Graduate Student Profiles (A-C)

Peg Achterman (B.A. University of Washington–1982, History & Communications; M.S. Syracuse University–1983, Broadcast Journalism) is re-entering the academic world following a 20+ year career in broadcasting. She has been a software instructor and developer for five years, traveling the Americas and Europe teaching news room employees the joys of non-linear editing and digital workflow. Prior to this work with Thomson/Grass Valley she spent 17 years in the local television news business–-much of her career was spent at KING Television in Seattle where she was a TV News Photographer. The highlights of this shooting career included regional National Press Photographer Association awards and service as a national judge for the NPPA Photographer of the Year and Station of the Year competitions. Memorable stories span some of Western Washington State’s big news years-–including following Washington apples to Japan, candidates on the trail and WTO protesters on the streets-–as well as the usual campaigns, earthquakes and floods. Following her first job as a full-time photographer in Anchorage, Alaska (KTUU), Peg accepted a teaching position in the Peoples’ Republic of China. There she witnessed the student strikes and protests of Tiananmen Square in 1989. She has many interests as PhD student-–among them: ethics and market questions facing local broadcasters, user interfaces and their effect on information gathering, and the impact of trauma on both journalists and their subjects.

Fahed Al-Sumait (B.A. Communication, University of Washington and M.A. Communication, University of New Mexico) is a doctoral student interested media, culture and society and mixed method investigations. As a dual citizen of the US and Kuwait, his primary interests focus on relationships between the Middle East and North America, both at societal and interpersonal levels. His most recent work was a triangulated investigation of long-term effects and reception among varied media users concerning cross-media credibility and Muslim stereotypes. Prior to pursuing his advanced degrees, Fahed worked in marketing communications and public affairs for a joint venture enterprise in Kuwait.

Giorgia Aiello a doctoral candidate specializing in visual communication (visual analysis and visual ethnography), international and cross-cultural communication, and critical cultural theory. Before joining the program in 2002, Giorgia obtained two Master's degrees (in Communication Studies and Communication & Information Technology) from the University of Bologna, in her native Italy. While in Italy, she also worked in documentary film production and was one of the founding members of the first Italian multimedia web-cast entirely created and run by students.

In her current research, Giorgia focuses on the construction of collective identities through visual representation. Her dissertation is a social semiotic study of the visual construction of "Europeanness" within contemporary Europe. In addition, Giorgia was recently awarded with the University of Washington's Huckabay Teaching Fellowship to design and teach a new undergraduate course titled "Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Visual Communication".

In her little free time, Giorgia has been active in the community as a photographer, film festival juror and modern dance student.

Carlys K. Allen (B.A. Central Washington University – 2004; Law & Justice major, Psychology minor; summa cum laude) joins the 2005 M.A. cohort. Her area of interest is political communication, particularly the use of strategic language and communication styles used by government officials to manipulate the press and public in order to forward its own agenda and the subsequent impacts on public opinion, policy, and the future of democracy. She is concerned with the current trend toward the introduction of religious and authoritarian language, styles, and policy employed by the current administration. She has experience as legal assistant to prosecuting attorneys in San Juan County, Washington, and city attorneys in Juneau, Alaska, where she had the opportunity to observe discourse and decision-making among public officials, interactions between officials and the public, and to participate in the process of creating policy and legislation. She also served as Program Analyst in the Prosecutor’s Office Victim Services Program in San Juan County. As an undergraduate, she conducted research exploring current attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence in San Juan County. She will serve as a teaching assistant for the 2005-2006 academic year at UW. Among her several careers, she was a free-lance aviation writer, fiber artist, and veterinary technician. She and her Golden Retriever, French Fry, are adjusting to life in the city after many years of living on San Juan Island.

Whitney Anspach a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication, studies critical cultural studies, political communication, and media effects. Her primary research focuses on the relationship between the consumption of mass mediated texts and the negotiation of German national identity (at individual and collective levels). Other current research projects include a quasi-experimental study of the effects of the Department of Homeland Security’s “Ready.gov” campaign on audiences, and an exploratory study of strategic discursive appropriation between marginalized social groups. Whitney teaches courses such as public speaking, interpersonal communication, introductory courses in human communication theories, social science research methods, media studies, and directs undergraduate internships. She also has experience teaching for the University of Washington Minority Affairs Department’s summer program for high school students.

Vanessa Au (M.A. Broadcast & Electronic Communication Arts, San Francisco State University, 2006; B.A. Communication, Simon Fraser University, 2000) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication and deserter of the high tech industry. Once a product marketing manager for software companies big and small in Vancouver, BC and the San Francisco Bay Area, Vanessa is now interested in investigating the ways in which new media are enabling and empowering Asian North Americans to find their voice. In her master’s thesis titled “Import Models Online: The Sexual Politics of Web Authorship,” she revealed the variety of ways in which the web sites of young Asian American “import models” gave the young women a space to negotiate their cultural identities, assert a sense of personal empowerment, and challenge dominant stereotypes of Asian women. Vanessa hopes to continue developing an understanding of what Asian North Americans have gained by carving out a piece of the Internet to be seen instead of overlooked and heard instead of silenced as they often are in other media. Outside of school, Vanessa enjoys snowboarding, gymnastics, public speaking, blogging, traveling, and campaigning for fair portrayals of Asian North Americans in the media.

Angelo Baca is a student in the Native Voices program.

Dana Bagwell Dana Bagwell is a Ph.D. student in communication, with a concentration in First Amendment law, public opinion, and research methods. Her interests include the application of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to First Amendment doctrine; public opinion about and tolerance of speech concerning controversial issues, such as pornography and hate speech; the impact of online information on peoples' tolerance of freedom of expression; and socially responsible applications of current and new technologies.

Dana received her Bachelor of Science in Communication, with a major in German, from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her Master's work was concentrated in mass and political communication, and statistics, also at the University of Tennessee. She has spent time abroad, both in German and Switzerland, and currently is employed at a local public opinion research firm.

Amanda Ballantyne enters the Master's program at UW with plans to study political rhetoric. Hailing from a tiny town in Iowa, Ballantyne received a BA in Government with a focus on International Relations from Smith College in Massachusetts. For the past five years, Ballantyne has toured most of the United States, working as a political organizer on issues of international trade and media policy. She has worked with Public Citizen, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, The Nation Magazine, Free Press and The Newspaper Guild. She's thrilled to be joining the Communications Department at the University of Washington, and to be settling down in sunny Seattle the next couple of years.

Deborah Bassett received her bachelor’s degree in English and her master’s in Communication Arts from the University of West Florida. Before attending graduate school, Deborah worked as a journalist, freelance writer and copyeditor. She has lived in Italy and Israel and has taught English, creative writing, and speech. Deborah’s master’s thesis, “Living With Terrorism in Israel: An Ethnography of How Israelis Construct Reality and Cope with Terror,” described the ways in which six individuals made sense of their daily lives in Israel amid terror. She has studied the relationship between media stereotypes and language attitudes, the role of the media in crisis development, and the construction and sharing of life story in coping with reality shock. Her research interests include ethnography of communication, international communication, and intercultural communication. In her spare time, Deborah enjoys practicing yoga, daydreaming, and having fun with family and friends.

Jeffery Bates Jeff Bates has worked in a variety of communication and development positions in Nepal during the past ten years - beginning with his Peace Corps experience in 1989 and ending, most recently, as a Project Coordinator for UNICEF. In the interim he earned two Master's degrees (Interpersonal Communication and International Affairs/Development Studies) from Ohio University and garnered field experience in Cambodia, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Jeff nurtures many Ph.D.interests in the field of communication, a few among them being; communication among illiterate or post-literate populations, the spread of myths and legends, and communication in post-conflict and emergency situations.

Katherine Bell has enjoyed a career as a reporter, editor and news manager with The Canadian Press news agency. She was a newspaper reporter and has worked across Canada for CP’s print and broadcast services, most recently as bureau chief for British Columbia. Kate earned an MA in Communication and Culture from Toronto’s York University in 2006. Her PhD research interests include the tensions between structure and agency in North American news, the ideology of news production and reporting of conflict and politics on both sides of the border. Her master’s thesis analyzed Toronto media coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II, exploring how newspapers wrote about his legacy as a political figure and at their use of myth. Kate harbours the naïve but persistent notion that journalism and the academy have something to tell each other.

Nancy Bixler recieved her M.A. in Speech Communication from the University of Washington. She studies cultural communication, ethnography, rhetoric, and embodiment. Her outside interests include classical music, poetry, cooking, gardening, and swimming.

Laura Busch is entering the PhD program in Communications this autumn having recently completed her MA in Comparative Religion (spring 2006) at the University of Washington’s Jackson School for International Studies. While a Master’s student, Laura was twice a recipient of the Comparative Religion Program’s Eugene and Marilyn Webb Scholarship (in 2004 and 2005) and has enjoyed working as a teaching assistant in 2005 and 2006 for RELIG 202, Eastern Religions. Laura’s primary academic interests intersect the disciplines of religion and communications and include topics such as religion and online communities, mediated constructions of religious authority, online religious practices, and religion, media and politics. As a master’s student, Laura has conducted research on the Independent Buddhist Movement, an active online religious community that rose out of local inner-community conflicts during the Soka Gakkai- Nichiren Shoshu split of the 1990s.

For more information about Laura’s academic interests, work and her CV, please visit her website.

Toby Campbell’s research interest is in citizen and consumer-generated media, especially culture jamming, for its capacity to stimulate social change. Campbell graduated from Whitman College with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Music. There she managed the independently owned and operated radio station, KWCW 90.5FM and studied the cultural implications of new technologies and economic avenues for recording, promotion, and distribution of music. During the two years that followed, she lived abroad on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and as a studio musician, working with independent music producers, record companies, activists, and artists. After her exposure to the Next 5 Minutes Tactical Media Conference in Amsterdam, she returned to Portland, Oregon to work for a local educational nonprofit and study culture jamming with professors, students and activists. Campbell’s interest in such media is informed by her background as a musical artist and is her primary focus of study at the University of Washington as she joins the 2006 cohort of Communication scholars.

Manoucheka Celeste is a PhD student in Communication.

Rebecca Clark returns to UW in Autumn 2006 as a doctoral student in Communication after earning her MA in Speech Communication at UW in 1998. Having studied through Marxist critique the devastating effects of global capitalism, she decided to research first hand the illusory benefits of said capitalism (and thus pay off some student loans) through a five year "participatory observation" at Microsoft as a software engineer and program manager for Windows. While fascinated by the material and emotional experience of financial security, her foray into the multinational high tech industry has bolstered her ongoing commitment to cultural studies, power, race, whiteness, masculinity, globalization, transnational feminism, and their intersections with popular culture and identity. She has spent the 2005-2006 academic year teaching Speech at Bellevue Community College, where she fueled her critical intercultural communication course with anecdotes about her own intercultural marriage to Rupesh Mane, and their traditional Hindu wedding in Mumbai, India in 2002.

Ted Coopman (M.S. San Jose State, 1995; Ph.D. Candidate UW, 2004) background is in Mass Communication with a focus on law and policy. His research on free radio, media-based social movements, and the use of technology by activists is informed by his own experiences as a movement participant since 1993. His research has been published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, the Journal of Radio Studies, the American Communication Journal, 2nd Internet Research Annual, and Political Communication (in press) as well as in the edited volumes “Representing Resistance: Media, Civil Disobedience, and the Global Justice Movement” (Greenwood), and soon in “Communication Activism, Vol. 2” (Hampton Press). Ted is a Fellow of the Institute on the Public Humanities, Simpson Center, and was awarded an Illinois Initiative for Media Policy Research Travel Fellowship. His research has earned the Article of the Year Award for the American Communication Journal, and top student paper awards from the Association of Internet Researchers, and the Mass Communication and Group Divisions of the National Communication Association. He was elected to the Board of the UW Communication Graduate Student Association (2004-2005) and in 2005 as Graduate Student Representative to the Executive Committee of the Association of Internet Researchers. His current research focus is developing theory on new media based emergent, self-organizing resistance networks. When he is not tethered to his iBook or teaching classes he likes hiking with his wife Stephanie and dog Iris, vegetable gardening, and cooking.

Visit Ted's Web site...

Brian Cozen (B.A. Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, 2006) is an entering Master’s student for the Fall 2007. Brian’s past research—a content analysis of the programming and advertising found on children’s television—demonstrates his interests in semiotic analyses and the economic structure of media content. Since receiving his B.A. in Sociology, Brian moved back to Los Angeles where he worked at a preschool in special education. The preschool experience, along with his academic interests in public education, motivates him to explore work in community projects and getting youth involved in their public spheres. Brian’s favorite moments working with the preschoolers are through garden projects, and he hopes to explore getting youth of different ages involved in such environmentally-conscious community projects. Academically, Brian hopes to consider furthering his previous research in children’s media, approaching the relation between political discourse and audience makeup, exploring recent environmental trends—particularly in relation to corporate social responsibility and lifestyle changes on the individual level—and incorporating aspects of his sociological background into the field of Communication. Currently, Brian is excited about his trip to China’s Sichuan Province, his newfound sketching abilities, finally learning how to ride a bike, and his original Nintendo system.

Ben Crosby comes to the University of Washington from Las Vegas, NV, where he was born and raised, and Utah, where he completed his BA (Southern Utah University) and MA (University of Utah), both in English Literature. Having developed an auxiliary emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition during his Master’s work, Ben began researching the relationship between discourse and conviction, paying special attention to issues of framing/re-framing. At UW, he will study rhetoric and political communication in an effort to analyze the way politically invested participants use public address as a means of creating social conviction out of political expedients. Ben is interested in identifying the “rich features” (Barton) that point to and otherwise implicate the larger political interests that are working to influence public attitudes regarding critical social concerns, ranging from environmental standards to educational policies. Having also been a tutor and administrator in two university writing centers, Ben maintains a deep interest in writing pedagogy. Ben spends his free time with his wife, Becca, and daughter, Izzy.

Sheryl Cunningham joins the PhD program at UW after earning her master’s degree in English, with a concentration in women’s studies, at Ohio University. She is interested in political communication and rhetoric. She wants to understand the connections between rhetorical constructions of personal and national identity and how these constructions translate into action on the part of the individual and larger communities within culture. Through this understanding she hopes to advocate for an ethics of political communication that involves more debate and less bombast.