Communication Studies Department: Faculty and Staff Accomplishments

2010-2011 Accomplishments

  • Dr. Cheri Niedzwiecki was certified to be a Reach to Recovery volunteer with the American Cancer Society. Reach to Recovery volunteers are trained by the American Cancer Society work with other breast cancer patients across Wisconsin.
  • Joseph van Oss was part of a team at Mary, Mother of the Church that published a photo directory that recently won a design award from the publisher, LifeTouch. He also helped the parish staff adopt Google Apps, a transition comparable to Eagle Apps.
  • Dr. Dena Huisman and Heike Flood presented their research at UW-L Faculty Research Day. With funding from a UW-L Faculty Research Grant, Heike and Dena interviewed German immigrants and their families about their experiences blending and managing their dual German American identities through everyday family communication. They found that rituals, language, and connections across families were an important means of maintaining a long-term German American family identity.
  • Dr. Linda Dickmeyer was the September 2010 Everyday Hero. WKBT Channel 8 reports that "Linda's students describe her as someone who is willing to go above and beyond the requirements of her job. Her students say she pushes them to the best they can be, all while being there as a mentor, a counselor and a friend."
  • Dr. Tony Docan-Morgan published an article in Communication Education titled, "'Everything changed": Relational turning point events in college teacher-student relationships from teachers’ perspectives" (2011, Volume 60, 20-50). He published RelationalTurningPoints.org, which offers teachers and students tools to facilitate relationships. He also published articles in the Journal of Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri and Communication Teacher.
  • Dr. Sara Docan-Morgan was awarded a Faculty Diversity Research Award through the UW System's Institute on Race and Ethnicity. This award provides full release time from teaching and service responsibilities for one semester, as well as research support funds. Dr. Docan-Morgan will use her award in the spring of 2011. Dr. Kathleen Galvin of Northwestern University will serve as her research mentor.

     

2009-2010 Accomplishments

  • Dr. Cheri Niedzwiecki has been awarded the "Faculty/Staff Of The Month." One of her students reports that, "she pushes us to go above and beyond, to think outside the box." Read more here.
  • Dr. Jim Putz received the CLS Academic Staff "Recognition of Excellence" Award for Service.
  • Dr. Linda Dickmeyer and her coauthor, Donna Pawlowski, presented their research at CSCA, "Service-learning in public and private university missions: Students' perceptions and reflections." They were awarded a top paper in the Instructional Resources division.
  • Congratulations to Dr. Scott Dickmeyer and Terry Smith, who were both nominated for a SAPA Award/Most Accessible Instructor. They received a gift and certificate at the SAPA celebration February 22.
  • Dr. Margarita Refugia Olivas published an article in the International Review of Qualitative Research:
    • Olivas, M. R. (2009). Negotiating Identity While Scaling the Walls of the Ivory Tower: Too Brown to be White and Too White to be Brown. International Review of Qualitative Research 2(3), (385-406).
  • Dr. Dena Huisman and Heike Flood received a UW-L Faculty Research Grant. The title of their project is "Being an insider, being an outsider: Family communication and dual cultural membership in 20th century immigrant families."
  • Dr. Dena Huisman coauthored an article in the Journal of Family Communication.
    • Baxter, L. A., Henauw, C., Huisman, D. Livesay, C., Norwood, K. Wolf, B. & Young, B. (2009). Lay Conceptions of "Family": A Replication and Extension. Journal of Family Communication, 9, 170-189.
  • Dr. Sara Docan-Morgan published an essay entitled "The way forward: A testimony of loss and connection" in the Journal of Korean Adoption Studies, 1, 133-151.

2008-2009 Accomplishments

  • Dr. Margarita Refugia Olivas was awarded a University of Wisconsin System, Institute on Race & Ethnicity, Faculty Diversity Research Grant.
  • Dr. Tony Docan-Morgan published an article in Communication Education that examines relational turning point events between college teachers and students. He has received a UW-L Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Grant to continue his research on this topic.
  • Dr. Ronda Smith presented on a panel at the Central States Communication Association, St. Louis, MO. The title of her talk was, "Service-learning and learning community: An account from the administrative side."
  • Dr. Sara Docan-Morgan presented on a panel entitled "Korean adoption research: Current perspectives, future directions" at the International Korean Adoptee Association Mini-Gathering, New York, NY, in April 2009.
  • Dr. Sara Docan-Morgan presented a paper entitled, “They don’t know what it’s like to be in my shoes”: Topic avoidance about race in transracially adoptive families" at the 94th Annual Conference of the National Communication Association, San Diego, CA, in November 2009. This paper received the honor of being one of the top student papers for the Family Communication Division.