University of New Mexico
Department of Communication & Journalism
UNM Lobo

C&J Dept. News Archive


Winners named in the 2011 Mercer Speech Tournament
   The 2011 Joe and Steve Mercer Memorial Scholarship Speech Tournament, sponsored by C&J and open to all UNM students, crowned several scholarship winners April 29. The scholarship was endowed by JoAnn Mercer in memory of her son and husband who were active in collegiate debate as students. The first place scholarship worth $1,250 went to Richelle Gilsdorf, who is majoring in English. The second place award of $1,000 went to Jose Sanchez, majoring in economics. The third place winner for a $750 scholarship was psychology/history major Christina Foster. The remaining three finalists, Desiree Quinones-Soria (biology/Spanish/communication), Andrew Kasik (communication), and Chris Thompson (communication) each received a $250 scholarship.

C&J hosts Communication, Culture & Change conference
   A conference titled "Connecting Communities & Cultures" was held April 10, 2011, at Los Poblanos Cultural Center in Albuquerque hosted by the Communication & Journalism Department. The conference launched the Institute for Culture, Communication and Change at UNM. Sessions were held on Engaging Communities in New Mexico to Address Health Outcomes and Disparities; Making Connections: New Directions in Community Journalism; A Nation Torn Apart: Negotiating Issues of Equity and Inclusion in a World Centered on My Oppression, Your Oppression, and Our Community; Immigration and the Borderlands: Moving Towards Change; Emergent Scholarship: Linking Academic Specialists with Community-Based Oral History Projects; and on Performance Methodologies: Artistic Stories of Culture and Community. A pdf program of all conference sessions, speakers and activities can be downloaded here.

Graduate students earn 2011 awards
   The annual graduate student awards recognize the graduate students who best exemplify excellence in research, teaching and service. The 2011 award winners are: Outstanding Master's Student Award, tie between (Angelina) Qingjing Xu and Carolina Ramos; Outstanding Doctoral Student Award, to Brandi Lawless; Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, to Cia Hell; Jean Civikly-Powell Award for Outstanding New Teaching Assistant, Lingjing Bao; Hank Trewhitt Departmental Service Award, Jelena Petrovic; Part-Time Instructor of the Year Award, Myra Luna-Lucero; Everett Rogers Graduate Research Scholar Award, (Ph.D.) to Anjana Mudambi, Jessica Nodulman, Tatjana Rosev, Angela Putnam, and Carmen Lowery, and (M.A.) to Marleah Dean.

Post-doctoral researcher joins C&J and teaches indigenous media class
Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, has joined C&J as a post-doctoral fellow through the Robert Wood Johnson Center for Health Policy and the College of Arts and Sciences, where she is an assistant research professor in the Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media program. She taught a C&J graduate-level class in spring 2011 on indigenous representation in the media. Her work focuses on participatory action research with indigenous communities for social justice and improved health outcomes through the use of documentary film, photography and social media. She has a Ph.D. in public health from UC-Berkley and attended Stanford University's film school and the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking. Her current documentary film, "Forty Winters," received the California Council for the Humanities Documentary Film Prize.

NCA honors Dr. Karen Foss
Karen A. Foss (pictured in red at the right), regents professor of communication at C&J, recently received the Robert J. Kibler Memorial Award at the 2010 National Communication Association convention held in San Francisco. The awards recognizes an NCA member who has demonstrated dedication to excellence, commitment to the profession, concern for others, vision of what could be, acceptance of diversity, and forthrightness. Dr. Foss received the award during the convention.

UNM names C&J faculty member as 'Lecturer of the Year'
Karolyn Cannata-Winge of C&J is one of only three lecturers that UNM honored in May 2010 as "Lecturer of the Year." Her citation reads: "(She) uses her 20 years of professional experience in visual communication, design, print journalism, advertising and public relations to give her students real-world examples and a glimpse of what they will encounter in their careers. She also serves as the department's faculty internship coordinator and adviser to the American Advertising Federation's student chapter." The award carries with it the highest teaching honor among lecturers and recognizes Cannata-Winge's valuable contributions as a classroom educator at the University.

Dr. Glenda Balas
C&J Chair

C&J hires five new faculty members in 2010
New full-time faculty members joining C&J for the fall 2010 semester are Glenda R. Balas, Stephen Littlejohn, Karen Schmidt, Shana Heinricy, and Todd Winge.
     Dr. Balas is rejoining the C&J faculty after spending two years as the chair of the Mass Communication Department at Sam Houston State University. She taught at C&J from 2001 to 2007. She is chair of the department at the rank of associate professor. Dr. Littlejohn has taught courses in communication at C&J for several years and now joins the faculty as a three-quarters-time adjunct professor. Dr. Schmidt comes to C&J as a Lecturer III with more than 20 years of college-level teaching experience. Shana Heinricy joins the faculty as a lecturer II in communication after three years teaching at Xavier University in Louisiana. Todd Winge, a multimedia journalism specialist who has worked for daily newspapers and taught at the University of Missouri, joins the faculty as a lecturer II in journalism.
     In addition, Gregoria A. Cavazos has joined the staff as C&J student adviser. She has been working in higher education in administration and academic advising since 2002.

2010 faculty promotion
Dr. Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, who teaches communication courses at C&J, was promoted in the summer of 2010 from assistant professor to associate professor.

C&J journalism major Andrew Beale speaks to Honduran journalism students in Tegucigalpa.

C&J students travel to Honduras
UNM students participating in the Cross-Border Issues Group studies traveled to Honduras in the summer of 2010 to continue studies on immigration. They also engaged in human rights training in Mexico and Guatemala. C&J associate professor Richard Schaefer and professor Arturo López Durán of Universidad Fray Luca Paccioli in Mexico led the students. C&J students Andrew Beale, Rueben Gonzales, Tanru Gudz and Shana Juarez accompanied Mexican students Paola López Menses and Anya Villanueva Forte. They battled sickness, overnight buses and difficult working conditions to see and document the migration process. More details are available here.

C&J undergraduates earn 2010 scholarships and paid internships
Several C&J undergraduate students have received scholarships and paid internships in 2010. Print student Abigail Ramirez Ortiz received the Albuquerque Journal internship for the summer of 2010. She and Andrea Salazar each received Journal scholarships for 2010-11.
    2010 C&J departmental scholarships went to: Starkey Scholarship, Cleophus Muneri, Carmen Lowry, Willow J. Anderson, and Consolata Mutua; Dowler Scholarship, Ashley Salazar and Jessica Tonjes; John J. Aragon Scholarship, Rita Gutierrez, Rachel Lucero, and Jose Zamora; Jim Crow Memorial Scholarship, Shawn Abeita; W.A. Keleher Memorial Scholarship, Ana Nowlin and Natalie Trujillo; Albuquerque Press Club Scholarship, Justine Apodaca and Shana Terrill; Jeanette King Memorial Scholarship, Vanessa Sanchez; New Mexico Public Relations Society Scholarship, Megan Trevino; Hunsley-Florence Scholarship, Tamara Farmer; Kelly Richmond Scholarship, Abigail R. Ortiz and Nicole Raz; and the Herrick Pueblo Scholarship, Brandon Quam.



Students win honors in national advertising competition

A UNM team dominated by C&J students placed fourth in their district in their first year of competition at the National Student Advertising Competition. They had worked together in a special two-semester class headed by C&J lecturer Karolyn Cannata-Winge. The 24 team members came from advertising, public relations, print, broadcast, media arts and fine arts.
     The students formed a student marketing agency, Lobo Pack. They developed an advertising and public relations plan for a corporate sponsor and presented their integrated communications campaign to a panel of judges in April 2010. The competition, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, is broken into districts, and the UNM team placed fourth out of nine colleges and universities in their district, scoring ahead of three teams that placed last year.
     Team members from the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 classes were Sara Bachis, Keith Greer, Lindsay Noyes, Mackenzie Mobley, Valerie Baca, Seville Madrid, Kate McMartin, J.V. Zamora, Drew Lara, Davida Hollis, Katy Melloy, Bryan Gyger, Paul Spella, Tess Goering, Kyle Rudeen, Blake Walker, Kayla Donner, Julie Kare, Felicia Lopez, Jeremy Frankel, Colin Bridge, Lindsey Powell, Michael Demko and Sean Gardner.

Winners named in the 2010 Mercer Speech Tournament
The Joe and Steve Mercer Memorial Scholarship Speech Tournament, sponsored by C&J and open to all UNM students, crowned several scholarship winners April 9. The scholarship was endowed by JoAnn Mercer in memory of her son and husband who were active in collegiate debate as students. The first place scholarship worth $1,000 went to Tyler Albright, who is majoring in university studies. The second place award of $750 went to Van Snow, majoring in history and philosophy. The third place winner for a $500 scholarship was biology major Arti Attreya. The remaining four finalists, Annalisa Babb (communication), Alejandra Gayton (veterinary science), Shaina Saint-lot (undecided), and Faye Willis (communication) each received a $250 scholarship. In the photo, from left: Back row, Shaina Saint-lot, Tyler Albright, Van Snow, Annalisa Babb; Front row, Arti Attreya, Alejandra Gayton and Faye Willis.

Students participate in radio internship in D.C.
Five UNM students spent the spring semester in Washington, D.C., working for the Talk Radio News Service (TRNS), an online news service that provides reports to more than 300 radio stations across the nation. Antonia Aguilar, Monique Cala, Benny Martinez, Brishel Prichard and Sofia Sanchez covered politics as print, radio and multimedia journalists. They trained under the TRNS staff and received housing and travel support from the New Mexico Broadcasters Association. The faculty director is C&J associate professor Richard Schaefer. He said says the C&J, NMBA and TRNS are working on financial details for next semester, as most UNM students need financial aid to live and work in Washington.

C&J professor and a graduate student win university awards
A C&J faculty member and graduate student have both won mentor awards through UNM's Office Of Graduate Studies. Dr. Karen Foss (at right in the photo) received the Faculty Mentor Award and Ph.D. candidate Elizabeth Dickinson (at left) received the Graduate Student Mentor Award. The awards honor an outstanding faculty member and graduate student who have provided excellence in mentoring graduate students.

National Communication Association honors Lutgen-Sandvik
C&J Assistant Professor Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik won the triple crown of academic awards at the 2009 conference of the National Communication Association. She won the top organizational communication conference paper award, the organizational communication article of the year award, and the organizational communication book of the year award.

C&J students win PR national honors
The most prestigious national award for undergraduate public relations students was bestowed in 2009 upon three C&J students. Devon Armijo, Shannon Guess and Jacqueline Jinzo were awarded the Bernays Cup by Public Relations Quarterly.
     The competition is based on essays submitted to PRQ. The C&J students' winning paper was titled "Ripped Straight from the Headlines: Jack the Ripper's Public Relations." It was published in PRQ.
     Armijo, Guess and Jinzo applied existentialist philosophy to the so-called "Jack the Ripper letters" to explain the Ripper crimes through systematic sociocultural scrutiny.
     This is the third time C&J students have won the Bernays Cup, the most of any university. Genevieve Sadler-Trainor received the award in 2005 for her essay, "Visual Methods of Public Relations Communication." Mary White's study of tobacco lobbying, titled "Buttman on the 1996 Campaign Trail," won the 1997 prize.

Wall hanging for classroom in production
Several C&J faculty members and graduate students are sewing together colorful squares of cloth of a wall hanging for the bare south wall of the C&J second floor library and test-taking area. Professor Karen Foss is coordinating the project. The wall hanging is to help fill the space exposed by the removal of bookcases.

Gandert honored by Chicago center
C&J Professor Miguel Gandert has received the Artist-in-Residence Award from the Center for Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. Gandert traveled to Chicago over spring break 2010 and presented a public lecture at the center. He also taught a seminar.


2009 faculty promotions

Two C&J faculty members were promoted in the summer of 2009 from assistant professor to associate professor. They are: Dr. Ilia Rodríguez, who teaches in the print journalism sequence, and Dr. Patricia O. Covarrubias, who teaches communication courses.

Grad student earns honors
Elaine Baumgartel, an M.A. student, was awarded a first place and shared an honorable mention in the Associated Press awards for 2009 at KUNM radio. Her first place award was in the service category for her "Race and Gender" series.

C&J undergraduates earn 2009 scholarships and paid internships
Several C&J undergraduate students have received scholarships and paid internships in 2009. Maggie Ybarra was awarded a paid internship for the summer from the Albuquerque Journal, which also presented a $2,000 scholarship to print student Mario Trujillo for the 2009-2010 academic year. Photojournalism student Vanessa J. Sanchez and advertising student Jennifer N. Vieth received scholarships from New Mexico Press Women. Alice Loy received the Sarah Belle Brown Community Service Award for establishing Social Ventures Partners New Mexico, the state's first social enterprise and investment organization.
      C&J departmental scholarships for 2009 were awarded to: Dowler Scholarship, Vanessa Sanchez; John J. Aragon Scholarship, Devon Armijo and Ryan Montano; Jim Crow Memorial Scholarship, Douglas Capitan; W.A. Keleher Memorial Scholarship, Gary Alderete, Rikki-Lee Ulibarri and Sean Gardner; Albuquerque Press Club Scholarship, Carmen Marcello; Jeanette King Memorial Scholarship, Joseph Trisolini, Tiffini Porter and Jamie Garcia; New Mexico Public Relations Society Scholarship, Erica Krause; and the Herrick Pueblo Scholarship, Tasha Nelson.

C&J graduate students earn recognition for scholarship, research
Graduate students continue to receive awards in 2009. Iliana Rucker was selected by the UNM Alumni Association as the 2009-2010 recipient of the Albuquerque Branch AAUW Graduate Women Scholarship. At the Rocky Mountain Communication Association, Liesel Sharabi was awarded Top Graduate Student Paper honors for “The New Face of Dating: An Application of Social Penetration and Uncertainty Reduction Theories to Explain Relational Development Online.”
Lorenda Belone was awarded a dissertation fellowship for 2009-10 from the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Center. Julie Lucero was named
Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Center doctoral fellow for 2009-2010. Claudia Anguiano received a two-year fellowship from the Mellon Foundation to support the completion of her doctoral degree. Chris Brown received a Social and Behavioral Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship from Ohio State University starting in the fall of 2009.

C&J graduate student wins teaching award
Courtney Fletcher, a C&J graduate student studying for her Ph.D. in communication, received the Gunter Starkey Teaching Award from the College of Arts & Sciences at UNM for 2008. It is a college-level award given to only two TAs in the college.

2008 faculty promotion
Dr. Olaf Werder, who teaches the advertising sequence at C&J, was promoted in the summer of 2008 from assistant professor to associate professor.

C&J students participate in class in Mexico
Dr. Richard Schaefer of the C&J broadcast faculty led a group of UNM students to Mexico and Guatemala in July 2008 to work with students from Universidad Fray Luca Paccioli in producing radio reports on immigration. Details are available here.

Faculty news notes in 2008
C&J Assistant Professor Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik has been invited to be one of the keynote speakers at the 6th International Conference on Workplace Bullying and Harassment. She is one of only two U.S. scholars invited to keynote; other speakers hail from Norway, Britain, France and Germany. The conference will be held in Montreal, Quebec, June 4-7, 2008.
     C&J Associate Professor Richard Schaefer coordinated a visit by broadcast students from Universidad Fray Luca Paccioli (UFLP) in Central Mexico, who worked on issues of immigration and local musical culture while visiting UNM in April 2008. The students produced a television program on immigration for public broadcast Canal Tres in Morelos, Mexico. The students also produced a radio program on the local music scene for the Spanish language program, Raices, which aired on KUNM-FM in Albuquerque. The students and professors, along with Carolyn Gonzales from UNM Communication and Marketing, spent a week on the Navajo Reservation studying indigenous culture and traditions.
     The program is part of the ongoing “Cross-Border Issues” exchange between UFLP and the Department of Communication and Journalism. This June, a small group of UNM students will spend a month in the Mexican states of Morelos and Chiapas, producing broadcast reports that convey Mexican perspectives on immigration.

C&J sponsors its first job and internship fair
First proposed by the C&J chapter of Society of Professional Journalists, the idea of a job and internship fair for C&J students drew the support and participation of other student groups and the administration, culminating in the first such event for the department on March 4, 2008. More than 200 students attended the fair, which featured exhibits by 25 employers.

C&J prof's documentary wins two awards
The documentary titled "The Long Road to Decatur" by Asssociate Professor Glenda Balas won first place for documentary in the 2008 New Mexico Press Women Competition. The documentary also won a "Gold Award" for educational video at the International AVA Awards, sponsored by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals.

C&J students awarded 2008 scholarships and paid internships
C&J scholarships awarded in May went to: Mario Trujillo - Carolyn Hunsley Memorial Scholarship; Ryan Montano -W.A. Keleher Scholarship; Laura Rasmussen - Albuquerque Press Club Scholarship; Colin Bridge and Vanessa Strobbe - Kelly Richmond scholarships; Armijo Devon, Benny Martinez, Christopher Sanchez and Lorinda Toledo - John J. Aragon scholarships; Xochitl Campos - Jim Crow Scholarship; and Douglas Capitan - New Mexico Public Relations Society of America Scholarship.
     Rebecca Warin and Jerra Gonzales were awarded scholarships from the New Mexico Public Relations Society of America. One of two statewide scholarships from the New Mexico Press Women was awarded to Christina Isabel Lovato, a broadcast major at UNM.

     Christopher Sanchez and Colin Bridge were awarded paid summer internships at the Albuquerque Journal, and Kate Murphy received a paid internship in the Washington, D.C., office of Scripps Howard News Service.

C&J athletes are honored for academic achievement
The following C&J students were honored at the UNM Student Athlete Academic Awards Celebration in April 2008 for maintaining a G.P.A. of at least 3.2: Lucy Scott (women’s tennis), Dane Hamilton (baseball), Nicholas Geyer (men’s golf), Michael Graczyk (men’s soccer), Madison Warren (Spirit Squad), Jessie Junker (Spirit Squad), Jazmin Lowery (Spirit Squad), Brittney Salas (Spirit Squad), Alexandra Phelps (women’s golf), Megan Bodenheimer (women’s soccer), Kate Wyrick (women’s soccer), Whitney Johnson (women’s track), Vanessa Strobbe (women’s track), Jeanne Fairchild (women’s volleyball) and Kelsi Phillips (women’s volleyball).

C&J named 'Best Department'; lecturer also honored
For two years in a row, UNM students named the Department of Communication and Journalism as the "Best Department" at the university and C&J Lecturer II Karolyn Cannata Winge as one of three educators named "Best Teacher at UNM." The honors came in the 2006 and 2007 Lo Mejor polling conducted by the Daily Lobo and published in November of each year.
    
In addition, the UNM Peer Mentoring for Graduates of Color awarded two certificates of appreciation to the C&J Department in recognition of the department’s commitment to diversity in graduate and professional education at UNM in 2008.

Adjunct professor wins peace prize
Dr. Stephen Littlejohn, adjunct professor of communication and journalism, received the UNM Paul Bartlett Peace Prize during an award ceremony at the UNM Art Museum in January 2008. The prize is awarded to a UNM student, faculty, staff person, or retiree who has demonstrated notable achievements in promoting world peace and understanding. Littlejohn was recognized for his work in mediation.

Student film project wins regional Emmy
A public interest documentary and live television program that C&J Department students, staff and gear helped create won a 2007 regional Emmy award. "Girls: Challenges/Choices" won a Rocky Mountain Emmy in Phoenix in the category: Public/Current/Community Affairs Program or Special.

Advertising students work with the mayor
Several C&J advertising students teamed with Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez to film public service announcements for the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. Details here.

Faculty news notes in 2007
C&J Assistant Professor Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik received an award for "The 2007 Outstanding Scholarly Journal Article in Applied Communication." It was awarded for the following article: "Tracy, S. J., Lutgen-Sandvik, P., & Alberts, J. K. (2006). Nightmares, demons and slaves: Exploring the painful metaphors of workplace bullying. Management Communication Quarterly, 20(2), 148-185. The award came from the Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association. This division focuses on the practical uses of communication research to assess social issues/needs and solve social problems.
     C&J Assistant Professor Patricia O. Covarrubias was appointed to the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute (SHRI), which promotes multidisciplinary research on the Latino/Hispanic populations of the United States and fosters public service regarding the hispano and mexicano communities of New Mexico.

APHA honors C&J graduate student
Lissa Knudsen, MPH, CHES, has been awarded the 2007 Trong D. Nguyen Memorial Award for Student Leadership by the Student Assembly of the American Public Health Association. Lissa is a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico studying communication. Lissa’s advocacy efforts through the New Mexico Breast Feeding Task Force (NMBFTF) led to the Southwest region’s first law on breastpump use in the workplace, providing women with a clean, private space to breast pump at work and ensuring that their employers provide flexible break times to accommodate their pumping. The award was presented at the 135th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Washington, D.C.

2007 new faculty members
Three new full-time faculty members joined the department in Fall 2007. They are Assistant Professor Tema Milstein, a 2007 Ph.D. recipient from the University of Washington who is teaching both communication and journalism classes; Assistant Professor Judith White, who received her Ph.D. in 2007 from Texas A&M and is teaching public relations; and Lecturer II Janet Shiver, owner of The Shiver Group, who is director of C&J's scores of public speaking classes from departemts across the university. Also appointed for two years was a visiting assistant professor, John Carr.

C&J students participate in class in Mexico
Dr. Richard Schaefer of the C&J faculty led a group of UNM students to Cuernavaca, Mexico, in July 2007 to work with students from Universidad Fray Luca Paccioli in producing radio reports on immigration. Details are available here.

C&J faculty members are promoted
Three faculty members — Dr. John Oetzel, Dr. Gill Woodall, and Dr. Glenda Balas — were promoted in the summer of 2007. Dr. Oetzel, who headed the effort to have the journalism side accredited in 2008, was promoted from associate professor to full professor. Dr. Woodall also went from associate professor to full professor. He divides his time between the C&J Department and the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions (CASAA), a comprehensive research center focused on all aspects of addiction science at UNM. Dr. Balas, the associate chair of the C&J Department in 2006-07, came to UNM after a career in public television. She was promoted from assistant professor to associate professor.

C&J faculty member cited for productivity
Sooyoung Cho identified the most productive authors and programs in public relations literature from 1996 to 2003 in a paper at the 2007 ICA conference. She found that Dr. Dirk Gibson was the 10th most productive PR scholar and that UNM was the 15th ranked PR program.

Renovated C&J building is reopened
The C&J Department celebrated the grand opening of the $5.81 million renovation of the Communication and Journalism Building on Aug. 19, 2007. The new building has 11 classrooms with state-of-the-art instructional technology including two computer pods. There is Wi-Fi in the building, public use computers, and office space for 80-plus instructors and four student organizations. The new resources provide the department an opportunity to reach the core goals of its strategic plan that include enhancing undergraduate education and graduation rates, research reputation, diversity, and community and interdisciplinary relations.

C&J building renovation completed
After being closed for the 2006-07 academic year for renovation, C&J staff and faculty moved back into a new, enlarged and improved C&J building in August 2007. The move began in May and the "Grand Reopening" was held Aug. 19, the day before fall classes begin. The e-mail addresses for both staff and faculty can be found on the directory page. See coverage of the construction kick-off celebration here.

C&J graduate student wins teaching awards
Chris Brown, a Ph.D. candidate in communication, won the department's 2007 teaching award, and he has received information he is a recipient of one of the year's UNM outstanding graduate teaching associate awards from the Department of Arts and Sciences. Earlier in 2007, he won the Rocky Mountain conference outstanding graduate teaching associate award.

C&J faculty member named chair of Women Studies Program
Associate Professor Janet Cramer, a member of the journalism faculty in the C&J Department, will take over in Autumn 2007 as chair of the Women Studies Program while also continuing to teach C&J classes.

Six students are winners in Mercer Speech Tournament
Mrs. JoAnn Mercer was the special guest at the finalists round of the 4th Annual Mercer Speech Tournament April 27, 2007. The tournament awarded nearly $3,000 in scholarship funds to six finalist students from across the university in competition hosted by the C&J Department.
     Shayai Lucero of the Ácoma and Laguna pueblos won a scholarship of $1,000 for the next academic year for her speech about the personal effects of DWI. The remaining finalists included: 2nd place, $750—Albert Guillen; 3rd place, $500, Andrew Tennison; Finalists, each $200—Nicole Achenbach, M. Jay Platt and Daniel Martinez. The tournament is sponsored by Mrs. Mercer and named in honor of her late husband and son, Joe and Steve Mercer. They were politicians and lawyers who believed in the power of speech and debate, and Mrs. Mercer created this scholarship to honor their commitments and memory.

C&J faculty member awarded research grant
Assistant Professor Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik has received a $20,000 summer 2007 research grant to complete a book on "The Destructive Side of Organizational Communication."

Advertising students honored
2007 Clauve Award Winner
Dohnia W. Dorman, an advertising student in C&J and a Spanish double major, will receive a 2007 Clauve Outstanding Senior Award. The award is usually presented to six to eight UNM seniors with outstanding academics, community and campus involvement and leadership. UNM Dean of Students G. Randy Boeglin will present the award at the UNM Recognition Reception on April 12.

2006 Silver ADDY Winner
Shane Harris, an advertising student in C&J received a 2006 Silver ADDY in the New Mexico Advertising Federation's local ADDY competition in the Student Category for a series of magazine ads designed for "Under Armour Camouflage." The NMAF ADDYs recognize the best in advertising creative in print, broadcast and interactive. Local winners advance to district competition, then to the national competition. Shane was honored at the annual ADDY ceremony March 23.

Lecturer is awarded business fellowship
C&J Lecturer Dennis F. Herrick has been named as a fellow to the first Business Journalism Professor Seminar Jan. 8-11, 2007, at the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University. The fellowship, valued at $2,500, is intended to improve education in journalism schools on business perspectives and issues. Herrick is one of only 15 international educators awarded the fellowship.

UNM names Dr. Karen A. Foss as a Regents Professor
C&J Professor Karen A. Foss has received the prestigious title of Regents Professor from the UNM Board of Regents, one of the highest honors for a faculty member. Dr. Foss has taught communication courses at UNM since 1993, and she was C&J chair from 1997 to 2000. She also teaches in Women's Studies. She is the author of several books.

C&J faculty to speak at SIETAR-USA conference
C&J Professor Emeritus Jack Condon and Professor Miguel Gandert will speak at the SIETAR-USA national conference Nov. 1-4, 2006, at the Albuquerque Hilton. SIETAR stands for Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research. Other speakers will include Susana Rinderle (M.A. 2004) and C&J grad students.

C&J student project wins World Bronze Medal; nominated for Emmy
C&J Assistant Professor Glenda Balas and her students, with the assistance of Broadcast Engineer Sean Solowiej, produced a film project that was honored with a Bronze World Medal in New York at the 2006 New York Festivals, an international competition. The film also was nominated for a Rocky Mountain Emmy. The film, titled "Not in My Family," is in the Documentary-Topical category and was produced by Stephen Adelsheim and Chris Schueler for SafeTeen New Mexico.

C&J faculty member named to Advertising Federation board
C&J Lecturer Karolyn Cannata-Winge has been named to the board of the New Mexico Advertising Federation. One of Cannata-Winge's responsibilities as a NMAF board member will be to serve as co-chair of the 2006-2007 local ADDYS advertising competition.

"Construction Carnival" marks start of building remodeling
The start of the $4 million renovation of the historic C&J building was celebrated with ceremonies and refreshments April 21, 2006. Some work already has started, but the main construction phase was to start in May. Coverage of the event is available on C&J Online News.

C&J faculty member appointed to APME committee
Albuquerque Journal editors invited C&J journalism lecturer Dennis Herrick to serve on a planning committee for NewsTrain, a two-day training session for newspaper editors sponsored by the Associated Press Managing Editors. The NewsTrain session for western states editors was held in Albuquerque on June 21-22, 2006.

C&J student earns "Senior of the Year" award
Maya L. Oliver, a public relations student in Communication & Journalism, received a 2006 Clauve Outstanding Senior Award at the UNM Recognition Reception on April 20, 2006. UNM Dean of Students G. Randy Boeglin presented the award to Maya and seven other seniors.

C&J wins ADDY Award
UNM's Department of Communication & Journalism has received a 2005 New Mexico Advertising Federation President's Award (known as the ADDY) for its ongoing contributions to the field and to the federation. The award was presented at the federation's annual banquet March 21, 2006.

Ground-breaking to be April 21
C&J Chair John Oetzel has announced that the ground-breaking ceremony for the $4 million renovation of the C&J building will be 2 to 4 p.m. on April 21, 2006.

Dr. Rodriguez selected for national presentation
The Institute for Educational Inquiry selected UNM Assistant Professor Ilia Rodriguez as one of 10 educators nationally to present a proposal in 2006. Her proposal is for local study sessions to be led by a team of five members, among them a bilingual (English/Spanish)program coordinator, a school administrator and two journalists from the Spanish-language media in New Mexico.

New campus newspaper in 2006
Journalism students at UNM's branch campus in Taos have started a monthly newspaper, a four-page tabloid titled The Taos Times. The paper also maintains a Web site at www.taostimes.net. This is the third UNM campus newspaper, along with The Daily Lobo on the main campus and the weekly Campus Voice on the Gallup branch campus.

Conference speaker
C&J Professor John Oetzel was one of two keynote speakers at the Sooner Communication Conference at the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma on Feb. 24-26, 2006.

Building renovation
The C&J building underwent extensive renovation in 2006 to add classrooms, a new computer lab, and other improvements. The building, designed by famous Southwest architect John Gaw Meem, was built in 1948. More information on the project is in the department's 2005 newsletter, which can be downloaded as a pdf or by going to the building renovation page.

2006 New faculty member
Dr. Mary Jane Collier started in January 2006 on the C&J faculty. Dr. Collier is a professor of communication and comes to UNM from the University of Denver, where she was professor and chair of the Department of Human Communication.

2005 New faculty members
Three new faculty members joined the department in 2005. Lecturer II Karolyn Cannata-Winge joined the faculty in January, coming from the Albuquerque Journal. Joining the faculty in the fall semester were Assistant Professor Patricia Covarrubias, who came from the University of Montana, and Assistant Professor Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, who received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University.

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