2008-09 Academic Year Report

The University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences

As the following reports from each of the College’s departments indicate, 2008-09 has been an exciting and productive year for our faculty, sta! and students.

"e end of the year marked the conclusion of the University’s highly successful capital campaign. As the UA campaign has been winding down, the College has been moving forward to plan a major fundraising campaign to develop new studios and production facilities in vacant space below "e Zone in the new north end of Bryant-Denny stadium. Eventually, those new facilities, across the parking lot from Phifer Hall, will house one of the nation’s best multi-media digital teaching and production laboratories as well as the College’s professional radio and television studios.

Leading our fundraising e!ort is Neely J. Portera, who became director of development for the College of Communication and Information Sciences in March, upon the retirement of Bonnie LaBresh. Neely previously held a similar position at UA’s School of Social Work. Before that she was manager of chapter development and special events for the University of Alabama National Alumni Association. Neely is an alumna of the College, with a degree in public relations.

"e College completed successful searches for nine full-time faculty positions this year, including Dr. Su-zanne Horsley and Dr. Hyoungkoo Khang in APR; Dr. Jane Baker, Dr. Robin Boylorn, Dr. Amy Carwile and Dr. Lu Tang in COM; and Dr. Rachel Raimist, Andrew Grace and Adam Schwartz in TCF. Two of these hires are new lines. "e seven others are #lling vacant existing positions. Despite the ongoing challenges of the current #nancial climate, the University continues to provide the College the resources needed to replace departing or retiring faculty and new positions to meet increased enrollment.

"is has been an important – and very busy – year regarding accreditation for most of the College’s programs. In May, at a meeting in Portland, Ore., the College’s mass communication departments (ad-vertising and public relations, journalism and telecommunication and #lm) were fully reaccredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC). "is was the culmination of a process that began almost two years ago with the compiling of a self-study by the department chairs and Assistant Dean Caryl Cooper. "e self-study was submitted to ACEJMC sta! last fall and served as the basis for a four-day visit here in January by a six-member site-visit team from across the country, which recommended full reaccreditation. "e APR public relations program was also re-certi#ed by the Public Relations Society of America, in addition to ACEJMC reaccreditation. Meanwhile, the School of Library and Information Studies has completed a program presentation and plan and other preparations for continuing accreditation by the American Library Association, which will include a site visitation in September.

Last fall at a dinner attended by 200 people, the College inducted three persons into the College’s Hall of Fame: Nelle Harper Lee, James D. Ramer and H. Pettus Randall III. "e Hall of Fame was preceded by a meeting of the College’s Board of Visitors, who heard presentations from the dean and each of the College’s department chairs. In March the College presented the Clarence Cason Award for Non-Fiction Writing to Roy Ho!man at a dinner attended by 106 guests. In April more than 200 family members, friends and colleagues attended the College’s Honors Day ceremonies recognizing outstanding students, faculty and alumni.

Deidre Stalnaker, the College’s communication specialist, started a Twitter account (@UACCIS) to post news and facts about the College. She researched, wrote and distributed more than 25 news releases throughout the year, not only providing in-formation for media, alumni, students and other key stakeholders, but also providing important content for the UA Web site and other publications. Deidre received four awards this year from the Public Relations Council of Alabama: two Merit Awards for feature story writing and two Awards of Excellence - one in the interactive media category for a photography slideshow and one in the special purpose publications category for the Com-municator.

Dean’s Office and College AdministrationDr. Loy Singleton, dean

Both the advertising and public relations programs received national distinction during the year. In April the student competition advertising team, led by advisor Teri Henley, won district competition, and in June #nished second in the national #nals in Washington, D.C., losing to Syracuse University by one-tenth of a point. "e UA team was recognized for “best presentation” in the competition.

In March the PR program was named one of the top three PR programs in the nation by PRWeek, the leading professional publication in the #eld. "e PR program also was re-certi#ed by the Public Relations Society of America, one of only 14 programs in the country with that distinction. A highly successful PR Professional Day, led by 15 PR alumni from four states, was held in November and attended by more than 400 students.

APR students also were recognized for many achievements, including: - Matt Williams received the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) Vance L. Stickell Memorial Internship and will intern with Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco. - Monica McCall received the Mosaic Center Internship, sponsored by Gotham, Inc. and awarded by AAF’s Mosaic Center on Multiculturalism. It is a 10-week paid internship at Gotham’s New York o$ce. - Emily Roberson received the Advertising Hall of Fame Legacy Fund Scholarship.- Jarrett Cocharo received AAF’s District 7 Mosaic Scholarship.- Catalina McCormick was named one of AAF’s 40 Most Promising Minority Students. - Mollie McPherson received the Munson Foundation’s Conservation Internship/Scholarship and will intern with the Alabama Rivers Alliance in Birmingham.

Some individual faculty accomplishments of note include:- Dr. Yorgo Pasadeos received the College’s Board of Visitors Teaching Excellence Award.- Dr. Caryl Cooper was recipient of the Kappa Tau Alpha Commitment To Teaching Award. - Dr. Karla Gower was named director of "e Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. - Dr. Lance Kinney was named Advertising Educator of the Year by the American Advertising Federation-Birmingham. - Dr. Bruce Berger was named Outstanding New Advisor at UA for work with the student advocacy group, Literacy Is "e Edge.

"e APR department provided quality instruction, advising, mentoring and research and professional support to nearly 1,100 undergraduate students and 23 graduate students during the year. In total, the department delivered 79 undergraduate APR classes, 35 undergraduate lab sections, eight under-graduate MC classes, 11 MA classes and three doctoral seminars. Faculty also led more than 20 indepen-dent study projects with students.

APR faculty successfully completed 14 Capstone campaigns courses for a variety of clients, including the Ferguson Center, Salvation Army, UA’s Writing Center, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Blackburn Institute, Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at UA and the West Alabama Center for Mental Health, among others.

"e department continued to address curriculum issues identi#ed in its strategic review. A new so%-ware skills course (APR 260), developed and piloted by instructor Mike Little, became a required course for APR and journalism majors, beginning in the fall semester. In addition, the journalism department developed and launched a basic grammar tutorial and

Department of Advertising and Public RelationsDr. Bruce Berger, chair

test ( JN 150) that also is now required for APR and journalism majors. Led by instructor Tracy Sims, two new issues of the award-winning Platform Online Magazine were created and produced by students. "e Plank Center continued its outreach and leadership programs during the year, and in the spring launched a Webinar series aimed at PR students and educators nationally. To date 13 leadership research projects a$liated with the Center have been completed or are underway.

Research productivity in the department remained at a high level. APR tenure-track faculty published 20 refereed journal articles, one book, six book chapters, three conference proceedings and two profes-sional articles. Faculty delivered 22 refereed conference papers and 14 professional presentations. Faculty also served on editorial boards for 27 refereed journals and chaired 10 dissertation committees and seven thesis committees.

Based on this year’s reports, the COM departmental faculty o!ered 66 courses: 40 undergraduate, 24 graduate and two undergraduate/graduate. Total enrollment for these courses was 2,089: 1,838 under-graduate, 197 graduate and 54 undergraduate/graduate. "e huge increase in enrollment this year is the result of the reorganization of the course in public speaking, COM 123, under the instruction of the program director, Dr. Nance Ri!e. "is reorganization has been extremely successful, both in accommo-dating the demand for the course and in controlling the quality of instruction.

"e number of COM majors for this year remained constant, about 260 in the fall and 230 in the spring. COM faculty supervised four dissertations, 10 master’s theses and seven undergraduate research projects. "e department’s research outcomes this year increased to 83 overall: 16 publications, 20 submissions, 22 acceptances, four creative projects, three grant awards and 18 scholarly presentations.

COM faculty received a number of awards and distinctions this year, including:- Mary Meares was named the Teaching Faculty Mentor of the Year at the 13th Annual Women and Leadership Forum at Washington State University in April 2008. - Janis Edwards was a 2008 Finalist for the NCA Woolbert Award and received the 2009 Top Paper Award from the SSCA Mass Communication Division.- Frank M. "ompson Jr. was a 2009 #nalist for the UA Last Lecture Series.- Treva Dean was the 2009 Outstanding Teaching for MA Candidate for the College of Communication and Information Sciences and Department of Communication Studies and a 2008-09 Faculty Fellow in the Service Learning Program for UA’s Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility.- Marsha Houston received the College’s 2009 Knox Hagood Faculty Award.

COM faculty members were quite successful at acquiring research funding this year, including;- Janis Edwards was awarded a Reese Phifer Scholar Grant of $10,000 for “Visible Memories of the Japa-nese American Internment.”- Nance Ri!e received an Active and Collaborative Learning Grant for $10,400 to redesign COM 123 from multiple small classes to a large lecture series.- Carol Bishop Mills was awarded a RAC Grant for $5,000. - Jason Edward Black received a Reese Phifer Scholar Grant of $10,000 for his “Harvey Milk Project.”

"is year, students involved in the Alabama Forensics Council won 478 regional awards, 11 national awards, and 1 national individual award. In addition, they won 9th place school award at American Forensic Association National Individual Events tournament and took 5th place sweepstakes in Novice Nationals in Parliamentary Debate.

In 2008-09, the JN department excelled in the instruction of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty research and service and outreach activities. "e department o!ered 51 journalism courses (70 in-cluding labs) to its more than 340 undergraduate majors. Another 26 graduate-level courses were taught for more than 25 journalism master’s students and other graduate students at UA. JN faculty also taught

Department of Communication StudiesDr. Beth S. Bennett, chair

Department of JournalismDr. Jennifer Greer, chair

13 undergraduate courses and 11 graduate courses in other areas in the College.Journalism faculty on the research or creative track published four journal articles, two books, three book chapters and 13 academic, professional articles and reviews. In addition, the faculty presented 20 confer-ence papers at national and regional meetings. A few additional highlights from the faculty include:- Dr. Kim Bissell had three articles accepted for publication in international and national journals. She was awarded the Krieghbaum Under-40 Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. - Rick Bragg, who’s Prince of Frogtown was published to outstanding reviews in May 2008, was awarded the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year.- Dr. Matthew D. Bunker was awarded a second place research award by the Law & Policy Division of the Broadcast Education Association.- Dr. George Daniels was certi#ed as a Master Journalism Educator by the Journalism Education Associa-tion.- Dr. Jennifer Greer, department chair, had two journal articles accepted for publication.- Dr. Wilson Lowrey received a contract for an edited volume titled Changing the News: "e Forces Shaping Journalism during Uncertain Times. He also had three journal articles published.- Dr. Chris Roberts joined the journalism faculty as an assistant professor. He received a UA research grant this summer, had an article accepted for publication, and is working on two books about editing and ethics. - Dr. Wm. David Sloan was selected as the 2009 Outstanding Alumnus of his undergraduate alma mater, Texas A&M University-Commerce. He also had three books published -- revisions of two text books and a new book, Research Methods in Communication.

Both undergraduate and graduate students have been proactive in advancing journalism. - Amanda Peterson was named the 2009-10 editor of "e Crimson White and completed an internship with the Scripps News Service in Washington, D.C.- "e 10 fellows in the Knight Community Journalism Master’s program spent the spring semester studying open records and mortgages in Ala-bama and spent the summer working at "e Anniston Star and the Tal-ladega Daily Home.- Twenty students enrolled in the International Journalism class spent two weeks in France in spring 2009 covering stories for the third issue of Alpine Living, which was published in May. - Fourteen students in the community journalism class spent a weekend in Albertville in to write stories for "e Sand Mountain Reporter.- Graduate students had papers accepted for the AEJMC annual conven-tion in Boston in August and at the American Journalism Historians As-sociation southeast symposium in Florida in February.- Sophomore Victor Luckerson launched a new online magazine called Changing Tides, to which many journalism majors contribute. "e #rst issue examined racial issues on the UA campus.- "e University of Alabama picked up 10 Mark of Excellence awards at the Society of Professional Jour-nalists Southeast Regional Conference in Hollywood, Fla., more than any other school in Alabama.

"e JN department hosted newspaper and magazine leaders from throughout Alabama at an industry roundtable on March 5, in conjunction with the annual Cason Award presentation. Editors, publishers and faculty members discussed the skills needed for entry-level positions in a changing media environ-ment. Based on this input from the industry, faculty members are redesigning the curriculum designed to emphasize multimedia reporting and production skills while continuing to teach critical thinking, history, law, ethics, reporting, writing and editing.

"e Alabama Scholastic Press Association, under new Director Meredith Cummings, held its annual State Convention Feb. 13-14 on the UA campus. More than 200 students and advisers attended. "at followed fall re-gional workshops in Huntsville, Auburn and Tuscaloosa, attended by more than 600 scholastic journalists. ASPA has recently been accepted into a Journalism Education

Association mentoring program, designed to help train new publications and broadcast advisers. Cummings, a journalism instructor, also was named direc-tor of the Multicultural Journalism Program, which runs the Multicultural Journalism Workshop each summer for students interested in reporting and writing in an increasingly diverse society. Cummings worked with an APR design class to create new logos for the scholastic journalism e!orts, and has put the groups on Facebook and Twitter and updated criteria for student awards.

"e department’s revised internship program has placed more than 40 interns at professional news organizations this year. Students interned at ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Scripps news service, and for news outlets all over the Southeast. "e revised program, coordinated by adjunct instructor Dan Meissner, has more than doubled the number of active interns in the department in any given semester. "e depart-ment also has developed an on-going partnership with "e Tuscaloosa News, which allows six to 12 students to work in the newsroom each semester.

In the spring, the student chapters of the American Copy Editors Society and the Society of Professional Journalists co-sponsored a day-long session highlighting challenges students face starting their careers in journalism. Four panels of news professionals from around the state spoke to students about careers in editing, reporting, magazine work and digital journalism.

In 2009, the School was ranked 22nd among programs in library and information science, moving up eight steps since 2007 in the rankings published by U.S. News and World Report.

An extensive and detailed plan, entitled “An Integrated Working Plan for the School of Library and Information Studies” was completed, distributed to constituents of the School for everyday use and for inclusion in the School’s program presentation for the upcoming 2009 review of the MLIS program by the Committee on Accreditation of the American Library Association.

In January, the School launched a program alternative to better serve students in Alabama and the region: this option provides the opportunity for students to earn the MLIS through online classes and a minimum of three face-to-face elective courses taken at the University’s Gadsden Center. "irty-four students began the regional program option in spring semester and they expect to complete the program in two years.

"e MFA in the book arts program graduated a record number of students in May. Five students success-fully defended their master’s theses and went on to receive their degrees.

"e SLIS community welcomed three new faculty members in 2008-09. Dr. Danny P. Wallace, professor and EBSCO Endowed Chair, Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo, assistant professor, and Dr. Rachel Fleming May, instructor, began appointments with SLIS in August. One new sta! member was appointed as well: Reggie Perkins became manager of area computing in December.

SLIS reported a record number of faculty heading funded grant and contract projects in 2008-09: Dr. Laurie Bonnici was co-principal investigator for Project FIT 4Retirement, an award winning CCBP project funded in 2008. It paired the School and the Tuscaloosa Public Library in information literacy training for Tuscaloosa senior citizens. Dr. Elizabeth Aversa, Dr. Bill Evans (ICIR), state librarian Rebecca Mitchell and two SLIS alumnae are working with colleagues at the University of Maryland on an IMLS planning grant to build a model for emergency and disaster preparedness of public libraries in two states. Troy University funded an ongoing project wherein SLIS students provide virtual references services to Troy students worldwide. Wallace was awarded an ongoing contract to provide technical expertise to the annual statistical report that is published annually by the Association for Library and Information Science Education.

School of Library and Information StudiesDr. Elizabeth Aversa, director

SLIS faculty and students won several prestigious awards:- Professor Steve Miller was named Visual Arts Educator of the Year by the Arts and Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa. - Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo received the Virginia Hamilton Essay Award, given by Kent State Univer-sity, for his contribution to multicultural literature for young people. - Dr. Danny Wallace received a 2008 Beta Phi Mu/Information Use Management and Policy Institute Distinguished Lecture Award. - Jackson Rains, a student employee at SLIS, won the University’s Student Employee of the Year award for his achievements as a student worker. - Master’s student Richard LeComte won the prestigious Justin Winsor award for his paper on public lending rights.- Karen Cook’s dissertation entitled Freedom Libraries in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project: A History received the 2009 Phyllis Dain Library History Award given by the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association. - MLIS student Courtney Barbour and book arts student Friedrich Kersieck took #rst and third places, respectively, for their personal book collections in the University Libraries Book Collection Contest. - MLIS students Jessica Platt and Pete Benson received the Alabama Library Association’s Blackwell Award for Research Promise.

Another honor received by SLIS was the induction of the late James Ramer, the school’s founding dean, into the College of Communication and In-formation Sciences Hall of Fame in fall 2008. In April 2009 Dean Ramer’s name was placed on the Alabama Librarians Roll of Honor for lifetime achievement and contributions to Alabama libraries.

Dr. Jennings Bryant, associate dean for graduate studies, received one of the highest honors awarded by "e University of Alabama as he was the recipient of "e Burnham Distinguished Faculty Award. Bryant also delivered invited lectures to universities in Asia and Europe as well as the United States.

Dr. Glenda Williams took o$ce as the president of the Broadcast Education Association. She is only the second University of Alabama faculty member to be the head of this national organization.

Dr. Shuhua Zhou escorted TCF students to the People’s Republic of China for a class in Chinese elec-tronic media. Zhou called upon his academic as well as professional contacts in order to have students have access to facilities others can not.

Dr. Francizca Weder from the University of Klagenfurt in Klagenfurt, Austria taught a course on Euro-pean media for TCF in the fall semester. She hopes to return this fall to teach again and do research.

"e department has hired two new faculty members in production to start in the fall semester to #ll the vacancies le% by the departures of Aaron Greer and Joey Goodsell. Dr. Rachel Raimist has an MFA in directing from UCLA and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She will be joined by Adam Schwartz who has an MFA from the University of New Orleans and is a past TCF undergraduate.

TCF has renamed its popular broadcast news sequence to broadcast and electronic news to re&ect the multiple news outlets available to our students beyond over-the-air broadcasting including opportunities in cable and the internet. "e TCF department is implementing more cross-platform courses in news and production.

Dr. Bill Evans previous service as member of the state of Alabama’s Pandemic In&uenza Preparedness Advisory Group proved particularly timely with the appearance of H1N1 &u this year. Evans currently serves on Alabama’s Emergency Preparedness Advisory Committee which is convened by the governor.

Dr. Johnny Sparks, assistant professor, received the Board of Visitor’s Commitment to Teaching Award.

Department of Telecommunication and FilmDr. Gary A. Copeland, chair

A sports media class was taught for the department by widely respected college sports writer Keith Dun-navant.

Dr. Pam Tran, assistant dean for undergraduate student services, was promoted from associate profes-sor to professor this year. She is the #rst woman “full” professor in the history of the TCF department. She ranks third out of total of 242 Broadcast Education Association faculty members in the number of awards in television arts, radio news, audio production and related activities. In audio/radio competition she is number one.

Producer/director Tom Cherones conducted his sixth capstone production class that turns a student written script into a twenty minute short. "is year’s production was Wolf at the Door.

TCF students were recognized for numerous achievements, including:- Nic Hoch received #rst place in sports anchoring from the Broadcast Education Association. Hoch also placed #rst in sports reporting for the region by the Society of Professional Journalists. - Also placing in the Society of Professional Journalists regional awards are Mary Scott Speigner, who placed third in TV; Daniel Cherry, who placed second in News and third in Feature Reporting; and Jordan Culberson, who placed second in Radio Feature Reporting.- Piper Broderick received honorable mention in Radio News from the National Broadcasting Society.- Daniel Cherry placed seventh in the radio news category in the William Randolph Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards Program for two of his pieces produced for Alabama Public Radio.

In a nutshell, the academic year for CIS O$ce for Graduate Studies has been one of change and con-tinued growth. During the #rst 18 years of the doctoral program, slightly more than six students per calendar year were hooded. In 2009 alone, it is likely that 19 doctoral students will graduate.

Prior to this year, the doctoral program has averaged slightly fewer than eight entering students per academic year. In marked contrast, it looks like 19 new doctoral students will enter this fall, plus three new doctoral students in January 2009 that count as part of this year’s new class. "e O$ce will probably begin the year with 64 doctoral students overall.

"e program will have at least six new full-fellowship doctoral students next year – including a McNair Fellow (Kenon Brown) and two SREB Fellows (Damien Larkin and Michelle Walton). "at is more than twice the number of fellowship students of previous years. "is speaks volumes about the quality of the new cohort group, but it also means that the program will be stretched thin to cover requests for teaching and research assistantships next year.

"e area of interest is shi%ing in this entering class of doctoral students. Historically, roughly 80 per-cent of doctoral students have emphasized mass communication, with 10 percent choosing information studies and 10 percent selecting critical, cultural and rhetorical studies. With this entering class, only 50 percent initially have declared that they are primarily interested in mass communication, with 10 percent opting for information studies and 40 percent indicating a primary interest in critical, cultural and rhe-torical studies. Curricular o!erings will need to be shi%ed to accommodate such changing interests.

"e new students bring a wonderful array of successful professional experiences to the doctoral program. On average, the entering students have slightly more than #ve years of professional experience, most in communication or cognate #elds.

Current CIS doctoral students have set some lo%y standards for this talented class to emulate. "e Col-lege has had more top-rated conference papers this year than in previous years. As just one example of the aforementioned success, the College led the region in top papers at the recent Southern States Commu-nication Association conference this April. "irteen CIS doctoral students had papers accepted for con-ference presentations and represented UA in an exemplary manner. Of the 16 SSCA divisions or interest groups, CIS won #ve top-paper awards (that’s 41 percent of the divisional top papers). CIS doctoral students Mia Long and Lauren Reichart were two of the three #nalists for the Robert Bostrom Young Scholar Award, which is awarded to the best student paper at the conference. Reichart was the winner.

Department of Graduate Studies Dr. Jennings Bryant, chair

"e CIS doctoral students who received Top Student Paper Honors in their respective divisions were:- Skye Chance Cooley won top student paper in the Political Communication Division for his paper “Entertainment Media and ‘Backstage’ Event Framing: How 24 de#nes Torture.”- Mia Long won top student paper in the Communication "eory Division for her paper “"e Role of Self-categorization "eory in Mass Media.”- Creshema Murray won top student paper in the Intercultural Communication Division. Her paper was titled “"e Rhetoric of Hope: "e Sculpting of Racial Identity for Barack Obama.” - Creshema Murray and Cynthia Nichols’ paper “Hip Hop Harry Loves to Learn” was one of two stu-dent top papers for the Popular Communication Division.- Lauren Reichart won top student paper in the Mass Communication Division for her paper “Type Up and Speak Out: Does the Internet Restrict the Spiral of Silence?”

Here is a list of other major conferences at which our students have presented papers, as well as the stu-dents who have presented these papers:- American Journalism Historians Association (Seattle): Dianne Bragg, Jonathan Ezell, Erika Pribanic-Smith.- Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference (Chicago): Dohyun Ahn, Seonkyoung An, Jee Young Chung, Skye Cooley, Andrew Dunn, Hal Hays, Jinae Kang, Jung Kyu Kim, Carly McKenzie, Juan Meng, Jon Mills, Lauren Reichart, Chang Wan Woo.- Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter conference (Norman, OK): Andrew Dunn, Jung Kyu Kim, Carly McKenzie, Creshema Murray, Cynthia Nichols, Lauren Reichart, Chang Wan Woo.- International Communication Association annual convention (Chicago): Seonkyoung An, Skye Cooley, Andrew Dunn (Top Student Paper, Media and Children Division), Jinae Kang, Juan Meng (Top Student paper, PR Division), Cynthia Nichols, Po-Lin Pan, Lauren Reichart, Guosong Shao, Chang Wan Woo.- National Communication Association (San Diego): Dohyun Ahn, Seonkyoung An, Amy Carwile (Top Student Paper, PR Division), Andrew Dunn, Elina Erzikova, Jackson Hataway, Jinae Knag, Carly McKenzie, Juan Meng, Terra Moody, Creshema Murray, Po-Lin Pan, Guosong Shao, Song Tian (Top Paper, Association for Chinese Communication Studies).- Popular Culture Association national convention (New Orleans): Ann Bourne, Dianne Bragg, Amy Carwile, Alexa Chilcutt, Mia Long, Creshema Murray, Cynthia Nichols, Mia Poston, Wendy Reed.

Karen Cook won "e University of Alabama’s top dissertation award for the year. "en her dissertation, entitled “Freedom Libraries in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project: A History,” won the 2009 Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award from the American Library Association.

"e ICIR creates and supports projects responsive to the needs of research funding agencies, media and information companies and community-based partners. "is year special e!orts were made to make CCIS more responsive to state, regional and national research priorities. Ongoing projects were nur-tured, and several new initiatives launched.

- Created a College Diversity Forum to support faculty collaboration in research related to diversity, and supported the CIS History Forum in their ongoing series of research presentations.

- Provided support for faculty grant development, including a Research Development Day and a day-long workshop with National Science Foundation program o$cers.

- Co-hosted visiting researchers and research agency o$cials, including Jay Bernhardt, director of the CDC’s National Center for Health Marketing.

- Submitted several large grant applications now under review, including proposals to the National Insti-tutes of Health and the Transportation Research Board.

Institute for Communication and Information ResearchDr. William Evans, director

- Supported research teams that bring College faculty together with faculty in UA’s health, nursing and social work schools to address issues of health literacy and health disparities.

- Continued our research partnership with Tuscaloosa’s VA Center, a partnership that will explore the role of communication in VA Center care and work to improve health literacy among veterans in rural Alabama.

- Collaborated with UA’s College of Engineering to develop research plans for a major weather research institute that will be housed at UA.

- Hosted more than 800 research participants in more than 40 research sessions in ICIR facilities.

"e Center for Public Television and Radio continues to expand its mission of educational and com-munity service. Opportunities for students have increased, while the audience for CPT&R’s radio and television programming grows.

Alabama Public Radio’s news department has restructured its sta! and priorities to focus on sound-rich, feature reporting. "e department has added two host/reporters and one full-time reporter to its sta!, resulting in expanded capacity for news reporting and student engagement. "e sta! is responsible for four local headline news features each week-day and 30 local news features each quarter.

"e commitment to quality local reporting, along with other program changes, appears to be working with listeners. According to the latest Arbitron report, Alabama Public Radio audience is at record highs. "e report marked the third straight record of audience growth and a 44 percent increase since spring 2007; its 50,000 weekly audience is the highest in the station’s recorded history.

APR’s local programming has also earned both local and regional awards, including seven Associated Press Awards and two Edward R. Murrow Awards—one for “Overall Excellence.”

CPT&R’s Production House continues to expand its client base and capacity for student training. With both professional sta! and student assistance, "e Production House is managing 21 projects with 10 di!erent clients. For WVUA-TV, "e Production House produced 23 sports events, covering women’s basketball, so%ball and gymnastics, as well as a new season of Crimson Classics, Crimson Notes and seven 30-second promos. "is year, "e Production House earned its #rst Emmy Award nomination.

CPT&R’s documentary unit was represented in 17 national and international #lm festivals. "e docu-mentary unit has successfully joined forces with another University institution, Dr. Doug Phillip’s Discovering Alabama, to increase the series’ annual output from four to seven episodes to allow for easier scheduling by Alabama Public Television.

On the heels of last year’s Alabama Music Hall of Fame, CPT&R partnered with Alabama Public Televi-sion to produce a two-hour live special, Alabama Stars in Education, and a two-hour documentary, Alabama Cra%. APT has expressed appreciation for CPT&R’s production expertise and we look forward to continuing the partnership.

With the technical support of CPT&R, WVUA-TV made a successful transition to digital broadcast-ing, WQPR-FM completed its Corporation for Public Broadcasting supported digital transmitter proj-ect, WUAL-FM completed its Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) supported HD multi-casting initiative and CPT&R completed its PTFP supported nonlinear editing upgrades.

CPT&R’s long-running television series, Martha’s Sewing Room, continues its national distribution, including a third season on the new “PBS Create” digital channel. Over the last year, carriage of the series has increased from 76 percent to more than 79 percent of the national market. Major markets were added to the list, including Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Antonio. Even more dramatically, the num-ber of television channels carrying the series has increased from 427 to 490 stations.

Center for Public Television and RadioElizabeth Brock, director

CPT&R built on its academic mission by expanding its role in teaching and mentoring students. Seven CPT&R sta! work as contract and adjunct faculty for the College and all divisions pro-vide paid and unpaid opportunities for more than 20 students.

In conjunction with the University’s Initiative for Ethics and Social Responsibility, Production House Producer Andrew Grace led a team of students in the production and public screening of six short #lms covering di!erent stories of social justice.

CPT&R documentary television productions include new epi-sodes for the ongoing series Martha’s Sewing Room, Bookmark, and Discovering Alabama, as well the following specials:- Alabama Cra%: Tradition & Innovation: A two-hour documentary sampling the works, visions and philosophies of seven Alabama artists: potters Jerry Brown and Charles Smith, quilters Mozell Benson and Bettye Kimbrell, glassblower Cal Breed, musical instrument maker Gene Ivey and blacksmith John Phillips. - Songs Inside the Box: A one-hour documentary #lm that takes viewers to the world’s largest concert of cigar box guitar music and provides a unique glimpse into a popular hobby and growing movement of self expression participants call the cigar box guitar revolution. Premiered on Alabama Public Television on April 14. - Alabama Stars In Education: A co-production among CPT&R, Alabama Public Television and the Alabama State Department of Education, the two-hour awards special premiered live on May 13. "e program honored #ve exceptional public high school students and featured the announcement of Ala-bama’s Teacher of the Year.

One year ago the station received the long sought a%er permission from the FCC to convert the analog broadcast operation to a powerful digital facility located on Red Mountain. "e station was designated a laboratory, placed under Provost Judy Bonner, and funding was provided for the digital upgrade.

"e assembled transition team moved at remarkable speed to complete the plans for the digital upgrade, have the engineer-ing plans vetted by outside parties such as Raycom Media’s engineering team, and implement the overall strategic plan for the project.

On June 12th WUOA ceased analog broadcasting and began digital broadcasting to more than three million over-the-air viewers. "e increase in over-the-air reach for the station is historic for a television broadcast operation in Alabama. Our new digital signal immediately generated positive responses from new viewers from as far away as Cherokee County, Talladega County, Walker County, Childersburg and other distant places.

"e station was selected to be the “"is TV” network a$liate for the Birmingham, DMA and has acquired strong syndicated programming such as Martha Stewart, Cold Case Files, "e FBI Files and the Cosby Show. In addition to strong syndicated programs, the station produced and aired University of Alabama volleyball, gymnastics, so%ball, basketball and replays of the football games.

To meet the challenge of the current economic climate the station has recruited new advertisers, cut expenses and is moving forward with its plan to expand the sales team with seasoned television sales professionals who will be able to sell to the much larger television market.

"e station has been an outstanding University representative in the local community and the profes-sional broadcasting community. Students and sta! have been involved in numerous public a!airs projects

WVUA -TVRoy Clem, general manager

including the “L.I.T.E.” literacy campaign that has resulted in signi#cant numbers of student and adult volunteers to work with various literacy service providers. Another example of the many public service projects the station’s students and sta! supported during the past year is the DCH Cancer Center campaign. "e station was able to raise awareness regarding the need for the new center and assisted in raising funds for the center.

On the professional side, the station again won numerous Associated Press Awards for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism in the Professional category as well as two Alabama Broadcasters Association Awards “ABBYs” for Broadcast Excellence. "e “ABBY” awards were especially rewarding because the station competed against the biggest stations in the Bir-mingham market and won, with one of the two awards going to a student reporter.

Once again, the backbone of the station has been its student employees, interns and volunteers guided by a handful of caring professionals. During the past year, the station has had a total of 161 students working: 125 in news reporting, seven in sales, one in tra$c and 28 in production. "is group has fully demonstrated public service by producing 13.5 hours of community oriented newscasts each week. "at’s 702 hours per year of student work that informs, inspires and entertains the local community. Along with that, the station has presented University of Alabama marketing messages valued in excess of $321,000.

'uite simply, it has been a very busy and rewarding year at the station and we anticipate that as the station obtains full cable carriage in the Birmingham DMA, over the next several months, the station’s revenues should begin to grow, even in a down market.

The University of Alabama College of Communication and Information SciencesBox 870172Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0172205-348-5520cis.ua.edu

The University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences