UNC Hussman at AEJMC 2024 in Philadelphia

Dozens of UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni are set to participate in the 107th Annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference in Philadelphia.

UNC Hussman scholars will present authored or co-authored research and will participate in panels and other sessions. The conference is headlined, “Representation and Voice: The Future of Democracy,” and runs Aug. 8-11, following a pre-conference day Aug. 7. The school will host a breakfast Saturday morning for attending Tar Heels. They will gather on the 33rd floor of the Loews Hotel, overlooking the city.

UNC Hussman faculty and student awards and activities at AEJMC are listed below, along with some awards received by alumni. Alumni will participate in many other sessions during the conference. The full program of AEJMC sessions is available on the conference website.

Awards and honors

Students, faculty and alumni

• Staff member Monica Hill, director of the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association, will be recognized as the 2024 recipient of the Innovative Outreach to Scholastic Journalism Award.
• Heesoo Jang ’24 (Ph.D.) was recognized as a winner of the third annual Michael Hoefges Graduate Student Research Fund.
• Brooke McKeever ’11 (Ph.D.), Robert McKeever ’12 (Ph.D.) and co-authors will be recognized for the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Outstanding Article Award for “From Advocacy to Activism: A Multi-Dimensional Scale of Communicative, Collective, and Combative Behaviors.”
• Jessica Gall Myrick ’13 (Ph.D.) will be recognized as the inaugural recipient of the Sharon Dunwoody Excellent Mentor Award
• Madhavi Reddi ’22 (Ph.D.) will be recognized for honorable mention in the Best Practices in Teaching Competition.
• Noelle Wilson ’24 (M.A.) and Associate Professor Amanda Reid will be recognized for the Second Place Faculty Payer Award in the Law and Policy Division.

Presentations and panels

Students (returning and newly graduated) and faculty

Wednesday, Aug. 7 (Pre-conference)

• Professor Tori Ekstrand ’03 (Ph.D.) served on the panel “Fire in a Political Theater: The First Amendment Legacy of Donald J. Trump,” moderated by Kriste Patrow ’23 (Ph.D.)
• Heesoo Jang served on the panel “Michael Hoefges Graduate Student Research Fund Winners,” moderated by Kyla Garrett Wagner ’15 (M.A.), ’19 (Ph.D.).
• Dean Raul Reis served a panelist for the workshop session “‘…and One Third Service’: Identifying Appropriate Levels of Academic and Professional Service for Your Job,” alongside fellow panelist Diana Martinelli ’01 (Ph.D.).

Thursday, Aug. 8

• Associate Professor Deb Aikat will lead the training workshop “Digital Tools for Election Coverage.” Aikat and Chris Gentilviso ’19 (M.A.) will serve as panelists.
• Deb Aikat will moderate the panel “Fostering Freedom & Defending Democracy: Three Presidential Initiatives.”
• Associate Professor Lucinda Austin and co-authors will present “Emotional Tides and Social Anchors: Understanding Personal Network Activation in Disaster Response.”
• Lucinda Austin and Associate Professor Meredith Clark ’14 (Ph.D.), both incoming Jennifer H. McGill fellows, will participate in the workshop session “Institute for Diverse Leadership in Journalism and Communication.”
• Tori Ekstrand and Evan Ringel ’21 (M.A.), ’24 (Ph.D.) will serve on the panel “New Adventures in Academic Freedom: Threats and Responses.”
• Incoming doctoral student Clay Williams ’24 (M.A.) and Professor Rhonda Gibson will present “Navigating Politics and Scandal: News Coverage of George Santos’s Sexuality and Political Ideology.”
• Assistant Professor Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and co-author will present “Convergence and Social Media Use in Risk Perception: An Investigation on Both Central Tendency and Dispersion.”
• Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and co-authors will present “Tailoring Generative AI Chatbots for Multiethnic Communities in Disaster Preparedness Communication.”

Friday, Aug. 9

• Meredith Clark will serve as a panelist for the listening session for the Standing Committee for Research of AEJMC on the topic of generative AI, moderated by Denis Wu ’98 (Ph.D.).
• Doctoral student Daniel Johnson ’22 (M.A.) will present “Social Movement Information Related Techniques and Tactics (SMIRT Tactics) - A Concept Explication and Empirical Measure.”
• Doctoral student Shelby Lake and Xinyan (Eva) Zhao will present “Sexual Identity-related Shame as a Barrier to Mpox Prevention Among Gay and Bisexual Men.”
• Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and co-author will present “TikTok Engagement Traces Over Time and Health Risky Behaviors: A Data Linkage Approach.”
• Noelle Wilson ’24 (M.A.) and Amanda Reid will present “Standing to Sue for Data Breach: An Empirical Analysis of Post-Transunion Federal Cases (2021-2023).”

Saturday, Aug. 10

• Rhonda Gibson will present “Doubling Down: Catholic Church Framing of Its Opposition to the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act.”
• Monica Hill, Peter Bobkowski ’10 (Ph.D.) and co-authors will present “High School Journalism Field Trips: Post-Pandemic Barriers and Opportunities.”
• Associate Professor Shannon McGregor will serve on the panels “Empowering Communication Scholars: Amplifying Academic Voices on Social Media Platforms” and “Looking Back at Our Field’s Books to Look Forward.”

Sunday, Aug. 11

• Assistant Professor Shelvia Dancy and co-author will present “Disinformation Intervention Preferences in Communities of Color.”

Image on home page of Philadelphia City Hall by Aaron Parecki (CC BY 2.0)