University of New Mexico
Department of Communication & Journalism
UNM Lobo

C&J Dept. News Briefs


Faculty & grad student papers recognized internationally, nationally & regionally
   Dr. Tema Milstein and Ph.D. program graduate Elizabeth Dickinson (assistant professor at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) earned a top paper in Environmental Communication for their work titled "Gynocentric greenwashing: The discursive gendering of nature" at the 2012 International Communication Association convention.
   Ph.D. candidate Sarah Upton earned a top paper in International/Intercultural Communication for her paper titled "Sustainable volunteerism: A model for anticolonialist approaches to volunteering" at the 2012 National Communication Association convention. PhD student Dani Jones-Kvam earned a top paper and top debut paper in Language and Social Interaction for her paper titled "Conservation without money is just conversation": Metaphors of environmental conservation in rural Ecuador."
   M.A. student Brittany Stone earned a top student paper in Interpersonal Communication for her paper titled "Tell me a story: How families with adopted special needs children construct and maintain family identity narratives" at the 2013 Western States Communication Association convention.


C&J assistant professor serves as election expert
   During the 2012 election season, C&J Assistant Professor David Weiss was featured in a series of videos on UNM's "Election Experts" web page and, as a result, has been interviewed about political communication and the media by the Santa Fe Reporter and El Grito. Dr. Weiss's comments address such timely issues as truth, lies, and fact-checking in the 2012 campaigns; the impact of the news media's framing of political issues on reader perceptions; and the central role played by the media in citizens' experiences of the political process.


C&J grad student named first Albuquerque poet laureate
   UNM C&J graduate student Hakim Bellamy is appointed as Albuquerque first-ever poet laureate. Bellamy currently works as strategic communication director at the Media Literacy Project at Albuquerque Academy. He's a national and regional poetry slam champion and holds three consecutive collegiate poetry slam titles at UNM. He received an honorable mention for the UNM Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize for his work as a community organizer. Read the full story here.


C&J reunion down under
   C&J Assistant Professor Tema Milstein and her family visited former C&J chairperson Professor John Oetzel and his family in June 2012 while in New Zealand. John recently accepted a faculty post at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, on the country's North Island. Tema was in New Zealand for several months on a Fulbright.
Tema (back, left) and John (back, right) and their families in this photo taken in Raglan, New Zealand, a surfer mecca on the west coast of the North Island.


2012 Mercer Speech Competition Scholarship winners
   The 2012 Joe and Steve Mercer Memorial Scholarship Speech Tournament, sponsored by C&J and open to all UNM students, crowned several scholarship winners April 20. The scholarship was endowed by JoAnn Mercer in memory of her son and husband who were active in collegiate debate as students.
1st place ($1,000): Brandon Pettit, Major: Communication,
                        Speech topic: Teen suicide
2nd place ($750): Desiree Quinones-Soria, Biology, Spanish, Communication,
                        Speech topic: Language barriers in health care
3rd place ($500): Erin Bush, Latin American Studies/International Studies,
                        Speech topic: Mexican grey wolf introduction
Finalist ($200): Shaye Heyman, Mass Media,
                        Speech topic: Water in New Mexico
Finalist ($200): Jennie Noriega, Psychology and African Studies,
                        Speech topic: Drug addiction in New Mexico
Finalist ($200): Mario Quintana, Secondary Education,
                        Speech topic: Decriminalization of drugs


Three from C&J are honored with four UNM teaching awards
   The Communication & Journalism Department congratulates three of our own who have recently been recognized at the university level for excellence in teaching for the 2011-12 school year. Dr. Judith Hendry and Dr. Janet Shiver were named Outstanding Lecturer of the Year, and Dr. Janet Shiver was also named Online Teacher of the Year. Additionally, C&J doctoral student Angela Putman received the Susan Deese-Roberts Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. Click on the above links to learn more about each. Congratulations to our award-winning educators!


Retired C&J instructor honored with lecturer emeritus title
   The Communication & Journalism Department congratulates retired Lecturer II Dennis Herrick on being awarded lecturer emeritus status at UNM.
   Herrick served C&J with distinction for 10 years, teaching classes in print journalism and multimedia journalism. He was also the C&J Dept. webmaster, and he continues to teach classes on a part-time basis in multimedia journalism.
   He played a significant role in the Department's ACEJMC accreditation process in 2007-08 and was instrumental in the recent curriculum change from print and broadcast journalism to multimedia journalism. Herrick also served many semesters as the undergraduate faculty adviser/curriculum committee chair.
   Learn more about Lecturer Emeritus Dennis Herrick at his C&J profile page.


C&J student recognized with UNM award
   Florencio Olguin, a double major in mass communication (public relations concentration) and political science, has received a University of New Mexico Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program & Research Opportunity Program award.
   This prestigious award is granted to scholars with superior academic achievement and who have shown excellence in other aspects throughout their pursuits of higher education. These programs seek to produce scholars and researchers from traditionally underrepresented ethnic groups, first generation or low income minorities who want to pursue doctoral degrees.


C&J Health Comm. Ph.D. student accepts UNM position
   Lorenda Belone, the first graduate of the University of New Mexico's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center Doctoral Fellowship program, has accepted a tenure-track position in the UNM College of Education's Health Education Program.
   Belone, Navajo from the reservation community of Mexican Spring, N.M., earned her Ph.D. in health communication in 2010 and is currently a research scientist with the Center for Participatory Research in the Dept. of Family and Community Medicine. Read a UNM Today story from 2008 on Belone.


Papers from faculty & grad students recognized nationally
   Tamar Ginossar and Sara Nelson received a Top Four Paper Award (ranked #3) by the Health Communication Interest Group of WSCA for the paper: "When the Community Speaks: Latina Immigrant Women Leading Community-Based Efforts to Bridge the Health and Digital Divides."
   Ph.D. candidate Brandi Lawless and Professor Mary Jane Collier were chosen to present a top paper in the NCA's International and Intercultural Communication division. Their paper is titled "Understanding a 'culture' of poverty: Subjectivity and social justice in poverty training materials."
   Una Medina co-authored one of the top 2 papers at the International Systems Dynamics Conference, August 2010. The paper, titled "Comparing discrete simulation and system dynamics: Modeling an anti-insurgency influence operation," used the framework of entertainment education, based on the work of Everett Rogers, our late Distinguished Professor in the C&J Department.


Dr. Milstein receives Fulbright Award
   Dr. Tema Milstein has received a Fulbright Award for 2012. During UNM's spring semester, Dr. Milstein will examine the challenges, successes and possibilities of sustainable ecotourism practices in New Zealand.
   Milstein said, "New Zealand's status as a global ecotourism destination makes it an essential site in which to study the seeming disconnect between nature tourism experiences and resultant increased ecological understanding."
   Her study will focus on cetacean ecotourism and will use a culture and communication lens to seek clearer understandings of existing bridges and barriers between ecotourism and ecological sustainability, and to illustrate restorative ways forward.


UNM journalism alumnus nominated for Emmy
   UNM journalism alumnus (2007) Mark Kachelmeier (B.A. journalism, 2007) has been nominated for an Emmy in the 2011 Heartland Emmy Competition. The nomination is for Photojournalist/editor in the category of Community Service in a medium-size market. The station is KRDO news Channel 13 in Colorado Springs, Colo. The story is titled "Catching predators," and it was a week-long series where five convicted sex offenders were featured. These men were hiding from the law and KRDO worked with viewer tips that helped lead to the capture two of the offenders.
   You can find the nomination list on category 30, page 30 on the link below:
www.emmyawards.tv (click "Am I nominated?!" to download the PDF-format list)


Student scholarships and honors for 2011
   Several C&J undergraduate students have received scholarships and paid internships in 2011. Graduate students also won major teaching awards.
    2011 C&J departmental scholarships went to: Dowler Scholarship, Jasmine Simon and Trevor Schmitt; John J. Aragon Scholarship, Florencio Olguin and Jose Zamora; Jim Crow Memorial Scholarship, Suzanna McElwain; W.A. Keleher Memorial Scholarship, Jordan Unverzagt; Albuquerque Press Club Scholarship, Adam Camp; Jeanette King Memorial Scholarship, Ashley McElroy ; New Mexico Public Relations Society Scholarship, Susan Parras; Hunsley-Florence Scholarship, Anna Lee Nowlin; Kelly Richmond Scholarship, Chelsea Erven; and the Herrick Pueblo Scholarship, no applicants.
    In addition, C&J undergraduate student Trevor Schmitt won the Top Undergraduate Paper Award at the Rocky Mountain Communication Association Conference in April 2011with his paper, "Re-Appropriation and Whiteness in America."


UNM honors outstanding teachers Milstein & Luna-Lucero
   C&J faculty member Dr. Tema Milstein was named UNM's "Outstanding New Teacher of the Year" at the annual Teaching Awards Ceremony for 2011. Her award was presented by President David J. Schmidley. Milstein's teaching and research interests are in culture and communication, critical cultural inquiry, and environmental communication.
    Myra Luna-Lucero (pictured left), a C&J graduate alum, was given UNM's highest honor for adjunct faculty at the same ceremony. She was awarded the 2011"Outstanding Lecturer or Affiliated Faculty of the Year" award. Luna-Lucero teaches public speaking, interpersonal communication, interviewing, and organizational communication. She has worked in fundraising, special event planning, marketing, and public relations.


ICCC awards grant to C&J breast cancer researchers
   The newly formed Institute of Communication, Culture & Change recently awarded Dr. Patricia Covarrubias (pictured left), Dr. Elba Saavedra, Dani Jones-Kvam, and LaRae Tronstad a grant for their research project titled: "Comadre A Comadre Peer Mentors: Public Communication and Advocacy Skills for Breast Cancer Survivors." The team represents a collaboration between the UNM COE-HESS Comadre a Comadre Program, a community-based intervention for Hispanic/Latina women on breast health and breast cancer, and C&J faculty and graduate students. This project aims to conduct assessment research, followed by design and implementation of a training program, to enhance the confidence and self-esteem of the Comadre Peer Mentors, community women who are breast cancer survivors. The team’s activities will occur during the coming academic year and include a series of workshops focused on public speaking, advocacy and interpersonal skill building.




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