Although graduate students in the School of Journalism and Communication have plenty to do with just their coursework, they continue to succeed beyond the classroom.

Cheers are in order for SOJC master's students and Ph.D. candidates whose research has gained them recognition at a variety of conferences.

Publications and presentations

Ph.D. candidates Andi Stein and Clyde Bentley and Professor Wayne Wanta had their paper "News for the Newsroom: A Study of Employee Communications Practices Used by Newspaper Editors" accepted for presentation to the public relations/corporate communications division at the International Academy of Business Disciplines annual meeting in March.

Andi Stein's paper "Beyond Cause-Related Marketing: The Real Scoop on the Business and Marketing Practices of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc." was accepted for the same conference.

Master's student Daniela Dimitrova presented her paper "One-way Flow: The Case of Bulgarian National Television" at the Intercultural Communication Conference at the University of Miami in February.

Master's student Helena Vanhala's paper "Terrorism in American Mass Media" was accepted for the Eighth Tampere Conference on North American Studies (an international interdisciplinary conference) in April.

Ph.D. candidate Kuang-Kuo Chang and Professor Wayne Wanta will present "Priming and the Second Level of Agenda-Setting: Merging Two Theoretical Approaches" at the International Communication Association annual convention in May.

Ph.D. candidate Chris Demaske and Professor Wayne Wanta will present "Religion, Media Use and Support for Anti-Gay Rights Measures: An Examination of the Second Level of Agenda-Setting" at the International Communication Association annual convention in May.

Ph.D. candidates Tien-Tsung Lee and Kuang-Kuo Chang and Professors Wayne Wanta and William Ryan will present "Looking Presidential: A Comparison of Newspaper Photographs of Candidates in the U.S. and Taiwan" at the International Communication Association annual convention in May.

Professional Achievement

Clyde Bently recently completed a 23-minute video released by Newstar Communications entitled, "The ABCs of Newspaper Branding." Newstar's subscribers are primarily newspapers and academics, and the videos are often used in staff training. Clyde's second video, which demonstrates the use of account planning techniques at newspapers, is due later this year.

Dissertations

Three Ph.D. candidates have completed and defended their dissertations this year.

• Bill Kunz: "A Political Economic Analysis of Ownership and Regulation in the Television and Motion Picture Industries."
• Susan Walsh: "When Women Need to Know: An Examination of Women's Magazines' Coverage of the United States Fourth World Conference on Women and Issues Relating to the Platform for Action."
• Lauren Danner: "Cultural Values and Communication Content: The Environment and Washington State in the 1960s."

Theses/Projects

Four master's students have competed and defended their theses this year and one master's student completed and defended a project.

• Vickie Aldous: "Day In, Day Out: People Talk About the Frustrations & Satisfactions of Their Work."
• Emilia Naydenova: "New York Times Coverage of Eastern and Central Europe Before and After the End of the Cold War."
• Amy Rudzinski: "An Evaluation of a Media Literacy Curriculum."
• Margaret Bradford: "The Impact of Women Journalists on Newspapers During World War II: An Oral History."
• Ed Dorsch: "Creating Newsletters for Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations."