Communication Studies News
March 3, 2005

CST granted new faculty position; search is active now

Plans call for the university to admit an increased number of freshmen in fall, 2005. As a result, academic departments across campus were allowed to petition for new faculty positions to help accommodate the increasing student load. Only two departments campus-wide were granted new positions – CST is one of those departments. (Biology was the other one.) 

As a result, a CST search & screen committee was quickly assembled and is working to fill this new tenure-track position. The deadline for applications is April 11. You may go to the CST website faculty page to see a position description. Those on the search committee include Dr. Ronda Knox (chair), Dr. Scott Dickmeyer, Dr. Cheri Niedzwiecki, Dr. David Piehl, Dr. Rick Rodrick, Dr. Doug Swanson, and Dr. Mike Tollefson. Student members of the committee are Katie Kleiber (a CST grad now working on her Master’s in Education/ College Student Development and Administration) and Tremayne Anderson. 

The committee hopes to have finalists on campus for interviews before the semester’s end, and hopes that students will actively take part in these sessions. As with our search last year (that resulted in the hire of Dr. Kurt Billmeyer) we will have classroom visits as well as open sessions for Q&A with students, staff, and faculty. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. The announcements of forthcoming search committee meetings are always posted on the bulletin board across from the CST office in Center for the Arts. 

Central States / undergrad research news 

Several of our faculty are making plans to attend the Central States convention in Kansas City. One of our CST students has earned the TOP PAPER AWARD which she will receive at the Central States Undergraduate Honors conference in April (this conference is part of the Central States Communication Association annual convention). Wenona Wolf, 2004 CST graduate, will present her paper and receive her award in Kansas City. This conference includes submissions from all over the U.S., so to have the TOP PAPER is quite an accomplishment. Wenona’s paper is entitled Cross-Sex Friendships and Sensemaking:  How Communication Changes After Sexual Feelings or Sexual Occurrences Arise in Interpersonal Relationships and is a revision of her CST 499 Senior Proect. Way to go, Wenona! 

Also in Central States news - Erin Bong and Sara Weisenbeck (also, both 2004 CST grads) had their senior projects accepted as competitive papers in the Undergraduate Honors Research Division. 

A panel of student papers submitted from Dr. Scott Dickmeyer’s CST 452 class (Contemporary Approaches in Organizational Communication) was accepted in the Public Relations Division. The papers analyze socialization communication found on websites of organizations that rank as "best companies to work for in America"  

CST Instructor Mary Anna Kidd is also attending Central States, and will be serving on a media division discussion panel – talking about using different styles of content analysis when studying media messages. 

Newer, “rather sexy” Comm Resource Room + other Comm Club news

From Christina Nelson, Comm Club Secretary:

Please remember our next Comm Club meeting on Tuesday, March 8 at 6 p.m. in our usual meeting place, 342 CFA. This will be a business meeting in which we will discuss our involvement in forthcoming events, including the Relay for Life in April and the importance of student involvement in the selection of a new faculty member. as well as other details like forthcoming elections for Comm Club officers. We have quite a bit of planning to do and hope you'll attend. 

If you haven't gotten a chance to check out the new-and-improved, rather sexy Comm Resource Room, I'd encourage you to do so! We at least toned down the level of ghetto-ness and made it a bit more user-friendly. It's due to all of your hard work and volunteer time that we were able to snazz it up (and buy a working printer).  Thanks to all of you!

Click here to see more pictures!

PRSSA chapter going strong!

Our new chapter of the PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) is going strong. The chapter had its first meetings on Feb. 15 (get acquainted) and March 1 (“How to Pitch to the Media”). We had more than 30 students in attendance at each of those meetings. The March 1 meeting included a panel of experts from the local media talking about how PR people can “pitch” ideas to them, and what the most important things are to know if you are a PR person trying to get your story idea in the newspaper, or on radio or TV. 

The PRSSA chapter will meet again on Tues., March 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Cleary Center. The tentative topic of this meeting is “How to Get that First Internship or Job.” All UW-L students are welcome and encouraged to attend. Bring your questions!

Since the chapter is just forming, no membership dues will be collected for this school year. If you want to join PRSSA (and we hope you do, because there are a lot of benefits to being a member) you may do so in November. The annual membership fee is $41. More details will be forthcoming. 

Grant proposal readied

Dr. Pat Turner and Dr. Doug Swanson have collaborated on a grant proposal for Communication Studies and the Academic Advising Center. The proposal asks the university to fund the development of a web site, video training series, and training manual to aid UW-L faculty in becoming more effective academic advisers. The project would be a collaborative effort between CST and AAC; development of the training (if funded by the university) will take place in summer, 2005. 

Dr. Piehl back at work

Dr. David Piehl has returned to campus, and is doing well following his heart attack last month. We are pleased to have him back and look forward to seeing less of him soon (as a result of that whole diet and exercise thing). 

CST Faculty Social a root-tootin’ success

Many of the CST faculty gathered at the home of Rick Rodrick and Janet Weir on Saturday, Feb. 26 for a Texas Independence Day party. The Texas-themed event was sponsored by the CST faculty social committee. Attendees included Willie Nelson, the Unsinkable Molly Brown, Trim Spa’s own Anna Nicole Smith (former Texas titty dancer - and, yes, that’s how they refer to it in Texas), Lee Harvey Oswald, and other famous and infamous Texans in appropriate Texas attire. (No, there was no one with a notable W in his name in attendance – perhaps due to the fact that, truthfully, ‘W’ hails from Connecticut and not from Texas.) There was, however, plenty of food and tasty beverage. A good time was had by all. Prizes were awarded for a variety of accomplishments including biggest Texas hair. We’ll let you think about our faculty and try to imagine which professor with the most creative hair ideas won the coveted prize for biggest Texas hair. Do you need a hint? (Her hair was “sassy”!)