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."

Avtgis Honored with Academic Mentor Award

Each year, students are invited to nominate Ashland University faculty members for a prestigious Academic Mentor Award. Faculty members who are nominated have served as mentors to their students and have provided a track of excellent educational experiences for their students that include guidance, challenges, and opportunities above and beyond the classroom. These mentors have helped students to achieve not only academic excellence, but have been counselors to these students throughout their years at Ashland University. This year, senior Nell Cronin nominated Dr. Theodore Avtgis, chair and professor of communication studies, as her mentor.

Avtgis was one of eight faculty mentors honored at the 29th Annual Academic Mentor Awards recognition luncheon held on January 30 at the John C. Myers Convocation Center.
 
 "It truly is an honor to be nominated and selected for the Ashland University Academic Mentor Award by Nell. Nell was the first student I recruited to AU. Over the last four years we have worked on many projects and I consider her my academic daughter. To see how far she has come in that time is the biggest reward. The fact that she attributes even a small amount of her success to my influence is truly humbling," says Avtgis.

Nell Cronin is from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a senior double majoring in public relations and strategic communication and health and risk communication.
She presented Avtgis with an engraved silver plate and her nomination letter during the luncheon.

Avtgis, who came to AU in 2011, received his Ph.D. from Kent State University in 1999 and has assisted on the faculty of St. John’s University, West Virginia University, and the University of Akron. He has presented over 115 conference papers and has had the opportunity of publishing over 55 peer-reviewed book chapters and articles.

Elgin Named December Intern of the Month

Stephany Elgin, a Public Relations & Strategic Communication major with a minor in Business Administration, has been named Intern of the Month for December.

She completed her internship this summer at Hospice of North Central Ohio in Ashland. She encourages students to "never take yourself out of the running for an internship by not applying. Even if it doesn't seem like something that you would like to do for a career, there are learning opportunities from every situation."

Stephany is also involved with Alpha Lambda Delta, the Orientation Team, Accent on Public Relations, the Public Relations Student Society of America, Lambda Pi Eta, Omicron Kappa Delta, Rho Lambda, & the Order of Omega. She is a senior and plans to graduate in May 2015.

Congratulations Stephany!

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.

Fattlar Interns with Top Ranked Hospital

Senior Lauren Fattlar had a busy and rewarding summer interning with the Cleveland Clinic as a Corporate Communication Intern. In this position, Lauren pitched stories to the many media outlets, such as the news, TV, and magazines, she posted tweets on the Clinic's Twitter site, as well as researched trending topics and stories to send out as weekly tips to general reporters.

Lauren also had the opportunity to attend video shoots. One of the shoots recorded behind-the-scene activities of the heart center as the Clinic was recently named the No. 1 heart hospital by U.S. News & World Report for the 20th consecutive year.

"Communication courses such as Public Relations Writing, Health Communication, Organizational Communication and Interpersonal Communication really helped prepare me for my internship by giving me the proper skill set and confidence to write press releases and to work in a fast-paced corporate communication environment," says Lauren. "It was really neat to have used what I learned about health communication and apply the importance of patient interaction first-hand at the Cleveland Clinic!"

Lauren is triple majoring in Health & Risk Communication, Public Relations & Strategic Communication and Sport Communication and plans on graduating in May 2015.

Five Students from AU'S Department of Communication Studies Joined O-Team

Lauren Fattlar, Alexys McQuillen, Stephany Elgin, Taylor Campbell and Byron Reyna-Corzo joined Ashland University's Orientation Team and are in the Department of Communication Studies. The Department of Communication majors include Health and Risk Communication, Sport Communication and Public Relations and Strategic Communication.

Ashland University's O-Teamers are responsible for guiding freshmen through their transition to campus life during orientation weekend and drive-ins. O-Teamers are selected based on personality and academic standing. These students instruct, guide, entertain and support freshmen by organizing events, giving tours and moving freshmen in early. 

Lauren Fattlar is on left standing next to Alexys McQuillen. Stephany Elign is in the middle with Taylor  Campbell and Byron Reyna-Corzo on her right. 

Elgin Gains Experience Interning with AU's Department of Student Life

Public Relations and Strategic Communication major, Stephany Elgin, interned this summer with Ashland University's Department of Student Life as an Orientation and Commuter Services Intern.

Stephany's duties included assisting the director of Orientation with planning and implementing orientation programs, leading the Orientation Team as an executive member during programs, developing Orientation Team training materials, and preparing materials and presentations for incoming students and their family members, as well as working with special populations such as commuters, out of state students, and transfer students to feel more acclimated to campus. She also helped out with the day-to-day office tasks in the department.

"One class that has particularly helped me in this position would be organizational communication," says Stephany. "The course taught me how to develop and implement a training program, which was extremely beneficial when producing and designing a training program and materials for the Orientation Team members."

Public speaking was a large part of her experience.

"The skills I developed from many of my communication courses have helped me to become a better public speaker. I had been asked to give speeches or speak to crowds with very little notice on a number of occasions. Being able to organize my thoughts and present information in a logical manner has prepared me for this challenge."

Stephany added, "Working for the Student Life Office and the Department of Orientation has showed me just how much work goes into student life at AU. I am proud to be a part of a department that touches the lives of every new student on Ashland's campus!"