DOCS' Students Leave No Doubt!

This weekend was an amazing weekend for the DOCS program! Our students showed off the tradition of excellence that we work so hard to teach them, both in and out of the classroom.

To start the weekend off, the Sport Communication Club (SCC) gave AU students and football program their first pep rally on campus in, what we were told, was nearly two decades. The event started off as a Sport Comm internship project from Chris Harvey, and through the help of the SCC, it was able to be executed for the fans in one semester's time. The event served as both a pep rally and a jersey reveal for the new black football jerseys for the Eagles, and the concept of the Blackout for the game was the theme for the event. With the support of the AU Gridiron Club and the athletic department, we were able have a raffle and a #Blackout tee shirt giveaway. More than 300 students came to the event and it was praised as a success by Ken Krupp from the Gridiron Club, Coach Lee Owens, and Al King, Interim Athletic Director. 

On Friday, five students traveled to Franklin University in Columbus to present at the 78th Annual Ohio Communication Association Conference (OCA).

Lauren Fattlar was awarded the honor of Outstanding Undergraduate Student by the Ohio Communication Association. Along with this honor, Lauren also won Top Undergraduate Student poster at the conference on Saturday. Her project used Expectancy Violation Theory to assess the experiences of incoming college
athletes compared to the "college life" they expected to encounter. Lauren is a senior triple majoring in Public Relations & Strategic Communication, Health & Risk Communication, and Sport Communication. 

Megan Salatino also presented a poster at OCA and was given immense praise by the judges for her research into the use of social media as a platform for college team fandom. Megan is a junior double majoring in Public Relations & Strategic Communication and Sport Communication.

Kate Lentz presented a co-authored paper covering the effects of immediacy and efficacy in women's college basketball. An attendee later stated that the level of research in Kate's study was exceptional for the undergraduate level, and other panel attendees also commented on the study asking for information on the follow up in the works currently. Kate is a senior double majoring in Sport Communication and Digital Media Production and a minor in Digital Media Journalism.

Nellie Cronin and Taylor Campbell lead a panel discussion, along with professors from Franklin University, about the opportunities afforded in PRSSA and PRSA. This panel discussed everything from the use of social media to grassroots efforts for resume building and organization fundraising. Nellie is a senior double majoring in Public Relations & Strategic Communication and Health & Risk Communication. She is also the president of AU's chapter of PRSSA and Accent on PR. Taylor is a junior double majoring in Public Relations & Strategic Communication and Health & Risk Communication with a minor in Religion.

The faculty and staff congratulates each of the students involved in the events from this past weekend... from the pep rally to OCA. You all represented AU and DOCS with professionalism and excellence.