Two Samford University Department of Communication and Media professors presented their research at the 2023 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference (AEJMC) in Washington, D.C., Aug. 6-10.
Assistant professor Danielle Deavours served as the head of the Broadcast and Mobile Journalism Division and undergraduate research chair for the Commission on the Status of Women. She was named a Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver fellow, recognizing her outstanding research and teaching as a woman in mass communication education. She also presented on panels relating to the safety and harassment of broadcast journalists, professionalism skills for broadcast students, documentary film and community journalism and virtual reality representation.
"AEJMC is a great convention to share your work with others in your field, but even more importantly, to learn from experts that can help you improve your teaching and research overall," Deavours said. "I was most excited to present on a teaching panel about how Samford News Network, our weekly broadcast, focuses on telling hyperlocal stories about the community."
Assistant professor Bill Singleton presented his research titled “My VP Looks Like Me and Me and Me: Fictive Kinship and the Intersectional Identities of Kamala Harris” on Aug. 8. He is the lead author of the research paper, which used thematic analysis of articles on ethnic publications aligned with Harris' racial and ethnic identities (Asian-American, Indian American and African American) to understand how different groups connect with prominent people who share similar identities. It also expands the understanding and application of fictive kinship, defined as a relationship among individuals who are not necessarily blood-related. His research found that each publication identified with Harris similarly and dissimilarly.
"The benefit of attending conferences such as AEJMC is that I get to meet professors from institutions across the country and learn teaching strategies that I could incorporate into my lesson plans and classroom," Singleton said. "I also like listening to research presentations because they spark research ideas and energize me to continue to develop my research interests. In fact, during a lively discussion at a panel session, I discovered a research topic I would like to pursue. I discussed it with a colleague with a similar research interest and we put it on our to-do list."