Hively wins Emery award

Congratulations to Myiah Hively for winning the School of Communication's Walter B. Emery Memorial Scholarship this year. This award goes to an early-career graduate student in the program with an outstanding record of research accomplishment.

Fall 2008 Grad Course Offerings

We have three graduate courses offered in the Fall 2008 quarter that are likely to be of tremendous interest to COPS members: Statistical Moderation and Mediation Analysis (COMM 801, Hayes), Interpersonal Discussion and Politics (COMM 930, Eveland), and Mass Communication, Affect, and Emotion (COMM 940, Knobloch-Westerwick). Check out the course descriptions via the School's homepage. Enroll today!

COPS to Welcome Professor George Marcus of Williams College for Research Talk

Professor George Marcus (Ph.D., Northwestern University), Department of Political Science at Williams College, will be visiting the OSU campus to give a research presentation entitled, “From Neuroscience to Politics: Discovering a Hidden Geography and the Way We Navigate.” The talk will take place on May 2, 2008 at 11:00 AM in Room 360 of the Journalism Building on The Ohio State University campus.

Professor Marcus is an expert on the study of affect and politics. Some of his recent books on the subject include the following:

Neuman, W. R., Marcus, G. E., Crigler, A., & MacKuen, M. (2007). The affect effect: Dynamics of emotion in political thinking and behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Marcus, G. E. (2002). The sentimental citizen: Emotion and democratic politics. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.

Marcus, G. E., Neuman, W. R., & MacKuen, M. (2000). Affective intelligence and political judgment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

If you would like more information on this event, please feel free to contact Professor Lance Holbert, Department of Communication at The Ohio State University, at holbert.27@osu.edu or at 614-247-7644.

COPS student publishes in IJP/P

Congratulations to Fei "Chris" Shen, who recently had a paper accepted for publication in a late 2008 issue of the International Journal of Press/Politics (formerly the "Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics"). This study examines media contributions to the attrition of political candidates during Presidential primaries.

Shen, F. (in press). “Staying alive”: The impact of media momentum on candidacy attrition in the 1980-2004 primaries. The International Journal of Press/Politics.

European visitor to OSU and COPS this summer

I just received word from Jorg Matthes, currently at the University of Zurich, that he received funding from the Swiss NSF to come to OSU for a two month visit in July and August. When here, he plans on initiating various collaborations involving COPS faculty and students while taking in the Columbus scene. Feel free to get in touch with Jorg at j.matthes@ipmz.uzh.ch. Here is a link to his web page, where you can find a list of his recent publications in such places as Communication Research, the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Communication Methods and Measures, and the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, among others.

Madyson Burgess Joins OSU

I'm happy to report that yesterday I received word that Madyson Burgess, an honors undergraduate here at OSU, has accepted our admission offer and will be staying here for our MA program come the fall. Madyson has interests in survey research methods, political communication, and communication technologies. Welcome Madyson!

Welcoming Megan Hill to COPS

I spoke with Megan Hill Saturday morning and I'm very happy to let everyone know that she has told me she'll be joining us in the Ph.D. prorgram at OSU (and in COPS) in the fall. Please welcome her -- she can be reached at meghill2@gmail.com

Tchernev chooses OSU

I am happy to be able to report the addition of another future COPS member. After receiving several graduate school admissions offers, John Tchernev has chosen OSU for his Ph.D. study. John comes to us from Northwestern University, where he completed his B.A. A few years out of college, John returns to academics after spending time in LA as a freelance writer. Please join me in welcoming John.

New Course from Law School

Normally, students in the Graduate School are unable to take courses offered by the Law School. However, a special arrangement has been made so that grad students can take a course being offered by law professor and prominent e-Democracy scholar Peter Shane next winter (2009) quarter. The course will emphasize the role of the Internet in democracy. You can learn more about Peter Shane here, and do get in touch with him if you think you'll want to take his course. Keep this in mind if you have an interest in this topic...

Political Theory Talk

The Political Theory Workshop is pleased to announce a talk by Simone Chambers of the University of Toronto who will be speaking on:

"Rhetoric and the Public Sphere: Has Deliberative Democracy Abandoned Mass Democracy?"

Professor Chambers is a distinguished scholar of political theory and
public law. She has held various positions at Harvard, Colorado,
Princeton, and the University of Munich. She has made foundational
contributions to the study of deliberative democratic theory, democracy
and the media, and theories of civil society. More recently, Prof.
Chambers has been interested in the role of religion in public
discourse, as well as practical tensions arising within deliberative
democracy's institutional manifestations.

Please join us on Friday, April 11 at 3:30pm in Derby 2130 for what promises to be a very interesting talk, with a reception to follow.

New COPS Members

I'm happy to announce the first wave of new COPS members for next year. We have learned that Ja-Yeon ("Janey") Lee (lee.jayeon@gmail.com), who is currently completing her MA degree at the University of Texas-Austin, will be joining our PhD program in the fall. She is interested in political communication and new technologies. Jim Collier (wrcpem@columbus.rr.com), currently earning his BA here at OSU, will be joining the MA program, with interests in political communication. I know of several more students who we will be hearing from in just a matter of days, and I'll post more as a learn more. Meanwhile, please join me in welcoming Ja-Yeon and Jim to OSU and COPS!

Interesting Link for Blog Research

Our members interested in the use of online technologies to learn about and discuss politics might be interested in this research by Microsoft (gasp!) tracking news links on blogs and the nature of the discussion of these news links by blog ideological focus. Follow the link to learn about it...

http://research.microsoft.com/projects/blews/blews.aspx

AEJMC MCS division research award call

The Mass Communication and Society division of AEJMC has recently posted a call for its annual research award. Proposals are due by May 1st. The winner is obligated to give the division's journal, Mass Communication and Society, first right of refusal for publication of research stemming from the award. COPS members may recall that Teresa Myers and I won this award last year. The research stemming from that proposal is currently going through peer review. Here is the call for proposals.

COPS and OSU Welcome Ray Pingree and Kimberly Rios Morrison

I am happy to announce that, starting AU 2008, Kimberly Rios Morrison and Ray Pingree will be joining the School of Communication faculty as well as the COPS group.

Kim comes to us from Stanford, where she is completing her Ph.D. in the business school. Her research focuses on minority group influence and the conditions that prompt minority opinion expression in group settings. She also studies social identity, perceived threat from outgroups, and attitude change. Her training in organizational behavior and experimental social psychology will further enrichen an already exciting research culture. Here are a couple of her recent papers that might interest COPS members:

Morrison, K. R., & Miller, D. T. (in press). Distinguishing between silent and vocal minorities: Not all deviants feel marginal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology [PDF]

Morrison, K. R., & Ybarra, O. (2008). The effects of realistic threat and group identification on social dominance orientation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 156-163.


Ray is completing his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin and brings an interesting background as a computer scientist to his own theorizing about political deliberation. Some of his published work has attempted to identify ways to improve political deliberation through the use of online technologies. He has two recent publications in Communication Theory that you might be interested in:

Pingree, R. J. (2007). How messages affect their senders: A more general model of message effects and implications for deliberation. Communication Theory. 17, 439-461.

Pingree, R. J. (2006). Decision structure and the problem of scale deliberation. Communication Theory, 16: 198-222.

Please join me in welcoming Ray and Kim to COPS!

Reineke to join faculty at MTSU

I am excited to announce that after receiving two attractive job offers, Jason Reineke has accepted an Assistant Professorship at Middle Tennessee State University's College of Mass Communication, School of Journalism. In addition to his regular faculty duties, Jason will be the new Associate Director of the MTSU poll, a survey of Tennessee residents administered by the Office of Communication Research that has been conducted twice yearly since 1998. The poll regularly surveys the public on topics including free expression, faith in major institutions, and a wide range of other public issues. Among the courses Jason will regularly teach include a course entitled "Free Expression, Mass Media, and the American Public", an examination of freedom of expression from legal, social scientific, and ethical perspectives. I know I speak for all COPS members when I say how proud we are of Jason for his hard work and dedication during his years at OSU, and we will miss seeing him around the halls of Derby.