November 27, 2017
Communication studies faculty present at National Communication Association's annual convention, garner top paper recognitions
Communication studies faculty and students presented more than 20 research papers and panel presentations at the National Communication Association's 103rd annual convention Nov. 16-19 in Dallas.
Greg Paul, interim department head and associate professor, won the top paper award for the peace and conflict communication division for the second year in a row for his paper, "A Theory of Planned Behavior Perspective of Victim-Offender Conference Participation Willingness." Bill Schenck-Hamlin, professor emeritus, was a co-author on the paper. Paul also was a panelist on two conflict communication panels and presented two other papers: "Toward a Communication Perspective of Restorative Justice: Implication for Research, Facilitation, and Assessment" and "A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Mediator Socialization through Training."
Sarah Riforgiate, associate professor, presented "Organization Socialization of Nonprofit Workers," which was co-authored with former master's student Emily Ruder, and "Sharing the Vision: Collective Communication within LGBT Leadership," which was co-authored with former master's student Bill Lucio. She also was a presenter on a panel titled, "The Relevance and Legacy of Family Communication: New Directions in Research and Teaching."
Soumia Bardhan, assistant professor, presented her paper on the top paper panel for the political communication titled, "Contextualizing Democratic ideals into an Islamic Idiom? The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Counterpublic Dynamics in Ikhwanweb." She also presented "Status of Muslims/Islam in Trump's Rhetorical World: An Analysis of President Trump's Tweets."
Heather Woods, assistant professor, presented the paper "Virtually Yours? Gender, Labor and Surveillance in Artificially Intelligent Personal Assistants" and was a panelist on "Using Debate for Civic Engagement."
Natalie Pennington, assistant professor, presented "Making Relationship Research Accessible: Adaptive Relationship Education through Communication Technology."
Timothy Shaffer, assistant professor, facilitated a short course, "Using Our Legacy of Dialogic Deliberation as a Foundational Approach to Teaching Communication."
Craig Brown, director of forensics, and Darren Epping, assistant director of forensics, were panelists on the National Forensics Association's panel, "Fighting the Bigger Battle: Preserving Our Legacy and Increasing the Relevance of the Forensics Community."