Peter Vitouch was a Professor at the University of Vienna's Department of Communication from 1987-2012. He habilitated at the University of Vienna in 1986. As a psychologist, he played a key role in shaping the field of media psychology and advancing it both in teaching and research. He was a co-founder of the journal Medienpsychologie: Zeitschrift für Individual- und Massenkommunikation and director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für empirische Medienforschung.

Peter Vitouch was heavily involved in public life and media. He wrote columns in the daily Austrian newspapers Die Presse and Kurier and inspired numerous readers for the topics of media psychology. From 2010-2014, he was a member of the ORF-Publikumsrat (audience council of the Austrian public broadcaster ORF). He received both the Golden Decoration of Honor ("Goldenes Ehrenzeichen") for his services to the City of Vienna as well as the Grand Silver Decoration of Honor ("Silbernes Ehrenzeichen") of the Republic of Austria.

In Professor Hannes Haas the Department has lost a high-profile researcher and colleague, but more importantly, a great friend and mentor for many students.

Hannes Haas was born in Leonding/Upper Austria in 1957. He joined the University in 1984 and became a research assistant in 1985. He was Assistant Professor since 1997, Associate Professor since 1998, Vice-Director of the Department of Communication 2000-2006. Deputy Director of Doctoral Programmes at the Faculty of Social Sciences from 2004-2010, Director of the Department 2006-2010. Full Professor for Communication Science since 2010, Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences (responsible for internal and external communication) from 2010-2012.

Marianne Lunzer was a pioneer in Austria's media history and, after World War 2, mainly responsible for the transformation of the department, which was only estabilished in 1942 as "Department of Newspaper Science" (Institut für Zeitungswissenschaft). She led the department as chair from 1981-1985.

Ulrich Saxer was Honorary Professor at the Department of Communication of the University of Vienna since 1997.