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K-State Today

April 2, 2013

Journalism and mass communications graduate students present at local, national and international conferences

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

Graduate students in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications presented or will present at local, national and international conferences.

At the international level, Travis Hasler will present his paper titled "HIV/AIDS Communication Strategies in Developing Countries: Behavior Change in a High Fear Environment" at the annual International Association of Media and Communication Research, or IAMCR, conference in Dublin, Ireland, in June. Hasler’s paper was influenced by his experiences while living in Uganda as a Peace Corps volunteer.

"My interest in this research started in 2009 when I was working with returned child soldiers in Uganda," Hasler said. "I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to present my work at the IAMCR conference in Dublin." 

At the local level, three papers from students were presented at the K-State Graduate Forum on March 27. David Chartrand and Joseph Rodgers gave oral presentations, while a co-authored paper by Hasler, Kathryn Lopez and Carmen Brown was presented at the poster session.

Chartrand’s paper was titled "Suicide: The undocumented, unreported killer among American youth." His research examines the track record of American news media in the coverage of mental illness and suicide. He has focused his work heavily on family life issues, such as public education, public health and mental health.

"My research project was sparked by reader reaction to my last book, 'A View from the Heartland,' which explores the resiliency of families that suffer life-altering tragedies," Chartrand said.  

Rodgers' research examines the unique challenge that college student athletes face as an at-risk subgroup of the college population for heavy alcohol and substance use. His interests are in health communication and public relations and his research was conducted in his first semester of graduate school with the guidance of Nancy Muturi and Bill Schneck-Hamlin.

The co-authored paper by Lopez, Hasler and  Brown was titled "Don't Waste My Time: Kansas State University Students' Views on Political Messaging." Their research focuses on the growing trend of targeting college students in marketing efforts. In order to better understand what messages are most effective for Kansas State University students, the researchers focused on campaign efforts of the 2012 U.S. presidential election to gain insight into student preferences for receiving messages. 

At the national level, Mengmeng Li, Xiaofei Song and Alix Carole Onmalela Bilip recently presented research at the 35th annual Research Symposium at the University of Tennessee. Their paper "Family-Owned Newspapers from the Perspective of Organizational Ecology" was completed with the guidance of Angela Powers. 

The A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications continues to encourage graduate student research as the school strive toward achievement of Vision 2025. The school has recently started monthly research colloquia jointly with communication studies where faculty and graduate students from both departments share their research ideas and present research activities.