research – Harrison Connect

April 20, 2016woocw No Comments

32 Students and Faculty Represent SCOM at ECA Conference

March 31 to April 3, students and faculty members in the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University presented at the 107^th Eastern Communication Association Convention at the Hyatt Regency in Inner Harbor Baltimore, Maryland. These Students and faculty members presented their scholarly research in the convention’s informational and/or competitive panels.

JMU undergraduate student participants included:

Amy D’Amato, Lauren Antilety, Nicole Banville, Alexandra Foley, Katie Haskins, Andrew Haveles, Haley Hoff, Gina Jeliff, Yoon Ko, Kaitlyn Lema, Laura Mack, Kathryn McAnally, Amberly Millis, Amanda Pennypacker, Ashley Reynolds, Emma Talkington, Haley Winter, and Lindsay Wright.

Graduate student participants included:

Erin Casey, Claire Habel, Austin Woodruff, and Leanna Smithberger.

Faculty member participants included:

Dr. Carlos Aleman, Dr. Timothy Ball, Dr. Lori Britt, Dr. Heather Carmack, Dr. Eric Fife, Dr. Lindsey Harvell, Dr. Kathryn Hobson, Dr. Tatjana Hocke, Dr. C. Leigh Nelson, and Ms. Christina Saindon.

These participants joined with experts and scholars from all over the country to present their research on a variety of communication studies subjects, including crisis, interpersonal, advocacy, leadership, health, organizational, media, rhetorical, and many more. This year’s selection was very competitive, so please congratulate your fellow Dukes for their hard work and accomplishments!

To learn how you can apply to partake in next year’s ECA Conference, go to www.ecasite.org for more information.

November 25, 2013woocw No Comments

NCA 2013

The National Communication Association Convention (NCA) was held Nov. 20 – Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. Below are a few pictures of our professors presenting their research papers.

Meet the Faculty….Dr. Irwin

Today we are introducing Meryl Irwin, a professor teaching primarily GCOM for her first year here.

Do you have any class you hope to teach here?

Dr. Irwin’s specialty is rhetoric and comparing politics to cultures. A main focus of her research involves immigration and how it affects their culture. Sometimes she focuses on traditional politics and other occasions she focuses on popular culture.

On teaching the intro classes, she notes that it is a major shift from focus on answers in High School to a focus on the questions at universities. A plus side of her position here is, “Helping first years realize their potential and possibilities.”

What did you find is different on the JMU campus vs. other universities?

The main difference of the JMU campus is our students. Dr. Irwin feels all the students are eager to learn and very conscientious; even the seniors are not-jaded in their final year. The biggest surprise is how JMU is a huge campus with thousands of students, yet it feels like a small place—in a good way!

What have you most recently been researching?

This past summer, Dr. Irwin worked on a very interesting ethnography focusing on emotion and attachments. The subject is fandom of Walking Dead via the medium of Tumblr. She immersed herself in the “fandom” culture and is finishing up her research currently.

Dr. Irwin is very passionate about rhetoric and her research. Feel free to post any comments or questions about her and her research below.