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Chair's Welcome
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| Now that the semester is in full swing, I want to provide you with an update on what some of our faculty have been doing when not in the classroom. At a research-intensive university like the University of Kentucky, 60% of a faculty member’s time is devoted to research and engagement in the field. These research updates are just a taste of what our faculty have been up to lately. As you can see, the Department of Communication is fully engaged in advancing the field and bringing the latest research to our students! If you have any questions or want to learn more about any of these projects, you can reach out to the faculty member directly or follow up with me. We love to talk about research!
Dr. Shari Veil
Shari R. Veil, MBA, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Communication
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, College of Communication and Information
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McAninch Examines Stress and Uncertainty in Military Families
Dr. Kelly McAninch’s recent projects shed light on the support and advice exchanged among people involved in military life. Along with several colleagues, Dr. McAninch examined online discussion boards designed to help military personnel and their loved ones address questions and concerns they have about military life. These studies revealed that people readily hand out advice and described best practices such as, "embrace change as a positive development" and "stay committed to working on your relationship". Dr. McAninch hopes this research, featured in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Family Communication, can be used to help military families and civilians.
Scarduzio Publishes New Book
 Dr. Jennifer Scarduzio recently published the second edition of Surviving Work: Toxic Organizational Communication with Drs. Matthew Vorell and Jessica Ford. The book provides guidance for employees on how to communicate when they encounter workplace dysfunctionality. The examples are rooted in organizational communication theory and informed by social networking sites and workplace web related content.
Dragojevic Researches Language Varieties
Over the past year, Dr. Marko Dragojevic has continued his research on language attitudes, or the social meanings associated with different language varieties (e.g., accents, dialects). In two recently published studies, he and his colleagues showed that, in addition to stereotyping, another reason foreign-accented speakers tend to be evaluated more negatively on various traits (e.g., competence) than native, standard English speakers is because the former's speech is more difficult to process and this communicative difficulty negatively biases listeners' evaluations. Beyond their theoretical implications, these findings also have practical implications. Namely, they suggest that one way to reduce prejudice toward foreign-accented speakers is to increase the ease with which people can process foreign-accented speech; past research suggests that this can be achieved through mere exposure to foreign-accented speakers.
Pilny Designs a Video Game that Predicts Teamwork
Dr. Andy Pilny recently designed an online game using Volunteer Science. The main results, published recently in the Journal of Applied Communication Research, showed that when information is communicated in more collective, rather than in more individual language, participants were more likely to work together. Bottom line:  organizations should try to find something common about people working in teams (e.g., a common cause, commonalities between individuals), to help them work together.
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Gordon and Harrington Focus on Cost-of-Care Conversations
Drs. Allison Gordon and Nancy Harrington have begun work on a project to help physicians and patients tackle cost-of-care conversations. With funding from the College of Communication and Information’s Research and Creative Activities Program, as well as assistance from doctoral student Elizabeth Spencer, they have begun interviewing physicians to learn more about their experiences when having cost conversations with their patients. The goal is to develop evidence-based practice guidelines for primary care physicians to facilitate cost-of-care conversations with patients from vulnerable populations.
Helme Receives Grant from UK and Wake Forest’s Centers for Clinical and Translational Science
Dr. Don Helme, along with a colleague at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, received a $50,000 joint grant from UK and Wake Forest’s Centers for Clinical and Translational Science. The grant will support their research and development of campaign message strategies to increase use of non-medical prescription drug disposal programs in Appalachian counties. The study seeks to identify community-focused strategies that are effective in reducing non-medical prescription drug use and increasing use of proper disposal facilities for unwanted or unused prescription medicines.
Veil Evaluates U.S. Navy Campaign and Conducts Social Media Training
 Drs. Shari Veil and Chelsea Woods presented their joint research with Commander David Hecht of the U.S. Naval Air Force Atlantic at the recent Public Relations Society of America Conference. The team worked with public affairs officers aboard the U.S.S. Eisenhower to prepare for and then evaluate the “Sailor for a Day” media relations campaign. The campaign brought together reporters for a two-day stay aboard a Naval air craft carrier where they interviewed sailors from their home markets. Veil and Woods are examining reputation-building campaigns as buffers to reputation crisis threats.
In addition, Dr. Veil is working with the Louisiana State Health Sciences Center’s (LSUHSC) School of Medicine Psychiatry to develop social media resources for the Terrorism and Disaster Coalition for Child and Family Resilience. The project, headed up by Dr. Howard Osofsky at LSUHSC, is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to adapt the National Child Traumatic Stress Network to support children, adolescents, and families who have experienced extreme exposure and losses.
Sutton Receives Grant and Appointed to NIST Advisory Committee
Dr. Jeannette Sutton has been appointed to a three-year term on the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee for the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of  Commerce. This committee advises the Director of NIST on carrying out the NCST Act, which includes deploying investigatory teams following a major disaster event, evaluating the investigation, and assessing implementation of recommendations following those investigations.
In addition, Dr. Sutton and Dr. Jamie Studts, Professor and Director of Behavioral & Community-Based Research in the Markey Cancer Center, received a Community Health Investment Grant with Owensboro Health to raise awareness of lung cancer screening.
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Research Opportunities for Undergraduate Students
For students who are interested in conducting undergraduate research, the Office Of Undergraduate Research offers resources to help. UGR is devoted to providing support for all research endeavors with coordination and leadership at the undergraduate level with the help of faculty mentors. For more information and a detailed step-by-step process on how to get involved, go here. |
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