Grady College professors and graduate students shine at AEJMC Conference 2021

The tradition continues of active involvement by Grady College professors and graduate students at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference.

The 2021 conference takes place virtually Aug. 4-7. All times noted below are listed in Pacific Time and Eastern Time.

We have several members of our community who will accept awards for their achievements. Congratulations to:

• Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Anne R. Smink (former Grady visiting doctoral student), Lindsay Hahn (former Grady postdoctoral researcher) and Bryan Trude (Ph.D. student) who are awarded Top Theory Paper by the Communication Theory and Methodology Division.
• Karin Assmann receives AEJMC’s 2021 Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development.
• Solyee Kim (Ph.D. student) is awarded second place in the Markham Student Paper Competition of the International Communication Division.
• Lexie Little (MA ’21) is awarded second place in the Student Paper, History Division.
• Wunpini Mohammed is awarded first place in Faculty Paper Awards, also known as the Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition, as well as the Best Paper Award for African Journalism Studies in the International Communication Division. Mohammed was also selected as a 2021 Kopenhaver Fellow.

We are proud to announce the following new leadership positions for the upcoming year:

• Karin Assmann will be vice chair of AEJMC’s Cultural and Critical Studies Division (CCSD).
• Jonathan Peters will be research chair of the Law & Policy Division.

The following lists our college involvement as we share our expertise in this collaborative environment:

Wednesday, Aug. 4

9-10:30 a.m. CT/10-11:30 a.m. ET Jon Peters presents “How Journalists Think About the First Amendment Vis-à-Vis Their Coverage of Hate Groups” in the Newspaper and Online News Division. Karin Assmann is a discussant for a poster session “Making modern news: Diversity, transparency, and the free press” in the same session.

9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET Kyser Lough presents “Evaluating the effects of solutions and constructive journalism: A systematic review of audience-focused research,” in the Journalism Studies Division.

Noon CT/ 1 p.m. ET Karin Assmann is a panelist and organizer of “Newsroom Workers Unite,” a panel co-sponsored by the Cultural and Critical Studies Division and the Media Management, Economics, and Entrepreneurship Divisions.

3-4:30 p.m. CT/4-5:30 p.m. ET Juan Meng and Solyee Kim (Ph.D. student) presents “Women in Communication: Assessing and Advancing Gender Equality.”

3-4:30 p.m. CT/4-5:30 p.m. ET Farrah Youn-Heil (Ph.D. student) and Yan Jin present “A New Conceptual Model for Understanding Interracial Communication Apprehension: How Does Racial Representation in Television-Entertainment Media Impact Interracial Conversation?” in the Minorities and Communication Division.

5-6:30 p.m. CT/6-7:30 p.m. ET Karin Assmann is a panelist and organizer of “Bridging the communication gap from behind the (digital) mask.” This panel is sponsored by the Mass Communication and Society Division and the Commission on the Status of Women.

Thursday, Aug. 5

1-2:30 p.m. CT/2-3:30 p.m. ET Juan Meng and Karen Russell participate in panel discussion “AEJMC/Peter Lang Scholarsourcing Series: Book Roundup with the Scholarsourcing Authors, Editorial Committee and Publisher.”

3-4:30 p.m. CT/4-5:30 p.m. Rhoda Olaleye (Ph.D. student) leads virtual poster presentation of paper co-authored with Michael Cacciatore and others “The Impact of Emotion and Humor on Support for Global Warming Action.”

3-4:30 p.m. CT/4-5:30 p.m. ET Youngji Seo (Ph.D. student), Bart Wojdynski, Jonmin Lee (Ph.D. student), Hyoyeun Jun (MA ’16, PhD ’20) present a poster “Beyond Fear Appeals: The Role of Hope in Improving Effectiveness of Health Messages” in the ComSHER session.

5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET Jon Peters is a panelist for the session “Media Law Research in a Time of Crisis,” hosted by the History Division and the Law & Policy Division.

7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET Lexie Little presents “Cementing Their Heroes: Historical Newspaper Coverage of Confederate Monuments.” This paper won second-place in the Student Paper, History Division.

7-8:30 p.m. CT/8-9:30 p.m. ET Solyee Kim (Ph.D. student) “What Does the Korean Embassy’s Facebook page show us? The Roles and Relationships of the Korean Embassy Through a Discourse Analysis of its Facebook Page.”

Friday, Aug. 6

9-10:30 a.m. CT/10-11:30 a.m. ET Yan Jin is a discussant of “Public Relations in the time of COVID-19: Crisis Communication and Organizational-Public Relationships” Scholar-to-Scholar Refereed Paper Poster Session in the Public Relations Division.

9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET Kyser Lough is a panelist for “Research Identity Crisis? How to Communicate Your Research Identity,” co-sponsored by the Graduate Student Interest Group and Visual Communication Division.

9-10:30 a.m. CT/10-11:30 a.m. ET Ivanka Pjesivac presents “The Use of Sources in News Stories about 2020 American Elections on Croatian Television: Who Dominates the Narrative?”

11 a.m. CT/Noon ET Assmann receives AEJMC’s 2021 Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development for her proposed project, “AmeriCorps’ for Student Journalists in Georgia: A Program to Bring News Coverage to Rural Communities.”

1-2:30 p.m. CT/2-3:30 p.m. ET. Itai Himmelboim presents “What Do 5G Networks, Bill Gates, Agenda 21, and QAnon Have in Common? Sources, Engagement, and Characteristics of COVID-19 related Conspiracy Theories.”

1-2:30 p.m. CT/2-3:30 p.m. ET Juan Meng and Yan Jin are panelists for graduate student luncheon “PR in a Post-Pandemic World.”

3-4:30 p.m. CT/4-5:30 p.m. ET Michael Cacciatore’s co-authored paper will be presented “The differential effects of science humor on three scientific issues: Global warming, artificial intelligence, and microbiomes.” Cacciatore will not be present.

5-6:30 p.m. CT/6-7:30 p.m. ET Taylor Voges (Ph.D. student), LaShonda Eaddy (Ph.D. ’17), Yan Jin and others present “Effective Health Risk Communications: Lessons Learned about COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Practitioners” in the Mass Communication and Society Division.

7-8:30 p.m. CT/8-9:30 p.m. ET Smink, Hahn, Trude and Ahn present award-winning paper “Embodied Congruence as a Framework for Understanding User Experiences with Immersive Technologies” in the Communication Theory and Methodology (CT&M) division. Award to be presented during member’s meeting following 8:45-10:15 p.m. CT/9:45-11:15 p.m. ET)

7-8:30 p.m. CT/8-9:30 p.m. ET Mohammed presents her twice-awarded paper, “Decolonizing Methodologies in Media Studies.”

8:45-10:15 p.m. CT/9:45-11:15 p.m. ET Jon Peters currently is the newsletter chair and clerk for the Law & Policy Division and will lead part of its business meeting. Peters will be installed as research chair for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Saturday, Aug. 7

10:30 a.m.-noon CT/11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. ET. Itai Himmelboim presents “Networked Framing and the Role of Elite Gatekeeping During the #TaiwanCanHelp Hashtag Activism Campaign.”