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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.

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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.

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Department News:
March 2014

 

Publication

‪Miller, E. C. (2014). Jimmy Carter, the politics of family, and the rise of the religious right, by J. Brooks Flippen. (Book Review). Rhetoric and Public Affairs 17(1), 193-195.

Miller, E. C. (2014). Spiritual modalities: Prayer as rhetoric and performance, by William FitzGerald. (Book Review). Quarterly Journal of Speech 100(1), 126-129.

 

Presentation

Dr. David Heineman gave a talk entitled, "Thinking About Video Games: Notes from a Researcher" on March 26 at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Heineman presented insights about the contemporary cultural significance of video games derived from more than seventy-five interviews with leading game designers and artists, game industry luminaries, gaming historians, game studies scholars, and others who have worked in and around the video game industry. His lecture proposed a path forward for research on video games that invites a broader range of academic disciplines to consider the medium and offered suggestions for how that research might find audiences who are best able to respond to its findings and analysis. 

Workshops

Professor Ruth Beerman and Professor Phil Rippke co-facilitated a workshop entitled, "Public Speaking, Engaging Others, and Nonverbal Communication" for the Center for Leadership and Engagement certificate program. The workshop centered around a rhetorical understanding of leadership; the idea being that everyone can learn how to become a better public speaker and leader by focusing on ideas of audience and delivery.

Professor Ruth Beerman and Professor Phil Rippke co-facilitated a workshop entitled, "Digital Citizenship and Ethics" for the Center for Leadership and Engagement certificate program. This workshop took up the question of what does it mean to be a citizen in a digital era and environment, particularly focusing on social media. This workshop utilized two case studies: (1) Samantha Goudie, better known as “Vodka Samm,” the University of Iowa student who drunk tweeted while in jail and (2) Twitter and university responses to the decision of Chancellor Phyllis Wise, from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne, to hold classes on January 27, 2014.

Dr. Kathryn Hobson presented two workshops on Intercultural Communication and Inclusion for Leadership and Engagement Certification program and for the Husky Student Leadership Conference. In both of these workshops Dr. Hobson explored the concept of social privilege and how it is communicated interpersonally, culturally, and institutionally, in hopes of creating more meaningful dialogues around differences.

 

Achievement

Dr. Joe Hassert successfully defended his dissertation entitled, “The Collaborative Performance of Open Mic Poetry and the Art of Making Do” on March 20th, 2014.

 

Recognition

Dr. Kathryn Hobson was nominated as an Outstanding Woman at Bloomsburg University. She was invited to the Women’s History Month Reception, recognized, and honored for hard work and achievement.

Dr. Dale Bertelsen, Dr. Jihyun Kim, Dr. Mary Nagy, Dr. Tim Rumbough, Prof. Christi Saindon and Dr. Kelly Tenzek were recognized as the most positively influential professors by Husky Scholar-Athletes, and invited to a special luncheon. The following includes comments from scholar-athletics.

• Dr. Bertelsen: “He truly cares about teaching his students. His classes are challenging, but very entertaining. I always enjoy going to his classes because there is never a dull moment” (by M. Borski).

• Dr. Kim: “Dr. Kim was my Research Methods professor for the fall 2013 semester. Dr. Kim was an excellent professor for many reasons. She is a very good professor and taught me a lot of information that I will use for the rest of my career. Dr. Kim really enjoyed her class and what she was teaching, which made learning much more enjoyable. Dr. Kim was always there for her students, including me. Dr. Kim always made sure that her students understood the material and was always there for students at her office hours for extra help. I really enjoyed her class and I hope to have her again as my professor in the near future” (by. M. Sherriff).

• Dr. Nagy: “Not only was Professor Nagy the professor in a course I previously attended, she is also my student advisor. If I had to describe Professor Nagy’s teaching style in a few words they would consist of passionate, creative, and intriguing. It was a pleasure to have been in her course and she has been a crucial part of my academic success thus far through her advising” (by A. Harris).

• Dr. Rumbough: “As a professor and someone I rely on for help with scheduling, Dr. Rumbough has been a huge influence on me during the past two semesters. I have had Dr. Rumbough for Public Speaking and Communication Theory and enjoyed taking both of these classes as I progress through my major. Even though Dr. Rumbough is a Communication Studies professor, he also helps out our team when we have scheduling issues or need help talking to professors about missing class. Dr. Rumbough has always helped me when I needed help getting a class moved to a different time or helping me as to what courses I should be taking. I believe that Dr. Rumbough has been a great influence on my academics and me in the past two semesters” (by C. Flynn).

• Prof. Saindon: “Professor Saindon was one of the few professors that I really got to know during the fall semester. She is a genuinely good person and always expressed concern for our well-being. She was continuously supportive and offered help to us whenever we needed it” (by C. Hollan).

• Dr. Tenzek: “Dr. Tenzek has been my professor for multiple classes and has had a huge positive impact thus far in my academic career. Not only has she expanded my knowledge inside the classroom she has prepared me for the real world in every aspect ranging from time management to leadership skills. Her consistency on actively trying to get her students to work to the best of their ability has inspired me to be the best person I can be under any type of circumstance.

Student achievement

Albra R. Wheeler (undergraduate student) recently received Emerging Scholar Award at the CROW (Committee on Research on Women and Gender) Conference at the University of Akron for her paper entitled, “The Wonderbra: Oppression vs. Liberation in Patriarchal Society.”