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UHD Communication Studies Newsletter sponsored by UHD's Chapter of Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society

September 2019

COMM Major Rico Henriquez Joins UHD iRadio as Manager

The Fall 2019 semester is full of growth for UHD iRadio. Under the leadership of new station manager Ricardo "Rico" Henriquez, the station has expanded on-air hours to cover 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. With his staff of 12 student interns and media managers, Henriquez works to broadcast live, write scripts, schedule interviews, and promote the station. He also hopes to continue recruiting for the station as more interns give the station flexibility, depth, and coverage. Of the benefits of interning, he notes, "The internship is not just beneficial to a resume, but to a life and a soul as it forces people in a small room to work together and divulge information to each other every week for hours at a time. The time spent in the station is definitely productive, but also therapeutic."

Henriquez began as a station intern in Spring 2019 and has set high goals for the 2019-2020 year including expanding listenership and the station's reach across campus. To that end, iRadio is developing partnerships with the UHD cafeteria, Welcome Center, Sports and Fitness, the Science and Technology building, and elsewhere around campus in an effort to spread programming all over UHD.

To listen to UHD iRadio, find details about applying to be an intern, or to contact the station, please visit www.uhd.edu/iradio.

Three Communication Studies faculty members completed their year-long Association of College and University Educators Course in Effective Teaching Practices, receiving their pins on Thursday, September 12, 2019. The course is the first designed for higher education faculty that leads to a nationally-recognized Certificate in Effective College Instruction endorsed by the American Council on Education (ACE). In addition to receiving the Certificate, faculty who completed the course are also eligible to receive three graduate credits, issued by ACE’s accrediting body. Congratulations Dr. Archiopoli, Dr. Benton, and Professor Mueller!

Busy June Brings Adventures in Journalism and Health Research for Assistant Professor of Communication

In early June, Dr. Felicia Harris partnered with the Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. to moderate a panel in Houston on diversifying news organizations alongside hiring editors from the New York Times, USA Today Network, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporters, and CBS Miami.

Two weeks later, she was off to New York City, where she was invited to participate in a convening hosted by Data & Society (D&S) Research Institute and sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation for women of color at the intersections of data, technology, and health. This was Dr. Harris’s second trip to D&S in support of her research on Black women’s health experiences online and with social media.

Currently, Dr. Harris is conducting research to determine if there’s a better way to talk about health for Black women online. If you are at least 18 years or older and identify as a Black or African American woman, please consider sharing your perspectives on racial and ethnic identity labels in her brief survey. For more information and to participate, visit: https://uhd.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Y69ixF7jXH7SQd.

Don't miss this semester's Communication Studies Speaker Event on October 16th. This bi-annual event brings together Houston community members and UHD faculty, this time to discuss how storytelling plays a critical role in the Jewish community's shared history. With leaders from Houston's Jewish community and the newly renovated Holocaust Museum Houston, as well as our own UHD professor and Houston radio personality Dr. Hank Roubicek, this event promises to be a rich and insightful conversation on remembrance, tolerance, and forgiveness.

Lambda Pi Eta Accepting Applications for New Members

Lambda Pi Eta Communication Honor Society will be accepting new member applications through October 18, 2019. Each December, this prestigious communication honor society inducts around two dozen communication studies majors and minors into membership, highlighting their hard work and achievement. To qualify, students must have a GPA of 3.0 for all courses and a 3.25 GPA for communication studies. They must be current students in good standing and have completed 12 hours in communication courses. Interested students should complete an online application accompanied by a transcript. For questions, please contact Dr. Elizabeth Hatfield at hatfielde@uhd.edu.

Workshop on Approaches to Cross-Cultural Health and Medical Communication Coming October 7

On Oct. 7, Drs. Archiopoli, Hoang, and Matveeva of Communication Studies, as well as Dr. Agboka of Technical Communication, will host a workshop on cross-cultural health and medical communication. With recent global outbreaks of infectious diseases. such as Avian flu, Ebola, MERS, and SARS, many of which crossed regional and continental boundaries, researchers and practitioners from universities and health organizations are focused on developing better approaches to cross-cultural health and medical communication that would aid in addressing such outbreaks quickly and ethically.

During the one-day workshop, Dr. Kirk St. Amant and Mr. Francisco Sanchez plan to cover the following topics:

• How different cultures perceive and communicate about health and medical topics

• What factors individuals can use to understand the dynamics affecting such contexts

• Which models and methods individuals can use to identify variables cultures associate with credible health and medical communication

• What approaches individuals can use to apply this information to create effective informational and instructional health and medical materials for individuals from other cultures

To register, click here.

John Rountree joins UHD COMM faculty from Pennsylvania State University

Communication Studies is pleased to welcome Dr. John Rountree, who joins the department as assistant professor of communication with a specialty in rhetoric and democratic deliberation. He recently earned his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University after completing his dissertation study, entitled "Congressional Town Hall Meetings: Rhetoric, Inclusion, and Deliberative Democracy." Dr. Rountree supports the area of Media and Public Communication, teaching COMM 1306 Public Speaking and COMM 3325 Rhetoric and Public Address this fall. Though it has only been a few weeks since the semester started, Dr. Rountree noted, "Our majors are very engaged," and expressed his pride at being part of a university valuing civic engagement. Welcome, Dr. Rountree!

Candice Shivers Leads Communication Studies at the UHD NW Campus

Dr. Candice Shivers has been a fixture at UHD's Northwest campus since 2015. This year Dr. Shivers' role shifted as she accepted a full-time position supporting the communication studies corporate communication courses on that campus. UHD students have the flexibility to take classes at either campus and earn credit, making Dr. Shivers' courses in communication theory and organizational communication convenient and practical. Dr. Shivers says, "I am excited for what the Northwest campus has to offer and cannot wait to see it grow." The Northwest campus is housed within the Lone Star College-University Park location.

Alumni Spotlight: Kara Gonzales joins Bethesda Communications Agency Concepts

During her time at UHD, Kara Gonzales wore many hats: Dateline Downtown editor, honors student, and intern at OutSmart Magazine to name a few. But today, Gonzales focuses on just one role: her position as a communications assistant at Concepts, a small Bethesda, MD-based communication firm. The 2019 communication studies graduate now supports several projects at her new firm, including EARN, elaws, and Clear2Connect. She credits much of her success to the guidance provided by UHD honors program mentor, Dr. Mari Nicholson-Preuss, whose glowing reference helped secure Gonzales' role at Concepts. Working with Nicolson-Preuss and the honors cohort, Gonzales engaged in activism and volunteer work that ultimately influenced her career.

Of UHD's impact on her job search, Gonzales says: "UHD, for being a small and often underestimated school, has amazing teachers, opportunities, and a unique experience being a nontraditional school. All these factors combined to help me be a better fit for the modern workplace and to work with marginalized communities." Congratulations to Gonzales!

Upcoming Fall Communication Studies Events

September 3: Leveraging the Career Marketability of Your Major (12-1 pm in A300)

September 17: Women's Health Lecture Series on Vaccines (1-2:30 pm in TDECU Tour Room)

September 24: Return of the Thesis (12-1 pm in A300)

October 7: Contextualizing Care in Culture Workshop (9 am - 3 pm in Milam-Travis)

October 16: Communication Studies Speaker Event: The Narrative Journey in Judaism - Storytelling and the Wisdom of Survival (1-2:30 pm in Robertson Auditorium)

October 22: Women's Health Lecture Series on Human Trafficking (1-2:30 pm in TDECU Tour Room)

October 29: Fall 2019 Communication Studies Internship Fair (1-2:30 pm in A300)

November 13: Communication Studies Public Speaking Event (1-2:30 pm in A300)

November 20: Women's Health Lecture Series on HIV/AIDS (1-2:30 pm in TDECU Tour Room)

December 2: Lambda Pi Eta Communication Honor Society Induction Ceremony (10-11 am in Robertson Auditorium)

Recent Publications & Conference Presentations from Communication Studies Faculty

Archiopoli, A. M. & Murray, C. (2019). Deep learning practices in the HSI/MSI context. Journal of Service Learning in Higher Education (9), p. 29-41.

Benton, D. (2019). Escalating Conflict and the Emotions of Firing an Employee. In R. Bisel and M. Kramer (Eds.), Cases in organizational communication: A lifespan approach. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press.

Hatfield, E.F. (2019). Book Review: The Oxford handbook on advice (E.L. MacGeorge & L.M. Van Swol). Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 1-3.

Lawrence, W.Y. and Flores, N.B. with J. Lock. The Cultivation of Practical Wisdom: A Collaborative Perspective on Civic Learning in Higher Education. In W. Flores and K.S. Rogers (Eds.) Democracy, Civic engagement and citizenship in higher education: Reclaiming our civic person. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Logan, L. (2019). Current issues in intermediary liability. Oxford Research Encyclopedia. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.889.