Communication - September, 2004
from Jerry Baldasty, chair

[Download a Microsoft Word version of the September, 2004 "Communication"]

The Christy Cressey Endowed Professorship in Communication

A very generous alumna, Christy Cressey, and her husband, Bryan, have given a professorship to the Department of Communication. Their gift of $250,000 qualifies for the UW campaign match, so the total endowment will be $375,000. This is an extremely generous gift and will provide enormous support for the Department in the years ahead. We now have two professorships --- the Cressey Professorship and the Lawrence Professorship (held by Lance Bennett).

Christy Cressey studied French and Editorial Journalism at the University of Washington. While at the UW she belonged to the Alpha Delta Pi sorority and also lived in French House, a section of the McMahon Hall dormitory devoted to speaking the language with other Francophiles. She was chairman of sports activities at her sorority while swimming on the UW’s synchronized swimming team and helping with choreography. She completed her B.A. in Communications in 1978.

Christy’s journalistic career involved weekly newspapers, aside from short stints in advertising and public relations. Her work involved reporting, photojournalism, and proofreading for The Winchester Star in Winchester, Massachusetts. In Illinois, she wrote as a staff writer for the Pioneer Press newspapers. Her responsibilities were primarily with the Elm Leaves, the Forest Leaves, and the Oak Leaves, serving the communities of Elmwood Park, River Forest, and Oak Park respectively. She also worked as a stringer for the Lerner Newspapers in Chicago.

In addition to spending two and a half years renovating a Chicago 1894 Victorian single-family cottage, located 525 feet from Wrigley Field’s home plate, Christy chaired the No Lights in Wrigley Field Campaign, euphemistically named C.U.B.S. (Citizens United for Baseball in the Sunshine). As part of that civic effort, she was also actively involved in East Lake View Neighbors and Lake View Citizens Council.

Through the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Christy has served as a trustee for Episcopal Charities and has played an active role with Cathedral Shelter, an agency on Chicago’s near west side providing housing and other support to those wishing help with addictions. She is currently a delegate to the Diocesan Convention, representing her parish at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Barrington. She also serves as a member of the Woman’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She and Bryan served as Co-chairs of the Parents Council at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

The terms of the professorship provide great latitude to the Department, specifying that the professorship will be awarded to someone who “shall have demonstrated, through professional activities, expertise in the field of Communication.” The recommendation for appointment (for either a fixed or indefinite term) will be made by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Given University rules on endowments, the professorship will not begin before autumn 2005.

Many thanks to the Cresseys; we hope to have them visiting campus before long to meet with faculty, staff and students. This is an extremely generous gift from them, and we greatly appreciate their support. In an era of dwindling state support for public education, gifts such as this make the difference between mediocrity and excellence. Their gift bespeaks their generosity as well as their tremendous faith in the Department of Communication.

Thanks to the College for its support , and particularly to Michael Podlin, Assistant Dean for Development, for his efforts on our behalf, and to Carolyn Black, Director of Development for the Social Sciences. Thanks, too, to Victoria Sprang; she plays a vital role in our outreach efforts.

Research

Nancy Bixler. Bixler, N., & Nagai-Foster, R. (2004). “Rolling like Thunder: The Construction of Ethnicity in American Taiko Web Sites.” Electronic Journal of Communication, 14(1-2), 1-26.

Malcolm R. Parks and Mary L. Disis "Conflicts of interest in translational research" Journal of Translational Medicine 2004, 2:28 (09 Aug 2004)

Warnick, B. (2004). “The Ethos of Rhetorical Criticism: Enlarging the Dwelling Place of Critical Praxis.” In Michael J. Hyde (Ed.) The Ethos of Rhetoric, (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press).

Warnick, B. (2004). “Dangerous Futures: Artificial Intelligence and Scientific Argument.” Internet Research Annual, Vol. 1 (New York: Peter Lang Publishing), pp. 37-44.

Warnick, B. (2004) “Online Ethos: Source Credibility in an 'Authorless Environment", American Behavioral Scientist, 48 (2).

Domke, David. God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the “War on Terror” and the Echoing Press. Pluto Press/University of Michigan Press.

Open House

Our annual Open House will be on Thursday, October 7, starting at 6:30 p.m. – Room 120. The Open House will feature faculty and student work – and we welcome volunteers who would like to display their work, show a video/film, give a short talk, etc. Please contact Victoria (vsprang@u.washington.edu).

We will also honor the inaugural class of our Communication Alumni Hall of Fame. The honorees are: Jody Nyquist (an emerita from this faculty), Jerilyn McIntyre (president of Central Washington Univeristy), Tamar Katriel (founder of the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa, Norman Rice (former city council member, former Seattle mayor and currently bank president and CEO), Christine Gregoire (state attorney general), Assunta Ng (publisher and civic leader) Ron Chew (museum director and civic leader), Robert Merry (publisher, Congressional Quarterly), David Horsey (PI cartoonist and two-time Pulitzer winner), Steve Pool (local weather reporter and community leader), Eric Nalder (PI reporter, two-time Pulitzer winner), James King (former editor, Seattle Times) and Mort Lachman (award-winning television producer and writer) and Kathleen Miller (public relations practitioner and mentor to Communication students for more than a decade).

Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, will give the key note address. Please join us for the Open House. Our alumni are enthusiastic about our program and want to be able to talk to our faculty, staff and students.

Graduate Student Orientation

Please join us on Monday, September 27, for the graduate student orientation. Faculty and staff are invited to join the graduate students for lunch (12 noon, Room 126). Please come and introduce yourself to our new graduate students.

Faculty and staff are also invited to attend a barbeque (Greig Garden, located between Thomson Hall and Suzzallo/Allen) starting at 5 p.m. on Monday. Thanks to all of those who have organized the graduate student and the TA/RA orientations, and particularly Patricia Moy, Patty Fortine, Leah Ceccarelli, Natalie Debray and the Communication Graduate Student Association (ComGSA). Many thanks, too, to those who presented in the orientations.

New Faculty

We welcome two new members to our faculty this year.

Matt McGarrity comes to UW from Indiana University, where he was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication and Culture. His dissertation is titled: “The Civic Potential of a Rhetorical Education: A Critical Analysis of the Discourse of Public Speaking Pedagogy.” Matt’s research interests are on rhetorical theory and criticism, pedagogical theory, political theory, public sphere theory and composition theory. At IU, he was the co-director of Forensics; he was an associate instructor in courses in interpersonal communication, public speaking, discussion and decision making and business and professional communication.

Karen Rathe has been a part-time instructor in the Department of Communication and in the School of Communications for the past four years. She earned her B.A. (in Interior Architecture) and M.A. (in Journalism) at the University of Oregon and has had a fellowship at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Karen, who has done editing work for the University of Washington Press and served as a copy editor at the Seattle Times, has also taught at Seattle University and Shoreline Community College.

We are delighted to have both Matt and Karen joining us.

Rhetoric and Critical Studies Reading Group.

The group will host a presidential DebateWatch September 30, 6 p.m., Room 126 Communications. Dru Williams reports, “Our goal is to have a large projection screen set up in order to view the debate. We could roughly follow the suggestions outlined on the Commission on Presidential Debates website.” All are invited.

The September Project.

Congratulations to David Silver and many others for their work on The September Project. The project received extensive media coverage – including the Associated Press (and thus, hundreds of newspapers around the country). Some of David’s earlier notes to the faculty provided an overview of many of the events. The Herald (Everett) ran an article on Friday, September 10, 2004, that described some local events in the Everett area. These give a nice flavor of the array of activities that occurred under the umbrella of The September Project:

• Darrington Library: Book and bulletin board displays
• Edmonds Library: Community discussion, Remembering Sept. 11, facilitated by managing librarian Evie Wilson-Lingbloom and Edmonds City Council member Mauri Moore, 2-5 p.m.
• Lake Stevens Library: Register to vote. Book display of titles about Sept. 11, terrorism, patriotism, war and related subjects. All day.
• Mill Creek Library: Month-long essay contest to share views about America. Preschool story times all month feature stories and activities about community helpers, including police, firefighters and librarians.
• Monroe Library: Essay contest, in English or Spanish, addressing themes about America. Sultan Library: Book display and essay contest.

From the Chicago Tribune:

In Illinois, nine libraries plan to stay open 24 hours Saturday to commemorate the third anniversary of the attacks. "I think public libraries really represent freedom of expression, a level playing field, commitment to the future, preservation of democracy," said Bill Erbes, assistant director of the Bensenville Public Library. Erbes is the creator of Libraries Remember, which seeks to have libraries open for 24 hours on Sept. 11. With the program in its second year, Erbes has recruited 11 libraries - including several in the Chicago suburbs, one in Decatur, Ala., and one in Estherville, Iowa. Erbes doesn't require the libraries to offer any special programs, although many will. "My feeling was there is nothing more antithetical to the causes of terrorism than public libraries," he said. "Just being here with those doors standing open for 24 hours is a symbol of what we are and what we do." The Peoria Heights Public Library is participating for the second year, and will offer voter registration along with readings and an essay contest on the topic of courage., "Knowledge and information are the best ways to fight terrorism. The more we know, the more we will understand other people's beliefs and thoughts," said library director Marsha Westfall. Lincoln Library, the public library in Springfield, has hung replicas of dozens of past American flags for the event.

Three PhD students in the Communication Department, Irina Gendelman, Giorgia Aiello, and Tema Milstein, participated in The September Project by building and facilitating a large-scale visual discussion through community-generated murals at the new Central Seattle Public Library in downtown Seattle. Hundreds of library patrons and downtown pedestrians took part in a collaborative public discourse that was based around four themes: America, Patriotism, War and Peace, and 9/11. In the form of an outdoor free and open to the public community mural, people were invited to paint their response to the above themes on four 15'x 20' red, white, blue, and black panels. The final mural is currently on display at the Seattle Central Public Library in the Exhibit Room. The mural project will be presented during the COM Open House on October 7th.

People

The Simpson Center for the Humanities sponsored the the Second Annual Institute in the Public Humanities for Doctoral Students earlier this month. The first of its kind in the nation, the week-long Institute, known as “Connecting with the Community,” introduces twenty-five competitively-selected doctoral fellows to various modes of public scholarship. “ Connecting with the Community: has been named one of the “Best Practices in Graduate Education” by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. 2004 Fellows of the Institute included two Communication graduate students: Laura Black, Natalie Debray, and Tema Milstein.

David Domke had an essay on Counterpunch recently, based on his new book ( God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the "War on Terror" and the Echoing Press) and another essay led the PI’s opinion page Sunday, August 22, 2004. Dave is doing a series of book readings: October 7 (Port Townsend library); October 20 (Elliott Bay Bookstore); October 22 (Third Place Books, Ravenna); October 23 (Third Place Books, Bothell), and October 29 (University Book Store).

John Klockner reports that the STFC has awarded the Department $34,069 for the proposal, "Traditional and New Journalism" Funding was approved for 10 student stations, 3 laptops, a server, a printer, and associated software. John also noted that, “We have been given 24 computers by Educational Partnerships and Learning Technologies. As needed, these will serve as replacement machines for the 304 lab.” Thanks to John for all of his work on these projects.

Congratulations to Mike Peters, who successfully defended his dissertation on August 29. University Week published an article, written by Nancy Wick, in early August. Here’s an excerpt:

When the Olympics we’ve all been watching on TV wrap up on Aug. 29, Mike Peters will be just gearing up for his version of the games. Peters, a lecturer in the Department of Communication, will be going to his second Paralympics Sept. 17–28.

Peters has cerebral palsy, but he’s been playing soccer since early childhood. His team is made up of men who either have CP like himself or have had a traumatic brain injury or a stroke. Peters played in his first Paralympics in 1996.

“I was doing graduate research at the time and I came across a site for the Paralympics, which I hadn’t heard of until that moment,” Peters said. “So I sent an e-mail off just to say, hey, I’ve played soccer all my life and I have CP, this is really cool, I didn’t know about it, wish you guys the best, go get ’em in Atlanta.”

To Peters’ surprise, he got an e-mail from the coach saying the team had not been selected yet and inviting him to training camp. He went, he made the team and he’s been playing internationally ever since — in the disabled athlete version of the Pan American Games, the World Championships and the World Cup.

For soccer players with disabilities, Peters explained, the Paralympics is the pinnacle of competition. All countries with teams are invited to the other tournaments, but only the top eight compete in the Paralympics. The United States team didn’t make the cut in 2000, so this is Peters’ first return to the games.

Jerry Baldasty was a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study at Indiana University, working on his book manuscript on news and gender, in August and early September. In mid-September, Jerry chaired a University of Minnesota review of the UM’s new media initiative.

Committee assignments for 2004-5.

A great deal of the Department’s key work is done by faculty/staff committees, and we rely on committees to assure that a wide variety of faculty and staff are involved in the department’s key business (such as both the undergraduate and graduate program) as well as in policy formation.

Executive Committee: 4 members, elected by the faculty, the chair, and the associate chair. Continuing members: Domke, Warnick. The faculty will elect two persons to serve two-year terms. All faculty eligible except those who have just completed terms (Philipsen) or who are sabbatical during part of the year (Giffard, Gastil, Ceccarelli, Kielbowicz) or ex-officio (Rivenburgh).

We will follow the same procedure for the Executive Committee election as the past two years, with two rounds of voting. The first round will take place at the first faculty meeting on October 13, narrowing the field to 4 finalists. The second round will take place October 14.

Graduate Committee: Moy, GPC and chair; members: Ceccarelli, Thurlow, Underwood, Chan. The Graduate Committee has the task of dealing with all aspects of graduate issues and policy except those given to the Professional Development Committee. Duties include: graduate admissions, quarterly review of graduate students, graduate curriculum review, general grad program policies, policy on seminars (scheduling, staffing). Staff: Fortine.

Undergraduate Committee: Warnick, UPC and chair; members: Coutu, Silver, Fearn Banks, Giffard. This committee deals with all undergraduate issues, including but not limited to: admissions, curriculum review, work with advisers on course scheduling, student orientation, scholarships, graduation celebration. Staff: Sherman.

Professional Development Committee: Ceccarelli, chair; members: Moy, Rivenburgh, Foot. Duties include planning and overseeing TA/RA orientation, conducting on-going TA training, assignment and evaluation of graduate student assistants (TAs, RAs, Instructors of Record), on-going professional development (e.g., brownbag sessions) for all graduate students. Staff: Fortine.

Faculty Development/Colloquium: Manusov, chair; members: Kielbowicz, McGarrity, Gill, Philipsen, Rivenburgh. This committee deals primarily with faculty careers. Its work includes tenure and promotion, general workplace environment (e.g., workload), mentoring, departmental colloquia, publicizing faculty research and other activity, faculty recognition, Scheidel Lectureship.

Journalism: Domke, head of journalism sequence and chair; members: Henderson, Kaplan, Baldasty, Rathe. Coordination of journalism sequence, course scheduling, journalism faculty meetings, outreach to media professionals, recruitment, curriculum review (in coordination with Undergraduate Committee).

Technology: Rivenburgh, chair; members: Foot, Ceccarelli, Lau, Howard, Parks. This committee task is to develop faculty policy on technology. Staff: Klockner, Ford, Pelc.

Development and Alumni Outreach: Baldasty (chair); members: Philipsen, Rivenburgh, Bennett, Simpson, Peters, Howard, Henderson. Outside communities: coordination of alumni/development events; oversight of key development events (e.g., Crowell); alumni outreach, marketing, visiting committee, development. Staff: Sprang

Social: Baldasty and Rivenburgh. Tasks: Holiday party, other Staff: Dosmann, Humphrey

Search committee: Domke, chair. Members: Chan, Fearn Banks, Manusov, Thurlow, Bonus, Ramamurthy.

Other positions:

New Media Research Lab: Silver, director
DART Center: Simpson, director
MC Digital Media Program: Lau, director
RCCS: Silver, director
CCCE: Bennett, director
UW Publications Board: Rathe

Intellectual and Cultural Pluralism

During the merger discussions, we identified four key principles for the Department of Communication. During 2003-4, we worked to further define public scholarship. During 2004-5, we will work to define “intellectual and cultural pluralism.”

We will try a somewhat different approach compared to 2003-4. Each committee (listed above) will consider how the broad issues of “intellectual and cultural pluralism” can best be addressed in that committee’s arena. For example, how can the journalism sequence embody or advance this key principle? Does the curriculum address pluralism? Could we do more in this area? If so, what?

Each committee, then, will have the charge – in addition to its own particular responsibilities -- to explore ways we can embody/further this basic principle in the Department. In Spring Quarter, the chairs of the various committee and the Department’s chair and associate chair, and any others who wish to participate, will meet to create a report to the faculty on concrete aspects of this principle – what we’re doing, what we can improve upon, etc. We will address the issue of pluralism throughout our Department-- at the undergraduate and graduate level, and in all that we do (admissions, colloquia, curriculum, etc.).

Our starting point is the language created during our merger year. Our collective challenge is to think broadly about pluralism in the year ahead, implementing and expanding on the ideas articulated during our merger.

Our current wording on this key principle is: “The principle of pluralism manifests itself in the variety of intellectual and cultural traditions housed within the Department of Communication. Faculty and student interests encompass diverse domains, such as rhetorical theory, intercultural and international communication, face-to-face interaction, and the relationship of both old and new communication media technologies to sociopolitical change. Faculty and students also reflect diverse cultural traditions. To provide expertise in both humanistic and social scientific approaches, the Department offers seminars focusing on diverse methods, ranging from ethnography to experimentation and survey research to textual analysis and criticism. We believe that such intellectual pluralism within a graduate program is a tremendous strength. Yet, it also needs a framework. To lay a foundation for this diverse array of subjects and methods, M.A. and Ph.D. students begin their studies with a core curriculum that illuminates the advantages of a pluralistic approach to communication scholarship.”

[Download a Microsoft Word version of the September, 2004 "Communication"]