Beloved Former Professor Matthew Bosisio Passes

Former associate professor Matthew Bosisio was known for his passion, enthusiasm, and precision. After a life of adventure in the Air Force and as a journalist, he taught journalism at Augusta University (then Augusta State University) for many years. After he retired, he moved to the Tacoma/Seattle area, where he lived and worked for individuals with intellectual disabilities in the L'Arche community. Please take a moment to read the obituary of this remarkable member of our community and read the tributes from former ASU students on his tribute wall.

Communication Faculty Participate in Constitution Day

Several members of the Augusta University Communication faculty participated in a reading of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17. Both Rachel Balducci and David Bulla read from sections of the Constitution. The event was sponsored by the Reese Library, AU Civic Engagement and Communication. Constitution Day 2021 was held in the JSAC Ballroom. Here is Communication major Rakiyah Lenon’s story on the event in the Bell Ringer.

 

Communication Students' Portfolios

Look at some recent sample student portfolios:

https://lhudsonportfolio.wordpress.com/ 
https://www.nicollesuzanne.com/ 
https://edgarfranklinmiles.weebly.com 
https://kimvickers.weebly.com/ 
https://eppsport.wordpress.com/ 
https://ally-williams-portfolio.weebly.com/ 
https://calebjosephmiller.weebly.com/

Student Videos Aired on Local TV and Win National Telly Awards

Chris Woods and Makaiyla Reed, two students majoring in Communication, found out some good news recently. Both of them had completed PSA (public service announcement) videos in Arthur Takahashi's AV Media Production class, discussing the dangers of smoking during the pandemic.

The good news? Local TV stations (WRDW News 12/NBC26’s MY12, CW, and Circle network) were impressed and have agreed to air the 30-second commercials for free throughout the month of May. Take a look at these students' short PSA commercials here:

PSA: Dream Killer, by Makaiyla Reed

PSA: Not Just Killing Myself, by Chris Woods

June 2021 Update: Chris Woods, Makaiyla Reed, and Faydia Ramnarine all just won national Telly Awards for their PSA anti-smoking videos, with Chris Woods taking a gold and Makaiyla Reed and Faydia Ramnarine taking silver awards in the national college student category. Read the full story with links here.

Latest Research Publications by Communication Faculty

Assistant Professor Sangsun Choi heads the recent research and creative work from professors in the Department of Communication at Augusta University.

Choi has had a documentary accepted for the Dayton, Ohio, Independent Film Festival. The short documentary is titled “The Brick House in the Wind.” His film is about his family as immigrants from South Korea to the United States. Here is a link to the trailer. The Dayton film festival will be held Sept. 24-26.

Assistant Professor Carrie Reif-Stice had an article entitled “Communication, Flexibility, and Resilience: Navigating the Shift to Virtual Service-learning during COVID-19” published in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator. Reif-Stice is co-author of the article with Sarah Smith-Frigerio of Columbus State University. The piece explores the benefits and challenges of shifting public relations service-learning to virtual in spring of 2020, through the experiences of educators and community partners.

Lecturer Rachel Balducci’s next book, titled No Such Thing as Ordinary, will be published by Ave Maria Press. The book will come out in spring 2022. Balducci, who is a television host, has new episodes of “Rachel in Real Life” up on Catholic TV’s YouTube page. She has a podcast titled “Overcommitted” that will release Fridays beginning Oct 1. The four-part series is produced by Grexley Communications. Balducci and AU political science Professor Craig Albert are continuing their series titled “Faith and Politics.” It is posted on Instagram Live, and the pair plan to also release it as a podcast.

Professor David W. Bulla is finishing a book on the journalism career of Mohandas K. Gandhi. The book will be published by Peter Lang, which is based in Switzerland. Gandhi, the father of the Indian independence movement, edited six newspapers from 1903 until he was assassinated in 1948. The title of the book is Gandhi, Advocacy Journalism, and the Media. Many of the chapters came from papers submitted at a conference on Gandhi and the media at the University of St. Andrews in October 2019 on the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday. Much of the research was done in India, South Africa and England. Many of the chapters came from papers written for a conference on Gandhi and media held at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) in October of 2019, which was the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth. Bulla also is re-writing the book Journalism in Civil War Era for a second edition. He is co-author with Professor Gregory A. Borchard of UNLV. The second edition will have about one-third new content. This book also is published by Peter Lang. The first edition came out in 2010.

Why study Communication?