Communications faculty share expertise, insight at AEJMC national conference

With 13 faculty members in attendance, as well as one alumni award winner and an advisory board member, Elon University’s School of Communications had a strong presence at the 2016 national convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). 

In total, more than 2,000 journalism and mass communication administrators, educators and media professionals attended the 99th annual conference hosted Aug. 4-7 in Minneapolis, Minn.

This year’s Elon participants included Dean Paul Parsons, Associate Dean Don Grady and faculty members Bill Anderson, Ben Hannam, Anthony Hatcher, Dan Haygood, Jonathan Jones, Byung Lee, Phillip Motley, Jessalynn Strauss, Nicole Triche, Hal Vincent and Brian Walsh. Roger Bolton, president of the Arthur W. Page Society and member of the school’s Communications Advisory Board, was also in attendance.

​Additionally, recent graduate Michelle Alfini ’16 placed first in the convention’s International Multimedia News Story Contest, recognizing her news coverage of human rights violations surrounding this summer’s Olympic Games in Brazil. A full recap of her honor and work is available here.

Other Elon-related presentations, activities and accolades at the AEJMC convention included:

• Cornerstone Foundation Belize, an Interactive Media master’s class project, won second place in the team/class website category in the Best of Digital competition, sponsored by the Visual Communication and Communication Technology Divisions. Led by mentor Nicole Triche, iMedia graduates Kelly Foran, Sayantan Purkayastha, Erin Turner, Mike Garland, Carolyn Crenshaw, Tereza Novotna and Tarah Holland completed the international project for the public good in January.
• Anthony Hatcher presented “Moral Mondays in the South: Christian Activism and Civil Disobedience in the Digital Age” as part of the Religion and Media Interest Group’s refereed paper research session titled “Christians and Culture: Making and Interpreting the News.”
• Bill Anderson presented “Labor’s Rejection: How the National Basketball Players Association Blocked Management Before Congress” in the History Division’s refereed paper research session.
• Paul Parsons, vice president of the Accrediting Council, served as a panelist for “The Future of Accrediting Professional Master’s Programs: What’s Working, What Needs to Change” session. He also co-moderated the council’s panel session on the accreditation process.
• Dan Haygood, Hal Vincent and Lee Bush (not in attendance) presented “Student-Run Communications Agencies: Providing Students with Real-World Experiences That Impact Their Careers” during the Public Relations and Advertising Divisions’ refereed paper research session.
• Dan Haygood presented “Tel Ra Productions & TeleSports Digest: The Unknown Story of American Television’s Early Chronicler and Archivist of US Sports” as part of the History Division’s scholar-to-scholar refereed paper research session. He also served as a discussant for the “Top Advertising and Public Relations Top Student Papers” research session.
• Hal Vincent was elected to the Advertising Division’s Executive Committee and will serve as its teaching chair. In his new role, Vincent will lead the Distinguished Teaching Award Committee and the Early Career Teaching Excellence Award Committee.
• Byung Lee led the “Use of the Eye Tribe Tracker for Effective Web Page Design” teaching session and the “Easy, Beautiful and Useful Data Visualization Using Tableau 2” workshop.
• Phillip Motley served as a panelist in a workshop session, titled “Visual Communications Skills for the Journalism and Mass Communication Classroom,” which addressed design thinking and user experience design. Motley and William Moner served as co-webmasters for the Visual Communication Division.
• Jessalynn Strauss co-presented “Driving Las Vegas: News Coverage of Uber’s Clash with Unions in Sin City” as part of a scholar-to-scholar refereed paper research session, sponsored by the Communication Technology and Newspaper and Online News Divisions. In addition to serving as a discussant for the Graduate Student Interest Group’s refereed paper research session, Strauss was elected vice-head of the association’s LGBTQ Interest Group.
• Brian Walsh co-moderated the Communication Technology and Visual Communication Divisions’ Best of Digital competition. He finished service as the competition’s chair. 
• Ben Hannam, who finished service as the Visual Communication Division’s creative projects chair, moderated the division’s Creative Research competition.
• Roger Bolton served as a panelist in a session titled “Professionals in Leadership: What Do Educators Need to Teach Students to Become Industry Leaders?”

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is a nonprofit, educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals. The association’s mission is to advance education, foster scholarly research, cultivate better professional practice and promote the free flow of communication.