The Nicholson School of Communication (NSC) is proud to announce the first “Faculty Feature.” Each semester one NSC faculty member will be spotlighted. The first faculty spotlight is associate professor of human communication, Dr. Ann Miller.

Scholarly publications to date include:

• 1 book
• 1 book chapter
• 31 peer reviewed journal articles
• 4 peer reviewed instructional pieces
• 1 invited journal article
• 13 invited non-peer reviewed pieces
• 30 peer reviewed conference papers

Awards:

• 9 honors and awards
• 6 research grants

Dr. Ann Miller is an associate professor at the Nicholson School of Communication with 15 years of experience teaching and researching in Africa. Miller joined the NSC family in 2008 and her teaching interests include communication research methods, intercultural communication, health communication, persuasion and interpersonal communication.

In recognition of her outstanding contributions and accomplishments, Dr. Miller was awarded a 2012-2013 UCF Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award (SoTL).

Read about our full interview with Dr. Ann Miller.

Teaching

Dr. Miller began her career while in Kenya. With an advertising and design background, Miller was taking classes to fulfill her Master’s credit while her husband was teaching at the university. She described it best as “falling into” the profession and has loved it ever since. Miller defines good teaching as “Giving students both the knowledge and experience. It is important to give students knowledge in issues but also experience in practice which is why I enjoy working with students on Collaborative Experiential Research Practicum (CERP) projects.”

In the spring 2013 term, Dr. Miller taught two classes while administering CERP projects. When asked which class was her favorite to teach, Miller indictaed there are two. The first class that she enjoys teaching is intercultural communication, which she taught this semester. In this class she relates much of the content to her time in Kenya where she experienced all aspects of intercultural communication. The class gives the students the ability to participate in a different style of learning where they are forced to look at their life, see the differences and be forced to experience intercultural communication first hand. Miller has received alumni testimonials indicating they remember the importance of what she taught and they have become life skills. Dr. Miller enjoys teaching communication research methods. Miller enjoys this class as it involves teaching students skills that allow them to see and measure accomplishments.

During the spring semester, Dr. Miller taught a class she developed with Dr. Sally Hastings. This class is titled: Decentering the self in interpersonal communication: How not to communicate like your own selfish pig. This class provides students with a critical examination of the prevailing notion of self-as-center in interpersonal communication, problems resulting from this prevailing notion and a section of contrasting, other-oriented perspectives. Students will explore literature on social support, civility and dialogue in a range of interpersonal contexts. The course is dually focused on theory and application.

Awards

Dr. Miller has received countless awards over the years including her most recent SoTL award. One of her most notable awards includes the Gerald R Miller award for the top dissertation in the field of communication (2007). This award is jointly given by the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association. It was the top dissertation award for her specific field.

Research

Miller’s research primarily focuses on health communication and intercultural communication and its role in Africa. Dr. Miller frequently participates in CERP projects with undergraduate students. The CERP program allows Dr. Miller to receive enormous insights from the students as they come up with ideas she would never think of without their collaboration.

Things you didn’t know about Dr. Miller

Many individuals around NSC don’t know this, but Dr. Miller is an amazing watercolorist. She actually has one of her pieces hanging on the wall in her office. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her five children and her pets. Her family has a golden retriever named Maggie and two cats, one named Sanghani, which they call Chunky and her daughter’s cat Zoe.

Before moving to Orlando four and a half years ago to join NSC, Dr. Miller lived in Kenya since 1989. She enjoys living in Central Florida because of the opportunities it provides for her to see friends and family members visiting local attractions. During the interview she mentioned, “Living near Disney means that people from all over the world can visit them and give us the ability to see people from all times of our life. It is like a magnet and in January we were able to see the pastor from our church in Kenya.”

The Nicholson School of Communication is pleased to announce that Centric magazine’s name and logo have been trademarked by the United States Patent Office.

Issues are produced each fall and spring semester by the Magazine Editing and Production class (JOU 4224) under the direction of Rick Brunson.

The UCF Book Festival/Orlando 2013 is a Central Florida cultural event held in the spring at the University of Central Florida. The mission of the UCF Book Festival/Orlando is to encourage the appreciation of diverse and quality literature in addition to fostering and sustaining a love of reading. Annually, the UCF Book Festival/Orlando draws thousands of readers of all ages. The Festival features visits from internationally recognized authors and illustrators, book signings and sales, vendors, book appraisals and activities for all ages.

The event would not be possible without volunteers to help ensure the event runs smoothly and successfully. Some students at the Nicholson School of Communication (NSC) saw this opportunity and participated in the event. NSC students include Diara Bradley, Michael Everett, Eddie Garcia, Justin Garfield, Danei Stephenson and Amanda Szylin.

The event coordinator, Sandra McCall, mentioned that “Everyone was very impressed with their level of professionalism, knowledge of the authors and their works, and overall excitement and enthusiasm.”

Twenty-three current and former NFL players, including interpersonal-organizational communication alum Leger Douzable, ’08, were selected to participate in the NFL Player Engagement “Sports Journalism & Communications Boot Camp” at Bowling Green University. This boot camp took place from May 13-16 and included NFL veterans Charlie Batch, Troy Brown and Eric Crouch.

The four-day program focused on improving each player’s writing skills for newspapers, radio and the expanding digital media industry. A field exercise at a Toledo Mud Hens home game included a mock press conference as part of the player’s game coverage. Players wrote and recorded their own radio commentary as part of one of the other planned exercises.

Douzable is the first UCF alum to take part in an NFL Player Engagement program. He has spent the last five seasons in the NFL, signing an undrafted free-agent deal with the Minnesota Vikings in 2008. Douzable eventually played in 31 games with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2010-11 before signing with the Tennessee Titans in April 2012 where he was placed on injured reserve last August. Douzable was injured last year and during that time he ran his own sports blog and was on several shows.

Faculty members of the Nicholson School of Communication (NSC) participated in the 2013 UCF Summer Faculty Development Conference. This was a four-day conference on campus the week following the end of the spring semester. During this conference, NSC faculty participated in sessions, worked toward updating curriculum and participated in a poster presentation at the end of the conference.

Congratulations to those who graduated.

All of the Nicholson School of Communication (NSC) programs include discussions of ethics and ethical practices in our curriculum. We think that it is an important core part of our graduates’ education. Further, we are always on the lookout to do more for our students in helping them grapple with ethical issues and in particularly understanding how one enhances perceptions of trustworthiness and credibility.

Approximately a decade ago, the accounting profession was riddled with scandal and facing great scrutiny by the media. The entire field was viewed with suspicion and their communication struggled with a skeptical public. Concerned with the impact of the credibility gap with their target audiences, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) felt compelled to create an organization that addressed the issue of rebuilding trust perceptions of high ethics in business, education and society. As a result, NASBA established the NASBA Center for the Public Trust (CPT) with a goal of focusing on the great majority of business, corporations and individuals who act in an ethical manner.

Among the goals of the CPT is to encourage ethical deliberations in decision-makers by stirring the moral conscience and imagination by providing a forum for exploring and furthering ethical practices in organizations. In addition, the CPT focuses on issues of transparency, disclosure and honesty in all communication with the public and target audiences. The importance of addressing concerns about trustworthiness and credibility in an increasingly “‘social media” and “connected” world grows regularly. The CPT champions the public trust by advancing ethical leadership in business, institutions and organizations as well as ethical and trust-building communication practices. To this end, the CPT provides forums for ethics education, affirms and encourages what is ethical, showcases best practices and seeks to promote a positive perspective. The CPT also sponsors training and awards events across the United States, focusing on improving and acknowledging business ethics and ethical leadership. The CPT sponsors lectures, conferences and seminars dedicated to addressing the duty of professionals to serve the public good, along with a focus on the issues that arise in the practical ethics of public life.

In the years following the founding of CPT, the mission of the center expanded beyond the boundaries of the accounting profession. Today, the CPT focuses on public trustworthiness for all professional fields as well as business and corporate conduct. As the focus areas expanded (to include disciplines such as advertising, public relations, journalism, media, corporate communication, etc.), so too did their outreach to these fields and, in particular, among educational institutions training students for professionalism. In 2009, based on some of my scholarly work on ethics and audience variables for communication message source credibility, I received an invitation to serve on the CPT national board and have had an opportunity to see firsthand the important work of training professionals in these relevant and key concepts.

In the last few years, one of the major new initiatives of the CPT has been the establishment of student chapters of CPT on university campuses across the nation. The vision of the Student Center for the Public Trust is to provide students with opportunities to develop a real awareness of ethical issues in order to provide a moral and ethical foundation for all future endeavors. With chapters on college campuses nationwide, the Student Center for the Public Trust (StudentCPT) provides an interactive environment where ethical professional behaviors and ideas can flourish while creating opportunities for students to network with the professional community and develop key leadership skills. StudentCPT membership is offered across all disciplines and provides a unique forum for ethics education. Additionally, the StudentCPT members accept responsibility for improving their community by completing a community service project. The fit with communication students’ study of ethics as well as audience trust of messages seems quite natural for our disciplines.

In early 2013, the executive director of CPT approached NSC with an inquiry about the possible establishment of a StudentCPT chapter here on the UCF campus. I am currently in conversation about how we can move forward with the possible formation of an inaugural UCF StudentCPT chapter. If we achieve this goal, it would create new opportunities for professional development for our students. CPT offers student members options for regional and national special opportunities and seminar events. CPT also offers certification in professional ethics that are invaluable learning opportunities (as well as key résumé building tips).

I hope that we are able to organize the basic outline for a UCF/NSC StudentCPT chapter in time for its launch in fall 2013. I am hoping to recruit both an interested NSC faculty advisor for the chapter as well as at least one professional advisor (perhaps from among our alumni and/or NSC Board of Visitors). If you have interest in helping organize and launch this student co-curricular program, please let me know. If you have suggestions, feedback or any other input regarding this idea please send that along to me as well.

I am convinced that this student development effort can be of tremendous benefit to any of our NSC majors as well as other UCF students in a cynical and skeptical world for communication.

Cheers,
Robert C. Chandler, Ph.D.
Director

The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program recognizing big ideas in marketing and communications. Founded nearly two decades ago, The Communicator Awards receives over 6,000 entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world.

The UCF Sigma Eta chapter of Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society welcomed its newest inductees and many of them graduated on May 4.

Members of Lambda Pi Eta are undergraduate students who have declared an interest in the field of communication and have achieved a high level of academic excellence.

Spring 2013
Taylor Briggs
Kristin Cruz
Ernest Duffoo
Maraya Figueroa
Livia Galloway
Sarah Grathwohl
Tara Hamp
Raissa Herrera
Jonathan Hoag
Jennifer Humphries
Devin Shoemaker
Erika Ueno
Michael Weiss
Leann Yutuc
Lindsay Zallis

Fall 2012
Deanna Barnes
Natasha Christman
Kelsey Cohen
Bailey Decresie
Cathryn Hodges
Ryann Kinsey
Craig Koelling
Anna-Michelle Lavandier
Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez
Valerie Moses
Aundrinea Nelson
Kimberly Novak
Erin Pearlman
Stacey Ricker
Andrew Sagona
Heather Sembrano
Jordan Skidmore
Claire Sundstrom
Serenity Tedesco
Sarah Weisenberger
Jessica Wheaton
Dylan Yonts

On May 4, NSC faculty and staff were pleased to host the NSC Alumni Reception for new graduates following the spring 2013 commencement ceremony. The event, held at the FAIRWINDS Alumni Center, had an attendance of more than 300 people. Attendees included alumni, parents, extended family and friends. The NSC Alumni Reception was interactive and allowed new graduates and faculty members to tweet or post photos on Instagram about the event by using #ucfnscgrad in their message.
See those posts here.

The following students graduated with honors:
Summa Cum Laude
Jamie Perry Gregor (Ad-PR)
Lindsey Catharine LeHeup (Ad-PR)
Bailey Mackenzie Logan (R-TV Gen)
Kathryn Jean Paulson (R-TV Production)
Eileen Adriana Young (Ad-PR)

Magna Cum Laude
Nicole Alyce Lewis (I-O)
Lauren Ellen McGinnis (Ad-PR)
Valerie Lynn Moses (Ad-PR)
Elizabeth Georgina Myron (I-O)
Megan Marie Neuner (Ad-PR)
Devin Lynne Shoemaker (Ad-PR)
Corey Givens Steward (Ad-PR)
Ashley Lauren Tinstman (Ad-PR)
Alexander Keith Wood (Ad-PR)

Cum Laude
Kristen Ashton (Ad-PR)
Bonnie L. Bauer (Ad-PR)
Melissa Ann Bleiberg (I-O)
Samantha Susan Dilday (Ad-PR)
Randi Nicole Furman (R-TV Gen)
Karen Melissa Lehr (R-TV Broadcast)
Akvile Leitonaite (Ad-PR)
Carolina Jania Mlynarczyk (Ad-PR)
Detrachia Marche Neely (R-TV Production)
Laura Michelle Newberry (JOU)
Francesca Nicole Parker (Ad-PR)
Elizabeth Rachel Prats (Ad-PR)

Laurel Anderson was awarded the Certificate of Merit of the Outstanding New Advising Award – Primary Advising Role by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). Established in 1983, the NACADA Annual Awards Program for Academic Advising honors individuals and institutions making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising. NACADA is a representative and advocate of academic advising and those providing that service to higher education.

The association has grown to over 10,000 members and hosts an annual conference each fall that has attracted over 3,000 attendees, as well as 10 regional conferences, and intensive study of advising through various other events held throughout the year. NACADA publishes a scholarly journal, a quarterly e-Publication and occasional special publications. NACADA offers an advising training video, manages an Academic Advising Consultants and Speakers Service, offers members career services, funds research grants, sponsors an awards program, grants scholarships and supports commissions to address important academic advising issues. Most of all, NACADA provides a network and professional identity for the thousands of faculty, full-time advisors and administrators whose responsibilities include academic advising.