Annual NJCA Conference Attracts 40 Colleges and Universities for Collaborative Discussions

Susan Drucker, Gary Gumpert, Tom Gencarelli, past president of the NJCA and Pamela Poe

Panel discussions and presentations of papers on topics such as teaching methods, old and new media, organizational and classroom communication, cultural identities, health communication campaigns and blogging in the classroom highlighted the day of events. Attendees from Pace University, William Paterson University, Monmouth University, Kean University, Rutgers University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Temple University, Fordham University and New York University and other higher education institutions participated in the conference. A selection of MMC’s professors and students from the Department of Communication Arts participated and contributed to several panels.

Rebecca White, assistant professor of communication arts at MMC, chaired the “New Interactive Media: The Opportunities and Challenges for Identity, Politics, and Culture” panel. Kathleen Sweeney, adjunct professor of communication arts, joined the panel by presenting “Beyond iCelebrities: Girls’ Social Networking, Social Activism and Media-making in Facebook Era.”

David Linton, professor of communication arts, chaired a panel entitled “Collaborations in the Social Construction of Menstruation,” which featured MMC students Linda Eder, Jessica Kane and Bob Newman. Laura Tropp, associate professor of communication arts, was the respondent for the “New Directions in Political Propaganda” panel.

Terri Dewhirst, assistant professor of communication arts, and Professor Rebecca White facilitated the “Putting the Community in Communication: Collaborative Community Projects as Progressive Learning” discussion. The discussion adsdressed the undertaking of a course, Critical Production for Critical Times, at Marymount Manhattan College, which includes creative collaborations between students and grass-roots organizations in the New York community. Participants included Professor Dewhirst, Professor White, MMC students Fernanda Ferreira and Frank Lombardi and Kathleen Kanet of Network for Peace Through Dialogue.

The conference also featured an introduction by President Judson R. Shaver, Ph.D., an undergraduate student social for students to share ideas about communication- related student organizations and a musical performance by The Professors during the reception.

Keynote speaker, Dawn O. Braithwaite is Second Vice President for the National Communication Association. Braithwaite is a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium of Social Science Associations in Washington DC. She is the author of 70 articles in journals such as theJournal of Social and Personal Relationships, the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Health Communication, and Communication Studies. She authored two volumes with Leslie Baxter: Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication and Engaging Theories in Family Communication. She also authored the Handbook of Communication andPeople with Disabilities: Research and Application with Teresa Thompson andCase Studies in Interpersonal Communication with Julia T. Wood. 
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Published: April 04, 2008