Congratulations to NCA Top Papers by UNL Graduate Students

Congratulations to Communication Studies doctoral candidate Jamie Downing who has two Top Papers at the upcoming NCA conference in Las Vegas in November 2015.  Her paper “Escaping Entelechy: Exploring Intersections of Piety and Style” is one of the Top Papers in the Kenneth Burke Society. Her paper, “Keeping the Feast: Digitality, Counterpublics, and Conversations Surrounding Christian Seders” is a Top Student Paper in the Religious Communication Division.

Congratulations to Communication Studies doctoral candidate Jon Carter who has a Top Paper at the upcoming NCA conference in Las Vegas in November 2015. His paper, “Good Metonyms Make Great Metaphors: Embracing the Opportunities for Scientific Forms in Non-Scientific Contexts” is one of the Top Papers in the Kenneth Burke Society.

Congratulations to Communication Studies doctoral candidate Julia Moore who has been awarded a Top Paper award and the Top Student Paper award by the Western States Communication Association’s Interpersonal Communication Interest Group for her paper, “Where is the critical empirical interpersonal communication research? A roadmap for future inquiry.”  The paper will be presented in at the annual meeting of the Western States Communication Association in San Diego CA in February 2016.

Congratulations to Communication Studies doctoral candidates Jordan Allen and Nicole Allen who have been awarded a Top Paper award by the Western States Communication Association’s Interpersonal Communication Interest Group for their paper, “Complicating and Critiquing the Classical Twin Methodology: Decentring Biogenetic Approaches to Twin Studies." The paper will be presented in at the annual meeting of the Western States Communication Association in San Diego CA in February 2016.

Top 10 Ways My Years in the US Army Prepared Me for Grad School in Communication Studies

For Veteran’s Day Nov. 11, 2015

10.  Sleep?!  You don’t need sleep!  You can sleep when you’re dead!  You’ve got a research paper due!

9.  Just like the military, the professors arm you…but with research studies, texts, and their years of knowledge!

8.  It’s not just a job…it’s an adventure! (You get to eat, breath, and live Communication Studies 24/7!)

7. Drill sergeants don’t yell, they simply talk loud enough so that everyone can hear them! (I never knew this whole time they were teaching me about Berger and diBattista’s (1993) study, Communication failure and plan adaptation: If at first you don’t succeed, say it louder and slower!) 

6.  On those super long class days when you don’t have time to stop for lunch, you realize that the vending machines in Oldfather Hall serve gourmet meals comparable to an MRE packet (meals-ready-to-eat)! 

5.  The army exercises your body – the Comm Studies’ profs exercise your mind!

4.  Forget the camouflage.  It won’t help you hide if you’re not prepared for class!

3. The Comm Studies' professors are like drill sergeants – they constantly push you to a higher level 

of achievement you never knew you could reach!

2.  The road march is long and hard and all uphill!  But the view from the mountaintop on graduation day will be well worth the journey!

1.  Now you’re ready to: “Be!  All that you can be…in Communication Studies!” HOOAH! J

by Carol Tschampl-Diesing, a first year PhD student and US Army veteran