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.

 

Congrats to Communication Studies student Kyle Bower for serving as APSCUF’s summer government-relations and communications intern.

 

 

 

Congrats to The National Communication Association Student Club (NCASC)! NCASC was selected as the 2018 Bloomsburg University Student Organization of the Year for their outstanding work in the areas of leadership, programming, and service.

Please see our Communication Studies Newsletters:

The BU Department of Communication Studies is officially on social media! Please like our Facebook page and our Twitter page and share with friends who may be interested!

 


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:
November 2017


Publications

Miller, E. C. (Ed). (2017). The Rhetoric of Religious Freedom in the United States. Lanham, MD: Lexington.

Miller, E. C. (2017). “Not About Discrimination”: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts and the Question of Intent. In E. C. Miller (Ed), The Rhetoric of Religious Freedom in the United States (101-114). Lanham, MD: Lexington.

Petre, J. T. (2017). Religious Freedom and the Marketplace. In E. C. Miller (Ed), The Rhetoric of Religious Freedom in the United States (115-130). Lanham, MD: Lexington.

Petre, E. A. (2017). Environmental Protection and Religious Freedom: The Case of the Dakota Access Pipeline. In E. C. Miller (Ed), The Rhetoric of Religious Freedom in the United States (163-182). Lanham, MD: Lexington.

Presentations

Brummett, E. A. (2017, November). Personal conflict analysis: A lens model approach. Great Ideas for Teaching Students (G.I.F.T.S.) presentation at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Brummett, E. A. (2017, November). Constructing interracial couple identities off stage: Social network members as reviewers of interracial romantic relationship performances. Research roundtable paper presented at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Huang, S. (2017, November). Beyond the paradigm of same-sex marriage: Performing heteronormativity in queer marriage in contemporary China. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Huang, S. (2017, November). Why does communication need transnational queer of color studies? Paper presented at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Miller, E. C. (2017, November). “The protestant contention”: Religious freedom, respectability politics, and W. A. Criswell in 1960. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Miller, E. C. (2017, November). Making policy debate more inclusive and relevant for all: The legacy of the Frederick Douglass Debate Society. Panel presented at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Rumbough, T. (2017, November). Furthering our legacy and our relevance through student success and retention: Best practices for enhancing undergraduate academic advising. Panel presentation at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Shorter, S. (2017, November). From Black-ish to Black Lives Matter: Communicating Blackness in the 21st Century. Panelist on a panel presented to the African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association convention, Dallas, TX.

Shorter, S. (2017, November). Making policy debate more inclusive and relevant for all: The Legacy of the Frederick Douglass Debate Society. Chair and Panelist of a panel presented to the Cross Examination Debate Association of the National Communication Association convention, Dallas, TX.

Shorter, S. (2017, November). Building debate into the college and university culture: Strategies for growing teams across campus and curricula. Panelist of a panel presented to the American Forensic Association of the National Communication Association convention, Dallas, TX.

Shorter, S. (2017, November). The relevance of service in our careers: A conversation about service among junior faculty women. Chair and Panelist of a panel presented to the Women’s Caucus of the National Communication Association convention, Dallas, TX.

Wang, N. (November, 2017). An examination of the received-desired support discrepancy and congruence in parent-child relationships during emerging adulthood: A response surface modeling approach. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX.

Wang, N. (November, 2017). Received-desired support gaps: The roles of positive communication and perceived support quality in parent-emerging adult relationships. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX.

Wang, N. (November, 2017). Mundane support in personal relationships: A concept explication and measurement validation. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX.

Scholarly Activity

Dr. Eric Miller’s interview with historian Stephen Mansfield appeared at Religion Dispatches on November 14.

Dr. Eric Miler chaired a panel titled “Religious Freedom Rhetoric in the United States” at the National Communication Association Convention, Dallas, TX.

Dr. Shavonne Shorter successfully chaired the 10th annual Mid-Atlantic LGBTQA Conference hosted at Bloomsburg University November 3-5th, 2017. The conference hosted 257 student, faculty, staff, and engaged citizen registrants, the most in its history. As a part of her responsibilities Dr. Shorter provided opening remarks that called everyone to participate in activism in response to all that is happening in our world. She also served as the Mistress of Ceremonies at the Keynote Banquet.