Read what's happening in Communications:

• Message from the Chair
• Debate-A-Palooza on the Quad
• Lyons is winner of Joe Hulgus Golden Summit award
• Three new faculty welcomed for fall 2008
• Snapshots of Southern Indiana 2008
• Flatboat and young 'Abe' start river trip
• Student media to collaborate on campus news coverage
• Teaching on an Indian Reservation
• Study abroad leads to graduate's job in Spain
• Communication faculty wins advising awards
• Communications, Courier & Press announce internship program
• Erin Gibson takes first place in a radio documentary

Message from the Chair

The 2008-2009 school year promises to be a busy and exciting time for the students and faculty in the Department of Communications. We have three new full time faculty members this semester and we expect to add another full time person to our faculty ranks in the coming year. Also this fall our Journalism and Mass Communication programs will be evaluated with a site visit October 19-22 from an accreditation team from the Accrediting Council in Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.  The team will evaluate our program on the nine ACEJMC standards:

• Mission, governance and administration
• Curriculum and instruction
• Diversity and inclusiveness
• Full-time and part-time faculty
• Scholarship: Research, creative and professional activity
• Student services
• Resources, facilities and equipment
• Professional and public service
• Assessment

Students, faculty, alumni, and employers will have a chance to participate in the evaluation process. Site visit team members will also visit classes to observe typical classroom activities. At the conclusion of the site visit the accreditation team will deliver an initial report recommending accreditation, provisional accreditation or no accreditation. The Department of Communications received provisional ACEJMC accreditation in 2002 and full accreditation in 2004. ACEJMC currently accredits 112 programs in journalism and mass communications at U. S. colleges and universities and one at a university outside the country.  

I welcome this evaluation by outside educators and industry professionals and pledge that the Department of Communication will continue to work hard to provide our students a quality educational experience that prepares them for successful careers in the fields of Journalism and Mass Communication.

J. Wayne Rinks, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Communications

Debate-A-Palooza on the Quad

On September 26, 2008, approximately 550-600 students, faculty, and community members gathered at the USI Quad for Debate-A-Palooza, a nonpartisan voter education program that brought citizens together to watch a televised debate and talk about what they learned.

Debate-A-Palooza was part of a national DebateWatch program sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.  In 2004, nearly 30,000 citizens gathered at 400 locations across the U.S. to watch the debates; USI is the only Indiana school to participate in 2008.

“Debate-A-Palooza taps into the University’s mission to create better-informed citizens who live wisely and are responsive to community needs.  Debate-A-Palooza serves to assemble people as a community for public conversations, and to help us think of ourselves as united in voice rather than alienated and disenchanted," says Leigh Anne Howard, associate professor of communication studies and faculty sponsor of the event.

Held at the new amphitheatre, the event kicked off at 6 pm with live music by local band, deafmegan.  Students could register to vote or request an absentee ballot at a station staffed by The Shield and the Society of Professional Journalists.

The debate was shown on two jumbo screens. When the debate ended at 9.30 p.m., students in CMST 430, Seminar in Political Communication, led a brief discussion about the debate and the festival format of the event. 

“Some of us are fairly passive when it comes to the responsibilities of citizenships.  We are spectators or consumers rather than citizens active in public life.  Debate-A-Palooza is a program designed to get people—regardless of who they are or what they believe—involved in the political process, and to provide a forum for understanding diverse perspectives on central issues facing the American public,” said Howard.

This event was sponsored by the Communication Studies Program, Communication Club, APB, RISC Grant Program, University Core Curriculum, the Office of Academic Affairs, SGA, and the University Bookstore.

Lyons is winner of Joe Hulgus Golden Summit award

Jeff Lyons is the 2008 winner of the Joe Hulgus Golden Summit award given annually to a non-full time employee who has given exceptional service to the Department of Communications.

The award is named for Joe Hulgus a volunteer broadcaster who hosted the “Big Band Review” on WSWI from 1983 to 1991.  

Lyons was the unanimous pick of the department’s full time faculty in recognition of the excellent service to his students and the department in his teaching of Radio/TV Performance…a required Junior level class.

Three new faculty welcomed for fall 2008

Dr. Karen Braselton has accepted a position as instructor in communication studies in the Department of Communications.  Braselton’s specialization is in intercultural communication examining the intersection between health care and culture.  Braselton’s current work is in the area of Hispanic immigrant health care analyzing intercultural encounters between United States health care providers and Hispanic immigrant health care seekers. 

Braselton holds a Ph.D. in Speech Communication from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Indiana State University.  She graduated from USI with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interpersonal-Organizational Communication, where she graduated magna cum laude. 

When she is not teaching on campus, Dr. Braselton conducts leadership training for women executives through a peer exchange network called SOAR.  She is president-elect of the Evansville Museum Guild, and is secretary of the Health Communication division of a regional organization, Central States Communication Association.

Among her awards and honors are the Dean’s Golden Apple Distinguished Teacher Award, and the USI Communication Department’s Joe Hulgus Golden Summit Award.

Dr. Yoon-Joo Lee has accepted a position as assistant professor in the Department of Communications.  She joined the University of Southern Indiana after finishing her Ph.D. degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Her research interest centers on social issue advertising, corporate sponsorship in social causes, and health communications. She has presented her papers at the national conference meetings, such as AEJMC, ICA, AAA, and NCA. And her two papers have been published in Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising.

Keith Saliba has accepted a position as assistant professor of communications in the College of Liberal Arts. He holds a BS in journalism and an MA and Ph.D. in mass communications from the University of Florida.

His scholarly research focuses on framing analysis, literary journalism, and political communication. Saliba has had several papers accepted at national academic conferences, and his article Hayes, Herr and Sack: Esquire Goes to Vietnam was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Magazine and New Media Research in 2007. 

Before returning to graduate school, Saliba worked as a newspaper reporter and columnist for various publications, including the Albany (Ga.) Herald and the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun. His work has also appeared in Adventures Quarterly magazine, Gainesville Today, and Albany magazine. Saliba teaches Basic Reporting, Literary Journalism and Feature Writing at the University of Southern Indiana, and is slated to teach Sports Reporting and Editorial Writing in spring 2009.

Snapshots of Southern Indiana 2008

Dr. Karen H. Bonnell, professor of communication, is the recipient of the first annual Darrel Bigham Historic Southern Indiana Faculty Research Award in 2008.

Bonnell worked in broadcast media for many years and was employed as managing editor and executive producer at WFIE Channel 14 before joining USI in 1990. She said she is “grateful and honored to have this first Darrel Bigham research grant award.”

Bonnell received a $4,000 grant for her project, a second installment of “Snapshots of Southern Indiana,” a 30-minute television program she researched, wrote, and produced in partnership with WNIN-TV during her fall 2007 sabbatical.

The goal of the “Snapshots” programs is to promote tourism in southern Indiana and educate the public about the history of southern Indiana.

The 2008 program features historic Vincennes including the George Rogers Clark Memorial, the Indiana Territorial Capitol historic sites, and Grouseland, the home of our 9th president, William Henry Harrison.  Also featured is historic Corydon, Indiana, the first state capitol and the site of one of only two civil war battles fought on northern soil.  Finally, the program explores Angel Mounds State Historic site including a look at how archaeologists continue to document the lives of early native Americans.

The program will air in October on WNIN-TV, Channel 9 on the following dates:

• Wed, 10/01/2008   9:00pm
• Sun, 10/05/2008   3:30pm
• Wed, 10/08/2008   10:30pm

Last year’s episode of Snapshots of Southern Indiana featuring historic New Harmony, Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Wyandotte Caves, and O’Bannon State Park will be broadcast again on Wed, 10/01/2008 at 9:30pm.

Flatboat and young 'Abe' start river trip

Taken from The Evansville Courier & Press
By Rich Davis
Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A 60-foot replica of an early 19th century flatboat takes off from Rockport, Ind., today September 9, retracing a trip Abraham Lincoln took in 1828 when he was taking a load of produce to New Orleans for a local merchant.

This time, the flatboat will be carrying heritage: the people of Spencer County, Ind., where Lincoln lived from ages 7 to 21, will share their story with folks in roughly 20 towns in eight states along the way. They'll even have a man onboard portraying Young Abe.

Casey McCoy, a journalism major at the University of Southern Indiana, is serving as an intern. With his 6-foot-4 height and sharing Lincoln's Feb. 12 birthday, organizers plan to let him portray the young Lincoln. He will also be helping to compose a daily blog at www.LincolnsJourney.org for online fans.

The public is invited to attend the send-off for "Lincoln's Journey of Remembrance," starting at 11 a.m. on the Ohio River bluff in Rockport. The keynote speaker will be State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

The 50,000-pound flatboat, owned by Ron Drake, a Washington, D.C., attorney with Hoosier roots, will stop in English Park in Owensboro, Ky., at 2 p.m., with Indiana first lady Cheri Daniels aboard.

Also participating in the first leg will be several members of the original Rockport Jaycees crew who built a simpler Lincoln flatboat in 1958 and floated it to New Orleans.

The flatboat then travels downriver to Evansville, where it will be on display at Dress Plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and again Thursday until 1 p.m.

The public can view the flatboat and learn about the trip, and activity booklets will be available for children. The Chamber of Commerce of Southwestern Indiana also is hosting a luncheon at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Riverfront.

The boat will stop in Henderson, Ky., Thursday afternoon and be in Mount Vernon, Ind., at noon Friday to kick off that city's two-day River Days Festival.

The 2008 journey is far more sophisticated than the 1958 trip, said Melissa Miller of the Spencer County Visitors Bureau. A manufacturer has donated high-speed engines (discreetly placed), and Toyota is providing a 2008 Sequoia to serve as a support vehicle on land. There's a certified river pilot aboard, along with the boat's builder, John Cooper of Tennessee.

Miller estimated the total cost of the project at more than $100,000, including the SUV and outboard engines. She said Drake has offered to pay for the boat's expenses, and the Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission is providing $30,000 for educational and promotional materials. The latter includes an information tent for a portable exhibit, media kits, newspaper ads and the activity booklets for kids.

"It's going to be a month of excitement," predicted Miller.

Student media to collaborate on campus news coverage

For the fall 2008 semester, the University of Southern Indiana’s three student media outlets – The Shield student newspaper, 820 The Edge WSWI radio station, and Access USI, the student-produced television news program – plan to share content and converge talents and resources on new radio and television programs, as well as on the Web.

The convergence program addresses the multitude of skills today’s communications professionals need. “Our students will need to know about print, audio, and video, and this will give them that opportunity,” said John Morris, instructor of radio/TV and WSWI general manager.

Erin Gibson, instructor of journalism and faculty advisor for The Shield, said, “We can’t equip every student with every skill, but we can teach them the flexibility they will need. Print reporters are now armed with video and still cameras. They have to tell stories in a different way. One of the most exciting aspects of the convergence of student media is that the students are going to learn from each other.”

The first program is Issues on the Edge, a radio show that fulfills WSWI’s public affairs mission as stated by the FCC. The first episode, a 30-minute interview with USI President H. Ray Hoops, will air at 8 a.m. Sunday, September 7, on WSWI. Hoops, USI’s second president, will retire in June 2009 after a 40-year career in higher education.

“It’s an honor to have Dr. Hoops as our first guest,” Morris said. “He truly understands the area of higher education and specifically where USI has come from and where the University is going as it continues to meet the higher education needs of the Tri-state.”

Issues on the Edge will air at 8 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month. Each media outlet will post video or audio of the show on its Web site, and The Shield staff will report on the interviews.

Impact USI is a new television program devoted to subjects of interest to students in which a roundtable of student media will interview a USI newsmaker or discuss a campus issue. Designed to increase student involvement, the program will air in lieu of Access USI twice a semester. Access USI is broadcast live at 9 p.m. Thursdays on Cable Channel 12.

“USI has strong opportunities in mass media for students and we are becoming stronger with these efforts,” said David Black, assistant professor of broadcasting and faculty advisor for Access USI. “This is just the start of what should be a permanent working relationship between our student campus media.”

Taken from USI News, August 29, 2008

Teaching on an Indian Reservation

John Morris is teaching robotic programming
to students on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

“Dad, this was the best family vacation ever.” When a father hears those words from his 15-year-old daughter, one would think it would be after a camping trip in the Rockies or a stay near the beach in Florida, both of which we have done, but those words came from my daughter after we spent nearly a week helping teach summer classes at a school in the poorest county in America.   Read the article...

Study abroad leads to graduate's job in Spain

A last minute decision to study abroad turned out to be one that dramatically changed the life of Erin Ennes. Ennes, a 2008 honors graduate, decided to study abroad in August 2006. She had no idea where she wanted to study but after working with Heidi Gregori-Gahan, director of International Programs and Services, as well as other staff members, she decided to study abroad in Spain for the fall semester.

Gregori-Gahan said, “Erin seemed particularly inquisitive about experiencing things outside of the United States. She was eager to experience more. I enjoyed working with her. Upon her return she even served as an international orientation assistant for students studying abroad from other countries because she could relate well to them.”

Ennes graduated in May with a double major in public relations and advertising and Spanish. In September, she will be traveling to Spain once again, but this time to teach. She will be teaching English at Virgen de la Cabeza, a primary school for students age three to 12 years old. She will be working with the Council for International Educational Exchange in a program called Teach in Spain. This also is the organization she studied abroad with in 2006. She will receive a stipend of 700 euro (per month), which will cover her food and living expenses.

Read more...

Taken from USI News, July 03, 2008

Jeffers

Communication faculty wins advising awards

Robert W. Jeffers, instructor in advertising, was one of the recipients of the recently established USI Outstanding Advisor Award.  The award comes with a $1,000 prize.  Winners were selected by the Faculty Senate's Faculty Awards for Service, Teaching, and Research committee.

Taken from USI News, February 19, 2008

Communications, Courier & Press announce internship program

Sabria Dughaish Lindsey Ziliak

Dr. Wayne Rinks, chair of the Communications Department, and Mizell Stewart III, editor of the Evansville Courier & Press, announced a partnership this semester that provides regular internships for USI students at the daily newspaper. “This is a terrific opportunity for our journalism students to get some real-world experience with a quality publication,” Rinks said.

The program was developed through a collaborative effort between the Courier & Press, Communications, and Career Services and Placement.

“The Courier & Press and USI have a long-standing relationship,” said Pam Doerter, career coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts in Career Services. “Over the past 10 years, the University has placed 17 students in internships at the newspaper.” With this new partnership, two students will intern with the newspaper each fall and spring semester.

The first two students selected for the program were junior Sabria Dughaish and sophomore Lindsey Ziliak. Dughaish works in the sports department and Ziliak, features.

“We’re excited to be able to establish this partnership with the University of Southern Indiana,” Stewart said. “The first students who have come through the program this semester have been outstanding and we look forward to maintaining and enhancing our working relationship so that we can really put students to work before graduation, giving them practical experience in the field.”

Student interns are expected to work 20 hours per week for the newspaper. Their duties include writing, copy editing, online journalism, and design and layout. The students receive dual benefits from the program: they enhance their journalistic skill, and they are rewarded with a scholarship equivalent to 15 hours of tuition reimbursement.

Taken from USI News, April 17, 2008

Erin Gibson takes first place in a radio documentary

"Internationally Born, Indiana Raised," a documentary written and produced by Erin Gibson, instructor in journalism, took first place in the radio documentary category of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Audio Festival. The documentary was produced in conjunction with WSIU as part of Gibson’s graduate research project at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The awards ceremony were held in April at the BEA Convention in Las Vegas. To listen to the documentary, click here.

Taken from WSIU Public Broadcasting website ( http://www.wsiu.org/radio_ibir_1.html ).