News

Brendi Bluitt Completes Capstone Project for Isabella Santos Foundations
May 19, 2021
Brendi Bluitt’s capstone for her Master’s degree was a Directed Project completed for the Isabella Santos Foundation, which is a Charlotte-based non-profit focused on raising awareness and funding for rare pediatric cancer. Her project used autoethnography and in-depth interviews with cancer survivors to determine salient topics surrounding social support for this population. She then used this information to create a Cancer Survivor’s Guide for newly diagnosed cancer survivors, which provides a candid look at life from the adolescent/young adult survivor experience and includes information on hospital programming and camps, quotes, notebook pages, and more. You can see her project featured on the Foundation's website at the link below!
 

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2021 Departmen Ezine Available Now
May 11, 2021

2021 DEPARTMENT EZINE

Included in this year's issue:

  • Profile on New Chair Dr. Grano
  • Dr. Davis and Dr. Crane Analyze Impact of Trump in Politics
  • Graduate Student Profile: Daviana Fraser & Mark Manning
  • Creation of Shawn Long Center
  • and more!

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M.A. Communication Studies Hosting Virtual Open House
December 4, 2020
Join us for a virtual open house for the M.A. program in Communication Studies at UNC Charlotte! The event will be held on Wednesday, December 16th from 2:00-3:00pm EST. The open house will be hosted by Dr. Erin Basinger, Graduate Program Director, and current graduate student, Brendi Bluitt. During the open house, they will overview the program, talk about the admissions and application process, describe life as a graduate student in our program, and answer any questions that attendees have about the program or the university.
 
If you're interested in attending the open house, please register at https://tinyurl.com/yxgj9mm. A Zoom link will be sent to those who register at least 24 hours in advance of the open house. Everyone who registers for the event will also receive a recording of the session, so even if you can't attend on the 16th, please go ahead and register, and we'll send you a recording of the event!
 
See the attached flyer for additional information!
 
Questions? Email Dr. Basinger at erin.basinger@uncc.edu
 

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Statement of Support for Racial Justice
June 5, 2020
The Communication Studies community has been grieved and outraged over the recent racist events unfolding nationally. Over the past week, a diverse and inclusive ad hoc committee of the Communication Studies faculty crafted a Statement of Support for Racial Justice in response to these events.
 
The statement is linked here and it includes comments of support and actions we, as faculty and staff, intend to take to enhance the racial justice commitment of the department. The statement has been affirmed by a large majority of the faculty.
 
Please feel free to share. And know that we are here for each and every one of you -- now and always.

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Ezine 2020
May 2, 2020

The 2020 edition of our departments Ezine is now available! Included in this year's issue: Dr. Black Explores Canadian Culture, Breaking Barriers for Transitioning Citizens, LEADS Program Enhances Students' Education,Dr. Jiang Researches in Rio De Janeiro, Interview Fashion Show Workshop and much more!


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Coronavirus Information
March 17, 2020

As we monitor novel coronavirus (COVID-19), we are committed to supporting students, faculty and staff and ensuring that all students can fulfill their academic requirements as planned. LEARN MORE. 


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USC Annenberg Q&A Explores Grano's Sport and Religion Book
September 25, 2017

They had questions, he had answers -- and both are available online! Dr. Dan Grano, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies, recently shared his thoughts about his new book, The Eternal Present of Sport: Rethinking Sport and Religion, with Religion Dispatches, a series from USC Annenberg.

In the Q&A interview, Grano explains how some scholars see sport as "a form of 'civil religion' that creates social cohesion around shared values and rituals.

"I started to think about how crises in elite sport were taking shape around foundational religious ideals," Grano added. "To cite a couple of examples from my book: fans and sportswriters have long emphasized how elite athletic accomplishments prove we can “transcend” previously-held limits in human potential, yet performance enhancement (doping, prosthetics) visibly shifts the bases of that transcendence from human to extrahuman sources of agency; or, live sport broadcasts remain the most valuable television commodity in the world in large part because of religious ideals surrounding the “witnessing” of history, but contemporary media technologies (especially instant replay) train viewers to question leagues’ and governing bodies’ authority over determining outcomes and writing histories."

Read the rest at: http://religiondispatches.org/a-whole-new-ball-game-new-book-rethinks-the-history-of-religion-in-sport/


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Feel the News: Plotnick Publication Studies Haptics
September 25, 2017

Just in case you aren't feeling your first full day of classes, here's some touching news from Dr. Rachel Plotnick, Communication Studies Department Assistant Professor.

Her article on haptic media, "Force, flatness and touch without feeling: Thinking historically about haptics and buttons," was published last week in New Media and Society: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444817717510.

A forceful congratulations to Dr. Plotnick! 


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Quinlan Nominated for Regional Emmy
September 25, 2017
Dr. Margaret Quinlan, associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies, is nominated for a regional Emmy nomination for "The Acoustics of Care," her documentary on DooR to DooR, an organization that brings performing, literary and visual artists to inpatient and outpatient settings. 
 
Dr. Quinlan is the second of three producers on the documentary, with Lynn Harter and Evan Shaw. The nomination is from the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
 
The awards ceremony is on August 5, 2017 in Indiana. The nomination is Dr. Quinlan's fourth.
 
More information on the Ohio Valley Emmys: http://ohiovalleyemmy.org/
 

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Annual Ezine arrives to spread good news
September 25, 2017

It's here! Hot off the virtual presses is the 2017 Communication Matters departmental ezine. Read great stories about current students, alums, faculty and all the other Department of Communication accomplishments this academic year. With Editor Cheryl Spainhour, Student Contributors Amanda Lea and Alex Richardson and Designer Leigh Ann Privette, there's great stuff on every page.

Click and enjoy: https://issuu.com/communicationstudies/docs/dept._ezine_2017

Download the PDF version here


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