Research

Bellisario College researchers are front and center at international conference

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 100th annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications will begin Aug. 9 in Chicago. Once again faculty members, graduate students and alumni of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State are well represented in the event’s presentations, publications and awards.

The conference’s theme this year is “Closing the Gap: Media, Research and the Profession.” More than 30 Bellisario College faculty members and graduate students will participate in a number of events over the three days. They will contribute to and lead sessions on corporate social responsibility, diversity, globalization, native advertising, social networking, sports media and many more topics.

Sessions will also feature more than 25 alumni of the Bellisario College’s graduate program. Nineteen papers by researchers will be featured at the conference. The total of papers is 11th most among the 35 colleges represented at the conference this year.

In addition to the scheduled activities, three graduate students from the Bellisario College earned “top student paper” awards.

Doctoral student Virginia Harrison authored the top student paper on public relations with her study: “Understanding the Donor Experience: Applying Stewardship Theory to Higher Education Donors.”

Doctoral students Jinping Wang and Eugene Cho, with Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology graduate student Bikalpa Neupane, earned second place among papers on communication technology with their study: “Tell Me More: The Effects of Mobile Screen Size on Self-Disclosure.”

Prior to the conference, the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication is partnering with AEJMC’s Public Relations and Mass Communication and Science divisions to host an in-depth panel on “fake news.” The preconference session “Wading through the Waters of Fake News and Alternative Facts” will be held Aug. 8 and feature panels of public relations, journalism and academic experts. The Page Center is a research center within the Bellisario College that promotes the study of ethics and responsibility in all forms of communication.

AEJMC is a nonprofit, educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals. The association’s mission is to advance education, foster scholarly research, cultivate better professional practice and promote the free flow of communication.

Last Updated June 14, 2021

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