October Successes and Stories
As we approach the autumn season it's important to recognize some of the wonderful things going on in our Department. With a community of students, Faculty, staff, and alumni there exists a wealth of achievements, inights, and projects to share. Here's just a few:
Second Annual Edna Anderson-Taylor Communication Institute Sympoisum
The Edna Anderson-Taylor Communication Institute is happy to report a sucessful second-annual symposium. There are growing bodies of excellent research on the importance of cultural representation, challenges of cultural adaptation, and complexities of migration in addressing problems related to health disparities and environmental injustice from scholars using diverse methodological and theoretical approaches. This symposium facilitated an environment where these scholars could be in conversation with one another—an opportunity they are not often afforded. The culture that was created during this symposium was something extrordinary, we are so thankful to everyone who traveled and for everyone who made this possible including Dr. Sean Lawson, Dr. Leandra Hernandez, and Dr. Andy King.
Student Successes
PhD Student Gabby Garza has been florishing in her studies. Recently she presented at the second-annual Edna Anderson-Taylor Communication Institute Symposium and recieved valuable feedback from a variety of scholars in her field. She is also conducting an IRB-approved study regarding quality criteria for scientific rigor and are focusing on faculty perspectives here at the University of Utah on behalf of Dr. Isabelle Freiling.
PhD Student Ellie Estrada was accepted into the accepted into the Urban Research-Based Action Network (URBAN) fellowship cohort. The 2024-2025 Cohort will focus on supporting participants in grappling with ethical issues and developing methodological tools for their current community-based research projects. The fellowship intends to be capacity-building and focus on the fellows’ interests while having a link to the 2025 URBAN conference in Providence, RI.
Alum Graduate Student Kaylee Mulholland won this year’s Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award in Rhetorical Methods
from the National Communication Association. Her Master’s Thesis was titled “Reverberations
in Rape Culture: Navigating Survivor Silence” and it artfully explored how feminist
social movement rhetoric deploys “silence breaking” metaphors parallel to actions
that sustain an empowering view of silence. We are proud of Kaylee for all the work she put into her studies and wish her the best in her continued
studies at Arizona State University.
Faculty Achievements
Three of our Faculty members won prestigious awards from the College of Humanities:
- Mark Bergstrom Distinguished Faculty Service Award
- Danielle Endres Distinguished Scholar in the Humanities
- Leandra Hernandez Rising Star in the Humanities