ECA Line-ups Are In

On April 23-26, 2015, the Eastern Communication Association Conference (ECA) will take place this year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  This year will be the 105^th anniversary for the ECA as an organization, which began in 1910.  The program describes themselves as “a history of achievement in research, criticism, communication theory, and excellence in teaching. The association welcomes members who share the goals and objectives of a membership dedicated to participation in state, regional, and national activity.”

Students and faculty who have submitted their work will be travelling to Philadelphia and will be scheduled to present during these days. Listed below are the Ashland University students and faculty who have worked hard and are scheduled to present their research.

 

Thursday, April 23^rd

2:00-3:15pm

 

 “Risks Associated with the Usage of Methadone Maintenance Versus Non-Opioid Replacement for Heroin Addiction” 

Zoe Escandon

 

Friday, April 24^th

8:00-9:15am

 

“Infante’s Doctoral Dissertation: Study of ‘Invention’ as Precursor to the Inventional System, Trait Argumentativeness, and Trait Verbal Aggressiveness”

Dr. Theodore Avtgis

 

12:30-1:45pm

 

“Then and Now: The Kardiac Kids”

Haley Pittman and Courtney Troyer

 

“Saving Lives: Communication Training Of First Responders And Emergency Medical Personnel”

Dr. Theodore Avtgis

 

“Theory and Sport Practice”

Dr. Dariela Rodriguez

 

3:30-4:45pm

 

“The Gender Role Portrayal in the Disney Princess Line”

Megan Salatino

 

“Self-disclosure: Past, Present, & Future”

Taylor Campbell

 

“Exploring Perceptions of Lung Cancer and Peritoneal Mesothelioma: Initial Campaign Design”

Lauren Fattlar and Lauren Miller

 

Saturday, April 25^th

8:00-9:15am

 

“Amazing Race: Finding and Correctly Siting Credible Sources”

Kimberly Field-Springer and Katie Margavio Striley

 

2:00-3:15pm

 

“From the Front Line: Communication Research with First Responders”

Dr. Theodore Avtgis

 

 

 

Three AU Communication Students to Present at URCA

URCA, also known as Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium, will be held at Ashland University on Wednesday April 8th. This University-wide conference gives students the opportunity to present their research and concepts that they have worked on leading up to this point. These categories can range from the fine arts, the humanites, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Three students in our Department of Communication Studies (DOCS)  program will be scheduled to present this day.

Sophomores Haley Pittman and Courtney Troyer have worked together to prepare and present "Then and Now: The Kardiac Kids," while Senior Lauren Miller will be presenting "Obama and Isis." Their abstracts are available to be read below.

 Then and Now: The Kardiac Kids

Courtney Troyer and Haley Pittman  

Students’ Majors: Sport Communication and Public Relations (CT); Sport Communication, Public Relations, and Health and Risk Communication (HP)

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Dariela Rodriguez, Communication

"The 1980 Cleveland Browns, commonly known as the Kardiac Kids, was a team to remember for the dedicated fans of Cleveland.  Giving fans a last minute victory was a reason enough to go into “kardiac” arrest, quickly to earn the respectable name.  This nerve-wracking but victorious team directly connects to the concept of a sports hero in mythology and how people treat this concept as if it is their religion.  The concept of mythology dates back to the age of the ancient Greeks.  In Greek mythology, heroes were seen to be bigger than the average man, achieving historic accomplishments, victories.  In the world of sport, the sport heroes were created in the same manner. Although many sports heroes may not be victorious with every move they make, they will always be looked back upon and be remembered as legendary because of their accomplishments.  Without the product of the media in today’s society, these sport legends would not be as recognizable and made to be who they are today.  As we move forward from 1980 away from the Kardiac Kids, statistics show that the “Kardiac Kids 2.0” are on the rise in the Brown’s 2014 NFL season. In preparation for our analysis of this topic, we researched old articles and stories that were written about the 1980 Browns team.  We then continued to search for articles that were written during the 2014 season about this years’ Cleveland Browns to show the comparisons that were being made between the two teams."

Obama and ISIS

Lauren Miller  

Student’s Major: Health and Risk Communication

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Dariela Rodriguez, Communication

"Through great events in time, the media has adopted the techniques of media framing and agenda setting to effectively report the news. These techniques allow the media to emphasize topics and frame specific parts of a story. However, such framing often results in a bias towards one party over the other. For example, news affiliates such as NBC use agenda setting to downplay the actions of one political party by highlighting specific quotes or phrases. Media framing has also been used as effective tool drawing attention to specific parts of a story. In recent months, an organization known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has made its presence known to the world through wartime acts and plots intended to bring harm to westerners. Agenda setting and media framing have been the key components to how the media has portrayed and reported news about ISIS. A content analysis of news stories garnered from news websites (e.a., Fox News, CNN) indicated that Americans are at risk for being swayed in the direction of the news source political affiliation.  Regardless of the media outlet, viewers only have a short segment to which they can create their own opinion on the matter."

AU Well Represented at Ohio Communication Assocation Conference

Andrew Hart and Chrissy Thompson

Eight students and three faculty members traveled to Marietta College to attend the 77th annual Ohio Communication Association (OCA) Conference on October 4 and 5.

Three posters presentations were accepted to the conference:

"Ashland University's Greek Life: Changing Your Thoughts" by Lauren Fattlar, Andrew Hart, Sarah O'Connell, Chrissy Thompson, and Kayla Toth.

Sarah O'Connell, Kayla Toth, and Lauren Fattlar

"Young Team Doing Big Things: A Campaign for the Lake Erie Crushers" by Adena Siefert, Andrew Hart, Ashley Van Gilder, Chrissy Thompson, Christina Maidich, and Kate Lentz.

"Applying Expectancy Violation Theory to Skin Cancer Diagnosis" by Megan Salatino.

Megan Salatino

Dr. Theodore Avtgis, chair of the Department of Communication Studies, serves as OCA's vice president.

Dr. Dariela Rodriguez, assistant professor and Sport Communication Coordinator in the Department of Communication Studies, serves as OCA's conference coordinator.

Dr. Kimberly Field-Springer also attended and participated on a panel discussion.

This is the second year that the department has sent students to the conference. This year's theme was "Keystones of Communication: Scholarship, Spirit, and Service". The conference encourages opportunities for engagement in thought-provoking, meaningful, scholarly discussions, as well as, networking opportunities with colleagues from across Ohio and beyond.

2013 Fall Colloquium a Great Success

The Department of Communication Studies (DOCS) hosted a colloquium "Making a Positive Difference" in which students presented their research projects from Spring 2013 to AU students, faculty, and staff.

The colloquium gave the DOCS students a chance to showcase their hard work, as well practice for the upcoming Ohio Communication Association (OCA) conference this Friday and Saturday.

Attendees circulated the room, looked over the posters and listened as the students' presented their work. Attendees were able to ask questions about the research - which gave valuable practice to the students.

The students will head to Marietta College on Friday to attend the 77th annual OCA conference. They will present their posters Saturday morning. During the conference, students will have the opportunity to engage in thought-provoking, meaningful, and scholarly discussions, as well as participate in many networking opportunities with colleagues from across Ohio and beyond.

Representing AU at the conference will be: Chris Manthey, Andrew Hart, Chrissy Thompson, Kayla Toth, Sarah O'Connell, Megan Salatino, Lauren Fattlar, and Emma Tappel.

AU students, faculty and staff gathered to hear the research projects of DOCS students.

Lauren Fattlar and Sarah O'Connell discuss "Ashland University's Greek Life: Changing Your Thoughts"

Andrew Hart discusses ideas from his group's project: "Young Team Doing Big Things: Campaign for the Lake Erie Crushers".

Megan Salatino answers questions from Dr. Cindy Moseman. Megan's project is titled "Applying Expectancy Violation Theory in Skin Cancer Diagnosis".

AU Team Wins $2,500

Nellie Cronin, a junior majoring in public relations, strategic communication, and health & risk communication, competed on a team of five Ashland University undergraduate students at the 2013 Business Concept Competition held as part of the seventh annual Entrepreneurship Education Consortium’s (EEC) Entrepreneurship Immersion Week (EIW) competition at Hiram College on Aug. 4-9. The AU team claimed first prize for its improved public and commercial restroom product.

EIW is an intensive one-week, academic immersion experience for undergraduates from all disciplines to immerse themselves in the skills needed to help them develop new business concepts and apply these skills in a team-based business concept competition. There were nine participating collegiate teams. The teams conceived and developed a business concept that was presented to a panel of judges from the Northeast Ohio entrepreneurial ecosystem. (http://immersionweek.org/)

Due the competitive nature of the concepts presented, the judges took more than an hour and a half to select the winners before naming the Ashland University team as first place and awarding them with the $2,500 prize.

When asked about her experience, Cronin said, “The Department of Communication Studies really deserves this one! The professors and the department itself has given me so many opportunities such as being an intern for the Rural Emergency Trauma Institute (RETI), being a co-author on a chapter of a book that was published, and so much more. These opportunities have been beneficial in so many ways and taught me so many new things. This led me to be able to do all the work I was able to do during the Entrepreneurship Immerse Week and landing first place! I am so thankful for the department; they have helped me so much and will continue to watch me grow.”

"While I am not shocked, I am very proud of Nellie as she has developed into a quite an innovative and well-spoken student. She has brought great pride to the Department of Communication Studies," says Dr. Theodore Avtgis, professor and department Chair.

The Ashland team was coached by Read F. Wakefield, director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, at Ashland University and treasurer and past-president of the EEC. Dr. Dan Fox, associate professor and chair of the department of Marketing, Hospitality Management and Fashion Merchandising, and past-director of the EEC, assisted the Ashland team on Thursday afternoon and evening.

The Entrepreneurship Educational Consortium Inc. (EEC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and a unique collaboration of 11 Northeast Ohio colleges and universities whose purpose is to provide practical "experiential" and theoretical education to students in Northeast Ohio to prepare them to become entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs, create new ventures and jobs and build wealth for the region. The EEC was founded to promote both the concept and the reality of Entrepreneurship among college students of all disciplines. Beyond imparting the necessary classroom fundamentals, it encourages student exploration of new business concepts.

Ashland University is one of the seven founding members of the EEC. The EEC won national recognition when it received the 2010 Innovative Pedagogy for Entrepreneurship Education from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Students to Present Research at Regional Conference

Two students have had their work competitively selected for presentation at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association (ECA).  ECA is the oldest communication association in the country and is holding its annual meeting on April 24th - April 28th in Pittsburgh, PA.  Senior Christina Miadich had her paper titled "Theory of Interpersonal Communication Motives: A Review of Literature" and senior Megan Wise had her paper title "Detecting Deceptive Communication through Computer Mediated Technology: Applying Interpersonal Deception Theory to Texting Behavior accepted for a platform presentation.  Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Theodore A. Avtgis said "the competition was fierce this year so to have two of our students selected to present research along side some of the brightest minds in the field is quite an honor.  I am very proud of both Christina and Megan and look forward to witnessing their presentations at the conference in April."

STUDENTS TRAVEL TO PUBLIC RELATIONS EVENT

Five students majoring in Public Relations traveled to Cleveland for a networking event hosted by the Public Relations Society of America.  Ashley VanGilder, Kayla Ray, Chris Manthey, Jill Guseman, and Stephany Elgin spent the day listening to various panels of public relations professionals from both profit and nonprofit organizations, had an opportunity to receive career advice, resume feedback, and enjoyed a networking luncheon.  This is the second year in a row that students from the Department of Communication Studies have attended such an event.   

PROFESSORS ELECTED TO LEADERSHIP POSTS

Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Dr. Theodore Avtgis, was elected as Vice President of the Ohio Communication Association by his fellow scholars at the 2012 annual conference held at Kent State University in early October. “I am honored and humbled that my colleagues believed that I could provide leadership to this organization,” said Avtgis.  He will take over Presidential duties beginning in 2015.

Professor Dariela Rodriguez was elected to theboard of the Ohio Communication Association as the Central District Representative responsible for providing voice and representation for all departments of communication studies departments in cenytral Ohio.  She was elected at the 2012 annual meeting of OCA held at Kent State University in early October.  Rodriguez said "It was exciting to be elected as a representative on the OCA board.  The goal of the organization is to grow the network of communication researchers in Ohio.  I hope to help this process move smoothly and to help gain recognition for OCA on a national level."

STUDENT RECOGNIZED AS MOST DISTINGUISHED UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

Senior Megan Wise was honored with the Most Distinguished Undergraduate Student as the annual conference of the Ohio Communication Association award reception. Wise was recognized not only for her scholastic achievements, but also for her involvement outside of the classroom within the field of communication studies. “This honor and recognition means a great deal to me and I am extremely humbled. I deeply care about my academics, so to be recognized for my commitment to my education is greatly appreciative,” said Wise.

 "I am so very happy for Megan receiving this award.  Her performance within the classroom, as my Editorial Assistant, as the President of both Accent on PR  and Lambda Pi Eta has been nothing short of stellar.  To have her recognized as the best Communication Studies undergraduate student in the state of Ohio should make all of Ashland University proud,”  said Dr. Theodore Avtgis, Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies at Ashland University.

Professor Randall-Griffiths Wins Award

Dr. Deleasa Randall-Griffiths, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies, was honored at the annual Ohio Communication Award Banquet with the most innovated teacher award. Her outstanding work and dedication in the classroom was acknowledged and the department is extremely proud of her accomplishment.  Dr. Randall-Griffiths is honored to receive this award because of her deep passion for teaching at the college level: “It was very affirming to have my peers from other institutions review my record and select me for the OCA 2012 Innovative Teacher award. I feel very valued and appreciated."  The OCA conference was a great success in Dr. Randall-Griffith’ mind and she thoroughly enjoyed her time spent at the conference. “I really enjoyed spending time with our students at OCA. The poster presentations were very professional and made us all so proud. As a teacher you sometimes feel a bit like a parent and it is always rewarding to see your students doing well outside the classroom. For me, it was particularly exciting to listening to Megan Wise's presentation, knowing that the initial topic came from my Interpersonal Communication class, but hearing how her research has grown and developed,” said Dr. Randall-Griffiths.

Students Present Research at OCA Conference

Five students representing Ashland University and the Department of Communication Studies in the brightest lights as they shared their research to faculty members and students at the Ohio Communication Association held at Kent State University.  Over 175 scholars gathered at the annual conference to exchange ideas and research findings.

Senior Megan Wise spoke on a panel about her research uncovering the multiple facets of the Interpersonal Deception Theory and she thoroughly enjoyed her experience. “I had a great time presenting at OCA. It was a great experience to share my research at a conference and talk with professors from around the state,” said Wise.

Students also presented their public relations research on specific health topics during a poster session at the conference. 

Sophomore Stephany Elgin spoke with the judges about her plan to increase the participation of organ donations. “I was happy to represent Ashland University at the conference and I enjoyed presenting my research to those who were interested, “ said Elgin. 

Senior Ashley VanGilder and Junior Chris Manthey explained their research to expand participation and membership at the Ashland YMCA. “It was good experience to present to others our project that we worked so hard on” said Manthey.

Lastly, senior Christina Miadich presented her research on the importance of Alzheimer’s patient caregivers in today’s society. “I was happy to be a part of such a great experience. OCA was the first conference I presented at and I was grateful to be given the opportunity to do so, “said Miadich. Miadich also won first prize for her poster research: “Winning the award of top student poster was a great honor and I was proud to represent Ashland University at OCA.”

The conference proved to be a great experience for all who presented and attended, and students were exposed to new aspects of communication and gained confidence as scholars in the communication field.