VCU College of Humanities and Sciences

Congratulations to the hard-working students of the School of Mass Communications and VCU’s ASPiRE program for winning the Democracy Cup competition held by the Virginia Campus Election Engagement Project. The award recognizes efforts to increase electoral engagement on college campuses. The Campus Election Engagement Project worked with more than 750 colleges and universities nationwide in the 2012 election. VCU won one of four winners in Virginia; the other schools were Mary Baldwin College, George Mason University and Virginia Wesleyan College. VCU won for “best communication campaign.”

VCU’s entry was a collaborative effort of Marcus Messner and Jeff South’s “Social Media and the Presidential Race” class and their VCU Votes campaign, the Honors College, and the ASPiRE Program’s turn-out-the-vote project. Professor South coordinated VCU’s submission to this statewide competition. Part of the submission was a student video that showcases the efforts of numerous campus groups (especially the “Ram The Vote” coalition), individual students and faculty members in registering and informing voters — not only on campus but beyond. The entry showed that the number of votes cast in the four polling precincts that include VCU dormitories and other student housing increased 45 percent from the 2008 presidential election to the 2012 election.

From the Press Release from the Campus Engagement Project:

….In Richmond, Jackie Smith-Mason led Virginia Commonwealth University’s team. Professors Jeff South and Marcus Messner offered a communications class in which students from the Honors College used their mascot to encourage their peers to register to vote and get engaged with the slogan, Uncle Ram Wants You. Students also wrote issue briefs and posted them to their social media sites created as a part of this class. Through the work of ASPiRE Professor Nannette Bailey and the student efforts of Symone Simmons, the education campaign did not just reach campus, but extended into the Mosby community, working alongside local residents.”

Faculty and students from Mass Comm and ASPiRE received the Democracy Cup Award during the Active Citizens Conference in Williamsburg on February 16, 2013.

Mass Comm’s VCU Votes website.
A gallery of pictures from the awards.

Dr. Yan Jin

IPRRC is an academic research conference that is devoted entirely to public relations (PR) research. During its 15 year history, the conference has become a top venue for interaction between scholars, PR professionals and students in the presentation of cutting edge PR research.

“In the conference, the beauty is the interaction,” said Dr. Yan Jin, the School of Mass Communication’s interim director and a presenter at the conference.

Having been the past recipient of two Top Paper Awards, VCU faculty have pushed the bar even further this year by increasing both the number of research collaborations and the number of papers submitted to the conference. Mass Comm. faculty invited to present this year include: Yan Jin (Associate Professor and Interim Director), Will Sims (Associate Professor and Assistant Director), Judy VanSlyke Turk (Professor and Associate Director for Special Projects), Ernest Marin (Associate Professor, Public Relations), Marcus Messner (Assistant Professor, Journalism), William Farrar (Instructor and Undergraduate Public Relations Sequence Coordinator), Scott Sherman (Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Advertising Sequence Coordinator), Shana Meganck (MATX Doctoral Student) and Scott Quarforth (Research Assistant, Mass Comm.)

Dr. Yan Jin talks about VCU faculty participation in the conference (Podcast)

News courtesy of Jeff Wing, National Scholarship Office,
Photos courtesy of VCU News Center:

Senior Margaret Cotter, Sophomore Bertrand (Yohannes) Mpigabahizi, and Junior Rachel Sine have been awarded Boren Scholarships to study abroad next year.

Margaret Cotter

Yohannes Mpigabahizi

Rachel Sine

With their selection, VCU students have now won twelve Boren Awards for International Study in the past five years. Senior Ben Cohen (Mass Comm) is studying Mandarin in Taiwan and junior Elisabeth Moore (English) is just about to complete a year of study of Mandarin in Beijing.  All five of these students are members of The Honors College.

Margaret Cotter is from Midlothian and was about to graduate summa cum laude with University Honorswith a double major in International Studies and Political Science and a minor in Italian.  She will now postpone her graduation until after she completes a year studying Turkish language and culture in Istanbul as a Boren Scholar.

Yohannes Mpigabahizi has just completed his first year at VCU.  From Bristow, Virginia, he is majoring in International Studies and Economics and planning to get a minor in Arabic.  He will spend the next year studying Arabic and Egyptian politics, history and culture in Cairo.

Rachel Sine is a sophomore from Roanoke majoring in International Studies with concentrations in International Relations and Southeast Asia Studies and a minor in Religious Studies.  She will spend the next year continuing her Hindi studies in India, while also studying Indian culture, history and politics.  Rachel was also selected for a Critical Language Scholarship earlier this spring and will undertake intensive Hindi language studies in India this summer before she begins her Boren studies in the fall.

In this year’s competition, approximately 140 Boren Scholarships were awarded from a field of more than 900 applicants.  While nationally only about one in six Boren applicants will be selected, three of VCU’s seven candidates were selected, a fact which speaks well of the quality of applicants, the education they are receiving as undergraduates at VCU, and the support that they receive from faculty mentors and recommenders as well as the review panels.  Over the past five years, just over a third of VCU’s Boren candidates have been successful.

VCU National Scholarship Office

Boren Awards for International Study

VCU News Center Article: “Three VCU Students Receive Boren Scholarships”

Spring 2011 Commencement Ceremonies will be held on Saturday, May 21.  For more on all things commencement, see the Commencement Website.

The College of Humanities and Sciences will host a reception (cookies and punch) for our graduates from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM in the University Student Commons, Virginia Rooms, 2nd Floor.

College of Humanities and Sciences Departmental / Unit Ceremonies:

African American Studies
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

Biology
Saturday, May 21, 2011
3:30 PM
Greater Richmond Convention Center
403 N. 3rd Street, Exhibit Hall B

Brandcenter
Saturday, May 21, 2011
3:30 PM
First Baptist Church
2709 Monument Avenue

Chemistry
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Richmond Salons
907 Floyd Ave, 2nd Floor

English
Saturday, May 21, 2011
2:30 PM
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
1627 Monument Avenue

Forensic Science
Saturday, May 21, 2011
5:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Richmond Salons
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

Government and Public Affairs (The Wilder School)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
2:00 PM
Greater Richmond Convention Center
403 N. 3rd Street, Exhibit Hall A

History
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons Theater
907 Floyd Avenue, 1st Floor

LSEEE (Liberal Studies in Early Elementary Education)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
3:00 PM
University Student Commons Theater
907 Floyd Avenue, 1st Floor

Mass Communications
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:00 PM
Greater Richmond Convention Center
403 N. 3rd Street, Exhibit Hall B

Mathematics
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

Military Science and Leadership
Friday, May 20, 2011
9:00 AM
Commissioning Ceremony
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
800 South Cathedral Place

Philosophy
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

Physics
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

Psychology
Saturday, May 21, 2011
7:30 PM
Siegel Center
1200 West Broad Street

Science
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

Statistical Sciences and Operations Research
Saturday, May 21, 2011
1:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

World Studies
Saturday, May 21, 2011
3:30 PM
University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballrooms
907 Floyd Avenue, 2nd Floor

CONGRATULATIONS 2011 GRADUATES!!  

Repost from Mass Communications home page:

Dr. Marcus Messner, assistant professor in the journalism sequence of the School of Mass Communications, will moderate two Richmond Forum events with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on Feb. 19 and 20 at the Landmark Theater.

Cooper will offer a “360-degree look at world events,” which is expected focus greatly on his experiences in the [recent] protests in Egypt. In the following Q&A session, Dr. Messner will follow up with questions from the audience.

Students from the School of Mass Communications will also have a chance to attend the two events, thanks to the generosity of the Richmond Forum’s executive director, Bill Chapman. Thirty students will be accompanied by Professor Bonnie Davis to a personal meeting with Cooper prior to the Feb. 19 event. An additional 100 students will be able to attend the Feb. 20 event.

While the Feb. 19 event is sold out, tickets are still available for the Feb. 20 event at http://www.richmondforum.org/.

Norah Lind will be the first graduate of VCU’s Media, Art, and Text program when she receives her PhD on Saturday, May 22.  She is a member of the first MATX PhD class who started their coursework in August 2006. 

Designed to meet the practical, intellectual, and theoretical challenges posed by today’s multimedia environment., the Media, Art, and Text PhD builds on existing strengths in the VCU English Department, the nationally ranked School of the Arts, and the School of Mass Communications to answer the need for innovative, non-traditional programs in the arts and humanities.