Founding Director

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach

© Steffen Füssel

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach was the founding director of the Institute for Communication Sciences of the TU Dresden in 1993. Having continually bettered the Institute for the nearly two decades as director, the Institute’s outstanding reputation and visibility is predominantly his merit. As a result, he has shaped many generations of students.

To do science with a critical and rational understanding was not only his gift but also his passion. His mottos were “out of the ivory tower”, “take responsibility”, and “fight the man”. He exemplified these mottos to his students throughout his own life.

Donsbach’s spirit can also be found in the Institute’s guidelines, and the Institute will never forget Wolfgang Donsbach! We want to pass the torch by giving classes that are application-oriented and at the same time scientific, and by producing excellent and relevant research that listens to and affects the public!

Wolfgang Donsbach was a known personality in science as well as in public and therefore as outstanding as only few are. He was president of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) and of the International Communication Association (ICA). He received the Helen Dinerman Award from WAPOR for particularly significant contributions to survey research methodology. Furthermore, he got the David Swanson Award from the Political Communication Division of the ICA for his contribution to political communication research. Since 2010 he also was a fellow of the ICA. Besides numerous other publications, Wolfgang Donsbach was the editor of 12 volumes of the International Encyclopedia of Communication (Blackwell-Wiley 2008), the Concise Encyclopedia of Communication (Wiley 2015), and the Handbook of Public Opinion Research (Sage 2008).

Aside from his scientific accomplishments, Wolfgang Donsbach was also appreciated widely outside the university, namely in the worlds of economy and politics as a creative director, booster, and consultant.

Obituaries for Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach

Here, we would like to refer to the obituaries that were written in memory of our founding director Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach:

Jeder trägt Verantwortung - DresdenEins.TV, 27/07/15
Wolfgang Donsbach (1949-2015) - Prof. Dr. Patricia Moy, University of Washington, WAPOR President, Email to members of  WAPOR, 27/07/15
Der große Kommunikator - Heinrich Maria Löbbers, Sächsische Zeitung, 28/07/15
Never Indifferent: Reflections on Wolf Donsbach - Prof. Dr. Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin, ICA Newsletter, August 2015
Zum Tod von Wolfgang Donsbach - Dr. Corinna Lüthje, TU Dresden, Email to members of Science Communication of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), 06/08/15
Wolfgang Donsbach - Prof. Dr. Hans-Bernd Brosius, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Biografisches Lexikon der Kommunikationswissenschaft [biographical encyclopedia of communication science], 06/08/15
Professor Wolfgang Donsbach - International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), August 2015

Academic Commemoration

In honor of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach, the TU Dresden, the Institute for Communication Science, and its friends’ association organized an academic commemoration on January 22^nd, 2016.
As part of the commemoration, internationally renowned scientists appreciated Wolfgang Donsbach’s academic feats and his significance to the field. The lecturers were Thomas E. Patterson (Harvard University), Hans Mathias Kepplinger (Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz), Miriam Meckel (University of St. Gallen), Dietram Scheufele (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Cornelia Mothes (Ohio State University). Photos of the commemoration

Recording of the Commemoration

Scientific vita