Communication Faculty News

Professor Roberta Kosberg participated in a roundtable discussion at the Eastern Communication Association conference held in Pittsburgh in April. The topic was transfer students and her focus was on student adaptation to differing institutional cultures.

In December, Roberta was an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies conference held at Columbia University, New York City.

In addition, she is co-author of a chapter, "Friendships and Social Support in Coping with Illness Diagnosis: The Story of Sherry and the Martha's Vineyard Communication Association," in the book Inside Relationships:  A Creative Casebook in Relational Communication published by Left Coast Press.

Professor Jerry Gibbs reports that the COM Department cut the ribbon on its new "Semester in Los Angeles" internship program on January 10. This innovative program was launched at a reception for friends and alumni of the college at the Roosevelt Hotel in L.A. Students will be able to intern during spring, summer and fall in L.A. in a variety of career fields including Television, Film, Public Relations, Marketing, Publicity and more.

Professor Rob MacDougall had a busy end-of-year schedule noting that, in October, at the Annual "POD (Professional and Organizational Development) Conference" in Seattle, he gave a presentation entitled "Gamification in Education: A Tetrad," in which he discussed the advantages and liabilities of incorporating game dynamics into the college classroom.

Also, at the National Communication Association's annual convention in Orlando in November 2012, MacDougall chaired a panel entitled "Emerging Ecologies of Inquiry: Finding Convergences and Building Research Communities via Neuro-Scientific and Humanistic approaches to Media Studies." He also presented a paper entitled "New Questions (and New Research Opportunities) Emerging from an EEG Investigation of Page and Screen Reading," where he discussed some of the pedagogical and research potentials inherent to ongoing lab work conducted in partnership with Professor Bruce Steinberg.

Associate Professor Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA, continues "spreading the gospel" of social media in career progression. On April 30, 2013 he presented "Your Online Presence: Are You 'Social' Enough?" at a breakfast meeting of Boston Women Communicators. BWC's members are drawn from all levels of publishing, editing, journalism, corporate communications, public relations, graphic design, education, and Web-related writing and design.

In addition, on April 23, Kirk served as Facilitator for the Public Relations Society of America's online Accreditation course, talking to two dozen participants from 15 states including Alaska and Hawaii about "Advanced Communication Skills" for public relations professionals.

Hazlett's thoughts following the tragic events of the Boston Marathon were published in PRSA's nationally-acclaimed blog, "PRSAY." He reflected on the role that communication plays in times such as this.

Professor Hazlett also recently presented a webinar for BurrellesLuce in January entitled "Job Search: Are You 'Social' Enough?" More than 200 participants from around the U.S. participated in this interactive discussion of the effective use of social media in career development and job search. BurrellesLuce is a leading provider of PR services to public relations agencies, corporate communicators, and media relations managers.

Hazlett also was invited by the Public Relations Society of America as one of 13 of the PR industry's thought leaders to offer his prediction of key trends that will impact the public relations industry in 2013. Kirk's post for the Society's widely-read PRSAY blog, entitled "Challenges Facing Public Relations in 2013...Demand for Accountability Will Rise," was the first of a continuing series of commentary by PR pros across the US.