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Featured
Student

Facia Nyego Sirleaf
Beginning my undergraduate career as an undeclared student was the best decision I could have ever made. It allowed me the opportunity to fall in love with Anthropology, Gender Studies, and Communication Studies. Not only has this area of study enhanced the love I have for Anthropology and gender and ethnicity, it has given me the confidence I need to thrive as a public speaker and critical thinker. Through classes such as Gender issues in Communication, I was able to develop a passion for analyzing gender as well as ethnicity in different cultural contexts, specifically African culture. After learning tools to effectively communicate in professional settings and volunteering for two semesters, I interned at The Women’s Resource Center on campus and worked as a teaching assistant in the Communication Studies department. I have also won the Undergraduate Research Scholarship and Creative Activities Grant (U.R.S.C.A.), which I used to conduct research in Fez, Morocco for my project titled I Like the Color: Race and Ethnicity in Morocco.  I have also presented research at a Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) conference titled Romance Never Dies: An Ethnographic Study of Romance Novel Enthusiasts which focused on an application of literary anthropology.
I believe that Communication Studies has prepared me for graduate school as well helping me become a well-grounded scholar. Public speaking, gender issues in communication, and intercultural communication prepared me the most with being able to engage with audiences and articulate the love I have for my areas of study. With everything I have learned I plan to complete graduate studies by combining my love for Communication and African Studies to one day be able to work for the United Nations.

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Featured Student

Gabrielle Narr
I am currently a Junior at Bloomsburg University in the Communication Studies major with a concentration in Organizational Communication. I also have a minor in Human Resources. The decision to choose this major and minor was the best decision I could have made as an incoming freshman. The classes I have taken in my major and minor have set me up to be successful in any career I choose. I am now an ethical thinker, organized, have great interpersonal skills, work well in diverse groups, and thrive as a public speaker. Not only have I gained these great skills, but being a Communication Studies major has given me the courage to get involved, which led to me joining my national sorority, Phi Sigma Sigma. Throughout my time in Phi Sigma Sigma I have held three leadership positions which are, scholarship chair, sisterhood development chair, and fundraising chair. I loved fundraising when I did it and it gave me the inspiration to want to pursue a career in Event Planning. Through my connections in Phi Sigma Sigma I received the opportunity to intern over the winter of 2017 at an event planning company called Philly2Night. During my internship I was involved in the process of planning and implementing events. I also worked closely with the events production manager. My favorite event that we planned was our New Years Eve Gala at the Seaport Museum. During my time as an intern at Philly2Night I gained real life experience, personal growth, field experience, and professional skill building. Throughout my time in the Communication Studies Department there have been two professors that have really stood out and helped me strive to be my best. Dr. Shavonne Shorter and Dr. Mary King have really been a great inspiration to me. They both encouraged me to be ambitious and do something that I never thought I would be able to do— achieve a 4.0 in the Spring 2017 semester. I also served as a Teaching Assistant for Dr. Mary King's Introduction to Communication Studies course. This provided an opportunity to build leadership and teamwork skills. I am very grateful for my professors and classmates that have helped me become the best version of myself. Communication Studies has prepared me for life after graduation, even if I'm not ready to graduate.

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.”