Five seniors in the Department of Communication will present their research at the annual James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference, to be held in conjunction with the 109th Eastern Communication Association Convention, on Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Eastern Communication Association is a regional professional organization of scholars, teachers and students of communication studies. The Undergraduate Scholars Conference features the best research from undergraduate communication students. The students will present research papers they completed in Dr. Angela McGowan’s Rhetoric and Criticism course.
Hannah Grable (Communication Studies, of Frewsburg) will present her paper “Conjuring Cognizance in Public Memory: Burke’s Pentad and Puritan Panic,” and Tom Monahan (Communication Studies, Middletown) will share his research paper, “Rhetoric of Guernica,” during an undergraduate poster session.
Partnering with two students from SUNY Brockport, Lauren Gutman (Communication-Public Relations, Jamestown), Shaunna Rospierski (Communication-Public Relations, Alden) and Anna Booth (Communication-Public Relations and History, Fredonia) submitted the panel, “Contemporary Rhetors’ Use of Media and Symbols to Persuade, Construct Americans’ Social Realities, and Encourage Civic Engagement.” Each panelist explores the rhetorical strategies that social figures use to influence the American people to become agents of change. The Undergraduate Scholars Conference has recognized the panel as the “Top Undergraduate Panel.”
Drs. McGowan and Amanda Lohiser will accompany the students to the convention, whose theme is “Building Bridges.” The Department of Communication and the Office of Student Creative Activity and Research (OSCAR) are funding the students’ conference experience.
