Building a Successful Communication Center at a STEM Institution through Multidisciplinary Leadership, Programming, and Strategic Partnerships

Beyond the introductory public speaking course, communication centers can play a significant role in higher education through creating an institutional culture of communication that spans disciplines and through contributing to their institutional mission, strategic plan, and student success initiatives. To do this work, this article argues for the adoption of a multidisciplinary approach to communication centers, achieved through three key strategies: collaborative, multidisciplinary leadership; diverse communication center programming; and strategic partnerships. Implementing a Co-Director leadership model allows representation from multiple disciplines, resulting in a stronger communication center better able to innovate, refine, achieve goals, and respond to institutional needs. Using a three pillar center structure that incorporates multiple external perspectives and leverages outside knowledge can increase center reach, improve tutor training and tutee experience, grow faculty participation and buy-in, and raise the overall center profile. By prioritizing strategic, multidisciplinary partnerships, this article offers recommendations for new and established centers that can lead to expanded services and stronger support from campus stakeholders to meet changing institutional needs and to cement the center’s status as vital to that institution

Presenting with Confidence

Do presentations cause you anxiety? You\u27re not alone! This webinar is designed to help students develop skills and strategies to present with increased confidence. Whether presenting at work or in class, to a large audience or a small one, in Zoom or in person, you will learn a variety of tips to help you succeed in any presentation situation

Partnerships for a Nonprofit Organization’s Human Trafficking Digital Activism, Training, Legislative Advocacy, and Survivor Support Efforts

Although partnerships are a widely used approach to combat human trafficking, little research has been done on nonprofit partnerships for digital activism on human trafficking. This paper combines the public interest communication (PIC) theoretical framework with critical trafficking studies to understand one nonprofit’s digital activism strategies for human trafficking awareness. Employing grounded theory to analyze 54 pages of text, qualitative surveys, and interviews, data revealed organizational partnerships focused on the key areas of training, legislative advocacy, and survivor support. However, partners can potentially derail strategic efforts for social change if misaligned with PIC dimensions and human rights approaches to human trafficking. Based on these findings, recommendations for nonprofit partnerships for digital activism on human trafficking are presented.

Women With Influence: Creating A Powerful Woman Leader Identity Through Impression Management

Women hold few leadership roles in the workplace, and even though research indicates the positive benefits of more women in top positions, leadership has a longstanding association with masculine qualities. If a woman seeks a position of power, she may find herself negotiating between a conflicting woman identity and leader role performance. Previous literature on the subject offers two opposing perspectives. While the first school of thought emphasizes the importance of a woman assuming masculine characteristics to successfully assume leadership positions, a second body of research points to gender equality in leadership by driving industries and organizations to change. The current study seeks to determine what kinds of face threats to identity that women leaders encounter in the workplace, how women leaders use impression management to negotiate conflicts between a woman identity and a leader role performance, and the kinds of facework utilized to manage those face threats. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 15 women in leadership positions in the southeast United States revealed participants encountered numerous face threats to identity including positive and negative face threats to their face as hearer, positive face threats to their face as speaker, and the enhancement of negative face by others – especially by mentors. Additionally, participants utilized impression management by assuming a masculine gender performance as well as many backstage behaviors, including strategic preparation and planning, in order to be successful. Corrective facework strategies included avoidance and, conversely, direct confrontation

#ListenToSurvivors: A Case Study of Three Human Trafficking Awareness Campaigns on Twitter

Although human trafficking is a widespread issue impacting millions of people, anti-trafficking campaigns often misrepresent the problem. Media can distort the reality of trafficking and avoid addressing underlying issues such as violence against women. Digital activism is a critical strategy to accurately communicate human trafficking and in particular, Twitter is cited as important for such efforts. This case study examines 100 tweets from Polaris Project, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, and End Slavery Now. A thematic analysis of 100 tweets was conducted to reveal three primary themes: realistic information of practical value, feminist voices and stories, and engagement with other users. Results may be utilized to raise awareness for the issue of human trafficking as a racial, gender, and criminal justice issue, and especially an issue for girls and women of color

Taken in by the \u27Man in a White Van\u27 Story : The Digital Activism Efforts of One Women\u27s Civic Leadership Organization in Human Trafficking Awareness

Feminist activism in the digital age leverages technology to raise awareness of, and to mobilize support for, important issues and causes. Human trafficking is one such cause, and preventing it is included as a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls. This study sought to understand the digital activism strategies of one women\u27s civic leadership organization, the Junior League, for human trafficking awareness. In addition, this project analyzed how those digital activism strategies did or did not align with social justice approaches to human trafficking and how those digital activism strategies did or did not translate to offline action. To address these research questions, a three-pronged, feminist approach to data collection and analysis examined textual documents and included a qualitative survey and follow-up semi-structured interviews. Analysis revealed the overall disconnect between the mission of this women\u27s civic leadership organization, its human trafficking awareness work, and its offline actions. Recommendations offered for this organization and for any nonprofit working in the anti-trafficking space include messaging and campaign goals for digital activism; connecting online efforts with offline action; developing organizational partnerships that consider multiple perspectives versus only a law-and-order angle; and including survivor voices and experiences into all anti-trafficking work

Defining New Viewing Behaviours: What Makes And Motivates Tv Binge-Watching?

The term ‘binge watching’ is common in popular media and is one of several new ways of TV viewing that capitalizes on the wide availability of digital video and streaming services. However, the term lacks clear conceptualization, and the underlying motivations associated with it remain under-explored. Results from eleven focus groups of university students in the United States suggest binge watching is characterized as viewing suspenseful dramatic, narrative content for a considerable amount of time: often more than three or four hours. Analyses revealed four emergent motivations that contribute to individuals binge watching: (1) anticipation of what was coming next – facilitated by both content and technology features, (2) management of moods and excitement/ arousal, (3) procrastination and escapism, (4) social goals – related to both co-viewing, discussing content with others and identification with characters. Implications and future directions for research are discussed

Defining New Viewing Behaviours: What Makes And Motivates TV Binge-Watching?

The term ‘binge watching’ is common in popular media and is one of several new ways of TV viewing that capitalizes on the wide availability of digital video and streaming services. However, the term lacks clear conceptualization, and the underlying motivations associated with it remain under-explored. Results from eleven focus groups of university students in the United States suggest binge watching is characterized as viewing suspenseful dramatic, narrative content for a considerable amount of time: often more than three or four hours. Analyses revealed four emergent motivations that contribute to individuals binge watching: (1) anticipation of what was coming next – facilitated by both content and technology features, (2) management of moods and excitement/ arousal, (3) procrastination and escapism, (4) social goals – related to both co-viewing, discussing content with others and identification with characters. Implications and future directions for research are discussed

Defining New Viewing Behaviours: What Makes And Motivates TV Binge-Watching?

The term ‘binge watching’ is common in popular media and is one of several new ways of TV viewing that capitalizes on the wide availability of digital video and streaming services. However, the term lacks clear conceptualization, and the underlying motivations associated with it remain under-explored. Results from eleven focus groups of university students in the United States suggest binge watching is characterized as viewing suspenseful dramatic, narrative content for a considerable amount of time: often more than three or four hours. Analyses revealed four emergent motivations that contribute to individuals binge watching: (1) anticipation of what was coming next – facilitated by both content and technology features, (2) management of moods and excitement/ arousal, (3) procrastination and escapism, (4) social goals – related to both co-viewing, discussing content with others and identification with characters. Implications and future directions for research are discussed

Research Scholars Workshop: Research Posters that Engage

In this session, we establish best practices for high-quality research posters, including design and presentation. We discuss internal opportunities and point you to resources for identifying external opportunities. We will have guidance and support no matter what stage you\u27re at in disseminating your research as a poster, whether you\u27re just curious or gearing up for a conference