Marjorie Hazeltine receives Top Debut Paper Award at NCA

Marjorie Hazeltine and her co-author Kurt Zemlicka received the Top Debut Paper Award from the Performance Studies division at NCA last month in New Orleans. Their paper is titled "The Reality of Contingency: Performance as Materialized Trope and the Theorization of Rupture." Congratulations to the great folks who represented San Jose State at our national conference!

Dr. Anne Marie Todd receives Top Paper Award

Anne Marie Todd received the Top Paper Award for the Environmental Communication Division of NCA for her essay "Toward a Theory of Environmental Patriotism." Congratulations Dr. Todd!

Matthew Spangler's play receives $25,000 NEA grant

Matthew Spangler's play Tortilla Curtain received a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant will be used to support rehearsal at the San Diego Repertory Theatre in February and March. The play, based on the novel by T.C. Boyle, opens at the San Diego Rep on March 17, 2012.

Bettina Brockmann's book

Bettina Brockmann just published a book based on her M.A. project: Some Same but Different: Unlearning the Concept of Disability (Kendall Hunt).

Bettina collaborated with seven SJSU students with disabilities to create the book that provides insights and with it a better understanding about what it means to be a student with a disability in higher education. The book challenges the readers to explore their own attitudes/beliefs toward disability, invites them to contribute to the conversation, and provides tips on how students and instructors can work together to create a more inclusive academic environment.

The COMM faculty can order an examination copy or buy their own book to contribute to the Some Same but Different-Scholarship at SJSU. Proceeds of the book sales will benefit this scholarship, which is dedicated to support students with disabilities at SJSU.

Here is the link to the publishers website:

http://www.kendallhunt.com/store-product.aspx?id=25206

Congratulations Bettina!

Shifts in Interpersonal Comm. in the workplace

For those of us interested in interpersonal communication in the workplace, here’s a recently published article from the Wall Street Journal titled Workplace Deals, Sealed With a Kiss? The article explores changes in traditional rules for handshaking and hugging due to shifts in culture, diversity, age, etc.

Notable, the article mentions how “Generation Y often sees greetings as a chance to establish a distinct identity.”

Finally, I found the section on Silicon Valley businesses particularly interesting. Do you perceive a similar shift in greetings within the SJSU community?

Faculty has borne the brunt of budget woes

Hi All!

Just got this into the Merc today, can't believe they printed the whole thing, they usually hack out the good parts. They did omit two words at the end for some reason...

Posted: 11/08/2011 08:00:00 PM PST

Faculty has borne the brunt of budget woes

The one-day job action by CSU faculty and staff set for Nov. 17 is not about the few dollars we stand to gain from a modest 3 percent pay raise over several years. The main issue is equity and fairness. Faculty and staff have borne the brunt of CSU budget woes via furloughs, tightened resources and increased workloads caused by reduced or deferred hiring.

Our students have suffered radically increased tuition and reduced course offerings. I see the effects every day as students struggle to balance school and work. Often, the result is exhaustion and poor performance. Trying to help struggling students further increases demands on faculty and staff already stretched to the breaking point.

During all this, CSU executives have enjoyed yearly pay increases to their already generous salaries and perks such as "housing allowances." There appears to be enough money to fatten executive pay and maintain a bloated top-level bureaucracy, but not to fulfill obligations to faculty, staff and students. Our pay raise was negotiated in good faith. Independent fact-finders have supported our raises -- twice. Chancellor Charles Reed needs to spend less time fighting workers over a few dollars and more time improving quality [and access]* to higher education.

Ted M. Coopman

Lecturer Department of Communication Studies

San Jose State University

* omitted in published letter

Angry About Budget Cuts? Help SJSU Earn Federal Grant Funding!

Greetings Comm. faculty, staff, and students,

Our campus needs your help to attain federal grant funds!

San Jose State University wants to become eligible to apply for up to 15 million dollars in grant money from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund student services, programs, and resources.

In order to be able to attain these federal grant funds, we need students to declare your race and ethnicity in your MYSJSU account by doing the following steps:

1. Login to your MySJSU account (go to the following link): http://my.sjsu.edu

2. Scroll down to "Personal Information" and click on the "Race and Ethnicity" link in the "Race and Ethnicity" box.

3. Go to Question 1a and answer "Yes" or "No" to the question: "With regards to your ethnicity, do you consider yourself Hispanic or Latino?"

4. If you answered "Yes", go to Question 1b and select one category that best describes your Hispanic or Latino background.

5. If applicable, go to Question 2 and select one or more ethnic groups in which you consider yourself to be a member.

This request for you to declare your race and ethnicity is completely voluntary, but if you declare your race and ethnicity per the instructions above, that will help our objective to attain much needed funding to SJSU for services and resources for YOU and all students!

If faculty, staff, or students feels strongly about SJSU and its future, then please discuss this important advocacy option in class or forward this message widely. Questions? Email rona.halualani@sjsu.edu or robert.gutierrez@sjsu.edu.

Forensics Awards from Paul Winters Invitational

The SJSU Forensics Team won 19 awards at the Paul Winters Invitational hosted by the University of Pacific on November 5 and 6. 41 schools competed, with 394 individual events entries and 177 debate. Here are the results:

• Semi-finalist in Open Extemporaneous Speaking: Katrina Swanson
• Semi-finalist in Open Prose Interpretation: Katrina Swanson
• Finalist in Open Impromptu Speaking: Katrina Swanson
  
• 4th place Novice Prose Interpretation: Kendall Ward
• 4th place in Open Extemporaneous Speaking: David Khedry
• 4th place Novice Dramatic Interpretation: Paulina Henderson
• 3rd place Novice Extemporaneous Speaking: Avesta Sabetian
• 3rd place Open Communication Analysis: Matt Zweier
• 2nd place Novice Poetry Interpretation: Kendall Ward
  
• 2nd place Novice Prose Interpretation: Victoria Lopez
• 2nd place Novice Dramatic Interpretation: Victoria Lopez
• 1st place Novice Poetry Interpretation: David Miles III
• 1st place Open Duo Interpretation: Matt Zweier & Aaron Correll

• 3rd place overall individual sweepstakes award: Katrina Swanson (out of 394 entries!)
  

• 20th place speaker (out of 56) in Junior Division Parliamentary Debate: Matt Zweier
• 18th place speaker (out of 56) in Junior Division Parliamentary Debate: Katrina Swanson
• Quarterfinalist in Junior Division Parliamentary Debate: Matt Zweier & Katrina Swanson

Because of the strength of SJSU Forensics team's showing at the Paul Winters Invitational, we were awarded 2nd place 4-year school sweepstake award.

As both Paul Winters and Mustang Invitationals happened the same weekend, the combined awards from both tournaments resulted in a 4th place combined 4-year school sweepstake award! We are all so proud of all the competitors and how well they represented San Jose State and the COMM department!

Go Spartans!

Live Blogging from Paul Winters Speech & Debate Tournament Quarterfinal Round

Junior Division Parliamentary Debate team of Matt Zweier (Communication Studies major) and Katrina Swanson (English major) represented Spartans well at Paul Winters Invitational (one of the biggest forensics tournament in the country). There were 41 schools present, coming from as far as Illinois.

Matt & Katrina advanced to the quarterfinal round and are furiously preparing to debate the Opposition position on the resolution: The United States Federal Government should enact the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011. Go Spartans!

Forensics Team Awards from Mustang Invitational

The SJSU Forensics Team won eight awards at Mustang Invitational hosted by San Joaquin Delta College on Friday, November 4. 19 schools competed, with 332 total entries in individual events. This regional tournament drew schools as far away as Colorado. Here are the results:

• 8th place in Open Impromptu Speaking: David Khedry
• 7th place in Open Impromptu Speaking: Katrina Swanson
• 5th place in Open Extemporaneous Speaking: Katrina Swanson
• 4th place in Novice Prose Interpretation: Kendall Ward
• 4th place in Novice Dramatic Interpretation: Paulina Henderson
• 3rd place in Open Communication Analysis: Matt Zweier
• 2nd place in Novice Dramatic Interpretation: Victoria Lopez
• 1st place in Novice Poetry Interpretation: David Miles III
  

As of this posting, 10 students are competing in the second day of Paul Winters Invitational (individual events and debate) hosted by the University of Pacific, where preliminary rounds have finished and thus far, one junior debate team has advanced to octofinal round and 7 individual events have advanced to semifinal and final rounds. Keep posted for update!

Book Review of Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance

Check out Robert M. Gutierrez's recently published book review of Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance by Bernadette Marie Calafell in Text and Performance Quarterly (TPQ). Located in the section on "The Year in Books," this review offers a queer Chicana/o feminist viewpoint on this first book to map out Latina/o performance within communication studies. On a personal note, I would like to thank Dr. David Terry and fellow graduate student Bedilia Ramirez for their vital feedback as editors, which allowed this project to become fully realized. It is a piece that I tried to write sin vergüenza (without shame)--I hope I succeeded. 

TPQ publishes scholarship that explores and advances the study of performance as a vital component of human communication. Contributors to this issue include Stacy Holman Jones, Beth E. Bonnstetter, Brian Ott, Marc D. Rich, Dustin Bradley Goltz, Amy L. Darnell, Jill Taft-Kaufman, Theresa Carilli, and Leah White. This issue also features "A Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith" by the journal's editor Heidi Rose. 

Visit TPQ at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rtpq/ to read these essays and more.

The Politics of Academic Labor in Communication Studies

Check out Kathleen McConnell's article "Of Careers and Curricula Vitae: Losing Track of Academic Professionalism" in the International Journal of Communication (IJoC) special section on "The Politics of Academic Labor in Communication Studies." Edited by Jonathan Sterne, this special section features twenty-one authors who raise difficult questions about academic labor in our field. We may have learned to speak of our work as a calling, but it is also a job. Our jobs are changing, and there are fewer of them. What is to be done? English, history and anthropology have rich discussions of the politics of academic labor; it's time for people in communication studies to join them in reflections on the future of universities and colleges and our place in them. These articles are meant to spur further conversation in organizing our departments, universities, and associations, as well as in coalition with others who hope to defend and advance higher education.

Contributors include Sarah Banet-Weiser, Fernando Delgado, Thomas Discenna, Michael Griffin, Jayson Harsin, Mark Hayward, Alex Juhasz, Kembrew McLeod, Kathleen F. McConnell, Toby Miller, Michael Z. Newman, Amy Pason, Victor Pickard, Michelle Rodino-Colocino, Joel Saxe, Carol Stabile, Ted Striphas, Ira Wagman and two chairs who elected to remain anonymous so they could tell their stories candidly.

Visit IJoC at http://ijoc.org to read these essays and more.

First Friday Performances November 4th 7:30 PM

Come see performance work by sjsu comm undergrads, graduate students, alumni, faculty, and other local artists this Friday in HGH 231. The event is free and the performances are always compact, charged, thought provoking and well worth your time.

Spartan Daily Article Features COMM Studies Instructor

Dr. Ted M. Coopman, lecturer in Communication Studies, was featured in a Spartan Daily article about recent changes on the Facebook interface as well as new partnerships with Yahoo, Netflix, and Spotify. One point Coopman makes in the article is: "The biggest challenge going forward though is that the idea of profiling people, the exchange, ‘the free services we get’ — whether its Gmail or Facebook or Twitter — supposedly for free, we actually are paying for by giving them information about ourselves,” he said. “Through interacting with them, we give them information. Especially with Facebook, they have affiliates and relationships with other companies." Go to the Spartan Daily to read more.

Forensics Team Brings Home Awards from Golden Gate Tournament

The SJSU Forensics Team brought home 15 trophies from the Golden Gate tournament this past weekend. 24  schools competed, with 321 total entries in individual events for Saturday and 222 total entries in individual events on Sunday. Here are the results for our team:

Golden Gate Season Opener Part 1, Friday-Saturday, September 23-24:

• Quarterfinalists in Parliamentary Debate: Avesta Sabatian/Ryan Gallagher and Ashley Love/Aaron Correll *Out of 27 teams
• Top speakers in Parliamentary Debate: Avesta Sabatian (10th place) and Aaron Correll (5th place) *Out of 54 debaters
• Novice Poetry Interpretation: Kendall Ward Finalist (4th place)
• Novice Prose Interpretation: Victoria Lopez Finalist (4th place), Aaron Correll 1st place
• Novice Duo Interpretation: Aaron Correll and Matt Zweier 1st place

Golden Gate Season Opener Part 2, Sunday, September 25:

• Novice Prose Interpretation: Katrina Swanson Finalist (5th place)
• Novice Duo Interpretation: Aaron Correll and Matt Zweier 1st place
• Novice Extemporaneous Speaking: Ryan Gallagher Finalist (6th place), Ashley Love Finalist (4th place)

Another amazing performance by the SJSU Forensics Team! Congratulations to the students and coaches!

Made Ya' Look: New Student Organization

You read about it in the Spartan Daily. Now you can join in on the fun! The improv student group Made Ya' Look meets Tuesdays at 6:30pm in HGH 231 during the regular semester. Contact the group's advisor, Prof. Marjorie Hazeltine, Marjorie.Hazeltine@sjsu.edu, for more information or go to the group's webpage.

COMM Library Liaison

Crystal Goldman, academic liaison librarian for Communication Studies, holds drop-in research labs each week during the regular semesters (hours posted on the main page of the department website). If you have questions about a research project, plan on meeting with Crystal or go to the Communication Studies Research Guide she has compiled for COMM majors and students in COMM classes. The Guide includes books, articles, associations, and websites related to communication. In addition, there are  links to library resources on citing and writing as well as how to evaluate information. You may also email Crystal at crystal.goldman@sjsu.edu or stop by the reference desk when she's scheduled to staff it.

Another Successful Forensics Intramurals

SJSU Forensics completed its intramural tournament yesterday. There were 92 debaters, 37 informative speakers, 18 persuasive speakers, 9 oral interpretation presenters, 50 judges, and 18 members of the forensics team working at the event. This is the tournament's 11th year. In spite of some no shows in the judging pool, the event went smoothly. Congratulations to all the participants! And thanks to the SJSU Forensics Team and Coaches for making the tournament such a smashing success!!

Forensics Students Promote SJSU Earth Day

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Many thanks to SJSU Forensics students Ryan Luc, Matt Zweier, Kevin Collins, Riley Knight, Ashley Love, Joe Tran, Mitchell Colbert, David Khedry, Aaron Correll, Andy Tokarek, Katrina Swanson, Jeremiah Navarrette, and Ryan Lantrip, and the SJSU Forensics coaching staff, Genelle Austin-Lett, Tina Lim, Marjorie Hazeltine, and Bettina Brockmann, for contributing to the success of SJSU's Earth Day!
   

SJSU Honors Convocation 2011

6pm, April 29, SJSU Event Center
This year's Honors Convocation will recognize 7 President's Scholars and 48 Dean's Scholars from Communication Studies, including featured student and graduating senior Patrick McElearney. In addition to Patrick, COMM President's Scholars include Susana Barcelos, Shanna Dietz, Karla Flores, Daniel Murphy, Jeremiah Navarrette, and Nicolas Reyes. President's Scholars have earned a 4.0 GPA and Dean's Scholars a 3.65 GPA at SJSU in at least two contiguous semesters of the three semesters prior to the Honors Convocation. Join us in congratulating our top students!

BEAT: An Ethnographic Performance About CSU Budget Cuts

Wednesday April 20th 7:00 PM
231 Hugh Gillis Hall (The Black Box)
San Jose State University

Conceived, written and performed by Vincent Chandler
Directed by Amy K. Kilgard

A theatrical performance depicting how students, lecturers, staff and faculty are dealing with recent furlough, restructuring, and budget cuts within the 23-campus, California State University system. Composed verbatim from nearly 90 interviews Vincent conducted from each of the 23 CSUs in 2009-2010, BEAT offers a glimpse into the real-time effects of this budget crisis, as well as how individuals are making sense of what is happening in their world, and in California.

Free and open to the public ($5 donations appreciated but not expected).

Ways to San Jose

The final performance of Ways to San Jose was last night before an enthusiastic audience at the SJSU Theatre. Conceived and directed by Professor David Terry and written and performed by students in his COMM 125P class (Ensemble Performance), the engaging one-hour show provided a wealth of perspectives on the place we call San Jose. Students danced, sang, shouted, discoursed, and pondered the various ways people construct and deconstruct the 10th largest U.S. city. Mercury/Gold/Prune Capital of the World? Biggest Burb on the Bay? Capital of Silicon Valley? Man-José? With so many claims to fame and such a diverse population, how is it that so much of the city manages to feel generic to many visitors and residents? Why is it that, despite large influxes of investment capital, attempts to make San José a "cool" place to be have been met with such mixed reviews? The performers challenged the audience to consider these questions and many more. Congratulations to Prof. Terry and the students for an outstanding performance!!

Bay Area Undergraduate Communication Research Conference

Saturday, April 16, 9:30am-5pm
SJSU Campus, MLK Library 225/229
Fourteen SJSU Communication Studies students will present nine papers, along with student presenters from San Francisco State, Santa Clara U, U of San Francisco, Humboldt State, USC, U of the Pacific, and CSU-Long Beach. Support your colleagues and attend this event! Free and open to the public. View the conference program (pdf).

Classes Without Quizzes April 30

Leave your blue books and number 2 pencils at home!

The College of Social Sciences and the San José State University Alumni Association invite you to join us for a day of education and enrichment at the College of Social Sciences Classes Without Quizzes on Saturday, April 30, 9am - 1:30p.m. This free event will be located in Clark Hall. Lunch will be provided. 

Session 2, 11:15am-12:15pm features Communication Studies associate professor Matthew Spangler discussing "From Book to Screen to Play: Running with the Kite Runner." Other classes address topics such as reproductive health, the documentary film Losing Knowledge, immigration, healthy at any size, and Chicana/o literature.

Register now at classeswithoutquizzes.eventbrite.com.

Brockmann Chosen to Teach in Finland

Bettina Brockmann will be teaching a course in Professional and Public Speaking at Jyväskylä University in Finland this summer. Bettina was competitively selected for this assignment by the Communication Studies Graduate Teaching Associate Teaching Abroad Selection Committee. This is the first of what we hope will be annual program to have a current or former GTA teach a communication course at Jyväskylä University each year. Bettina was a former GTA in the department, where she also earned her MA degree. She has three years experience teaching communication courses at San José State University and Hartnell College, Salinas, giving her a strong pedagogical foundation and intercultural sensitivity required to teach a communication class abroad. Congratulations Bettina!

COMM Major Named Influential Student

Communication Studies major Jeremiah Navarette was named one of SJSU's most 55 influential students by the Associated Students. Congratulations Jeremiah!

Here's the official notification of the honor:

"On behalf of Associated Students, please accept my congratulations on your recent selection to become a member of our very privileged group of influential A.S. 55 recipients.  Your name was submitted to our selection committee and it was determined that your contribution to San Jose State community are ones that should be recognized.

"Every year, Associated Students acknowledge that there are many students who contribute to the betterment of the San Jose State University community and who have a continuous interest in providing their skills to be utilized in doing so. We are happy to have received your name and I wanted to encourage you to continue to use your strengths to make this University and its surroundings a better place."