Dr. Tony Adams is Caterpillar Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Bradley University. Before Bradley, he worked at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU). At NEIU, he served as the Director of Graduate Studies (2011-2014) and as the Chair of the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre (2014-2017). In 2017, he was honored as the Bernard J. Brommel Distinguished Research Professor, the highest research award at NEIU; in 2021, he was honored as a Caterpillar Professor, the highest research award at Bradley.

Much of Dr. Adams’s research focuses on sexual diversity and queer concerns such as stigma, social support, and self-disclosure. In his first book, Narrating the Closet (Routledge), he identified struggles with disclosing same-gender attraction—often referred to as “coming out (of the closet).” He described experiences of sexuality before, during, and after coming out, as well as demonstrated how the coming out process never ends as every new audience makes for a new time to disclose one’s desires. He also studies queer spaces, communities, and media representations, as well as how queer folks live with others who commit homophobic and transphobic slights.

In addition to this research, Dr. Adams is dedicated to supporting the international and interdisciplinary community of autoethnography—a method that blends personal storytelling with ethnographic practice. Across his work is a deep commitment to recognizing injustice, questioning harmful norms, and fostering meaningful relations.

Dr. Adams has written four books and edited six books, and his writing has been translated from English to Spanish, German, Greek, and Japanese. He is a co-editor of the Writing Lives: Ethnographic Narratives book series and founding co-editor of the Journal of Autoethnography. In 2023, he created the Certificate in Autoethnography program at Bradley University, a globally accessible program that surveys what autoethnography is and how to do it.

Dr. Adams is a first-generation college student. He received his A.S. (Business Administration) from Danville Area Community College, a B.A. (Radio-Television) and a M.S. (Speech Communication) from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and a Ph.D. (Communication) from the University of South Florida. He attended Catholic school for early education, worked as a bartender at Yellowstone National Park, has played softball for many years, and has been a vegetarian since 1998.

Contact Information

Tony E. Adams, Ph.D.
Caterpillar Professor and Chair
Department of Communication
Bradley University
1501 W. Bradley Ave., CGCC 300
Peoria, Illinois 61625
tony.e.adams [at] gmail.com

Curriculum Vita (8/25)