April 2012 Newsletter

1InterCOM April 2012

COMInte r

Nicholson School of Communication Newsletter April 2012

2 InterCOM April 2012

The Nicholson School of Com-munication (NSC) hosted the second annual International Crisis and Risk Communication (ICRC) Conference at the Fair-winds Alumni Center March 5-7. The theme for 2012 was “Culti-vating Trust in Uncertain Times.” Along with faculty, staff and students, more than 60 commu-nication profes-sionals and scholars traveled from around the world to at-tend this unique confer-ence.

The three-day confer-ence was divided into three subject areas: general crisis communication, health communication and crisis communication in higher education. Research presen-tations from the University of Florida, Sorbonne University, Aarhus University, University of Louisville as well as many other

universities, outlined current studies on crisis communication. Professionals and practitioners from Walt Disney World Resorts, Food and Drug Administration, Pan American Health Organiza-tion, AirTran Airways and many other organizations discussed their crisis communication plans

as well as best prac-tices in the field.

Grant Rampy, director of public relations at Abilene Christian Univer-sity, com-mended the con-ference stating “I felt like I gained a great deal from be-ing on the gorgeous UCF cam-pus with colleagues

from all corners of the globe. I appreciate the way you cul-tivated an atmosphere that made for such positive mix-ing.” Julian Clarke, chairman of the European Business Ethics Network, said “The event was a spectacular success with

a great breadth of speakers, there was a common thread amongst most of the speakers - open and honest communica-tion is the key.”

The 2013 ICRC Conference will be held at the Fairwinds Alumni Center, March 4-6, 2013. Log on to www.icrcommunication.com for more information and to reg-ister for next year’s conference.

2012 ICRCConference

@UCFNSC

3InterCOM April 2012

Faculty Grant FundingDr. Denise E. DeLorme is Principal Investigator (PI) on a two-year $200,000 grant approved for funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the Florida Sea Grant program. The interdisciplinary project, “Piloting a Community-

Based Social Marketing Program to Protect Marine Ecosystems from Boating Impacts,” will involve developing, implementing, and testing a campaign to promote the importance of marine species, locations of eco-sensitive zones, and environmentally responsible boating in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. In addition, DeLorme has a co-authored article, “Dietary Supplement Advertising in the U.S.: A Review and Research Agenda,” accepted for publication in the International Journal of Advertising, and a co-authored article, “Does It Matter to Korean and White Americans Where Drug Ads are Placed?: Perceptions of the Information Utility of DTC Advertising Media,” accepted for publication in the Journal of Advertising Research. In March, she presented a paper, “Use and Evaluation of Online Advertising Sources vs. Non-Advertising Sources for Prescription Drug Information: Differences Between Korean and White Americans,” at the American Academy of Advertising Conference in Myrtle Beach, SC.

This time of year, as we all put our noses to the grindstone to teach our classes, conduct our research, write papers for presentation, and keep up with all the endless grading – it’s easy to miss some of the exceptional events that routinely go on around NSC. Permit me to spotlight just two that occurred on March 20.

In the TV studio on that Tuesday afternoon, Tim Brown and George Bagley led a team of Knightly News students in the first-ever televised debate between the candidates for Student Government Association president. Under Tim and George’s tutelage, these aspiring broadcast journalism and production students presented a well-executed showcase of what civic democracy is all about. Dean Michael Johnson was in attendance and was grinning from ear to ear.

At the exact same moment, over in the Cape Florida Ballroom at the Student Union, Ryan Sheehy was directing a team of Ad-PR students as they executed Intern Pursuit, the Nicholson School’s annual spring internship fair. Represen-tatives from more than 80 companies filled the ballroom, interviewing students for internships this summer. Hundreds of students, dressed to the nines and looking very professional, attended the event and snagged internships that will give them the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in a professional setting. For a moment, “UCF Stands For Opportunity’’ was more than just a slick mar-keting slogan; it was a reality.

I tip my hat to our NSC faculty who extend them-selves beyond themselves and their personal

Cheers to NSC Faculty!from another NSC Faculty Member

NSC News

agendas to create learning opportunities for our students that lead to employability and that raise the profile of the Nicholson School on campus.

- Submitted by Mr. Rick Brunson

4 InterCOM April 2012

R-TV Goes High-DefAfter much pre-production, on Monday, March 12 at 1:30 p.m. the Advanced Post Production class (RTV 3263) met in the R-TV Television Studio and set up five high-definition cameras. The production was a jazz band performance by The Thomas Jones Band. Each camera had specific shots that were charged with gathering and maintaining a continuous record. In order to synchronize the cameras for the multi-camera edit the floor director had to use a film slate, sometimes called a clapperboard, to mark the be-ginning of the song in order to sync up the cameras for perfect sound synchronization. All of the foot-age was recorded to P-2 cards. After the five song band set, the cards were then ingested into the Final Cut Lab server to be stored and retrieved for each student’s individual use for a DVD project edit assign-ment. The students worked very hard and it resulted in some phenomenal footage which all can have for use in their portfolio/demo reel. The students of the class in attendance were: Emily Bonvini, Jea-nette Bustillo, Lauren Evans, Brittany Grubbs, William Harrelson, Taylor Koziol, Detrachia Neely, Heather O’Connor, Jeananne Osborne, Michael Parente, Katie Paulson, Jared Porcenaluk, Richard Vargas and Stephen Walker.

Volunteers on the project were Dylan Yonts and Lau-rel Milovac from Stephanie Rice’s RTV 3260 class who were both integral to the production. Dylan brought two of the HD cameras that were used and Laurel ran audio which is an extremely important part of a live band production. A good job was done by all, and although it was hard work, everyone agreed by saying, “It was really fun being a part of it.”

Stephanie Rice’s Advanced Post Production class taping a performance by The Thomas Jones Band

Students Set to Study Interpersonal Communication Topics Abroad this Summer in Italy

Sixteen students will travel throughout Italy this summer with NSC visiting instructor Gino Perrotte. The students are enrolled in a new elective course titled, “Applied Intercultural Communication: An Italian Perspective.” Perrotte designed the curriculum based on his years of study of Italian culture and language, as well as his thesis research on nonverbal cultural displays of masculinity.

The course will expose students to various commu-nication concepts and theories from interpersonal, intercultural, nonverbal and persuasion. The first four weeks of the summer A term will be spent on UCF’s main campus becoming familiar with the topics of study and situating the discussions around what the students can expect to observe and experience while in Italy regarding these topics. Students will arrive in Naples, Italy, on June 11 to begin the travel portion of the program. Some locations visited as part of this program include Naples, Sorrento, Rome, Chianti, Flor-ence, Bologna, Venice and Milan.

While in Italy, students will experience the Museo Archeologico Nazionale; walking tours of Sorrento, Rome, Florence and Venice; Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica; Uffizi Gallery; DaVinci’s The Last Supper; Tuscan cooking class and winery visit; Michelangelo’s statue of David; the Duomo in Milan; the Collosseum; Salvatore Ferragamo Shoe Museum; Bobboli Gardens; and a Gondola ride in Venice.

Students will build a travel journal to document their perceptions while in Italy. The journal will have daily topics to guide students in their analysis of the day’s learning opportunities to help ground them in their mastery of the studied concepts and theories.

5InterCOM April 2012

Faculty Sp

otlight

Faculty Publicat ions

Dr. Ann Neville Miller, assistant professor, co-edited a book titled Health Communication and Faith Communities with professor Donald L. Rubin. The book provides a broad per-spective on the domain of health communication and faith-based contexts and organizations.

Dr. Neville Miller was also awarded a $6,000 Frank-lin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Soci-ety for a focus group study on church-level contextual factors on church-going youth’s HIV prevention behavior in Nairobi, Kenya. She will use this grant to travel to Kenya this summer.

Dr. Robert Chandler, Director of the Nicholson School of Com-munication, published a study for the Public Relations Journal Fall 2011 issue titled “Rehabilitat-ing Your Organization’s Image: Public Relations Professionals’

Perceptions of the Effectiveness and Ethicality of Image Repair Strategies in Crisis Situations.”

Dr. Chandler’s publication, titled “Accepting the Blame and Making Things Right: Public Relations Practitioners’ Iden-tification of Effective, Ethical, and Likely to Recommend Crisis Communication Strate-gies,” was presented at the 15th annual International Public Relations Research Confer-ence, University of Miami, (Coral Gables, Fla.) March 7-10. Dr. Chandler and the co-authors, Ferguson, D. and J.D. Wallace, received the award at the awards recognition on March 10, and equally shared in the prize money, which accompa-nied the award.

Dr. Chandler received the 2011 Ronald K. Mengel Award from the national Fire Protection Re-search Foundation at the annu-al Suppression, Detection and Signaling Research and Ap-plications, A Technical Working Conference (SUPDET 2012) held at the Sheraton Crescent Hotel, Phoenix on March 9. This award is for the best paper presented at the fire detection sessions of the 2011 Suppression & Detec-tion Research and Applica-tions Symposium (SUPDET 2011), as voted by those present at the symposium and affirmed by the Program Committee. The attendees and program committee selected Dr. Chan-dler’s 2011 paper “Emergency Environmental Stress Induced Diminished Cognitive Capaci-ties: Adapting to Audience

Challenges for Successful Emer-gency Communication and In-cident Alerting Notification Ap-plications,” which he presented at the SUPDET 2011 conference for this award. Dr. Chandler also presented a research paper at the same conference where he received the award: Chan-dler, R. C. (2012) “Hyper-Stress Induced Diminishment of Cogni-tive Abilities: A Review of Ob-served Tendencies and Recom-mendations for More Effective Management,” presented at the Suppression, Detection and Signaling Research and Appli-cations.

6 InterCOM April 2012

Dr. Harry Weger’s paper titled, “En-gineering Argumentation in Mar-riage: Pragma-dialectics, Strategic Maneuvering, and the ‘Fair Fight for Change’ in Marriage Education,” will appear in the very first issue of Journal of Argumentation in Con-text to be published sometime this spring.

Dr. Lindsey Neuberger, assistant professor of interpersonal-orga-nizational communication was awarded a $7,500 grant from The College of Science’s Graduate Studies and Research Commit-tee for her proposal titled “Text vs. Numbers in Nutrition Labeling: In-vestigating the Influence of Health Literacy and Numeracy in the Dietary Decision Making Process”.

George Musambira and Ann Neville Miller, along with Kenyan co-author Kyalo wa Ngula, have published a study in the African Journal of AIDS Research titled: “Predictors of Sexual Behavior Among Church-Going Youths in Nairobi, Kenya: a Cross-De-nominational Study.” The study compared rates of abstinence, numbers of sexual partners, and expectation of having sex within the next 12 months between youths in Pentecostal vs. mainline Christian churches in Nairobi.

George Musambira and his colleague Samuel Muwanguzi (doctoral candidate) at University of North Texas have published an article in the Journal of Intercultural Communication. The article examines communication experiences of Ugandan immigrants as they acculturate to the U.S., and identifies possible ways immigrants and members of the host culture can communica-tively better prepare for more effective encoun-ters.

Robert “Bobby” Olszewski ‘99, a NSC double major in Radio-TV and I-O and current NSC ad-junct instructor, was elected as Winter Garden Commissioner for District 3 on March 13. Olszewski earned 70 percent of the votes in a three-way race defeating the two-term incumbent. This

was Olszewski’s first race for political office. He has served on many city and community boards throughout West Orange County and the greater Central Florida area. Olszewski is currently the managing principal of the Emerson Manage-ment & Consulting Group Inc.

Journalism instructor Rick Brunson conducted a webinar for the Flor-ida Press Club on March 7 titled “Avoiding Online Gaffes.’’ The FPC is a nonprofit organization of writers, editors, photographers, graphic artists, researchers, librari-ans, and support technicians who work at Florida’s daily and weekly

newspapers.

UCF’s Center For Distributed Learning has invited Brunson to be a guest presenter at the 2012 EDU-CAUSE Southeast Regional Conference in Tampa on May 31. He will present his lecture, “Going Mobile: How Journalists Are Using Smart Phones to Break the News,’’ a lesson developed as part of Brunson’s online News Reporting course. EDU-CAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.

Professor Featured on Episode of ‘Ninja Warrior’NSC professor of public relations Dr. Tim Coombs traveled to Japan last summer to compete on “Ninja Warrior,” which aired the week of March 12. “Ninja Warrior” is a show featured on the G4 network where athletes from around the world compete in physical challenges.

7InterCOM April 2012

Alumni Spotlight

Nichol son Grad Makes i t Big in the Music IndustryRecently, NSC R-TV grad Lauren Jo LaFrantz Black answered ques-tions about her experience as a student and how it has led to her professional life. Lauren and her friend/business partner Erin Lefeb-vre created CountryMusicIsLove, a country music blog. Lauren was the official GRAMMY.com Blog-ger for Country Music for the 54th GRAMMY Awards.

How has the Nicholson School prepared you for a career in blogging and social media?I find myself using many of the lessons I learned while at UCF’s Nicholson School of Communi-cation on a daily basis. The skills I learned about conducting interviews and writing news stories come in handy all the time when working on CountryMusicIsLove. We take pride in being a trustwor-thy, credible news source. This is something that I also learned at NSC. I always credit my sources and I never sensationalize. I think that’s one of the reasons why our website has taken off so much. Our readers trust us.

Were there any faculty members or staff who had a significant impact on your success or who have been very supportive?During my time at UCF, Dr. Tim Brown constantly pushed me to become a better journalist. Since

graduation, he has been ex-tremely supportive of my career path. We’ve kept in touch over the years and it means a lot to me to receive compliments from someone who I’ve looked up to for so long.

Where do you see the blog being in five years?Unfortunately, many of the limita-tions CountryMusicIsLove has is due to budget constraints. In five years, I hope that our readership will have increased enough to generate more revenue. With ad-ditional funds coming in, I hope that we will be able to hire a staff. Right now, there are just two of us, so it’s really hard to keep up with the news. If we had more help, we would be able to offer our readers even more cover-age.

I also hope to be able to develop a smart phone app and mes-sage boards for our readers in the coming years. We’ve also tossed around the idea of expanding into country radio.

Do you have a favorite memory from your time at NSC?When I think about my favorite memories at NSC, I am always reminded of my last semester do-ing Knightly News. Although the class required a copious amount

of work and time, I learned A LOT and made great friends. It showed me what it was like to work in a newsroom. Although, I didn’t follow down that path and pursue a career in television news, I am thankful for the experi-ence.What advice would you give to a student who is just starting out in a program at NSC?The best advice I could give is to follow your dreams and do some-thing you’re passionate about. What I do doesn’t feel like work to me because I love it so much. When I was younger, I used to tell everyone that I would be inter-viewing country music artists one day, and it’s sometimes still crazy to me that I have turned my dream into reality.

Lauren Jo LaFrantz Black

8 InterCOM April 2012

Graduate Student Spotlight

The Nicholson School of Communication graduate program wishes to extend its con-gratulations to the following students who graduated in Fall 2011: Laurel Anderson, Chris Arroyo, Christine Donaldson, Kristen Forten-berry, Lauren Palermo and Jacob Wagner.

Pictured left to right, are Christine Donaldson, Kirsten Seitz, Laurel Anderson, Lauren Palermo, Kristen Forten-berry and Jacob Wagner

FALL 2011 Conference PresentationsCommunication M.A. Students and Recent (past academic year) AlumniConvergence and Society: Journalism, Sustainability, and Media Regeneration Conference“Why People Check Out ‘Checking In:’ Uses and Gratifications of Location-Based Service Apps on Mo-bile Phones.” Kristen Fortenberry, with Dr. Tim Brown

Corporate Social Responsibility Communication Con-ference“Promoting Corporate Philanthropic Efforts through Social Media”Haping Lee, with Dr. Sherry Holladay

Institute of General Semantics Annual Conference“Marshall Arts: Retrieving McLuhan for Communication Scholars” Robert (Curry) Chandler

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC):“The Tyler Perry Effect”Nicole Jackson, with Dr. George Musambira

“Religion, Affect and Cognition in Listener Contribu-tions to NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Before, During and After 9/11”Anna Turner, with Dr. William Kinnally

National Communication Association (NCA):“Doctor-Patient Communication Styles: A Comparison Between the U.S. and Three Asian Countries” Jennifer Spear, with Dr. Jonathan Matusitz

“The Disneyfication of the World: A Globalization Per-spective” Lauren Palermo, with Dr. Jonathan Matusitz

“A Narrowing Digital Divide: The Impact of the Internet on Youth Political Participation” Maya Forrester, with Dr. Jonathan Matusitz

“The Communication Implications and Related Experi-ences Associated with Transracially Adopting a Child from Vietnam” Lan-Marie Malin and Mia Kamal

“Effective Doctor-Patient Communication: An Updat-ed Examination” Jennifer Spear, with Dr. Jonathan Matusitz

Florida Communication Association (FCA):“And GOD Said, “Let Us Construct”: The Intertwined Dialectical Image of GOD and Socially Constructed Community”Anne R. Trelstad

“Queer Members: An Examination of the Last Season of Queer as Folk and the Membership Categories and Category Bound Activities Contained Within”John B. Payne

“www.i’m_getting_married.com/category_bound_ac-tivities_of_brides_in_blogs: Social Construction of Bridal Identity”Nicole Baker

“Self-Disclosure and Membership Categorization of East Asian and Asian American Women on Match.com”Laurel E. Anderson

“German Multiculturalism and the Effects of Banal Nationalism and Imagined Communities”Shomik Chakrabarti

9InterCOM April 2012

Student SpotlightStudent Announcements• Neysha Bauer recently won a scholarship to at-tend a Caribbean Media Exchange Conference (CMExXX) in the Virgin Islands about sustainable tourism, the media and communications specialists

• Juliette Lauer, Ad-PR major, is the newest public relations intern at Vantage Communications. She discovered the company through a guest speaker in an advertising class and came across the intern-ship opportunity on Twitter.

• Kristen van Vonderen won the College of Sci-ences Master’s Thesis of the Year award. Van Von-deren’s thesis deals with issues regarding the effects of the media on women’s body image. • Anna Turner won the College of Sciences Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching. This award almost always goes to a doctoral student, so it is very special that Turner won this award as a master’s student in our program. Both students competed against graduate students from all over the College of Sciences. Both students now move on to the next level as the College of Sciences has nominated them for the university level awards.

AD-PR Student Awarded Most Promising Minority StudentAlina Alvarez, a senior Ad-PR major, has been named as the American Advertising Federation’s 2012 Class of the Most Promising Minority Student. Along with this honor, Alvarez will be attending an awards ceremony and networking opportunities in New York City.

Alvarez is from Medellin, Colombia. She has been living in Florida for seven years. She moved to the

U.S. when she was 17 while her parents and brother stayed in Colombia. For the first two years, she lived with her aunt and her family. Alvarez became a U.S. citizen in December, and will be graduating spring 2012 with a major in Ad-PR and a minor in English writing.

Alvarez came to this country with the goals of learn-ing the language, going to school, and providing a better life for her family. This award is the ratification of her goals, and it gives her more energy to keep going. As a result, the decision she made seven years ago was the right one and all her hard work has been acknowledged. Alvarez views this award as a gift to her parents as well because it was very hard for them to let her go at such a young age, even though they knew she was going to be suc-cessful.

Alvarez said she “[sees] this award as a great start for my professional career. Having this honor in my resume will help me to stand out from others ap-plying to the same job. Also, the trip to New York is a great opportunity to meet influential people from the most important advertising agencies in the world, and perhaps, I will meet the right one that can lead to a great job once I graduate.”

Alina Alvarez

10 InterCOM April 2012

R-TV Students Get Their Voices HeardRadio-Televison students, Lindsey Taylor and Shannon Garlin shot, wrote and edited a piece looking at the opinions of UCF students as they headed into the presidential primary. Facing unemployment after graduation is a real fear that UCF students have and will determine the candidate they elect. Consistency is another factor that the reporters found to be a reason to choose a specific candidate. The piece is fea-tured on the website for the PBS program “Wash-ington Week with Gwen Ifill.”

Lindsey Taylor & Shannon Garlin

Undergradu-ate students Joanna Goldonowicz, Nicole Knox, and Char-lene Polden presented results of their research at the Showcase for Undergraduate Research Ex-cellence on April 5. Their project was conducted over spring 2012 as an independent study with Dr. Ann Miller, titled "International Students' Per-ceptions of American Students' Use of Electronic Social Communication Devices in the Class-room."

Students Present Their Research at the SURE Forum

Senior Chronicles

Students and their instructor Dr. Ann Miller

Christopher Maier, center, head of ESPN’s Stats and Information Group, visited Rick Brunson’s Sports Reporting class on March 20 to recruit po-tential employees and to present a guest lecture, “How to Find Story Lines in the Numbers.’’