Jessalynn Strauss, an assistant professor in the School of Communications, received one of four 2016-17 William R. Eadington Fellowships, which facilitate research into aspects of the gaming industry and the city of Las Vegas.
As part of her William R. Eadington Fellowship in Gaming Research, Assistant Professor Jessalynn Strauss will spend a 10-day residency at the Special Collections Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and deliver a colloquium talk on Friday, Nov. 18.
During her residency, Strauss will examine press releases available in the Publicity and Promotions archive of the Gaming Collection in UNLV’s Special Collections. The collection is widely considered the world’s premier research repository of information relating to gambling and commercial gaming.
Strauss has an extensive background studying casinos, particularly in the city of Las Vegas, with her research focusing on corporate social responsibility in the gaming industry. In her 2015 book, “Challenging Corporate Social Responsibility: Lessons for public relations from the casino industry,” Strauss discusses the paradoxes in contemporary corporate social responsibility through the example of the gaming industry.
Named in honor of William R. Eadington, who pioneered the academic study of gambling at the University of Nevada, Reno, Eadington Fellows spend between two and five weeks conducting research at UNLV’s University Libraries and present their findings through a colloquium series as well as their own scholarship.
Strauss is one of four Eadington Fellows this academic year, and she will be on the UNLV campus Nov. 9-18. In addition to her public talk, which will be recorded as part of the center’s podcast series, Strauss will contribute a brief paper to UNLV’s Occasional Paper Series. Additionally, her research will be featured as a chapter in the upcoming collection “Jackpot: Gambling throughout American History.”
Other 2016-17 Eadington Fellows include Massimo Leone, professor of semiotics, cultural semiotics and visual semiotics at the University of Turin, Italy; Mark R. Johnson, postdoctoral fellow in the Science & Technology Studies Unit at the University of York; and Kelli Wood, assistant professor in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Michigan.
About the Center for Gaming Research
Located within Special Collections at UNLV’s Lied Library, the Center for Gaming Research is committed to providing support for scholarly inquiry into all aspects of gaming. Through its website, the center offers several unique research tools and information sources.