Neo accepts Assistant Professor position at Hawaii

It gives me great pleasure to announce that my former advisee, Rachel Neo, has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Rachel plans to continue her work on online bandwagon effects. She will also expand her research program to include cross-national comparative work on how digital media influence political expression and public engagement.

Peifer wins AEJ award

Jason Peifer's paper, "Perceived News Media Importance: Developing and Validating a Tool for Clarifying Dynamics of Media Trust", has been named a Top Student Paper by the Communication Theory & Methodology Division of AEJMC.  Well done, Jason.

Brian Weeks moving to University of Michigan

Congratulations to Brian Weeks, who has accepted a position in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan.  He will also have an appointment in the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research. Brian earned his PhD from the School of Communication at Ohio State University last year, and has spent the past year working with Homero Gil de Zúñiga at the University of Vienna.  Well done, Brian!

Peifer accepts job in Journalism at Indiana U

I am pleased to announce that Jason Peifer has accepted an offer to be an Assistant Professor of Journalism in the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington starting in the Fall.  Jason, who has a professional background in journalism, is particularly interested in political entertainment.  He is currently working on his dissertation, which examines how news parody influences perceptions of journalism's importance.  

Congratulations, Jason!

Former COPS Member Lindsay Hoffman Quoted in New York Times

A shout out to founding COPS member Lindsay Hoffman, now associate professor at the University of Delaware, who was quoted today in an article in the New York Times on the role of Facebook in political campaigns.

Stoycheff, Nisbet win AEJMC Paper Award

Congratulations to former (is there such a thing? COPS-4-LIFE!) COPS member Elizabeth Stoycheff, COPS member Erik Nisbet, and Dmitry Epstein for winning first place in the Robert L. Stevenson Paper Competition of the International Communication Division of AEJMC. Their paper, "Differential Effects of Information-Rich and Information-Poor Internet Use on Citizens' Demand for Democracy" was presented last week at the AEJMC conference in Montreal.

Weeks accepts position, wins award

Many congratulations to Brian Weeks. Brian, who defended his dissertation last week, has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna. And this week, the APSA Political Communication section has awarded Brian the Timothy Cook Best Graduate Student Paper Award for his 2013 paper “Feeling is Believing? The Influence of Emotions on Citizens’ False Political Beliefs”. Nice work, Brian!

Congrats to former COPS member Lindsay Hoffman

Former -- or actually, founding -- COPS graduate student member Lindsay Hoffman has just received promotion to Associate Professor and tenure in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware. Lindsay was among the first students in our "new" graduate curriculum that was instituted in 2002, earning first her MA and then PhD here. Lindsay holds a joint appointment in the Department of Political Science and is the Research Coordinator for Politics and Technology at the Center for Political Communication at UD. Lindsay also blogs for the Huffington Post and has published widely, including a recent paper building upon her dissertation work that was published in Communication Research. Congratulations Lindsay!

COPS alumnus in the news

COPS alumnus Jason Reineke is an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University, and he is the Associate Director of MTSU Poll.  Jason recently received nice coverage on a local television news station for some gay-marriage polling conducted by MTSU.  Watch the interview here:

http://oo.gl/YxZNA

Congratulations, Jason!

Jayeon Lee and Lehigh University

Congratulations is to be offered as well to Jayeon "Janey" Lee who has accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Journalism & Communication at Lehigh University.  Jayeon's dissertation is focusing on social media and the effects of journalists presenting varied personal and professional attributes in this environment.

Congratulations to Steve and Andrea

Congratulations go out to Steve Kleinman and Andrea Quenette, both of whom have secured positions as assistant professors for next year. Steve will be joining the faculty of Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Communications Media. Andrea will be joining the faculty of the University of Kansas in the Department of Communication Studies. Steve and Andrea are both working feverishly on completing their dissertations -- Steve on factors affecting willingness to communicate about politics interpersonally, Andrea on the communication and political correlates of political cynicism -- before they move on from OSU and the COPS group. Please join me in congratulating them on their accomplishments thus far!

Alyssa Morey heading to Albany

Congratulations to Alyssa Morey, who has recently accepted a position of Assistant Professor at the University at Albany (formerly known as State University of New York at Albany). Alyssa will join another COPS alumnus, Mihye Seo, on the Communication faculty there.

Hoffman Hits the Democratic Convention

COPS alum Lindsay Hoffman, now assistant professor at the University of Delaware, recently shared this photo of her with VP Joe Biden from the Democratic National Convention. Lindsay is attending the convention through her position as Research Coordinator for Politics and Technology at the University of Delaware Center for Political Communication. Looks like fun Lindsay!

Congratulations to former (and "original") COPS member and current University of Delaware assistant professor Dr. Lindsay Hoffman for receiving an advising award for her work in the Department of Communication. Way to go Lindsay -- we're all very proud of you! http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/may/excellence050912.html

Highly cited works by COPS affiliates

Several COPS faculty and alumni are listed in Routledge Taylor & Francis's list of "Highly cited communication studies articles". The articles listed are among the top cited of all T&F journals, and the publisher is recognizing this accomplishment by providing free access to the works. Featured authors include Eveland, Hayes, Hoffman, and Hutchens. Congratulations!

Ivan Dylko Accepts Position at New Mexico State

Please join me in congratulating Ivan Dylko. Ivan recently accepted a position of assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at New Mexico State University. Ivan came to us for his MA degree, and then after a brief hiatus returned to earn his Ph.D. Ivan is currently wrapping up his dissertation project -- an explication of political user-generated content online combined with a content analysis using the mix of attributes framework -- and will be starting his position at New Mexico State in the fall.

In a very tough economy and academic job market, our students continue to demonstrate the benefits of their hard work by securing multiple interviews and great job offers. Congratulations Ivan!

Beam accepts position at Washington State U.

Congratulations to Michael Beam on accepting a position as an Assistant Professor in Digital media in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. Michael has been actively involved in COPS for several years, and we will miss him, but he is joining a fine faculty where I'm sure he will do great things.

Geidner heading to University of Tennessee

Please join me in congratulating Nick Geidner on accepting a tenure-track assistant professor position within the School of Journalism & Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee. Nick has been a member of COPS since joining the OSU PhD program in 2007. Nick and his wife, Shelby, will be heading down to Knoxville this summer after Nick wraps up the last stages of his doctoral program. He will be missed within our School of Communication, but we are very pleased that he will begin the next stage of his career in a fine program. With this being stated, we hold some reservations about his becoming affiliated with the SEC, especially given Ohio State's recent track record in football when coming up against opponents from that conference. Nick, we hold out much hope that you will remain true to the scarlet & gray within the sea of orange you are about to become enveloped within. Congrats on accepting the UT position! It is a fitting end to what has been a most exciting year.

Other News re: our Recent Graduates: Lindsay Hoffman

Last night on CNN U.S. Senate candidates Coons and O'Donnell (the latter in the national news spotlight in recent weeks) debated each other in an event hosted in part by the University of Delaware Center for Political Communication. Aside from being my BA/MA alma mater, I was happy to see this because my former PhD advisee, Lindsay Hoffman, is now a faculty member at the University of Delaware and is involved in the Center as Coordinator of Research in Politics and Technology. We're all very proud of what Lindsay has accomplished since leaving COPS, and I wanted to give her a shout out!

Terrific Blog Post

I have to share this terrific blog post from former COP (and current U of Wyoming Cowboy) Kristen Landreville. It's a great -- and honest -- portrait of what it's like going through a PhD program like ours. http://klandreville.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/whoot-whoot/