theatre award nomination for best director), "Our Country's Good" and "Harvey".

Anderson received a bachelor of arts degree from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa; a master of arts degree from Western Illinois University, Macomb, Ill.; and a doctorate degree from Wayne State University. He has previously taught in the theatre department at Oakland University.