Kansas State University

Communication studies faculty, students present research at Central States Communication Association Conference

Submitted by Alexis Leiker

Communication studies faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students attended and presented their work in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Central States Communication Association Conference recently.

Under the direction of Soo-Hye Han, students in an undergraduate research class presented at the conference. Arielle Monroe, Emily Ruder and Joseph Simon won the top three awards in the Overall Undergraduate Honors Student Poster category for their research. The faculty and students' presentations at the conference:

Faculty presentations

• "Can't We All Get Along? The Role of Metacommunication in Political Civility Online" by Soo-Hye Han, assistant professor.
• "The Language of Progress and State-Based Politics" by Colene Lind, assistant professor and director of graduate studies for communication studies.
• "I Know What the Article Says, but I'm Not Like That: Putting Students into Research to Increase Awareness of Diversity Bias" by Sarah Riforgiate, assistant professor.
• "My Boss Is Wonderful, and I'll Do Anything for Him!: Positive Managerial Communication and Employee Emotion-Action Tendencies" (Top Four Paper Award in Organizational and Professional Communication Division) by Sarah Riforgiate, assistant professor.

Graduate presentations:

• "Muting Consent: Derailing for Dummies, Muted Group Theory and Sexual Assault Prevention" by Ashley Denney.

Undergraduate Presentations:

• "An Investigative Study on What Influences the Successful Self-Disclosure of Traumatic Experiences" by Briana Carrillo.
• "A Pentadic Analysis of the Beyoncé Voters Tumblr" by Arielle Monroe, received Top Undergraduate Honors Student Poster at Friday's Poster Session I.
• "The Narrative Construction of College Women's Leadership Potential" by Emily Ruder, received Top Undergraduate Honors Student Poster at Saturday's Poster Session II.
• "Here's the Church — Where are the College Students?: Exploring College Students' Religiosity" by Joseph Simon, received Top Overall Undergraduate Honors Student Poster.
• "Evaluation of Professional and Private Boundaries of Resident Assistants" by Caylin Smith and Danielle Winters.
• "Let's Talk About Autism: A Study on How Parents Communicate Autism to Their Non-Autistic Children" by Madeline Weathers.
• "Story Time: Examining Relational Satisfaction Based on Jointly Told Stories by Dating Couples About a Time of Conflict in Their Relationships" by Thomas Weeks.