University of New Mexico
Department of Communication & Journalism
UNM Lobo M.A. Graduate Students

M.A. Profiles
Click on any student's name for information provided by each graduate student on his or her background and interest areas.

Lingjing Bao
Reslie Cortes
Pamela J. Gerber
Rodrigo Guzmán
Zhibin Hong
Siobhan Kilbride
Miwa Kimura
Gavin Leach
Diana Leon

Hengjun Lin
Lisa Rossignol
Jennifer Schouwe
Michael F. Snyder
Brittany Stone
Camille R. Velarde
Kirby Witten-Smith
LaRae Tronstad

Lingjing Bao
M.A. Student
2010 Cohort
bao@unm.edu

Lingjing concentrates on media studies and intercultural communication in the Department of Communication at the University of New Mexico. While pursuing her M.A. degree, she teaches undergraduate classes on public speaking. She earned her B.A. from the English Department at Fujian Normal University in China, and graduated with the Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Being a passionate leader in several student organizations, Lingjing's research interests embrace cross-cultural comparison in persuasion, specifically in interpersonal and business contexts. She also explores rhetoric of politics, political communication through media, and media effects on public opinion. Before coming to UNM, she worked as an Assistant CEO in a European company in Shanghai for three years. She was responsible for both international and operations management. She also worked for VintageProductions, a pan-European integrated marketing communication company from 2005-2007, playing a key role in international customer relationships. She has won a number of awards for scholarship,service, leadership, and teaching, including the Jean Civikly-Powell Outstanding New Teaching Assistant Award. Recently, she was nominated for the 2012 Faculty of Color Award by Project for New Mexico Graduates of Color.

Reslie Cortes
M.A. Student
2012 Cohort
cortes93@unm.edu

This Puerto-Rican native was raised in New Jersey. Reslie is the first in her family to earn her degree. She graduated from Rowan University with a B.A. in Communication Studies, emphasis in Rhetoric and Cultural Criticism, Magna Cum Laude. Her research interests currently focus on how gender, race, and class are constructed in Anime and other popular media.

Sarah Beck
M.A. Student
--
sbeck01@unm.edu

No biography available.

Jason Boys
M.A. Student
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jmboys@unm.edu

No biography available.

Erin Bradley
M.A. Student
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ebrad49@gmail.com

No biography available.

Michael Heller
M.A. Student
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mdheller@unm.edu

No biography available.

Jeffrey Hoffman
M.A. Student
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jhoffmann@unm.edu

No biography available.

Lisa Knudsen
M.A. Student
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lknudsen@unm.edu

No biography available.

Samantha Meyer
M.A. Student
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smeyer2y@unm.edu

No biography available.

Rodrigo Guzmán (Roga)
M.A. Student
2011 Cohort
cguzma02@unm.edu

Born and raised in Mexico City, Roga got his B.A. in Communication Sciences from the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Edo. de México in 2010. When an undergrad, he came to Albuquerque as an exchange student for 6 months during 2009. Roga's interests are in the fields of aesthetics, semiotics, art, media artifacts, feminism, and gender issues. He is interested in how contemporary art, through the uses of aesthetic strategies, is resembling or appealing to the idea of the uses of media as artifacts that enables a different experience to the users. Roga is also interested in feminist theory and gender, especially focused in artwork and media production that have this topic as a theme of reflection. He is planning to graduate in 2013 and pursue a Ph.D. in aesthetics, semiotics or gender.

Zhibin Hong (Bing)

M.A. Student
2010 cohort

After Zhibin received his B.A. in Japanese linguistics and literature at Shanghai International Studies University, he began to seek an interdisciplinary area to continue his study in culture, society, social anthropology and communication. Due to his research experience in SISU Intercultural Institute and his will to fill the vacancy of the intercultural communication research in Sino-Japan, he found an ideal place to continue his academic life at C&J. His research interests focus on intercultural communication, cultural conflict, immigration/internal migration issue, culture adaptation and value studies.

Siobhan Kilbride

M.A. Student
2008 Cohort

A proud dual citizen of both Canada and the United States, Siobhan spent the majority of her life growing up in Toronto, Canada, but maintaining close ties to the U.S. She first began her communication career in journalism — editing at two magazines before writing for the largest city news desk in Canada. Most recently, her career turned to a corporate communication focus, where she spent several years before moving to Albuquerque in 2007. Siobhan's research interests lie in message involvement and the influence of medium interactivity on persuasion, specifically, messages mediated by technology, and she won the top debut paper award for theory advancement at the 2010 WSCA conference. She has also had numerous invitations to guest lecture on a secondary research interest: educating instructors about plagiarism and research skills to teach undergraduate students. Siobhan applies a mixed methodological approach to her research, and a love of learning to her teaching. She intends to pursue both at a Ph.D. level.

Miwa Kimura

M.A. Student
2010 cohort


Miwa is originally from Japan. She earned her B.A. in interpersonal communication with a minor in sociology from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is currently pursuing an M.A. at UNM. Her research interests include conflict management and cultural study of media to questions of identity. She's planning on pursuing a Ph.D. in communication after a completion of her M.A.

Gavin Leach
M.A. Student
2012 Cohort
gleach@unm.edu

Born in Burlington, Vt., but raised in Las Cruces, N.M., Gavin proudly calls New Mexico his home. Gavin's educational background is in business as he received his B.A. in marketing from the University of New Mexico in 2005. After working six years in the real estate industry as a account executive and consultant, Gavin decided to pursue other pursuits by obtaining a M.A in communication with a focus on organizational communication. Gavin's interests are in the fields of qualitative research, public relations, social media, technical writing and rhetorical advertising techniques. He is interested in how organizations motivate their workforce to achieve both personal and corporate goals and the challenges contained within. He is planning to graduate in 2013 and pursue a career in the field of advertising.

Diana Leon
M.A. Student
2011 Cohort
leon@unm.edu

Originally from Mexico City, Diana grew up and went to school in Texas. She received her B.A. in Communication Studies from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. After working for three years at a Spanish-speaking television station (both in front of and behind the camera), she decided she wanted to conduct research about the representation of Latinas in the media. Her most current research explores audience responses to Latinidad and Hybridity in lingerie and swimwear ads. By using audience response case studies, she attempts to shine light on what audiences, particularly Latina/os, are asking the media to do in terms of their representations. Additionally, Diana is interested in critical race theory and intersectionality. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in Communication and is a Public Speaking instructor. See her curriculum vitae.

Hengjun Lin
M.A. Student
2012 Cohort
hengjun@unm.edu

Born and raised in China, Lin graduated from Lanzhou University in Lanzhou with B.A. in Journalism in July 2012. He loves Albuquerque and feels lucky to be in both Lanzhou and Albuquerque--they are sister cities. He used to major in electronic information science and technology and now his research interests are social networking service and how cultural differences affect health care in different cultures.

Lisa Rossignol
M.A. Student
2011 Cohort
lrossi01@unm.edu

Lisa was born and raised in Albuquerque. She received a Bachelor of University Studies titled "Art: Space, Aesthetics, and Education" from the University of New Mexico in 2001, cum laude. She spent 7 years in Marketing and Advertising until her first child experienced a catastrophic health event. Having been forced to form new relationships with more than 30 doctors, therapists, nurses and case managers, Lisa became increasingly interested in understanding how medical system personnel interact with families. Her current research involves evaluating medical students for specific communication skills before and after Family-Centered Care education and conducting ethnographic research in the pediatric inpatient units at the University of New Mexico Hospital. Lisa was a 2011 fellow in The Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities program (NM LEND) at the University of New Mexico, located at the Center for Development and Disability, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). She is also a graduate of NM Partners in Policymaking, a current NM EMERGE participant, and a board member of the University of New Mexico Hospital Pediatric Patient- and Family-Centered Care Advisory Committee. See her curriculum vitae.

Jennifer Schouwe
M.A. Student
2009 Cohort

Jennifer received her B.A. from California State University-San Marcos and her associate's degree from Mira Costa College, also in California. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in communication, focusing on rhetoric of space and place, national memory, post-colonial theory, feminism, and intercultural communication. She is in the second year of the program and is studying the intersections of art, architecture, anthropology, rhetoric of space and place, post-colonial globalization, and intercultural communication. She specifically examines how museums operate as spaces that negotiate social construction of national history and memory along with the politics of identity and representation, highlighting the impact of globalization and colonialism. See her curriculum vitae.

Michael F. Snyder

M.A. Student
2009 Cohort

Mike was born in New Jersey but grew up in Denver.  He's worked in broadcast engineering and operations for many years and is the manager of broadcast technical services at KNME-TV. His experience includes a wide variety of behind-the-scenes work such as editing, camera, systems design and technical support. Along the way, he earned both an AAS in electronics at DeVry and a B.S. in information systems at Regis University in Denver. Early in his career, Mike discovered a knack for explaining technical concepts in a way that made them easily understood by others and realized he was a good negotiator who could quickly establish communications between groups. Combining those skills with a background in the media led Mike to study communication at UNM. He is studying the various ways that non-verbal communication impacts individuals in group and organizational settings. He is also interested in how mass media frames and sets the agenda for issues such as health care.

Brittany Stone

M.A. Student
2011 Cohort
bstone@unm.edu

Having traveled and moved around the United States for most of her life, it is hard to pin-point where Brittany is originally from. She received her B.A. in communication with an emphasis on intercultural communication from the University of New Mexico. Brittany has a strong interest in environmental communication and intercultural communication and she plans on mixing the two for her M.A. She is especially interested in looking at how traditional or "lost" skills are incorporated in the creation and sustainability of urban micro-farms. In this vain, Brittany has been learning how to spin yarn, can food, garden, keep chickens, cook traditional and seasonal foods, make soap, keep bees and many more helpful skills for living a sustainable life. Coming from a large and ever growing family, Brittany feels that reconnecting with the cultural traditions and land is not only important but necessary for sustainability.

Camille R. Velarde
M.A. Student
2009 Cohort

Originally from Cuba, N.M., Camille is a second-year master’s student in the Department of Communication & Journalism. Camille enjoys working with the diverse community of students and faculty at UNM and values the experience of discovery, creativity, and growth fostered through the dialogues present therein. She received a B.A. in organizational communication with a minor in psychology from UNM. She holds a management position at an established law firm in Albuquerque and teaches two Web-enhanced sections of public speaking for C&J. Camille utilizes a facilitator approach to teaching, believes in fostering personal transformation, empowerment, and social awareness while teaching the fundamental concepts of public speaking. Her research interests are in health communication, specifically addressing mental health disparities.

Kirby Witten-Smith

M.A. Student
2008 Cohort

Originally from Taos, N.M., by way of Baton Rouge, La., Kirby earned his B.A. in English from UNM in 2004. Upon receiving his degree, Kirby set off to Tokyo, Japan, where he lived and taught ESL for almost two years. During this time, he developed a strong interest in communication and decided to pursue an academic career in the field after returning to the States. While working for a PBS member television station, Kirby is pursuing a greater understanding of public media and the importance of having not-for-profit television, radio and print in a democratic society. Combining his knowledge and experience with successful publicly funded media services in multiple countries, Kirby hopes to develop new methods for sustaining healthy and vibrant independent media.

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