Faculty, May 2008:

Director and Professor Mary Alice Shaver and husband, Assistant Professor of Journalism Dan, are leaving the School and Florida to move to the Media Management and Transformation Centre located in the Jonkoping International Business School in Jonkoping, Sweden. Both will be professors in the Business School while working at the centre for the next five years. The NSOC wishes them both well as they begin their new adventure.

Dean Peter Panousis recently announced that Dr. Bruce Whisler will assume the position of Interim Director for NSOC. He is a former chair of the Music Department at UCF, has served as Assistant to the Dean and more recently has been Budget Coordinator for Academic Affairs. Whisler began as Interim Director on April 28th and will continue until the search has closed and a new Director appointed. Welcome, Dr. Whisler.

Faculty, April 2008:

After more than 100 years of teaching excellence, three very distinguished professors will be retiring from the NSOC this May. Doctors Bob Davis, Fred Fedler and Tom Morgan, who joined the university when it was Florida Technological University, were essential to the development of the advertising/public relations, journalism and radio/television programs. Decades later the Nicholson School has grown to produce thousands of successful graduates in Central Florida and around the world. As a final salute and heartfelt farewell, UCF alumni, students and faculty gathered on Wednesday, April 9 at the FAIRWINDS
Alumni Center. The Swinging ‘70s celebration transported party-goers back in time to an era of tie-die, go-go boots and peace and love – when Davis, Fedler and Morgan first joined the university. Dr. Bob Davis is the division head for the advertising/public relations division and was essential in developing the program into what it is today. He taught his first class at UCF in 1977.

Faculty, April 2008:

This year the Nicholson School of Communication has awarded two Grasty Awards to outstanding faculty members. The awards, named in honor of Bill Grasty, a former chair and UCF vice president were awarded for Excellence in Teaching and for Outstanding Research to:

Dr. Jonathan Matusitz, Outstanding Research

Dr. Maria Cristina Santana, Outstanding Teaching

Faculty, April 2008:

Dr. Fred Fedler was awarded emeritus status on April 2nd at UCFs Founders Day ceremony. This honor acknowledges the many contributions he has made to NSOC during his career.  He joined the faculty in 1971, and has served as division head for 20 years.  Fedler has also published four books, including the textbook Reporting For The Media now in its eighth edition and 66 articles.

Faculty, April 2008:

The NSOC has awarded scholarship grants up to the amount of $5,000 each to:

Dr. Kimiko Akita who plans to further her study of womens lives: how womens behaviors and fortunes are influenced by hegemonic patriarchy, and how western reputations of them have exoticized and sexualized them.

Dr. Kristen Davis will use the funds to advance knowledge regarding Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome sufferers and the impact their illness has on their social network, primarily family members, partners and friends.

Dr. Jim Katts grant title is Big Three vs. Big Five: A side-by-side test of trait measures and their usefulness in identifying relationships between personality traits and communication variables.

Undergraduate, April 2008:

The Journalism Division has been awarded a $3,000 Information Fluency Grant for 2008-09 from the UCF Quality Enhancement Plan Initiative Office to help teach students in reporting classes how to search for and publish information found in public records. The grant proposal, co-written by Profs. Rick Kenney and Rick Brunson, included a request to fund a workshop to be conducted by public-records expert Joe Adams for fall Journalism classes. Adams, who is an editorial writer for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, received the national 2007 Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award sponsored by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation. Brunson, the incoming area coordinator for Journalism and an alumnus of the school, will oversee implementation of the information fluency project.

Undergraduate, April 2008:

Journalism Majors Clean Up In Society of Professional Journalists  Regional Mark Of Excellence  Competition at the March 29, 2008 luncheon.

Melissa Patterson, first place,
Breaking News

Adam Manzor, first place,
Editorial Writing

Brian Murphy, first place,
Sports Writing

Ryan Pelham, first place,
Breaking News Photography

Abe Aboraya, second place,
Breaking News

Melissa Heyboer, second place,
General Column Writing

Bart Zino, second place,
Feature Writing

Tara Young, third place,
Feature Writing

Amanda Moore, third place,
General News Photography

The staff of the Central Florida Future, under the consecutive editorships of Aboraya and Heyboer in 2007, won third prize for Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper.

UCF student Grant Lowther won the first place prize for General Column Writing.

Undergraduate, April 2008:

UCF senior Journalism major Melissa Patterson was named Top Scholar among four students selected in April for 2008 membership in Kappa Tau Alpha, the nations third-oldest academic honors society and the most exclusive in Communication.  Joining her were Journalism majors Brandon Bielich, Stephanie de Sousa and Jessica Tuggle.

Students are selected for KTA from among print and broadcast journalism majors with exceptional academic records. Only the top 10 percent of students who have met certain criteria for credit hours and GPA are eligible each year.

Undergraduate, April 2008:

Matt Epstein received the Best of Show Award at the March 29th ceremony. To view all other categories and their associated winners, please click here.

Undergraduate, April 2008:

Amanda Moore, a journalism major, placed as a finalist in the 28th Annual Student Photography Contest, sponsored by Nikon, USA.  Over 4,000 students from the United States, Canada and around the world participated in the contest.  Her photograph will be published in the Best of College Photography Annual 2008.