What's New:

The Bloomsburg University Xi Omega chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Honor Society, has been named the 2019 Chapter of the Year by the National Communication Association.

Featured Student

Sydney Rimmer

My name is Sydney Rimmer, and I am currently a senior at Bloomsburg, double majoring in Communication Studies with a Leadership and Public Advocacy focus and Political Science with a Legal Studies focus, as well as a minor in Public Relations. This summer, I am beyond grateful to have participated in an internship at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in the Senate Republicans Communications Office, as it was an incredibly fulfilling experience.
The office had a group of employees designated to each area of communications. There were teams of employees for areas such as speech writing, webmasters, photography, film, social media, and others. I got to shadow and help complete assignments in each of these areas, and gain an appreciation for the importance of each specialty. This offered a unique opportunity to understand “a day in the life” of the employees in this office and their responsibilities, and it also gave me an opportunity to meet people outside of the office, and experience things many other people will never experience. Seeing the behind the scenes of these events was so interesting.
The brunt of my work was done in June, as that is when the Senate is in session and the budget is being passed. Once the budget passed, July slowed down and there were significantly less events occurring, therefore less events for me to shadow, as the Senators stay in their district offices as opposed to coming to the Capitol. This gave me an accurate representation of the job, both the hustle and bustle of June, and the relaxed nature of July.
This internship has also proven to be a vital step in my networking. I received a follow up luncheon with the lobbying firm who encouraged me to intern in the Capitol, as well as encouragement from my office to look for a career in the Senate when I graduate. I got a chance to work with several Senators, thereby networking with them, which was a personal goal of mine for the summer. Another strength of my internship was the bond I formed with my coworkers. I was the only intern in my office, however I fit in perfectly with the full time employees despite us being in all different walks of life. I had anticipated forming relationships with my coworkers, but I had not foreseen how close I would grow with them. I am so blessed to now call many of my coworkers my friends. We have spent time together in both the office, as well as our free time, and I am elated they have taken me under their wings, and I still stay in touch with many of them despite being many months post internship.
My internship was a wonderful experience, and truly turned out to be a highlight of my summer. I am able to walk away from this office confident that I completed assignments efficiently and to the best of my ability. I have grown from this experience, and I am excited to see how the things I have learned and the connections I have made will apply to my future endeavors.

Department News:

April 2021 Newsletter

 Publication

Lillie, H. M., Chernichky-Karcher, S., & Venetis, M. K. (2021). Dyadic coping and discrete emotions during COVID-19: Connecting the communication theory of resilience with relational uncertainty. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, DOI: 02654075211009302. Select ways in which couples talk about a stressor, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, benefits couples more than others. This study demonstrates patterns of talk that promote resilience serve to maintain your sense of normalcy, support your identity, keep communication open, and stay positive help to support confidence in your relationship, manage emotions about your relationship, and help with overall coping. 

Media Report

 Dr. David Heineman was interviewed for the news article “Confessions of a 60-Year-Old Gamer.” https://www.nextavenue.org/confessions-of-a-60-year-old-gamer

Lambda Pi Eta (LPH) Research Colloquium 

The 2021 Communication Studies Research Colloquium took place on Tuesday, April 27th via a Zoom webinar. This event was sponsored by the Department of Communication Studies Xi Omega Chapter of Lambda Pi Eta (LPH), the National Communication Honor Society. The chapter is advised by Dr. Erin Brummett. The Research Colloquium is an annual event in which the Xi Omega chapter solicits top student research paper submissions. Any student who wrote an individual or group research paper for a Communication Studies course within the past year (since January of 2020) was eligible to submit. The 14 submissions received this year were reviewed anonymously by three BU department faculty members. Each reviewer ranked the submissions, and the authors of the top three ranked papers were selected to present their research at the Colloquium. The authors of the papers selected this year include Lindsey Garnel, Jacob Iacovone, and Katelynn Kuijpers! The authors of the top papers selected last year (2020) also presented their research at this year's event since the Colloquium was unable to take place last spring due to the pandemic. Those students include Owen Faecher, Briahna Heintzelman, and Sydney Rimmer! The recipient of The Howard Schreier Award for Outstanding Student Scholarship for 2020 was Sydney Rimmer for her research paper entitled, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile". The recipient of The Howard Schreier Award for Outstanding Student Scholarship for 2021 is Jacob Iacovone for his research paper entitled, "That isn't America".