HOUSTON, Texas (July 30, 2018) — Several faculty members at the Valenti School of Communication will receive research awards, present innovative research, participate in expert panels and attend workshops at the 2018 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Washington D.C. August 6-9, 2018. This year’s theme is “Strengthening our community: Working together to build scholars, educators, and engaged academic citizens.”

The faculty research awards are as follows:

• Associate professor Dr. Lindita Camaj’s paper “Real Time Political Deliberation on Social Media: Can Televised Debates Lead to Rational and Civil Discussions on Broadcasters’ Facebook Pages?” was awarded the first place faculty paper by the Electronic News Division.
• Assistant professor Dr. Summer Harlow’s book "Liberation Technology in El Salvador: Re-Appropriating Social Media Among Alternative Media Projects" won the AEJMC-Knudson Latin America Prize.
• Dr. Harlow’s paper “Entrepreneurial News Sites as Worthy Causes? Exploring Readers’ Motivations Behind Donating to Latin American Journalism” was awarded the first place faculty paper by the Media Management, Economics and Entrepreneurship division.
• Dr. Harlow’s paper “Framing the Colombian Peace Process: Between Peace and War Journalism,” co-authored with Victor García-Perdomo, Universidad de La and Danielle Kilgo, Indiana, was awarded the second place Stevenson Faculty paper by the International Communication Division. It also won the first place Latino/Latin American Communication Research Award.
• Dr. Harlow’s paper “Seeking Transnational, Entrepreneurial News from Latin America: An Audience Analysis,” coauthored with Vanessa Higgins Joyce, Texas State won the second place Latino/Latin American Communication Research Award.
• Assistant professor Dr. Wenlin Liu’s paper “Tweeting to (Selectively) Engage: A Network Analysis of Government Organizations’ Stakeholder Management on Twitter During Hurricane Harvey,” coauthored with Weiai (Wayne) Xu, Massachusetts, won the first place faculty paper by Public Relations Division.

The following Valenti faculty presentations will take place at this year’s convention:

• Monday, August 6, 8:15-9:45 a.m: Dr. Harlow to moderate the PF&R panel "What We Know Now that We Wish We Would Have Known Then: Advice from Tenured International Faculty for those Entering the U.S. Academy" sponsored by International Communication Division and Graduate Studies Interest Groups.

• Monday, August 6, 8:15-9:45 a.m: Dr. Lea Hellmueller, assistant professor, a panelist on the PF&R panel "What We Know Now that We Wish We Would Have Known Then: Advice from Tenured International Faculty for those Entering the U.S. Academy," sponsored by International Communication Division and Graduate Studies Interest Groups.
• Monday, August 6, 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m: Dr. Jennifer Vardeman, associate professor, to moderator of the PF&R panel "Natural disasters and publics: Strategic crisis communication in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma." Sponsored by the Public Relations and Communicating Science/Health Risk Divisions.
• Monday, August 6, 5:00-6:30 p.m: Dr. Harlow to participate in scholar-to-scholar poster session. Her research, “Protests, Media Coverage, and a Hierarchy of Social Struggle," was coauthored with Danielle Kilgo, Indiana. Poster session sponsored by the Newspaper and Online News Division.
• Monday, August 6, 5:00-6:30 p.m: Paper presentation by Dr. Hellmueller: “Populism by the media: Transnational Analysis of Right-wing Meta-journalistic Discourses.” Paper coauthored with Matthias Revers, University of Leeds, UK. Paper. Presentation sponsored by the International Communication Division.
• Monday, August 6, 5:00-6:30 p.m: Paper presentation by Dr. Hellmueller, “Context Matters: Journalists’ Ideals, Narration, and Practice in the United States and Malaysia,” coauthored with by Moniza Waheed, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Paper presentation sponsored by Mass Communication and Society and Newspaper and Online News Division.
• Tuesday, August 7, 8:15-9:45 a.m: Research paper presentation by Dr. Camaj: “Real Time Political Deliberation on Social Media: Can Televised Debates Lead to Rational and Civil Discussions on Broadcasters’ Facebook Pages?” Presentation sponsored by the Electronic News Division.
• Tuesday, August 7, 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m: Dr. Temple Northup, associate professor, a panelist on the roundtable discussion: “Emerging leader?: A session to help you decide if a leadership path is right for you.”
• Tuesday, August 7, 1:30-2:45 p.m: Dr. Harlow to participate in scholar-to-scholar poster session. Her research, "From the Margins to the Newsfeed: Social Media Audiences’ Disruption of the Protest Paradigm" was coauthored with Danielle Kilgo, Indiana. Poster session sponsored by the Communication Technology Division.
• Tuesday, August 7, 5:00-6:45 p.m: Paper presentation by Dr. Harlow: “Framing the Colombian Peace Process: Between Peace and War Journalism.” Paper coauthored with Victor García-Perdomo, Universidad de La Sabana. Presentation sponsored by the International Communication Division.  
• Wednesday, August 8, 8:15-9:45 a.m: PF&R panel discussion by Dr. Camaj: “Propaganda via Public Service Broadcasting: Cases from South-Eastern Europe.” Sponsored by the International Communication and Law & Policy Divisions.
• Wednesday, August 8, 8:15-9:45 a.m:  Dr. Harlow featured in presentation of 2018 AEJMC Emerging Scholar Projects on “Influencing Journalistic Coverage of U.S. Protests,” which was coauthored with Danielle Kilgo, Indiana.  
• Wednesday, August 8, 10:00-11:45 a.m: Dr. Harlow presenting in AEJMC Award presentations’ AEJMC-Knudson Latin America Prize for book "Liberation Technology in El Salvador: Re-Appropriating Social Media Among Alternative Media Projects."
• Wednesday, August 8, 1:45-3:15 p.m: Teaching panel presentation by Dr. Camaj: “Storytelling with Data: A Resource Guide for Data Journalism.” Coauthored with Dr. Wenli Gao, Houston. Sponsored by the International Communication Division and Magazine Media Division.
• Wednesday, August 8, 1:45-3:15 p.m: Dr. Camaj to moderate the teaching panel “Teaching Data Journalism in a Global Context: The Best Tools and the Most Effective Tips.” Sponsored by the International Communication Division and Magazine Division.
• Wednesday, August 8, 3:30-5:15 p.m: Research paper presentation by Dr. Hellmueller: “Giving Voice to Terrorists: A Longitudinal Model Explaining How National Political Contexts Influence Media Attention
Toward Terrorist Organizations.” Paper coauthored with Valerie Hase, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Paper presentation sponsored by the International Communication Division.  
• Wednesday, August 8, 3:30-5:15 p.m: Dr. Harlow to participate in scholar-to-scholar poster session. Her research, “Seeking Transnational, Entrepreneurial News from Latin America: An Audience Analysis,” was coauthored with Vanessa Higgins Joyce, Texas State. Poster session sponsored by the International Communication Division.  
• Wednesday, August 8, 3:30-5:15 p.m: Paper presentation by Dr. Liu: “Discourse of the Cross-Sectoral Alliances Network in the Global Refugee Crisis: Studying CSR through a Global Perspective.” Paper coauthored with Aimei Yang, Southern California, and Rong Wang, Northwestern. Paper presentation sponsored by the Public Relations Division.   
• Thursday, August 9, 12:45-2:15 p.m: Dr. Hellmueller a panelist on PF&R  panel “Working Conditions for Women in Digital Workplaces,” sponsored by the Media Management, Economics and Entrepreneurship Division and Community Journalism Interest Group.
• Thursday, August 9, 12:45-2:15 p.m: Paper presentation by Dr. Liu: “Tweeting to (Selectively) Engage: A Network Analysis of Government Organizations’ Stakeholder Management on Twitter During Hurricane Harvey.” Paper coauthored with Weiai (Wayne) Xu, Massachusetts. Presentation sponsored by the Public Relations Division.  

Notable presentations by alumni of the Valenti School of Communication:

• Monday, August 6th at 10:00 a.m: Alec Tefertiller (‘14), assistant professor at Kansas State, will present research paper, "Post-Network Television: Motivations, Behaviors, and Satisfaction in the Age of Netflix.”
• Monday, August 6 at 3:15 p.m: Michelle Perkins (‘17) to present her paper titled "Media Framing of the Movement for Black Lives.”
• Thursday, August 9 at 11:00 a.m: Jordan Morehouse (‘15) to present "A Multi-method Approach to Examining Online Sermons from Religious Organizations.” Jordan is currently pursuing a doctorate degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.