Ohio State's School of Communication #1 in Research Production and #3 Overall in Field

September 28, 2010 - The National Research Council (NRC) has released results of its extensive, five-year study of 83 doctoral programs in the field of communication. The reports reveals The Ohio State University' s School of Communication to be firmly situated among the elite communication programs in the country based on several metrics. The OSU School of Communication faculty achieved an absolute rank of #1 in research activity (e.g., average number of peer-reviewed publications per faculty member). In addition, the School as a whole achieved a #3 ranking in the field based on its achievements along twenty different criteria - these criteria reflected faculty research (e.g., % of faculty with grants), quality of graduate students (e.g., GRE scores), graduate student support (e.g., % of students with full financial support), and a broad range of diversity measures (e.g., % of female faculty, % of female students).

The extensive analyses conducted on the NRC data identified only five programs which could state with 90% certainty that they rank as one of the top 10 programs in the field. Joining OSU's School of Communication on this list are Stanford University's Department of Communication, the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Journalism & Mass Communication, and the Speech Communication program at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign (now the Department of Communication). This is truly elite company and the NRC rankings are a reflection of the significant advancements made by The Ohio State's School of Communication.

It is important to place the NRC rankings in some additional context. The 2010 NRC report is based on data collected only up through the 2005-2006 academic year. OSU's School of Communication has seen its level of research productivity grow exponentially since that time. A quick review of the broad range of works generated by the School 's faculty and graduate students and placed in the field's top peer-reviewed journal outlets offers much hope that the School of Communication is maintaining its steady progress toward becoming the single best place in the country to study communication.

Dr. Kelly Garrett Receives ASCoR Denis McQuail Award 2009

Our fellow COPS member Kelly Garrett was recently awarded the 2009 ASCoR Denis McQuail Award and was named a 2010-2011 ASCoR Honorary Fellow by the Amsterdam School of Communication Research. The award is based on the best research paper advancing communication theory to be published in an international journal in the previous year. An international jury selected Kelly's 2009 paper in the Journal of Communication entitled "Politically motivated reinforcement seeking: Reframing the selective exposure debate" for the award.

COPS at MAPOR 2010

The Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research (MAPOR) annual meeting and conference is held every year in Chicago. COPS always has a strong showing at this conference and many of our students have come away with honors and awards in the annual student research paper competition.

This year, COPS continues to be well represented at this conference with seven papers being presented by COPS members:

Eveland, W. P., Jr., & Kleinman, S. B. (2010, November). Differentiating the general and political discussion networks of bounded groups using social network analysis. Paper accepted at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, Il.

Eveland, W. P., Jr., Morey, A. C., Tchernev, J., & Landreville, K. (2010, November). The who, what, when, where, how, and why of informal political conversations in the United States. Paper accepted at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, Il.

Pingree, R. (2010, November). A novel method of correlation network visualization introduced and applied to mapping political space. Paper accepted at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, Il.

Quenette, A. & Kleinman, S. (2010, November). Revisiting the knowledge gap hypothesis: The influence of media content on political knowledge gaps. Paper accepted at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, Il.

Stoycheff, E. (November 2010). Let the People Speak: Citizens' Perceptions of a Free Press. Paper accepted at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, Il.

Tchernev, J. M., Holbert, R. L., & Hill, M. (2010, November). Comparing Landline versus Cellular Phone Samples: Focusing on Audience, Political Media Use, and the Prediction of Political Media Use. Paper accepted at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, Il.

Walther, W. O., Holbert, R. L., & Hmielowski, J. D. (2010, November). Studying how and why young viewers are turning to politicla TV satire: Assessment of a moderated-mediation model. Paper accepted at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, Il.

AEJMC 2010 Conference Report

COPS was well represented in Denver at the 2010 Association for Education in Mass Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention.  Below is a list of conference presentations COPS members.

• Beam, M. A. (2010). Modeling time in multilevel models. A paper to be presented at the the Communication Theory and Methodology Division at the Association for Education in Mass Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention. Denver, CO
• Geidner, N. W. (2010). Group involvement and the spiral of silence: Using agent-based modeling to understand opinion expression. Paper presented at the Communication Theory and Methods Division of the 2010 annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Denver, CO Top Student Paper!
• Hill, M. R. (2010). Fictional minds and symbolic interaction: How the act of communication facilitates understanding between characters. Paper presented at the Entertainment Studies Interest Group of the 2010 annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Denver, CO
• Hoplamazian, G. and S. Knobloch-Westerwick. (August, 2010). Social Self-Esteem Responses to Race Representation in Advertising: Downward Social Comparison and White Guilt. Paper presented at the Advertising Division of the 2010 annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Denver, CO
• Hoplamazian, G., & Holbert, R. L. (2010, August). Structural Equation Modeling and the Study of Advertising, 2004-2009. Paper to be presented at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. Denver, CO.
• McCluskey, M. Kim, Y.M. (2010, August). Polarization or Moderaterism? Activist Group Ideology in Newspapers. Paper presented at the Newspaper Research Division of the 2010 annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Denver, CO
• Nisbet, E.C. and Meyers, T. (2010, August) Anti-Americanism as a media effect? Arab media, prior cognitions, and public opinion in the Middle East. Paper presented at the Communication Theory and Methods Division of the 2010 annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Denver, CO

 In addition, Myiah Hutchens won the Promising Professors competition in the Mass Communication and Society Division and gave a presentation on her teaching philosophy at the conference.

Lastly, several past and present COPS members were elected to leadership positions within AJEMC for the 2011 annual convention.  Former COPS member and OSU alumni Heather LaMarre was elected to be co-research chair of the Mass Communication and Society Division.  Jason Reneike, another former COPS member and alumnus, was elected research chair of the Communication Theory and Methods (CT&M) division. Myiah Hutchens, who recently graduated and is now at Texas Tech, was also elected as an officer-at-large to CT&M. Erik Nisbet, a current COPS member, was elected to be the co-research chair for the new Political Communication Research Group at AEJMC.

Myiah Hutchens Wins "Promising Professors" Competition

Please join me in congratulating COPS' own Myiah Hutchens for winning the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication's Mass Communication & Society division's "Promising Professors" competition. She will receive her Promising Professor award at this August's annual meeting. Myiah will take her new title with her as she begins her assistant professor position at Texas Tech in late August. Congrats Myiah!

Hmielowski to attend NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar

COPS member Jay Hmielowski will be one of 30 communication doctoral students from around the country who will be attending the 2010 NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar being held at the University of Utah on July 31-August 2. Jay's proposal, focusing on the role of intra-attitudinal ambivalence in public opinion formation and change, was accepted for presentation after a highly competitive review process. We are proud that Jay will be representing OSU and COPS at the gathering of some of the best young minds in the field. Well done, Jay!

Scholarship for the 2010 ICPSR Summer Program

A scholarship fund has been established in honor of Warren E. Miller for participation in the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) 2010 Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research. The fund will provide financial support to outstanding pre-tenure scholars (assistant professors and advanced graduate students) in the social and behavioral sciences so they may attend one or two four-week sessions of the ICPSR Summer Program, held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Recipients of the Miller Scholarship will receive a fee waiver to cover Program enrollment and a stipend to help with expenses while staying in Ann Arbor.

Applicants to the Warren E. Miller Scholarship should have professional interests in one or more of the following areas of research (or in related fields):

Developing a common approach to understanding electoral behavior within or across nations

1. Understanding the process of democratization in electoral systems
2. Understanding the link between global politics and local electoral behavior
3. Understanding how context influences political behavior
4. Understanding how globalization causes change in political behavior

An application for the Warren E. Miller Scholarship should include:

1. A completed Summer Program application form, submitted through the online registration system on the Summer Program web site.
2. A vita
3. A cover letter from the applicant, explaining his or her scholarly interests, background, and future research plans.
4. Two letters of recommendation. For applicants who are faculty members, one of these letters should come from his or her Department Chair. For graduate student applicants, one of the letters should come from his or her faculty advisor.
5. An official transcript (for graduate student applicants only)

Application materials should be submitted electronically. The e-mail address for doing so is: sumprog@icpsr.umich.edu

Please be sure to put “MILLER SCHOLARSHIP AWARD” in the subject line of the message.

If necessary, hard-copy applications for the award also can be mailed to:

Miller Scholarship Award

ICPSR Summer Program

P.O. Box 1248

Ann Arbor, MI 48106

The deadline for applications is May 7, 2010.

Information about the 2010 ICPSR Summer Program, including the Program application form, is available on the ICPSR Summer Program webpage: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog/

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the Warren E. Miller Scholarship or the ICPSR Summer Program. E-mail: sumprog@icpsr.umich.edu

Political Communication-related Conference Calendar

Month	Paper Deadlines	Conferences
January
February	NCA/Polnet
March		ISA
April	AEJMC	MPSA
May		ICA (in US)
		AAPOR/WAPOR
June	MAPOR/ISA	Polnet/ICA (International)
July
August		AEJMC
September		APSA
October	MPSA
November	ICA	NCA
	AAPOR/WAPOR	MAPOR
December	APSA

NCA Papers Accepted

Several COPS graduate students recently received the good word that their papers have been accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the National Communication Association to be held in San Francisco (November). The COPS members include alumnus Heather LaMarre, now at the University of Minnesota, Kristen Landreville, who will soon be departing for a new position at the University of Wyoming, and current doctoral students Jay Hmielowski and Jayeon Lee. Congrats!

Garrett, R. K., Carnahan, D., & Lynch, E. A turn toward selectivity? Changes in Americans’ exposure to cross-cutting political outlets online. In Selective Exposure and Political Communication panel. Political Communication Division.

Landreville, K., D., Holbert, R. L., & LaMarre, H. L. The influence of late-night TV comedy viewing on political talk: A moderated-mediation model. Political Communication Division.

Hmielowski, J. D., Holbert, R. L., & Lee, J. Predicting the consumption of political TV satire: Affinity for political humor, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. Political Communication Division.

Fishkin at Mershon

Wednesday April 14^th from 12:00-1:30 at the Mershon Center (1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201)

“Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation”

There is no paper for the talk.

Prof. Fishkin holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication at Stanford University. He is also professor of political science and communication, director of Stanford's Center for Deliberative Democracy, and chair of the Department of Communication. Fishkin is author of a number of books including Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform (Yale University Press, 1991), The Dialogue of Justice (Yale University Press, 1992 ), and The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy (Yale University Press, 1995). He is co-author with Bruce Ackerman of Deliberation Day (Yale University Press, 2004), and his most recent book When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation was published by Oxford University Press in 2009. Fishkin is best known for developing Deliberative Polling and has conducted them in the United States, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Bulgaria, China, Greece and other countries.

To sign up for this event, please contact Beth Russell at russell.16@osu.eduby Monday, April 12, 2010.

Myiah Hutchens Accepts Faculty Position at Texas Tech

Congratulations to COPS member Myiah Hutchens, who just yesterday decided to accept an assistant professor position at Texas Tech University! This is a terrific position at a doctoral-granting institution that has really been "on-the-move" in recent years and making very solid hires. Way to go Myiah!

Latest Issue of Journal of Communication

The OSU School of Communication is well represented in the March 2010 issue of Journal of Communication. First, Lance Holbert, Kelly Garrett, and doctoral student Laurel Gleason published "A New Era of Minimal Effects? A Response to Bennett and Iyengar." Later in the issue School of Communication Director Carroll Glynn and former COPS member (and Andrew Hayes M.A. advisee) Mike Huge published "Hostile Media and the Campaign Trail: Perceived Media Bias in the Race for Governor." Congrats!

Course on Habermas in Poli Sci by Neblo

Mike Neblo from Political Science has asked that I convey some information about his Spring 2010 graduate course (T/Th 3:30-6:18) on Habermas:

After several years here, I am finally getting to teach a course on Habermas (PS766), and wanted to reach out to any interested grad students in communications. I have not finalized the syllabus, but it is worth noting that I intend the course as an overview of his whole system of thought, not just his political philosophy. So we will be spending some time on his epistemology, theory of modernity and communication, and discourse ethics, before finishing up with his political thought and applications. If you think that this would be a good fit for any of your students, I would be eager to have them!

NSF awards $10 million for American National Election Studies

The American National Election Studies (ANES) is one of the most important tools for political communication research in the United States.  The project has collected data on voting, political behavior, and public opinion in every presidential election since 1948, as well as most midterm elections.  The NSF just awarded $10 million to the project for the 2010 midterm and 2012 presidential elections which will allow the project to futher expand its data collection capabilities. This is great news for political communication researchers!

TODAY: Talk by democratic theorist Mark Warren

Democratic theorist Mark Warren is giving a talk at 2:30 this afternoon (2/19) titled "Two trust-based uses of minipublics in democratic systems". The talk is sponsored by the Department of Political Science and will be held in Derby 2030. More information about Professor Warren is available here: http://www.politics.ubc.ca/index.php?id=2516 and a paper on the same subject is here: http://psweb.sbs.ohio-state.edu/intranet/poltheory/papers-2010/warren-Dec-2009.pdf