Archived Faculty in the News

This archived news section includes past accomplishments of our faculty.

For the latest news regarding Grady faculty, see our Faculty in the News webpage.

Frequently Featured Faculty (March 2022-June 2021)

Glen Nowak, director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication, has written about and has been widely quoted about COVID-19 and the race for a vaccine. A sample of the media outlets that have included comments from Nowak include:

Archived Faculty in the News (March 2022-June 2021)

Archived Faculty in the News (June 2021-2019)

  • Joe Watson was interviewed by 11 Alive for commentary on recent remarks by Donald Trump about Georgia’s previous and upcoming gubernatorial race. (June 28, 2021)
  • María Len-Ríos was quoted in “The Journalist’s Resource” in a story on how journalists can best discuss critical race theory (June 22, 2021)
  • Glen Nowak was a featured guest on the first podcast from the National Public Health Information Coalition. (June 7, 2021)
  • María Len-Ríos talks with Athens News Matters about critical race theory. Time stamp 24:17 to 29:07 (May 28, 2021)
  • Congratulations to Tudor Vlad, director of our Cox Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, on authoring a chapter in the new book, “Global Journalism.” (May 26, 2021)
  • Sabriya Rice, Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism, was quoted in stories from WRAL.com and this statement from the Knight Chairs of Journalism in regard to the lack of tenure for a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • Bryan Reber was quoted by Business Insider in a story about how the public received the news of Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce. (May 20, 2021)
  • Congratulations to Glen Nowak on being invited by the National Academy of Medicine to be one of a few university invitees to present at the international workshop on identifying lessons learned from the pandemic. (May 17, 2021)
  • Janice Hume of our Dept. of Journalism, is interviewed by ABC Radio National in Australia about the social history of the obituary. Hume said obituaries typically want to remember what’s positive about the person and play down controversies. (May 13, 2021)
  • Glen Nowak was quoted in Stat about how the CDC’s messaging is being received by the larger public in America. (May 11, 2021)
  • Janice Hume wrote a short essay about how obituaries are written to highlight positive aspects of people’s lives and avoid negative experiences. It was published by The Conversation. (April 12, 2021)
  • Hye Jin Yoon of our Department of Advertising and Public Relations and a team of researchers from the University of Akron study pseudo-reviews of products and their impact. The research was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. (April 8, 2021)
  • Congratulations, Jonathan Peters, on receiving a Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. (April 5, 2021)
  • Glen Nowak was quoted in the Washington Post in an article about comparing hope and dread in pandemic messaging after vaccinations. (April 2, 2021)
  • Joseph Watson spoke with 11Alive about calls to boycott Georgia corporations in the wake of new voter laws. (March 30, 2021)
  • Amanda Bright talks about solutions journalism in Journalism.co.uk article, “How student solutions journalism is thriving in the US and in Europe.”
  • David Clementson talks about 4 reasons no president should want to give a press conference. It is picked up widely on Fox News, Yahoo News, the Seattle PI, Japan News and MSN.com, among other places. (March 19, 2021)
  • Juan Meng talks with PRDaily about “Reimagining the workplace as an opportunity for inclusion” (March 17, 2021)
  • Neil Landau is cited in a LA Times article on the diversity shown in Oscar nominations. (March 15, 2021)
  • Juan Meng co-authors an article “To great women in PR in the past and in the future.” (March 9, 2021)
  • Janice Hume talks with the Philadelphia Citizen about the Philadelphia Obituary Project. (March 8,2021)
  • Juan Meng‘s new book, “PR Women with Influence: Breaking Through the Ethical and Leadership Challenges,” is profiled in Strategic Magazine (March 1, 2021)
  • Glen Nowak is interviewed about “How to talk to skeptical relatives about the vaccine,” interviews with UGA News and WSB-TV (Feb. 18, 2021)
  • Jeffrey Jones writes an editorial in the New York Daily News about Rush Limbaugh’s legacy (Feb. 18.2021)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. talks with 11 Alive News about Why is the COVID-19 pandemic a partisan issue? (Feb. 17, 2021)
  • Glen Nowak is quoted in USA Today in a story about methods that can improve messaging in COVID-19 treatment (Feb. 15, 2021)
  • Jonathan Peters appeared on the Bloomberg Law podcast to discuss a libel lawsuit being filed against Fox News. (Feb. 13, 2021)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. talks with WUGA radio about this year’s Superbowl ads. (Feb. 12, 2021)
  • Keith Herndon is the featured guest on the podcast Built on Strategy. Herndon talks about The Strategic Business of News. (Feb. 9. 2020)
  • Jonathan Peters is quoted in The New York Times and the Hollywood Reporter about libel lawsuits filed by voting-technology companies (Feb. 8, 2021)
  • Jonathan Peters talks with The Washington Post about Louisiana’s Attorney General suing a reporter over a records request (Feb. 7, 2021)
  • Joe Phua talks with WSB-TV about this year’s Superbowl Ads. (Feb. 5, 2021)
  • Glen Nowak is quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about vaccine hesitancy of some health workers. (Feb. 5, 2021)
  • Booker T. Mattison won a Defiance Award from the Morton Theatre Corporation. The awards were created to recognize Black voices and creativity in the Athens area.
  • Glen Nowak was quoted in USA Today about the difficulties in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine. (Feb 1, 2020)
  • Kyser Lough of our journalism faculty talks about his research in visual communication and his interest in concert photography in the latest episode of The Digital People podcast. (Jan. 26, 2021)
  • Proud to have Glen Nowak participate in the annual UGA Dean Rusk International Center conference (which is virtual this year) on January 25. The conference this year focused on “The Future of Global Health Governance,” and Nowak spoke on a panel on “How can governments, organizations, and the law maximize vaccine acceptance?” The others on the panel are Shawn Harmon, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia; Saad Omer, Yale School of Medicine; and Dorit Reiss, University of California Hastings Law School. (Jan. 25, 2021)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. talks with 11 Alive News about Georgians having roles within the new Biden administration.  (Jan. 20, 2021)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. talks with 11 Alive News about why social media companies are allowed to legally block content. (Jan. 13, 2021)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. talks with WJBF about what impeachment looks like at the end of the term: “There’s always the possibility of violence…when you have criminal trials or popular figures involved. That doesn’t mean you don’t do them.” (Jan. 12, 2021)
  • Glen Nowak, director of our Center for Health and Risk Communication, is quoted in USA Today about the COVID vaccine education plan: “You have to match up your message with people’s ability to actually get what you’re promoting,” he said.  bit.ly/3rPM9yD (Dec. 31, 2020)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. talks with 11 Alive News about negative political ads. “They do work. The ad has the ability to shape the media’s narrative around them and shape the electorate’s views of them,” Watson said. (Dec. 2, 2020)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. talks with @11AliveNews about advantages and disadvantages of President Trump endorsing Sens. Perdue and Loeffler. “It’s a risk. You just don’t know if turnout amongst the base is going to offset potential damage that can be done.” (Nov. 29, 2020)
  • Karin Assmann talks with @mediasres on the German Deutschlandfunk about Jon Ossoff’s credentials as a journalist and how his self-identification as an investigative journalist may help or hurt him in his Senate campaign. (Nov. 26, 2020)
  • Glen Nowak co-authored column, “Put the science into COVID communications,” for The Hill.
  • Wunpini Mohammed was featured in a video from The Guardian where she discussed the globalization and representation of African media.
  • Dean Charles Davis talks with Georgia Hollywood Reporter about why he turned to teaching, what makes a good interview and the rewards of being an author. View the Instagram interview on video.
  • Glen Nowak was an invited presenter/speaker at a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, an entity that advises the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services. He was one of four people invited to speak to the Committee on “Building Confidence in the U.S. immunization system before, during, and after COVID-19 vaccine implementation.” Nowak also was also interviewed by the Associated Press about two appointees to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters by the White House.
  • William E. Lee, one of our communication law professors, talks with 11 Alive News about truth in advertising laws and political ads. “The Supreme Court simply believes that debate on public issues and public people should be uninhibited, robust and wide open.” (Oct. 16, 2020)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. of the Public Affairs Communications program is interviewed on WSB-TV about polls and the election. “Polls are snapshots in time and I encourage everyone to look at a series of polls…but ultimately the only poll that counts is…the actual vote.” (Oct. 13, 2020)
  • Neil Landau (MFA ’18), director of screenwriting for the MFA Film program, was interviewed for the Georgia Hollywood Reporter about his background and his new teaching role at UGA. (Oct. 12, 2020)
  • David Clementson of AdPR talks with Sputnik News about the vice presidential debate. “…while the vice presidential candidates can be intriguing and inspire speculation…voters are voting for president not vice president.” (Oct. 6, 2020)
  • Neil Landau (MFA ’18), our director of screenwriting in our MFA Film program, was interviewed on the Atlanta Film Chat Podcast by Chuck Thomas. Listen to the podcast: atlantafilmchat.com.  (Oct. 6, 2020)
  • Congratulations to Grace Ahn, one member of the team of UGA researchers, on winning top paper honors from the I/ITSEC Simulation Committee. The research brings military families, and others separated by distance, together through virtual reality. (Oct. 5, 2020)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. is interviewed on 11Alive about the validity of political polling. (Oct. 5, 2020)
  • David Clementson of AdPR authors article for The Conversation about President Trump’s COVID-19 disclosure and other U.S. presidents disclosing health issues. “The president’s straightforward announcement was unlike many presidents in the past.” The article was picked up by Scientific American, the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among others. (Oct. 1, 2020)
  • Glen Nowak, director of our Center for Health and Risk Communication, is quoted in Undark Magazine about vaccine messaging. (Sept. 24, 2020)
  • New England Journal of Medicine publishes perspective article co-authored by Glen Nowak, director of our Center for Health and Risk Communication. Read about “When Will We Have a Vaccine? — Understanding Questions and Answers about Covid-19 Vaccination”.  
  • Glen Nowak, director of our Center for Health and Risk Communication, is interviewed on the podcast Health Literacy Out Loud. Nowak talks about Communicating Complex Health Messages in a Complex World.  Nowak also talked with the Winnipeg Free Press about the same subject. (Sept. 1 and 6, 2020)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. is interviewed by @11AliveNews about Joe Biden choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate. (Aug. 12, 2020)
  • Grace Ahn of our AdPR department talks with IOSNewsSA about moderating bad news:
    “Unfortunately, a lot of information is negative these days, and we’re motivated to pay more attention to negative news… because it has a direct linkage to our survival.” (Aug. 10, 2020)
  • Welch Suggs, associate director of Grady Sports Media, is quoted in Deseret News, Is it time for college football to turn pro? (Aug. 8, 2020)
  • Bill Lee of our Department of Journalism has written about SCOTUS rulings and “The Conscience of Corporations and the Right Not to Speak.” The paper was published in Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. (Aug. 4, 2020)
  • Joseph Watson, Jr. was interviewed by 11 Alive News about the obligation of TV stations to air political ads. “They have to take that ad, and the network is not liable for airing that even if it’s potentially slanderous…,” Watson said. (July 27, 2020)
  • Welch Suggs, associate director of Grady Sports Media, talks about small private colleges facing enrollment challenges on the Opportunities and Challenges in Intercollegiate Athletics podcast (July 23, 2020)
  • Shira Chess of our EMST faculty discusses her new book, “Play Like a Feminist” with @WUGAFM. She discusses leisure equality and advocates putting together gaming circles, much like book clubs.
  • Congratulations to James Biddle of our EMST faculty, who is now a certified instructor of Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve. Our college is now a Blackmagic Learning Partner for DaVinci resolve certification instruction.
  • Anne Gilbert of our EMST faculty quoted in the @TheAtlantic about the alternate fan groups for My Little Pony. “This is a fan community that has prided itself on…pushing boundaries and cloaking themselves in irony…” Gilbert said. (June 23, 2020)
  • Booker T. Mattison’s latest short film, “Ungubani (Who Are You?),” has been picked up by The Urban Movie Channel, which will distribute it beginning January 2021.
  • Glen Nowak talks with @rollcall about the way the CDC is communicating COVID-19 vs. other outbreaks. (July 6, 2020)
  • Welch Suggs, associate director of Grady Sports Media, is quoted in Inside High Ed article, Major football colleges prepare for fall season. (May 18, 2020)
  • Janice Hume, the Carolyn McKenzie and Don E. Carter Chair for Excellence in Journalism, is quoted in Adweek about the importance of obituaries. (April 23, 2020)
  • Glen Nowak, director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication, was quoted widely in March and April 2020 about COVID-19 including the Wisconsin Public Ratio (audio interview), Atlanta Journal Constitution, University of Georgia News, Nautilus Magazine and O’Dwyer PR.
  • Shira Chess, associate professor in EMST, writes in MIT Press about top mobile games for non gamers. (March 23, 2020)
  • Jonathan Peters,
  • Carolina Acosta-Alzuru of our @AdPR_UGA faculty is quoted in The Washington Post about the first telenovela, “El Corazon Nunca se equivoca,” that features a gay couple. (pay wall)
  • Congratulations to Vicki Michaelis and Carlo Finlay of Grady Sports for having their New Approaches to Promote Diversity and Inclusion grant renewed. This grant helps support the UGA-Grady High School Sports Broadcast Program: t.uga.edu/5bS
  • Congratulations to Dean Charles Davis (MA ’92), on the publication of the second edition of “Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records,” with co-author Dan Cullier.
  • Andy Kavoori has been selected for a Fulbright award. He will serve as the Garcia-Robles-Fulbright Distinguished Chair in U.S. Studies at the Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico for the Spring 2020 academic term.  He will teach courses on American Media, Culture and Politics, plus conduct ethnographic research on Son Jarocho, a regional and diasporic entertainment media form.
  • Taylor Cole Miller, assistant professor, Entertainment and Media Studies, will be the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and UGA nominee for a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship from the Whiting Foundation. This is a national and very prestigious competition. The Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship celebrates and supports faculty in the humanities who embrace public engagement as part of the scholarly vocation.
  • Congratulations to Lori Johnston (ABJ ’95, MFA ’17), of our Department of Journalism, for being named a finalist in the Religion Reporting Excellence Awards presented by Religion News Association. Johnston is being recognized for for her writing for The Washington Post.
  • Glen Nowak, director of the Center for Health & Risk Communication and professor of advertising, will participate in a panel session on vaccination hesitancy at the June 4, 2019, meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) in Washington, D.C.  NVAC is a Department of Health and Human Services advisory committee. He will present research that Michael Cacciatore, Nate Evans, and Nowak completed regarding vaccination confidence and hesitancy.
  • Congratulations to Juan Meng, associate professor of public relations, for receiving the Most Dedicated Reviewer recognition from the International Communication Association Public Relations Division.
  • Jeffrey P. Jones, Executive Director Peabody Awards, Lambdin Kay Professor, Entertainment & Media Studies, talks about the 78th annual Peabody winners in Variety, May 17, 2019. “We look for stories that are very connected to the sociopolitical world, or the moment that we’re in as a society,” Jones said.
  • Congratulations to John Weatherford, lecturer in the New Media Institute, on being selected to participate in the 2019 UGA Active Learning Summer Institute. Hosted by the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Institute is a three-week intensive program for 12 faculty to redesign courses and implement evidence-based instructional strategies that engage students in the learning process.
  • Shira Chess, assistant professor in EMST, leads students through board game creations in First-Year Odyssey seminar, via Red & Black, May 8, 2019.
  • Bryan Reber, the C. Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership and AdPR department head, and Juan Meng, associate professor of public relations, publish the North American Communication Monitor, addressing topics including “fake news” and how to tackle it, how communicators provide insights for decision-making and leadership performance. The survey is sponsored by the Plank Center at the University of Alabama.