Recent Student Achievements
Two faculty members, seven graduate students and two recent
graduates participated at the Western Social Science Association’s annual
meeting in Reno, Nev. April 15-18. Communication professors Dayle Hardy-Short and Brant Short served as leaders for the
Human Communication section of the meeting and planned the 2010 panels that
featured paper presentations from the following graduate students in the
applied communication program:
Tracie Hansen received an honorable mention in the association's graduate student paper competition for her paper, “‘Live from New York’: How One Late-Night Comedy Sketch Furthers Stereotypes of Women in Politics.” Hansen also presented “This Old Man: The Shared Meaning of New Hampshire’s ‘Great Stone Face.’”
“The Hillary Clinton Army: A Case Study of Voter Involvement, Repersonalizing Campaigns and Visual Rhetoric in Politics.”
Gender and Sexuality in Modern Iran.”
Kevin Snyder presented “A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness: Barack Obama’s Global Jeremiad,” and also “Aristotle, EPPM, and Armageddon: The Effectiveness of Fear Appeals in Al Gore’s Documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’”
NAU Air Force ROTC cadet Jennifer Painter, a psychology major,
was recently hired as an Air Force pilot in a nationally competitive process in
which only the top cadets are selected, making her one of a handful of female
NAU Air Force ROTC cadets selected as pilots in the past decade. Painter also
was selected as a cadet training assistant to train freshmen and sophomore
cadets in the Air Force's version of “boot camp.”
Eric Betz, a senior majoring in journalism and
astronomy/physics, has won the grand prize in the inaugural writing context for
Arizona undergraduate students sponsored by the Water Resources Research Center
at the University of Arizona. His article on El Niño’s effect on water
supplies, “A Warm Wave Brings Wet Weather,” also won the prize for best article
from Northern Arizona University. Eric will receive a $100 prize and see his
work published in the quarterly newsletter Arizona Water Resource.
Kaitlyn Parker, a senior majoring in Visual Communication, received a Hooper Undergraduate Research award for her project, "Typed--A Study." Her award of $1650 will help her complete her innovative project, which will be presented at NAU's Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Nicola Walters
(Senior in Political Science) and
Zoey DeWolf (Junior in Communication) are
two incredible students who have the distinction of being the highest ranked
female debate team in the country. Over the past semester Nicola and Zoey
have maintained a 9th place ranking nationally. They are currently ranked
15th in the nation and they have received a first round bid to the National
Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, a tournament where only the best
teams in the country are invited to compete.
Additionally Nicola is one of eight people who have been nominated to
represent the United States of America against the Irish National Debate
Team. We wish her luck and will find out if she makes the team in a few
weeks.
Both of these women balance their competitive success with a commitment to
both scholarship and service. The NAU Debate Team requires a GPA of above
3.5 to travel and this year the NAU forensics team has in partnership with
the Martin Springer Institute raised $1500 for Haiti relief, and will also
be participating in read across America later this semester.
Zoey DeWolf, a speech communication major, and Nicola Walters, a political science major, took second place at a recent debate tournament co-hosted by the NAU Forensics Team and the University of Utah. The tournament drew participants from the College of Idaho, Colorado College, Concordia University, Northern Arizona University, Sul Ross State University, Texas Tech University, the United States Air Force Academy, the University of Nevada-Reno, the University of Wyoming and Vanguard University. Another NAU duo, Sara Mason, majoring in women's and gender studies, and political science major Tracu Valgento had a winning record but did not advance to out-rounds. Overall, NAU placed fifth in the tournament, and Walters and DeWolf are now ranked ninth in the country.
Graduate students from the applied communication program in the School of Communication presented papers at the Western Social Science Association annual meeting in Albuquerque, NM:Amanda Carrillo: “American’s Toughest Sheriff: The Use of Immigration Appeals in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 2008 Reelection Campaign” and “Communication Apprehension and Cultural Issues in the Classroom: A Review of the Literature.”
Diana Cudeii: “The Political Life of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, 2008 Presidential Candidate.”
Anthony R. Cuttitta: “Change is Not for Everyone: Gay Rights and the Election of 2008" and “Sports, Homophobia, and Homosexual Affection: Social Learning Theory and Masculine Socialization Regarding Public Displays.”
Tracie Hansen : “Girl, Interrupted: How Character and Gender Cost Hillary Clinton the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nomination.”
Ben D.A. Heffington: “‘I Would Rather be Attacked by Sharks’: A Review of the Literature on Communication Apprehension in Education” and “Why Are Americans So Angry?: A Rhetorical Criticism of Ron Paul’s Answer to the House of Representatives.”
Brian Rogers : "Kick Starting the Conversation: How YouTube Could Alter Marginalized Representation" and “A Review of the Literature Regarding Interaction Between Instructional Technology and Instructor Immediacy.”
Kevin Snyder: “The Religious Exigency of Barack Obama and John McCain.”
Riva Starks: “Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign: A Redressing of American Politics on the Internet.”
Zac Ziegler : “Going Digital: What the Mp3 is Doing to the Music Industry.”
Angelica Hernandez: “Becoming President is More Than Announcing You’re Going to Run: An Epideictic Analysis of Barack Obama and John McCain’s Presidential Acceptance Speeches.”
Undergraduates Kaitlin Bundock, a dual anthropology and political science major and member of NAU's Honors Program, and Travis Risner, political science major, are ranked as the 17th debate team out of 822 teams in the United States, according to the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. The duo has qualified in the first round bid process for the NPTE’s 2009 tournament to be held March 21-21 at the University of California, Berkeley.
