Greenlee Releases 2015 Diversity Report

Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication Diversity Report, Calendar Year 2015

Three members of the Undergraduate Committee, Dr. Raluca Cozma, Dr. Kelly Winfrey (replacing Dr. Tracy Lucht in Fall 2015), and academic adviser Jason Wiegand, were appointed as members of a diversity subcommittee in Fall 2014. The subcommittee was created in 2010. The list below includes school-wide diversity events and accomplishments.

Awards and Recognitions

• Jazmin Murguia, a senior in journalism and mass communication who serves as the director of student diversity for ISU Student Government, received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Advancing One Community Award. She also is an active member of Latinos United for Change/Students Against Bigotry and has participated in the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) project. She serves other students as both a formal and informal mentor. She was an organizer of the student-led forum on Racism, Diversity and Inclusion at ISU with President Leath on September 30.
• Academic adviser Jason Wiegand was selected in NACADA Emerging Leader Class of 2014-2016.

Scholarship and Outreach – Research Presentations, Publications, Panels, Media Coverage

• Bugeja, Michael; Cozma, Raluca; Lucht, Tracy; Wiegand, Jason. Creating and Publicizing a Diversity Plan. Panel proposal accepted for presentation at ISCORE Conference, ISU, March 2016.
• GSJC celebrated Black History Month with a series of video interviews that aimed to facilitate a public conversation about race, diversity and social justice, while focusing on the rich heritage of African American history.
• Associate professor Raluca Cozma was interviewed in the Cedar Rapids Gazette about media’s role in public perceptions of Islam.
• Cozma, Raluca. Five entries on pioneering women journalists written for the upcoming Women in the American Political System: An Encyclopedia of Women as Voters, Candidates, and Office Holders, a two-volume reference set to be published in 2016.
• Associate professors Michael Dahlstrom and Joel Geske worked with the Women, Food and Agriculture Network on outreach materials to meet the information needs of women landowners in the upper Midwest regarding conservation.
• Escobedo, Pauli (master’s student) defended thesis titled Source credibility and race: Black viewers’ responses to television news anchors. Tracy Lucht, Chair, and Joel Geske, Committee Member.
• Geske, Joel. Teaching Diversity in the 21st Century. Invited Panelist. Presented on “Creating Inclusive Groups.” AEJMC, San Francisco, August 2015.
• Johnson, Jovan Hendrix (master’s student) defended thesis titled The “Figuring World of Blackness” negotiated through Rap Music. Joel Geske, Chair, and Tracy Lucht, Committee Member.
• Hansen, Jessica. Advisers-What is your role in promoting awareness and accessibility for students with disabilities? Poster presentation at NACADA 2015 Region 6 Conference, Fargo, ND, May 2015.
• Hansen, Jessica. Advisers-What is your role in promoting awareness and accessibility for students with disabilities?Poster presentation at NACADA 2015 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV October 2015.
• Lucht, Tracy. Chapter in Bad Men and Damaged Women: Gender, Violence, and 21st Century Television (Wayne State University Press, 2016).
• Lucht, Tracy. From Sob Sister to Society Editor: The Storied Career of Dorothy Ashby Pownall. Accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Annals of Iowa.
• Lucht, Tracy. Job Satisfaction and Gender: Qualitative Differences at Iowa Newspapers. Accepted for publication in Journalism Practice.
• Lucht, Tracy. An article for New York Archives magazine about her research on personal finance pioneer Sylvia Porter.
• Lucht, Tracy. Three entries on pioneering women journalists written for the upcoming Women in the American Political System: An Encyclopedia of Women as Voters, Candidates, and Office Holders, a two-volume reference set to be published in 2016.
• Wald, Dara et al. A Life Cycle Analysis of Minority Underrepresentation in Natural Resource Fields. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 39(2): 228-238. doi: 10.1002/wsb.525
• Wiegand, Jason. Native American and Tribal College Interest Group Fair & Business Meeting. Presentation at NACADA 2015 Annual Conference, Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, NV, October 2015.
• Wiegand, Jason. Leadership and Learning: NACADA’S Emerging Leaders Program.
• Wiegand, Jason. Ascending to New Heights: NACADA’s Emerging Leaders Program. Presentation at NACADA 2015 Region 10 Conference, Boulder, CO, March 2015.
• Wiegand, Jason (Fall 2015). AIGC Alumnus Educational Journey: Academically Uninspired, But Resilient, The American Indian Graduate Magazine, p. 48-50.
• Winfrey, Kelly (2015). About Me: Female Candidates Self-Presentation Styles on Campaign Websites. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Convention, Las Vegas, NV.
• Assistant professor Kelly Winfrey was interviewed on Iowa Public Radio and The Straits Times on women in politics.
• Assistant professor Kelly Winfrey attended the Iowa Women Lead Change conference in Des Moines.
• Assistant professor Kelly Winfrey conducted research on the gender balance of county and municipal boards and commissions as part of the Gender Balance Project. Reports were published on the Catt Center website.
• Assistant professor Kelly Winfrey researched and reported on the number of women in student government, on Iowa school boards and elected municipal offices.

Service

• Associate professor Joel Geske served on search committee for new Director of Women’s and Gender Studies.
• Associate professor Joel Geske served on WGS Faculty Steering Committee.
• Academic adviser Jason Wiegand was elected co-Chair of NACADA’s Inaugural Region 6 Leader-Mentor Program, 2016-2018.
• Academic adviser Jason Wiegand was selected to serve as a Program Leader for the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) and Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE), leading a team of multicultural students who will be conducting and presenting research, Spring 2016 – Spring 2017.
• Academic adviser Jason Wiegand served as Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) Search Committee Member, ISU, Fall 2015.
• Academic adviser Jason Wiegand was appointed Chair of the Native American and Tribal Colleges Interest Group for NACADA
• Academic adviser Jason Wiegand was appointed to serve on NACADA’s Diversity Committee, 2014-16.
• Assistant professor Kelly Winfrey applied and was selected as one of fifty locations to host Elect Her, sponsored by the Association of University Women. The program trains and encourages female students to participate in student government and politics beyond college.

Teaching, Mentorship, and Advising

• In JLMC 201, Professor Eric Abbott formed students into teams and invited each team to bring someone into class for an interview. Maria Alcivar, the woman who organized the protest at the football game near Donald Trump’s supporters, was one of those invited. She also helped form LUCHA, the organization that President Leath referred to in his recent letter. After the interview students writing their stories did a good job of capturing issues faced by minority students, and realizing that these went far beyond the single incident that generated all the excitement. A second interviewee was Lacey Carpenter, who has organized a non-profit organization serving 15 counties in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota to increase awareness of autism, and in particular to help educate businesses and people in general about how to relate to and support families that have an autistic child. As a result of this interview, students not only wrote stories, but also selected this topic for their advertising campaigns. The advertising assignment was to create guerrilla advertising messages that would raise awareness within the communities served about the needs for services these families have, and in particular ways to relate to them. This sensitized everyone in the class to autism in particular, but also to people with disabilities in general. Our students then presented their campaign ideas to Michael Wigton’s advertising class students, involving them in the discussion as well.
• In JLMC 242 Visual Principles for Mass Communication, Lecturer Sherry Berghefer talked about the role of culture in understanding and interpreting what we see. Her students also analyze visual stereotypes throughout various types of media.
• In JLMC 476 World Communication Systems, Associate Professor Raluca Cozma’s students engaged in an online international collaboration with journalism students from Romania.
• In JLMC / TSC 574 Communication Technology and Social Change, Professor Daniela Dimitrova’s students participated in an online international collaboration with students at the University of Ghana in Accra. Dimitrova organized the event with her former student Etse Sikanku, a 2008 graduate of Greenlee’s master’s program and assistant professor at the University of Ghana. A shared blog facilitated the students’ conversations around a series of discussion questions concerning the global digital divide.
• In ADVRT/P R/JL MC 497G Data-driven Audience Analytics, Assistant Professor Su Jung Kim used audience data from South Korea and Canada for group assignments. Not only did they help students improve their analytic skills, but they also provided an opportunity to understand different media usage contexts in other countries and how they influence audience behaviors.
• Associate Professor Joel Geske completely overhauled JlMC 477 Ethnicity, Gender Class and the Media.
• In ADVRT 434 Advertising Campaigns, Lecturer Catherine Huggins had Iowa Women Lead Change as client for her students. Students presented their campaigns in December.
• Assistant Professor Tracy Lucht used the lectures program at ISU to introduce her JLMC 201 students to diverse perspectives and ideas. In spring 2015, she assigned students to cover Michelle Alexander’s lecture on racial disparities in the criminal justice system. In fall 2015, she assigned students to cover the Chamberlin lecture by Asian-American journalist Juju Chang, and she offered students extra credit for covering a panel discussion about homelessness among LGBTQ youth. Lucht’s students had class discussions about inclusivity, the news media and freedom of speech based on several high-profile events: harassment of activists as they protested presidential candidate Donald Trump’s visit to Iowa State; journalists’ coverage of protests at the University of Missouri; and comments about diversity made by the new University of Iowa president.
• Lecturer Lisa Munger helped start the ISU Association for Women in Communication. She serves as faculty adviser.
• In ADVRT 230 Ad Principles, Associate Professor Jay Newell encouraged international students to submit creative assignments that speak to their home markets. So far we’ve seen students ads from China, South Korea, Spain, and Japan. The syllabus and slides are provided in simplified written Chinese. The translated materials have spread to other departments: for instance, Theatre 110 provides the syllabus and assignment instructions in English and Chinese. A TA in the Advrt 230 class provides the translations.
• Senior lecturer Erin Wilgenbusch attended the NAACP banquet in February 2015 with mentee from the Cyclone Connect program.
• Senior lecturer Erin Wilgenbusch participated as a mentor in the Cyclone Connect program through the Athletic Department (a minority football player is matched with a faculty mentor).
• In JLMC 110 Journalism and Communication Orientation, Lecturer Brenda Witherspoon used the video from the University of Missouri showing the interaction between student protesters and a student journalist as a launching point for discussion about issues of free speech, ethical boundaries in reporting, the concerns and circumstances related to race that played into that incident (before and during) and more.
• In April, eight Greenlee employees were informed by the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs that they were identified in a student survey requesting names of faculty and staff members who had positively influenced their sense of belonging. Students listed these Greenlee employees who helped students feel welcomed, encouraged and supported: Jan Boyles, Michael Bugeja, Raluca Cozma, Su Jung Kim, Tracy Lucht, Lisa Munger, Juli Probasco-Sowers and Erin Wilgenbusch

Recruiting, Hiring and Fundraising

• When posting ads for faculty hires in 2015, GSJC advertised in Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine, which exceeded the circulation of other diversity advertisements the school had posted in the past. GSJC gets an electronic copy of the magazine, which is shared by administrative specialist Kathy Box with faculty and staff.
• Director Michael Bugeja negotiated a diversity hire (lecturer) for Fall 2016. The hire should be finalized in March.
• In November, GSJC collected gifts for underprivileged children in the community during its annual Giving Tree event.
• Director Michael Bugeja submitted a grant proposal titled Expanding Diversity Awareness via Illinois Media Internships for consideration to the Robert R. McCormick Foundation Democracy Program on December 1.
• Academic Adviser Jason Wiegand diversified the Greenlee Student Ambassador Program by hiring our first two international student ambassadors (from Malaysia and Nigeria), our first student-athlete (who identifies as a multiracial transfer student), and two George Washington Carver (GWC) scholarship recipients.