TMU 8(14), December 27, 2011

Alumnus worked in Qatar. School of Communication alum Matt Kelly spent much of December in Doha, Qatar.  He was on assignment covering the Arab Games. Kelly worked for AUDITOIRE, a French company. He was video director at the Qatar Sports Club, which played video and graphics on the in-house large screen for Judo, Taekwondo, and Karate events. The Associated Press reported that women athletes in Qatar, a conservative Muslim nation, hope to qualify for the Olympics in  London. Qatar was ready to send women to the 2008 Olympics, but failed to qualify in any sport. Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, follows the Wahhabi, the AP reported. However, Qatar is modernizing and allowing women more freedom. Kelly is a videographer and sportscaster. He also is a camera operator for FOX News coverage of the Iowa caucuses. Earlier in the fall, Kelly was executive producer, technical manager and play-by-play announcer for Thursday night football on KXVO.

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School studies the future. The UNO School of Communication has its regularly scheduled academic program review in 2012. Faculty will gather at the end of the spring semester for a self-study, which will be the basis for evaluation by campus and external reviewers. Much has happened since the last program review six years ago: numerous awards, national rankings in public relations, oral communication and forensics, as well as new curriculum. The program review will be conducted during the fall, 2012 semester. The School has prioritized the need for a new building and endowment to support additional student opportunities for travel. Interim Senior Vice Chancellor B. J. Reed recently said that a Communication wing expansion of Weber Fine Arts Building has moved to near the top of campus needs as "one of three or four key projects."

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For the latest news, please visit the UNO School of Communication Facebook page, and follow @CommUNO on Twitter.

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UNO Forensics is on Facebook.  Follow individual and team results at UNO Forensics on Facebook during every weekend of competition. Our competitive public speakers, fifth in the nation with four national champions in 2011, are challenging for another top national finish in 2012.

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Next issue: Happy New Year! 

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Excellence in action. Graduate students Cheril Nolan and Shelli Inness have their paper accepted for presentation at the Central States Communication Association meeting in Cleveland. "I am Looking Through You: Caring for the Caregivers," will be presented in the Health Communication Division in March. *** Numerous faculty and students presented research at the National Communication Association international conference in New Orleans in November: Marlina Davidson, "Millennials in a Gendered Workplace: Implications of Generations on Traditional Gendering of Organizations."

Karen Dwyer, "Speech Anxiety & the Multidimensional Model: Designing a Class, Module, or Workshop for Anxious Speakers," and  "Finding the Source of Speech Anxiety and Designing a Personalized Plan to Conquer It." Dwyer and Davidson, "Student Voices on Reading an E-textbook vs. Paper Textbook: Performance and Preferences for Learning," and "Spending, and Anxious Voices: Is Public Speaking Really More Feared than Death?" 

Each of the graduate student research papers was competitively selected for presentation and was originally presented at the UNO Research Fair on March 1, 2011.

Andrea Iaccheri,  "The perceptions of Teacher Self-disclosure and Its Impact on Communication Expectancies of Students: A Pretest and Recommendations For Future Research."

Henry Nixon, "Student Perceptions of Appropriate and Inappropriate Humor in the Classroom for this Generation: A Pretest and Recommendations for Future Research." 

Abby Freeman, "The Influence of Teacher Self-Efficacy on Student Perception of Teacher Credibility: A Pre-Test & Recommendations for Future Research."

Paul Falkoswki, "Investigating The Efficacy of Adobe Connect to Enhance Online Immediacy: A Pretest and Recommendations for Future Research."

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Jessica Ritchie reported for the The Omaha News on one of the most controversial stories of 2011 -- the Keystone XL Pipeline. See local news broadcastsWednesdays at 4 p.m., on Cox 17/CenturyLink 74.

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Events and photos. Courtni Kopietz, a December journalism graduate, was one of four students selected to present her Honors Program senior thesis/project. She is an intern with the UNMC's Center of Advanced Surgical Technology (CAST) through June of 2012.  She has created an online newsletter, updated the CAST website, shot and edited video, maintained CAST social media accounts, edited research articles and abstracts, and documented experiments and surgeries. Professor Hugh Reilly advised her 23-page paper describing the experience.

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UNO December Commencement was back on campus. This video
first was seen on the School's Facebook page

Students and faculty enjoyed the UNO Field House Commencement

Master of Arts in Communication graduates

Hugh Cowdin spoke at Jack Newton's vigil in December

Alumna DeAnn Bright has returned to KFAB News, where Jeremy
Lipschultz was a talkshow guest in December

Bruce Johansen worked on writing projects in late December

Winter offered a warm December

The calendar.

January

12 -  High School Media Advisers Dinner, MBSC Chancellor's Room, 6 p.m.
18 -   Developing a Communication Online or Hybrid Course, AS 183, 11 a.m.


February
 3 -     Captivate Software Workshop, AS 183, 9 a.m.
10 -      Captivate Software Workshop, AS 183, 9 a.m.