A large contingent of researchers and scholars will represent Penn State at the annual National Communication Association Convention, Nov. 8-11.

Mary Beth Oliver, a Penn State faculty member renowned for her research in entertainment psychology and her mentorship of students, has been named the inaugural Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Media Studies.

Three Penn State alumni, a faculty member and an award-winning Pennsylvania television leader earned the top annual awards from the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications Alumni Society Board.

Penn State alumnus James P. Jimirro -- whose illustrious career has included roles as the founding president of both The Disney Channel and Disney Home Video, and who revived the National Lampoon brand -- has endowed a $1 million professorship in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.

A free public screening — with a panel discussion to follow — of “Shock and Awe,” the new Rob Reiner film that recounts how journalists revealed the faulty "weapons of mass destruction" intelligence used by the Bush administration to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, will be offered at 6 p.m. Oct. 18 at the State Theatre in State College.

Steven Rich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning database editor for the investigations unit at The Washington Post, will present a free public lecture at 5 p.m. Oct. 2 in 112 Kern Building.