“If art is to nourish the roots of our cul-ture, society must set the artist free to follow [their] vision wherever it takes

[them].”

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9TH, 2015, 7:00 - 9:00 PM

HUGH GILLIS HALL (HGH) 231

PRESENTED BY DR. MATTHEW SPANGLER AND

THE COMM 297 FALL COHORT

*Please, no food or drink in the theater. Also, please silence your mobile devices out of respect for the presenters.

KENDALL BARRETT Painting the Future: Utilizing Abstract Art to Inspire Social Ac-tivism

Scholarly literature offers some of the most ad-vanced research on current social problems; how-ever, much of this research struggles to transcend to the public sphere. Through an analysis of immi-gration and environmental social problems, I will offer abstract art as a method for increasing under-standing on societal issues for both researchers and community members to reach new audiences and inspire social action.

MATTHEW EVANS The Evolution of Fan-tasy Sports: Examining Fantasy Sports through Theo-ries of Media Effects

Fantasy sports have had a meteoric rise in populari-ty over the past decade leading to a multibil lion -dollar industry. In my research, I have applied the “uses and gratifications” theory of media effects to examine the betting aspect of Daily Fantasy Sports. My presentation will explain the evolution of Fantasy Sports and why it has become a popular form of betting in recent years.

CHRIS FARIA The Sport of Crisis Communication: An Overview of Crisis Communications in Professional Sports

My research examines the techniques used by pro-fessional sports teams and athletes when respond-ing to a crisis. My findings argue that situational crisis communication theory is a good approach to understanding crisis and response. This presenta-tion will provide examples of how this theory can be applied to professional sports organization.

DAVID GALAN Stories of Pain and Healing: A Critical Look at the Narrative

This is a performance about internalized racial op-pression that illustrates the power in which the stories we tell can profoundly shape our lives. The stories we tell can both constrain and liberate us. Telling a new story involves more than simply say-ing and doing things differently, but it also requires also interrogating the hegemonic stories we have come to internalize.

PRESENTERS

COLLOQUIUM TEAM

ORGANIZER Dr. Matthew Spangler

REFRESHMENTS Jessica Bettencourt

USHER Mallory Ensminger

AUDIO/VISUAL Rigoberto Flores

PROGRAM Matthew Gloria-Dalton

ROOM SETUP Priscilla Marino

COORISPONDENTS Vielka Pena-Gallo

REFRESHMENTS Anthony Popovich

REFRESHMENTS Rahimeh Ramezany

DR. SPANGLER’S AID Jagdeep Saini

ROOM SETUP Lesley Seacrist

USHER Kirsten Smith

ALVIN LAU The Social Construc-tionist: Making Mean-ing of Our Social World

This presentation will explore the concepts of so-cial construction and dialogic communication and argue for their importance in understanding com-munication studies, broadly speaking, as well as day-to-day individual interactions, more specifical-ly.

ELIZABETH PEMBERTON Identity in the Third Cul-ture

Cultural identity is often labeled as one of the most signifi-cant issues in the cross-cultural and highly mobile world of Third Culture Kids (TCKs). I will shed some light on the shaping and reshaping of this identity, discuss problems with the way we currently think about cultural identity, and will point out how TCKs can help us to move past this way of thinking.

PRESENTERS