Dr. Rodriguez receives Mentor Award for 2016

Congratulations to Dr. Rodriguez who received the Mentor Award for 2016. On January 28th, eight faculty and staff members were honored with this award during the 30th annual Academic Mentor Awards recognition ceremony. This award is given to faculty and staff whose academic leadership for their students extends beyond the classroom. Each mentor was nominated by an Ashland University student and was presented an engraved silver plate during the ceremony.

Dr. Rodriguez was nominated by Megan Salatino. Salatino is a senior triple majoring in Health and Risk Communication, Public Relations and Strategic Communication, and Sport Communication. Students nominated faculty or staff members using the criteria of history of their relationship, how they benefited academically, how their personal development has been enhanced by their mentor, and what impact the mentor has had on the student's progress at the University.

Dr. Rodriguez is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies with a specialization in Sport Communication.  She joined the Department of Communication Studies in the fall of 2012.

DOCS student Kylie Shober wins $1,000 Scholarship from AU Gridiron Club

Kylie Shober recently won the $1,000 AU Gridiron Club Scholarship award. The Gridiron Club gives out raffle tickets to each student at every home football game of the season. During halftime of each home game, a winner is announced, and on the last home game of the season, one of the winners is chosen at random to receive the scholarship. The AU Gridiron Club gives students the opportunity to win a scholarship just for attending football games!

This years winner was Kylie Shober. Shober is a junior double majoring in Health and Risk Communication and Public Relationships and Strategic Communication.

Internship Spotlight: Bethany Meadows Interns at The Ohio State Reformatory

Bethany Meadows recently completed an internship with The Ohio State Reformatory as the Public Relations Intern. At her internship, Meadows managed the social media platforms, which included analyzing current data on the social media platforms and creating daily posts and new content for their pages.

Throughout her internship, Meadows says she learned how to overcome trails and tribulations. She also states how taking the class Introduction to Public Relations helped her tremendously with her daily tasks and knowing how to compose certain social media posts.


Meadows is an English Major with a Creative Writing and Public Relations Minor.

 A favorite quote of Meadows that comes from the movie Shawshank Redemption, which was filmed at The Ohio State Reformatory is, "Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Randall-Griffiths Publishes Chapter in Health Comm Book

​Dr. Deleasa Randall-Griffiths, associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies, had a chapter published in Rachel Silverman and Jay Baglia’s book Communicating Pregnancy Loss: Narrative as a Method for Change. This volume is part of a health communication series edited by Gary L. Kreps.

Internship Spotlight - Heather Marsh Interns with Ashland's Board of Developmental Disabilities

Heather Marsh recently completed an internship with the Ashland County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Her duties included working with people with disabilities or their caregivers to determine areas of unmet needs. She collected data of current needs as well as projections of needs that could arise over the course of the next five years. She then organized the information, analyzed the information, and created summaries. These reports will be used by case workers to meet the needs of the individuals.

In this position, Marsh utilized skills she learned in Health Public Relations such as data collecting, recording and formatting and how to implement these into the organization's software.

Marsh is a senior and is majoring in Health and Risk Communication.

Ashland Grad Elisa Leonard named Editor in Chief of the Cleveland State Law Review!

Congratulations to Ashland Eagle Elisa Leonard who has been selected to lead the Cleveland State Law Review for the 2015-16 academic year. Elisa graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in Public Relations and Political Science from Ashland University in 2011. While attending Ashland, Elisa was a member of the Women’s Golf Team, an Ashbrook Scholar, and Vice President of Panhellenic Council. After graduation, she began her professional career in politics working as the Executive Director of a political party in Northeast Ohio. Elisa then excelled as a congressional staffer for the United States House of Representatives where she handled community outreach and digital media for the office. Last summer Elisa gained professional legal experience as a summer associate for Tucker Ellis LLP. Elisa currently serves as a legal writing tutor for Professor May and a research assistant for Dean Milena Sterio. As Editor in Chief, Elisa will supervise 50 of her talented peers and oversee a budget and programming, as the group produces four scholarly publications next year.

We have no doubt that Elisa will lead the Law Review to new heights!