Communication Commons^™

The Burn Issue, University Of Montana--Missoula. School Of Journalism

Montana Journalism Review

Montana: Scoring the Dolezal Debrief -- Billing the Bereaved -- Digging Deeper by the Week -- The Language of Gender and Sexuality -- Records Go Online -- Mugshots and the Right to Know -- Montana Brings Shield Laws Online

The West: Good Cop, Bad Press -- Bucking Censorship of Student Speech -- East Coast Story Shakes Local Press -- The Reluctant YouTube Sensation -- New App Prospects for Tourists -- Using Analytics to Negotiate Contracts

Cover Story: Journalists on the Wildfire Beat -- Extra: Crowdsourcing Fire Science -- Extra: Fire, Weather and Climate -- Extra: Burnt Budgets -- Extra: Politicians …

Chapter 9 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sally Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Beyond the I-Iot Flashes: New Portrayals of Mature Women

Chapter 1 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Full Chapter.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Becoming a Girl: Pop Culture'sFirst Stage of Gender Training

Chapter 2 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Reading Between the Lines: The Lessons Adolescent Girls Learn Through Popular Young Adult Literature

Ranking Journalism And Mass Communications Programs: Administrators And Faculty Approve Of The Idea And Assess Potential Criteria, Joseph Weber

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Rankings of universities and colleges are common and controversial. However, few rankers produce useful lists that assess and compare journalism and mass communications programs. The few currently available involve superficial reputational surveys or are less than transparent about their methodology. To determine potential criteria for a useful ranking, this article reports the results of a survey of administrators and educators in a broad cross-section of such programs. The survey finds broad support among respondents for the idea of ranking and, further, details criteria that respondents said they would find useful in developing a ranked list of programs.

Drone Journalism Lab Operations Manual, Matt Waite, Ben Kreimer

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

This text is a guide for safely conducting drone journalism field work. It takes into account America's current drone regulations, our understanding of the public's acceptance of drones, the state of drone technologies, and our own experiences. The number one goal of any drone journalism operation is safety. At no time should safety be compromised. If there is any doubt, return the drone, also known as an unmanned aerial system (UAS), to the landing zone and terminate the flight. Ethical journalism is responsible journalism, and flying a drone means taking responsibility for the safety of those near you, on the …

Various Tests Induce, Then Measure, Stress, Malik Hall

The Scope

We all experience stress in some shape or form, especially university students facing final exams and graduating seniors under pressure to find a job. Now these nerve-wracking situations are being replicated in a lab – but this isn’t as sadistic as it may sound.

Researcher Studies Nervous System Development, Paige Bellamy

The Scope

Ashley Purdy, who recently finished a master’s degree in biology at VCU and is now pursuing her Ph.D., is studying nerve cells in zebrafish in hopes of unlocking secrets about the human nervous system. The research could shed light on how neurodevelopmental disorders like multiple sclerosis or epilepsy occur.

Method May Revolutionize Athletic Training, Shawn Scornaienchi

The Scope

Speed is the key to success in track, football and most other sports. Researchers at VCU have found that speed is crucial to success in weight room training as well. They are advocating a new method called velocity-based training, which measures how fast an athlete can lift weights.

Pine Trees May Shed Light On Global Warming, Nicole Nelson

The Scope

VCU graduate student Constance Bolte has been conducting research at “the intersection of ecology and evolution,” focusing on three species of pine trees: the loblolly, the pitch pine and the table mountain pine. Using temperature and precipitation data, Bolte has been forecasting and “hindcasting” the species’ distribution across North America.

Researcher Honored For ‘Outstanding Early Career’, Chris Rubis

The Scope

Dr. Matthew L. Banks, an assistant professor in VCU’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, recently received the university’s Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award. His research centers on two themes – developing behavioral and pharmacological strategies to treat drug addiction, and making existing medications more effective with fewer side effects.

Perseverance Pays Off For Ph.D. Student, Jacob Jaminet

The Scope

Lauren Griggs, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, is working to increase the number of women and minorities entering the STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She was recently awarded VCU’s Susan E. Kennedy Award, which recognizes graduate students who are advancing the presence of women in education.

An Advocate For Minorities In Science, Paige Bellamy

The Scope

Dr. Teshell Greene, who grew up on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, moved to New York at 14 to pursue her dream of being a science researcher. Today she is an instructor in the VCU Department of Biology and a staunch advocate for underrepresented minorities in the field.

Movements In Dialogue: Kaleidoscope And The Discourse Of Underground News, Jeb Ebben

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

From 1967 to 1971, Kaleidoscope shared new and revolutionary ideas, challenged its readers, and created an important venue for intramovement dialogue. Beginning as an outlet for Milwaukee’s burgeoning counterculture and evolving into an important part of the mass movement, Kaleidoscope’s willingness to honestly interrogate the issues facing the community it served meant that it was an arena for tensions to be resolved. That Kaleidoscope, unlike many of the underground papers of the era, never transformed into an unofficial party organ for the New Left allowed it to be uniquely critical of the politics of the mass movement while at the …

Editor's Page, Joseph M. Valenzano Iii

Basic Communication Course Annual

We are now in the 28th volume of the Basic Communication Course Annual, a testament to the dedication of those concerned with the introductory course in communication. Over the years these pages have been graced with significant work that has influenced the nature of the basic communication course, thereby impacting the lives of thousands of students across the country. That said, I am struck by the fact we have no “motto,” no phrase that captures our feeling about this important educational experience. I would like to muse about what might work as a motto for what we do and teach.

Teaching Fairness In Journalism: A Challenging Task, Joseph Weber

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Objectivity has long been contentious in American journalism. Many practitioners call it essential to a news organization’s credibility. Critics, however, hold objectivity is impossible and urge reporters simply to reveal their biases. For educators, teaching objectivity is challenging. Some, seeking a middle ground, instead urge fairness and balance, or counsel “impartiality.” Even such approaches are challenging. This article explores the difficulties, based on a study where students were lectured on fairness, balance, objectivity, and bias. They wrote news stories before and after the lessons. Evaluators found no substantial improvement in fairness and increased bias, however, pointing up the difficulties involved.

Reimagining Your Rx, Rebecca Jones

The Scope

Your future prescriptions might be manufactured in a portable factory – or even be produced by your body itself. Dr. Thomas Roper, director of pharmaceutical engineering in VCU’s Department of Chemical & Life Science Engineering, says the goal is to shrink the environmental and industrial footprint of the drug manufacturing process while expanding global access to medicines.

A Wonder Drug Against Cancer, Hiv And Other Diseases?, Ryan Carstons

The Scope

VCU researchers are experimenting with a new drug that targets the chaperone proteins that protect cancer cells. The drug AR-12 has the potential to fight off not only cancer but also Ebola, Zika and the human immunodeficiency virus, as well as bacterial infections.

Demanding Class Spurs Student To Stanford, Jacob Jaminet

The Scope

Hearing that Nick Rodriguez goes to Stanford, you probably wouldn’t guess that he had dropped out of high school and didn’t get the best grades as an undergrad at VCU. Rodriguez graduated from VCU last spring with a degree in bioinformatics. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical informatics at Stanford University. He says his interest in biomedical research stemmed from the VCU course Molecular Biology Through Discovery.

Researchers Head South To Study Mangroves And Birds, Joe Johnson

The Scope

For two weeks in January, VCU researchers Cathy Viverette and Edward Crawford will accompany 18 students to Panama, where they will study mangrove conservation and avian field ecology.

How A Baby’S Brief Life Had A ‘Positive Impact’, Shawn Scornaienchi

The Scope

Since her son’s death, Sarah Gray has become one of the nation’s leading advocates for organ donations. She has written a memoir, A Life Everlasting: The Extraordinary Story of One Boy’s Gift to Medical Science, and given an inspiring TED Talk that has been viewed nearly 1.4 million times.

The Collaborative For The Research On Black Women And Girls

The Heritage Journal

No abstract provided.

How The Greek Press Constructed The "Greek Economic Crisis", Maria Elena Kuntz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 2008, there has been a surge of interest in and research on the relationship between news media and economic reporting, particularly as it concerns financial crises. The 2008 U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, quickly followed by the economic crisis that began to unfold in Greece in 2009, spurred researchers to examine how newspapers around the world report on the complex, globalized economy. In the pursuit of understanding transnational economic processes, publics rely on news media to provide information about the meaning of economic events, especially crises. As such, newspapers are key players in constructing the narratives of crises.

This study …

It's A Whole New Ball Game: The Mitchell Report, Performance Enhancing Drugs, And Professional Sports, Brian J. Schrader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the findings of a congressional investigation into the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in Major League Baseball, known as the Mitchell Report. It analyzes the primary arguments presented in the report, the argument for integrity, role-models, and apology specifically, through the lens of governmentality and moral regulation. It argues that the report represents a distinct mode of governance that seeks to condemn PED use in a moralizing way. This mode of governance is characterized by its emergence from a variety of locations as opposed to the relatively simple use of the state and its legal apparatus. …

Jotería-Historias: Theories From The Fringes, Robert Mitchell Gutierrez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

By collecting the cultural/historical narratives of gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (GBTQ) Chicanos of Colorado, this research project locates theories in the flesh, or theories of resistance and agency, in the forms of cuentos, pláticas, chismé, mitos, testimonios, and consejos to explicate a queer of color performance of intersectional and decolonial politics. To set the context, several historical and political snapshots of GBTQ Chicano experience over the last 500 years are reviewed to demonstrate how communication about, for, and between GBTQ Chicanos operate in a liminal state (nepantla) where violence, marginalization, and oppression are …

When "I Do" Becomes "I Don't": Exploring Communication Behaviors And Dialectical Tensions In Broken Engagements, Chelsea Annette Hand Stow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Communication behaviors and precipitating events were studied in accounts provided by 109 heterosexual individuals living in the United States who had experienced at least one broken premarital engagement. Participants' responses to an exploratory survey designed by the researcher were thematically analyzed in order to determine the causes of broken engagements, communication strategies used in sharing the disengagement narrative, advice given and received, and the presence of relational dialectics (both tensions and coping strategies). Data revealed that broken engagements more closely mirror divorce than dating breakups, engagements are more likely to be broken by women than men, and disengagement more often …

The Impact Of Philanthropy, Jonathan F. Denzler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forwarding a narrative framework of philanthropic impact this thesis problematizes the evaluation methods used by social engagement organizations to measure the impact or change that they are contributing to in a community. By focusing on the example of food access, and the corresponding language of the "food desert", this project locates the power to control the framing of social issues in the hands of funders as opposed to those who experience the real life effects of living in poverty or resource-poor communities. This process then lets the philanthropists set a goal and meet that goal without ever truly communicating or …

Creating Rhetorical Subjectivities: Negotiating The Precarity Of The Homo Oeconomicus In The Neoliberal Workplace, Leslie Lynne Rossman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquitous impact of the neoliberal economy on our everyday life leads to questions of rhetorical significance. This project strives to incorporate service labor experience as a source as well as an effect of rhetoric thereby embodying materialist notions of the body at the site of production. I explore neoliberal discourses through the phenomena of outsourcing and offshoring by interviewing service industry employees that have experienced job uncertainty within a Fortune 500 corporation. By studying narratives, this project explores how the material effects of rhetoric are able to determine discourses of power relating to production. Thus, this study questions the …

Best Practices To Increase Efficacy Of Graduate School Admissions Communications At Clark University, Diana Curran, Nikki Feinberg, Mitchell Kelley, Ruiqi Li, Anning Zhou

School of Professional Studies

Within the period of time that a graduate student deposits and subsequently arrives at their academic institution, receiving timely information is important for their preparation. This process has been deemed by the Deans of the Enterprise Schools at Clark University as one that needs further investigation. As such, this Capstone looks at the array of communication that goes out to each graduate student during this four-month period. The purpose of examining this communication is to analyze its effectiveness in engaging students. To analyze the effectiveness of this communication, surveys were distributed to current students in these schools to gather data …

Service-Learning And Perceptions Of Homelessness, Tabitha Hart, Felipe Gómez, Priya Raman

Faculty Publications

This article examines how service-learning positively impacts students’ perspectives of the homeless. Data were collected through a pre- and post-assessment issued to students in a service-learning course. At the beginning of the course, students characterized the homeless according to common stereotypes. At the end of the course, students’ views were more humanized.