COMS News | October 2023

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Happy October COMS Mustangs!

This newsletter is designed to keep majors, minors, faculty, and staff up-to-date so you can learn about news, career advice, events, networking opportunities, well-wishes, and inspirational stories surrounding your peers and COMS community.

Announcements 


Welcome COMS Majors
Welcome to our new and returning COMS students! The COMS Department hosted a meeting last month for first-years and transfer students to find out how to make the most of their time at Cal Poly. Students learned about how to get involved in COMS Club, LPH, participate in the debate team, and they also met their COMS academic advisors. To see a photo from the event, visit our Instagram page! Good luck to our new & returning students, we look forward to getting to know you and helping you achieve pathways to success!


COMS Club
Get involved in COMS Club! Meetings take place every other Tuesday from 11:10 am - 12:00 pm in Building 10 Room 221. Connect with COMS Club on Instagram @calpolycomsclub.

  • 10/17 Theme: Professors & Pastries (O'Neil Green)
  • 10/26 Theme: Halloween Pumpkin Painting


LPH Recruitment
LPH is the National Communication Association’s official honor society. The organization recognizes the outstanding academic achievements of COMS majors and offers membership benefits including honors status at graduation and ceremonial graduation regalia. To see if you qualify to join, check out the membership requirements and fill out the Cal Poly LPH Interest Form by December 1. Be sure to follow LPH on Instagram @lphcalpoly to stay in the loop. 


Debate Team News
Congrats to the Cal Poly Debate Team! This past weekend seniors Rachel Strohecker and Ethan Gutterman placed as finalists in the open division and brand new Cal Poly student Franky Chardos placed as the top-ranked novice speaker and second-ranked speaker in the open division at the St. Ignatius Dialogues hosted by the University of San Francisco. We are #CalPolyProud of these accomplishments, and look forward to seeing what the competition season will bring!


Debate Team Recruitment
The Debate Team is recruiting students! The focus of the team is on the exchange of ideas and it provides a wonderful opportunity to make a difference through communication. Participating in debate will be especially beneficial for students who are pursuing careers in law, politics, advocacy, or bureaucracy. Spanish language debate opportunities are also available! To learn more about joining the debate team, contact program directors Chris Skiles, John Patrick, and Marion Hart.


Library Temporary Study Spaces
Cal Poly is excited to build new connections with the library transformation project. Students, faculty, and staff will have the opportunity to connect in new temporary locations during renovation and, when the renovation is complete, interact in an environment that will transform their library experience. The library building closed on June 16, 2023 for a planned 2-year renovation, and will reopen in Fall 2025. To find out about temporary study spaces, visit the library renovation webpage. 

Events & Opportunities

COMS Student Council Advisory Board
Want to get involved in the COMS department, have an impact on the student experience, and network with your fellow students? Join the COMS Student Advisory Council! This group is open to COMS majors, students changing their major to COMS, and COMS minors. The group will meet regularly with the Department Chair, Dr. Lauren Kolodziejski, to discuss issues important to our students and offer suggestions/ideas for how the department can improve the student experience. If you’re interested in serving on this advisory committee, please fill out this form by Friday, October 6.


Internship SLO Gravity Water
Internship opportunity! Gravity Water is a US-based Non-Profit Organization that focuses on providing clean drinking water to communities in developing countries by utilizing a unique, electricity-free approach. If you are motivated and excited about learning and making a difference in mitigating the global water crisis and looking to gain real-world experience within a growing non-profit organization, Gravity Water may be the place for you! They have several internship opportunities for students within their Youth Initiative Program and University Chapters. For more information, check out the internship flyer. 


Cal Poly Research Week
The Division of Research invites you to attend various events focusing on celebrating and creating connections in research, scholarship, and creative activities at Cal Poly. Research week is October 9-13, 2023. To learn more and register, please visit the Research Week website.


Graduate School & Fellowship Month
Cal Poly Career Services is hosting “Graduate School & Fellowship Month!” Throughout October, you can attend a variety of virtual events and workshops covering several topics related to graduate school. For more information, check out the Grad School Month Schedule. 


Career Counseling
Career Services offers both in-person and virtual career counseling appointments and virtual drop-in hours. They are located in Building 124 near Spanos Stadium. Career advisors are on-hand to provide 15-minute consultations on topics such as resume/cover letter reviews, job/internship searches, career exploration, and change of major guidance. For more information, visit the Career Services website. 


Chat GPT Survey
We invite you to participate in a research study aiming to delve into the perceptions and exposure of faculty members and students to ChatGPT, a revolutionary language model designed to generate human-like text responses. By participating in this study, you will contribute to the advancement of knowledge and understanding regarding the impact of ChatGPT on teaching and learning experiences, as well as the ethical considerations associated with its use. To participate in this survey, simply click on the survey link.


ISLA Film - Obvious Child
The Interdisciplinary Studies Department is happy to announce a screening of the 2014 film Obvious Child on Wednesday, November 8th at 4:30PM at the Palm Theater. Admission is free! The film screening will be followed by a talk from Dr. Kimberly Kelly, Director of Gender Studies at Mississippi State University. Dr. Kelly's talk, "Ordinary Abortion in Obvious Child: What Abortion Really Looked Like in America," will address the myth that all abortions are tragic, unwanted, clandestine, and dangerous. She will address the history of abortion in television and film, while also highlighting that the portrayal of abortion in Obvious Child as a fairly typical abortion for white, middle-class woman. 


Mustang News Roundup
Want to stay up to date on campus news and student life? Subscribe to Mustang News! Mustang News is Cal Poly’s award-winning newspaper that provides students the opportunity to cover and publish in-depth news, arts, and sports stories. Visit the Mustang News website to subscribe to daily stories! 

Faculty News

Awards

Congratulations to our faculty award winners who were celebrated for their work by the college, university, and local community! 

  • Dr. Aubrie Adams was the 2023 recipient of the Cal Poly Outstanding Faculty Advisor of the Year Award. This award recognizes a Cal Poly faculty member who has had a positive influence on students through academic advising. 
  • Dr. Marion Hart was the 2023 recipient of the CLA Douglas L. Epperson Innovation Award. This award recognizes a CLA faculty member who generates innovative scholarship and/or pedagogies that advance the college in creative and useful ways. 
  • Professor Lisa Kawamura was the 2023 recipient of the Labor Leader Award, Labor Leader Recognition, and Union Superstar Award from the SLO County Democratic Party. These awards recognize her tireless dedication and contributions to the CFA. 
  • Dr. Leslie Nelson was the 2023 recipient of the CLA Early Career Award for Achievement in Teaching. This award recognizes outstanding performance in teaching early in the candidate’s career. 

Grants & Funded Projects

  • Dr. David Askay and his research team were awarded a 1.25 million grant sponsored by the U.S. Air Force for a funded project titled Team Insight. In this project, Dr. Askay will partner with Cal Poly Professor, Lynn Metcalf (Entrepreneurship), and a company called Unanimous AI to extend the use of Swarm AI technology in supporting the formation of high-performing military teams in a project that embodies Learn by Doing combining the science of teamwork and AI. 
  • Dr. Jnan Blau was awarded a $6,000 CLA College Summer Scholarship Support (CSSS) grant for a funded book project developing an academic press book tentatively titled Deep Engagement: A Typology of Fandom and Fan Cultures with co-authors Dr. Keith Nainby (Cal State Stanislaus) and Nicole Nicholson (Pierce College in Washington). Though the book will be of use widely with regards to all manner of pop culture fandoms, the three authors will write as fans of jamband Phish, pop star Taylor Swift, and K-pop sensation BTS.
  • Dr. Megan Lambertz-Berndt was awarded a $3,000 CLA Global Engagement Grant to partner with University of Barcelona faculty and students to discuss and present on global issues in sports from play-by-play coverage to neoliberal assumptions in post-game analyses. The goal is to create collaborative research projects with students from both University of Barcelona and Cal Poly to present at the International Association for Communication and Sport Conference.
  • Dr. Leslie Nelson was awarded a $11,000 teacher-scholar mini-grant sponsored by the Cal Poly Division of Research for a funded project titled The Impact of Socialization Messages About Racism in Black Americans' Family Discourse. The goal of this research is to better understand how Black people make sense of their racial identity via conversations about racism with their parent(s) in childhood and beyond. 

Recent Publications

New Faculty Members

Welcome to our new faculty members who joined the COMS department at Cal Poly this fall! 

  • Professor Connie Johnson is a new full-time lecturer teaching COMS classes.
  • Professor Jon Kawashima is a new part-time lecturer teaching COMS classes.
  • Professor Kara Samaniego is a new part-time lecturer teaching COMS classes.

Miscellaneous Updates

Dr. Aubrie Adams welcomed Baby Aero on June 27! She was 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Dr. Brie was so excited to spend the summer getting to know Baby Aero and her dog Trico has been just obsessed with learning all about his new little sister. Big congrats to Dr. Brie & her family!

Sharing is Caring

Do you have an announcement to share with COMS majors, minors, faculty, and staff? Email Dr. Brie to find out how to share it! Follow COMS on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn 

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