Today is the first day of classes for the Fall 2023 semester. This is the beginning of my 19th year at Butler University!
I am happy to be teaching courses that are interesting and important to me. Below are some of the books I am using this semester.
I learned of two new books of interest at the AEJMC conference in Washington, DC, last week. Both of them deal with journalism and violence in the #MeToo era.
I had the privilege of serving as discussant for a panel titled "Digital and Social Media Presentations of Women's Rights Internationally" on Tuesday at the annual AEJMC conference. Here are some of my comments:
"What makes this panel so special is the focus on women’s issues in non-Western countries and those in the Global South. We know that there is a lack of research on gender and journalism outside of the Global North, so all of these papers have the potential to make important contributions.
" Looking at the papers presented here, we have two papers about women in Iran, one on women in Ghana, one on women in Uganda, and one on women in Saudi Arabia. At least three were presented by students, which is very encouraging. I think several of the authors are also 'from' one of these countries, which gives them great advantage in terms of positionality. But I also want to acknowledge the difficulty of moving in between spaces and adjusting to academic life in the United States. Please know that you have valuable contributions to make.
"Methods used here vary from a visual rhetorical analysis of 520 tweets, to a quantitative analysis of 600 news articles in both Arabic and English, and in-depth interviews. For interview papers, we see the importance of an intersectional approach, where we look not just at gender but also nationality...."
One paper that stood out to me was "Exploring Feminist Pedagogy" by Adrienne Wallace, Regina Luttrell, and Christopher McCollough. This is something I want to think about more and implement in my classes.
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It was a privilege to participate in an AEJMC panel on Undergraduate Research at the ICA Conference yesterday. Here is my abstract:
At Butler University, research is one of the key institutional initiatives for an excellent undergraduate college experience, together with community service and study abroad. I will address here two opportunities for undergraduate research: for all students in advanced classes, and through independent studies. In my upper division journalism classes (Gender and News, and Global Media), students read peer-reviewed journal articles during the semester to expose them to outstanding research in these fields. I then require a research paper from each student by the end of the semester. To facilitate this, I have developed a staged approach for introducing students to research that culminates in an 8-10 page paper. Students share their research by presenting their work to the class in our last week of meetings. Another opportunity to engage students in research is through independent studies or honors theses. I have worked with students individually through the semester to write research papers. Students are encouraged to present these papers at Butler University’s Undergraduate Research Conference. To encourage undergraduate students to understand the research process better, we decided this year to invite them to Works in Progress presentations by faculty members in our College of Communication. Finally, I will address some barriers to overcome in this area.
My almost 2-year stint as interim dean is coming to an end. Fortunate to be working with these great colleagues. Next step: Sabbatical for Spring 2023.
