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MM&C Program News

 

 

Fall 2007 SCT Grad Poster Session December 10 [12.07.07]

Come see what some of the SCT graduate students have been working on during the Fall 2007 semester at the SCT Grad Poster Session on Monday, December 10 at 6 pm in the Atrium (Annenberg Hall). Students in four SCT grad classes will be presenting their final papers: JOUR5001 Contemporary Issues in Journalism; MMC9002 Researching Communication I; MMC 9003 PhD Colloquium; and MMC9700 International Development Communication. Refreshments will be served!

Fall 2007 Semester Party [11.25.07]

Students, alums, faculty and friends of MM&C gathered for the Fall 2007 semester party on Friday, November 16, 2007. The potluck event was held at the home of Professor Fabienne Darling-Wolf in Mt. Airy and hosted as usual by the first year cohort. A good time was had by all!

MM&C Course Changes [04.12.07]

Effective in fall 2007, most MM&C courses will be offered for 4 rather than 3 courses. This change means the typical "full-time" load of 9 credits allows students to take three rather than two courses each semester. Therefore,

  • Our pedagogy (Teaching Communication) course will be available to first-year students as well as second- and third-year students
  • First-year students can take electives in addition to the core required courses
  • MM&C can offer two electives rather than one each semester
  • Second- and third-year students have more variety and depth in their coursework

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Ninth Annual SCT Graduate Student Research Forum [02.24.07]

The Ninth Annual SCT Graduate Student Research Forum was held on Friday, February 23, 2007, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Tuttleman Learning Center and was a very enlightening and enjoyable event. Congratulations to the authors of the award-winning papers: Dianne Garyantes, Kelly Ryan and Ted Nannicelli of the Film & Media Arts Department, who received award plaques and $200, $150 and $100 prizes.

Spring 2007 Semester Party May 11 [02.14.07]

All students, alums, faculty and friends of MM&C are invited to the semester party for spring 2007, which will be held on Friday May 11. Details will be posted here and on the MMC listserv as the date approaches!

MM&C Ranked in Top 10 in U.S. in Chronicle Index [01.20.07]

The MM&C program was ranked among the top 10 doctoral programs in Mass Communication/Media Studies in the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index compiled by Academic Analytics and published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The details are available here (see the report on the Chronicle web site here).

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Fall 2006 Semester Party December 8 [11.12.06]

The MM&C first-year cohort invites everyone to the Fall 2006 Semester and holiday party. Festivities will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, December 8at Fab Darling-Wolf's house. For more information please contact Tina Peterson.

New MM&C Policies and Procedures [10.19.06]

The MM&C faculty has approved several important changes in the program's Policies and Procedures. The changes, described below and included in the Policies and Procedures on the program's web site, are to be followed for all students now in their first year in the program; students in their second year and beyond may choose to follow either the old or new policies and procedures. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your advisor.

CHANGES IN MM&C POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

1. Preliminary examinations redesigned

The preliminary examinations have been redesigned to better assess the student's overall knowledge in the field rather than knowledge in narrow topic areas linked to her or his dissertation. Rather than a selection of three from seven topic areas, the new examinations consist of a question in each of three topic categories: Communication Theory, Research Methods, and Other (the last topic category includes Communication History, Institutions, Message Systems, Behavior, etc.).

2. New procedures for evaluating examination answers

The written responses to the set of preliminary examination questions continue to be evaluated on a pass/fail basis by the student's three member examination committee. But if the student's performance on all three questions is deemed acceptable, no oral defense is conducted and the student will have passed the examinations. If the student's performance on any of the three questions is deemed below average by the committee, the student is required to have an oral defense of the examinations, after which the members of the committee determine whether the student has passed the examinations or must re-take them (as before and following Graduate School policy, students may only attempt the preliminary examinations twice).

3. Examinations no longer directly linked to dissertation proposal defense

The timing of the preliminary examinations and dissertation proposal defense has been changed. The student first takes and passes the examinations. She or he is then expected to defend the dissertation proposal within 120 days. Only in cases of extreme need that establish clear and compelling reasons why a student has not yet defended the dissertation proposal can she or he petition the MM&C faculty for a waiver of the 120-day limit between preliminary examinations and proposal defense. Otherwise the student will be considered not to be making satisfactory progress toward the degree and will be ineligible for assistantship support or a Dissertation Completion grant. If the proposal is not defended within one year after the student passes the preliminary examinations, she or he must retake the examinations.

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Eighth Annual SCT Graduate Student Research Forum [03.03.06]

Students, faculty, and friends of the MM&C Program attended the Eighth Annual SCT Graduate Student Research Forum, which was held on Friday February 24, 2006. Seventeen MM&C students presented their research at the Forum, revealing both the breadth and the depth of work being done in our program. Special congratulations go to the authors of the award-winning papers: Leanne Chang, Sue Robinson, and Melissa Lenos. And special thanks go to the GRF faculty committee who organized this event: chair Michael Maynard, Jan Fernback, Nancy Morris, and Renee Hobbs.

Fall 2005 Semester Party December 9 [12.12.05]

Members of the MM&C community celebrated the end of the fall 2005 semester on Friday, December 9th at the home of Professor Matthew Lombard in Center City Philadelphia. MM&C director Carolyn Kitch wrote that the party "was one of our best-attended in a long time, and there was a wonderful variety of excellent food and drink. Many thanks go to: Matthew Lombard, who opened his home to us; everyone who brought delicious food; and the first-year MMC students who did a great job organizing the event. This was the last party we will have at Quince Street, and we are especially grateful to Matthew for his hospitality there for many years."

Sad News: Richard Woodard has Died [10.22.05]

MM&C director Carolyn Kitch has reported the very sad news of the death of MM&C student Richard Woodard. Few details are available on what happened but Richard was reported to have died from natural causes. Carolyn was Richard's advisor and wrote the following in a post to the MMC listserv: "As many of you know, Richard was an enthusiastic, inquisitive, and supportive student, researcher, and teacher. He had finished his coursework and was working on preparing for his exams and writing his dissertation proposal, which was to be on male body imagery in men's magazines. I am sure that this work would have made an important contribution to gender scholarship. Certainly he will be greatly missed as a colleague and a friend."  Letters of condolence can by sent to Richard's mother at this address:

Wilma Woodard
110 River Drive
Beaufort, North Carolina 28516

EndNote Available via Temple Site License [09.12.05]

EndNote software, which helps users organize and manage bibliographic materials, is available free to MM&C students through a site license program at Temple. To obtain a copy, please send an e-mail message to the SCT technology administrator at commhelp@temple.edu to arrange an appointment to pick up the software; please specify your platform choice (i.e. Windows or Macintosh).

Sad News: Sidra Lombard has Died [09.12.05]

MM&C director Carolyn Kitch has announced the sad news that Sidra Lombard, Matthew Lombard's dog who played an important role at MM&C semester parties and elsewhere in making us all feel like a community, died on August 30, 2005. Click here for more information about, and pictures of, Sidra.

MM&C Program News from previous years is archived here.

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