School of Communications faculty participate in national conference

Chicago participants were Dean Paul Parsons, Associate Dean Don Grady, associate professors Michelle Ferrier, Byung Lee and Amanda Sturgill, and assistant professors Lucinda Austin, Vanessa Bravo, Naeemah Clark, Dan Haygood, Phillip Motley and Qian Xu.

Here are conference highlights involving Elon Communications faculty:

• Ferrier received a $1,000 award for having one of the top three papers in the inaugural Industry Research Forum. Her presentation on “Media Entrepreneurship: Curriculum Development and Faculty Perceptions of What Students Should Know” came in a Council of Affiliates session supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation.
• An M.A. in Interactive Media student project from January 2012 received third place nationally for Team Journalism in the “Best of the Web” competition. Sturgill mentored the iMedia team that went to Costa Rica to research the Boruca tribe and produce a website titled “Boruca: Behind the Mask” about the indigenous people and their culture. Syracuse won first and second place in the competition sponsored by the Visual Communication and Communication Technology Divisions.
• Parsons, as 2011-12 president of the Association of Schools in Journalism and Mass Communication, participated in meetings of the ASJMC executive committee and the Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards steering committee, was a panelist on “News21 and the Teaching Hospital Model,” and co-moderated a session on “Bringing the Knight News Challenge Apps to Life in the Classroom.”
• Austin presented a refereed paper on “Individual and Community Empowerment through a ‘Higher Power’: An Exploration of Rural Appalachian Women’s Communication about Health, Religion and Empowerment” sponsored by the Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division.
• Bravo presented a refereed research paper on “El Salvador and Costa Rica: Two Central American Opposite Cases in Their State-Diaspora Relations” sponsored by the International Communication Division.
• Clark was co-author of “Normalization of Cosmetic Surgery in Women’s Magazines” presented in a research session of the Magazine Division.
• Haygood presented an Advertising Division scholar-to-scholar research paper on “Creative Reconstruction in Tokyo: The Rebuilding of an American/Japanese Advertising Agency.”
• Xu presented a scholar-to-scholar research paper titled “Should I Trust Him?: Effects of Profile Cues on eWOM Credibility.” Xu also moderated a Communication Technology Division research session.
• Lee was a panelist in a Visual Communication Division session on “Analysis of Visuality Using Q Methodology.” Lee was also elected vice head of the Visual Communication Division.
• Motley was a panelist and Sturgill moderated a session on “Teaching with Technology: Learning Concepts in the Face of Challenging Software” sponsored by the Communication Technology and Visual Communication Divisions.
• Motley was elected to chair a committee that will design the logo for the 2014 AEJMC conference.
• Ferrier was a panelist on “Teaching Journalism Entrepreneurship: Lessons Learned from the Inaugural Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Institute.”
• Sturgill gave a presentation on “Leader-Endorsed and Deity-Approved: The Role of Religious Affiliation and Participation in Elections in the New Millennium” in a panel titled “Religion, Politics and the Quest for the White House.” She also was the discussant in a scholar-to-scholar research session sponsored by the History, Communication Technology, and Newspaper and Online News Divisions.
• Sturgill was elected research chair of the Communication Technology Division, and she placed second in the Teach News Terrifically Awards from the Newspaper and Online Division.
• Grady moderated a Minorities and Communication session on “Countering Stereotypes: Media Coverage of Minorities.”

In addition, Parsons, Grady and Austin hosted an alumni dinner for Elon Communications graduates who now live and work in the Chicago area.