Juanita Anderson has been named to the Advisory Board of the Color Congress. With 85 member media organizations led by people of color, the Color Congress works to strengthen and center the ecosystem of organizations committed to non-fiction storytelling by, for, and about people of color across the United States and territories. Anderson will serve a one-year term beginning October 1, 2022.   She has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Detroit Film Theatre whose mission is to assist the Detroit Institute of the Arts in promoting increased awareness and interest in the cinematic and video arts. She is one of 12 featured co-authors of the forthcoming book Collective Wisdom: Co-Creating Media for Equity and Justice. Written by Katerina Cizek and William Uricchio, the book will be published by M.I.T Press in November 2022 and will launch with a series of national and international events.   Anderson also co-authored Collective Wisdom: Co-Creating Media for Equality and Justice,  the first guide to co-creation as a concept and as a practice, tracing co-creation in a media-making that ranges from collaborative journalism to human–AI partnerships. It is available for pre-order through MIT Press and Penguin Random House.

Stine Eckert was elected in October 2022 to serve as secretary to the Journalism Studies Division (JSD) of the International Communication Association (ICA). She will serve a two-year term beginning Monday, May 29, 2023 (the last day of the 73rd annual ICA conference in Toronto, Canada) and ending with the conclusion of the 2025 conference in Denver, Colorado, USA.

Michael Fuhlhage was selected for a Humanities Center Resident Scholar position for the 2022-2023 Academic year.

Rosie Jahng and Elizabeth Stoycheff

Rosie Jahng and Elizabeth Stoycheff's research proposal, a large-scale test of third-person effects for fake news: Navigating public attitudes toward disinformation and content regulation on social media, has been selected for funding through Wayne State University’s Social Sciences Research Support Program.

Loraleigh Keashly had two interviews regarding workplace bullying: one for a series that an institute in Canada runs and one yesterday for CBS 50 for a show they are doing on anti-bullying. The TV piece comes out on Oct 1. You can find the link to a panel/conversation she was part of in Episode 7 of the On the Record Series of the Canadian Institute of Workplace Harassment and Violence here. This series involves episodes focused on specific work contexts and issues drawing on conversations with researchers, practitioners, and those who have experienced bullying. The focus of this episode was on bullying in the academy. She also shared information on faculty experiences with cyberbullying by the public. Another conversation she was involved in late May with the Workplace Bullying Institute, which produces a podcast. The focus of this one was on research on bullying in higher education. It involved Gary Namie (founder of WBI), Kathleen Rospenda (researcher on workplace bullying), and her as a researcher on wpb. You can listen to the podcast here. Finally, the TV interview for CBS50 she did will air on October 1 at 7 am. It was a segment on antibullying and she spoke briefly about workplace bullying. Check it out here!

Patricia McCormick was recognized as an honored mentor for the Phi Beta Kappa organization by student Muhammad Tarar.

Rahul Mitra was selected for a Humanities Center Resident Scholar position for the 2022-2023 Academic year. He is also a key member of an $11.3 million NIH Superfund Award.

Shelly Najor is excited to receive this plaque acknowledging the PR program’s national recertification! We are one of only two universities in Michigan to hold this certification.

Hayg Oshagan is being awarded the Community Service Award by the Caribbean community at its annual event. It’s on 10.15.22, at Kola Restaurant and Lounge in Farmington Hills. He was also invited by the Armenian State (personally by the Minister of Education) to speak at the international Diaspora Conference the government is organizing at the end of October. He is also on a small very prestigious international committee that the Armenian Catholicos has assembled to discuss issues of the Diaspora and give direction to the Catholicos. In addition, he has projects with a DIA event, City Council Immigration Task Force accomplishments, Solutions Journalism collaborative, etc. that are in the works.

Donyale Padgett recently presented a workshop for the Detroit Pistons organization (Th., Oct. 22) to commemorate National Day of Understanding. The theme, “Unpacking the Suitcase: Sharing Stories and Making Room”, explored Dr. Padgett’s use of the suitcase metaphor to promote the importance of dialogue across cultures. The theme originated from her classroom work during her early teaching days.  Over the years, Dr. Padgett has used this approach to understanding culture in industry to help organizations advance their diversity, equity, and inclusion missions. Dr. Padgett is a sought-after speaker on institutional diversity. In October, she will speak at the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) conference in Hartford, CT. She will also conduct training to help new leaders harness DEI efforts within their organizations at a Leadership Development Summit hosted by the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) in Richmond. 

Stephanie Tong was selected as a fellow in the 2022-2023 class of the Academic Leadership Academy at Wayne State University. The ALA is a one-year program designed for full-time faculty and academic staff who have knowledge and experience working toward the mission of WSU and in their areas of expertise and are prepared to build their capacity to be more effective leaders at WSU, in their disciplines, departments, colleges/units, and communities, in formal and informal leadership roles. Tong was also named to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. JCMC is a fully open-access scholarly journal that focuses on social science research on communicating with computer-based media technologies. It is one of the oldest web-based Internet studies journals in existence, having been published quarterly continuously since June 1995. Tong received grants for "Tong, S. T. (PI), Mixon, A., Seeger, M., Ezzeddine, C., Gorelick, D., & Gomez, J. (2022). Increasing students’ emergency preparedness in urban universities." through Wayne State Office of the Vice President for Research and Social Sciences Research Support Competition. She also received a grant through the National Communication Association, Research Cultivation Grants for "Tong, S. T. (PI), & DeAndrea, D. C. (2022). How do people process racial hate speech on social media? Examining pandemic-related anti-Asian rhetoric on Twitter."

Najma Akhther and Khairul Islam

Doctorial candidate Najma Akhther received Dr. Carolyn Stroman Membership Award 2022 from AEJMC's Minorities and Communication Division. Akhther also received, along with fellow doctorial candidate Khairul Islam, both Top Student Paper Award (3rd place) from AEJMC's Minorities and Communication Division and The Paula Poindexter Student Research Grant from AEJMC's Minorities and Communication Division for their research investigating Historically Black Colleges and Universities' (HBCUs) vaccine communication. 

Tim Carroll, a Journalism Institute graduate, was recently appointed Press Secretary for the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Doctoral Candidate Farah Harb got two sole author acceptances to AEJ and NCA and got the ABCD assignment. Her paper, titled “Palestinian-American Identity; Political Affiliation and Belonging in America” has been assigned for presentation in the top student papers slot.

Ronnie Martin

Ronnie Martin was recruited as the new Sports Editor at The South End.

Kelsey Mesmer (PhD, 2022) received an honorable mention for a 2022 Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award through the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Her dissertation advisor was Dr. Fred Vultee.

Doctoral Candidate Ariel Seay-Howard was recognized as an honored mentor for the Phi Beta Kappa organization by student Shanmin Sultana.

Judith Helfand

Former Allesee Chair Judith Helfand had her latest documentary, Love & Stuff, premier on PBS. Watch it here.

Ariel Elizabeth Seay-Howard is a current doctoral student who wrote Chapter 8: Anti-Black Violence in the book of Democracies in America: Keywords for the Nineteenth Century and Today with editors D. Berton Emerson and Gregory Laski and Foreword by Louise Dubé. The book will be published by Oxford University Press in November 2022.

Tong, S. T. & Van Der Heide, B. (2022). Up to Date: Communication and Technology in Romantic Relationships. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b18758

Congrats to our 2022-2023 Award Winners at the Annual Department Lunch! Click here to view the winners.

A Meet and Greet with ESPN's David Roberts on October 27, 2022, from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. in  Midtown TV Studio 5057 Woodward Ave Detroit, MI 48202 | Map. Come to the WSU Midtown TV Studio for a Meet and Greet with David Roberts, Head of NBA and Studio Production for ESPN. David is an awardee during the 43rd Annual Arts Achievement Awards held on Oct. 27 by the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts. He was nominated by the Department of Communication. In 2004, David joined ESPN as a coordinating producer and never looked back. His steady rise to Head of Studio Programming makes him a major influencer in the world of sports, with current responsibilities including NBA programming and several of ESPN’s most watched shows. David, who received his Bachelors in Mass Communication at Wayne State University in 1978, began his career as a reporter for WGPR in Detroit. He subsequently worked at multiple TV stations across the nation, until 1987 when he became the first African American news director at WDTN in Dayton, Ohio.

Critique has been a central component of humanities scholarship at least since the time of Matthew Arnold in the mid nineteenth century. In late twentieth-century rhetorical scholarship, we witnessed a significant shift in critique from rhetorical criticism to critical rhetoric. But, what of critique itself? What is it good for? Critique makes sense as a way of understanding and deconstructing problematic and oppressive systems, structures, institutions, and the like. But, is critique sufficient? Does noticing a problem and drawing attention to or calling out a problem necessarily lead to a superior alternative, solution, or better practices, conditions, or circumstances? This presentation argues against critique – at least critique as the sole scholarly praxis – without an accompanying effort to articulate better ways of doing things. It will suggest that racial epistemologies can function as guides to survival and better futures, hence offer options beyond mere critique. Join us here with Meeting ID: 951 7919 6289 and Passcode: 379835 on November 1st at 6PM.

LORNA AND NICK ABRAHAM and Shelly Najor, PhD INVITE YOU TO A BENEFIT FOR  WSU PUBLIC RELATIONS PROGRAM Cocktail Reception | Detroit Athletic Club | Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 5-7p.m. | RSVP by October 26, 2022. Proceeds will support the public relations program, PRSSA activities and student travel this academic year. The first $5,000 from this event will be matched. The Wayne State nationally accredited PR program introduces students to the industry through its chapter of PRSSA, mentorship program, and service learning courses. PRSSA membership offers professional development opportunities such as luncheons with the Detroit chapter of PRSA, workshops and conferences. Students participate in national competitions and are eligible for scholarships.

Virtual Book Launch for "A Media Framing Approach to Securitization"

The tentative date for the Humanities Center's Virtual Book Launch for Fred Vultee's new book "A Media Framing Approach to Securitization" is Nov. 18, with Dr. Elizabeth Stoycheff as moderator.

MetroArts Detroit has started production on a new season in the Midtown TV Studio on campus. The Season 12 host is Amana Moore, a Broadcast Journalism major with a minor in African American Studies. Moore was chosen during host auditions last spring. Associate Professor of Teaching Kim Piper-Aiken produces the show that is produced by crew members in her COM 5610 Advanced TV Production class. Graduate Student Rishi Gudduguriki is the student assistant who manages the studio during show tapings and assists Dr. Piper-Aiken. The Sunday show tapings started September 25th and we plan to produce seven shows this semester that will eventually air on Detroit Public Television.