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 2020 Newsletter

Publications:
Kuang, K., & Gettings, P. E. (2020). Uncertainty management in sexual communication: Testing the moderating role of marital quality, relational closeness, and communal coping. Health Communication, online first. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1751401

Grants:
Dr. Karcher received a Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Grant ($5,026) for 2020-2021. The grant will fund data collection and analysis of interview data from cancer patient parents, their partners, and adolescent children who have recently experienced the diagnosis and treatment of a parent’s cancer. Dr. Karcher will be examining family communication processes surrounding the family’s communicative coping and resilience efforts.

Dr. Kuang received a Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Grant ($5,026) for 2020-2021. The grant will fund data collection and analysis for Dr. Kuang’s project focusing on help seeking behaviors among college students with mental health conditions.

Presentations:
Brummett, E. A. (2020, April). How to innovate and sustain a debate league for underserved students: A look at the Frederick Douglass Debate Society 5 years later. Panel accepted at the Eastern Communication Association Convention, Baltimore, MD. (Conference canceled)

Brummett, E. A. (2020, April). Translating interpersonal communication research in innovative ways to the public. Panel accepted at the Eastern Communication Association Convention, Baltimore, MD. (Conference canceled).

Dr. Heineman gave a guest presentation (via Zoom) to the Women’s Resource Center staff during their weekly staff meeting. The presentation was entitled "Rural Gay Masculinity in the Media: Considering Tiger King."

Student Achievements:
-Lambda Pi Eta Research Colloquium 
The Research Colloquium is an annual Department of Communication Studies event in which the Lambda Pi Eta, Xi Omega honor society chapter solicits 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 2019) was eligible to submit. The submissions were then reviewed anonymously by scholars within the discipline. Each reviewer ranked the submissions, and the student authors of the top three rankings were selected to present their research at the Research Colloquium. Due to circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the event originally scheduled to take place on April 9th has been postponed to the following academic year. The students who received the prestigious honor of being selected as this year's Colloquium winners were Sydney Rimmer, Owen Faecher, and Briahna Heintzelman.

The student who received the highest ranking and is therefore the recipient of the 2020 Howard Schreier Award for Outstanding Student Scholarship is Sydney Rimmer for her research paper entitled, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," which provides a rhetorical analysis of a film by the same name about the life of Ted Bundy.

-Lambda Pi Eta Inductions
The Xi Omega chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Honor Society, inducts Communication Studies majors and minors each year based on their academic achievements. The 2019-2020 Induction Ceremony has been postponed until the next academic year due to campus being closed for the remainder of the spring semester. However, the chapter welcomed 24 new students this year. 
Rachel Adams
Lauren Ackerman
Jessica Barnett
Kyle Bower
Abigail Cherkin
Sarah Dougherty
Owen Nathaniel Faecher
Kaitlyn Marie Floyd
Lindsey Garnel
Briahna M. Heintzelman
Elizabeth Huggler
Jacob H. Iacovone
Laura Kacyon
Emily Elizabeth Kennedy
Katelynn Kuijpers
Alejandra Largo
Samantha Elizabeth Leonard
Morgan Melovitz
Megan Millard
Jordan Polo
Anna Semler
Kynslee N. Shepherd
Allison Stair
Jared Strauss

-ECA Student Conference Presentations
Four current Communication Studies majors, who are also Lambda Pi Eta honor society members, were accepted to present their research at this year's Eastern Communication Association Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Those students include, Geara Catania, Gabriel Miller, Kynslee Shepherd, and Emel Rasim. Emel was slated to make two research presentations at the conference as well as a Lambda Pi Eta panel presentation based on her work as President of BU's Xi Omega chapter.

Earth Day Event
Students in the Event Planning class moved Earth Day to a virtual format for Green Campus Initiative this year.  For example, PJ Harlow designed the logo and helped with the event planning.  Here are some of the digital creations: