Azusa Pacific University Communication Studies

12/07/2019

Honoring our fall 2019 graduates, including our Honors students, in our senior reception. We are proud and thankful, and we will be rooting for them as they move on to great things!

12/04/2019

Our Thanksgiving break was full of international action. Last week, our very own Ismael Lopez Medel participated along with 150 scholars from all over the world in an international conference on arts and cultures in Madrid, Spain. The topic of his lecture was “Street Art in the Service of Capitalism”.

12/02/2019

Over break our very own Professor Jim Willis was invited to lecture in Germany, at Wittenberg University, where he lectured at a conference of about eighty top teachers across Germany. The topic: Searching for Unity in Diversity. We are proud of our profs!

11/20/2019

Dr. Davis returned Sunday night from the National Communication Association (NCA) Annual Convention in Baltimore, MD. with two APU Communication Studies majors, Sierra Bridge (a Dec 2019 grad) and Anna Dickinson (a May 2020 grad), who presented original research at the conference.

Originally conceptualized in Dr. Ryan Montague’s COMM 300 Communication Research Methods course Spring 2018, Sierra and Anna studied the effects of emotional suppression on college roommate conflict, using focus group data and analysis. They were awarded a SURE (Scholarly Undergraduate Research Experience) grant and I had the great pleasure of supervising their research, as Dr. Montague went on sabbatical in the fall of 2018.

Their research paper was accepted for presentation at the 2019 NCA Annual Convention, as part of the Interpersonal Communication Division. This past weekend, they engaged with the questions of many interested faculty and grad students, responding authoritatively and humbly about their research. One even asked Sierra if she was ABD (all but dissertation), assuming she was already a seasoned grad student!

We also got to connect with Camille Endacott (2015 APU Communication Studies alumna and Ronald Award winner), who is a 5th year Ph.D. student (ABD) at UC Santa Barbara. It was a great representation of the good work of APU students and grads. We’re proud of all of them!

11/20/2019

Today our public relations majors are learning digital analytics from one of the university’s experts in digital analytics. It’s a huge field and we’re excited to have Jordan Abbott with us today.

10/30/2019

Fantastic event today for PUBR students! We hosted the founder and director of Di Moda PR, a top form from LA. It was a great opportunity to learn from top professionals, we loved it!

10/30/2019

10/25/2019

Alumni highlight: recent alumni Justine Brown just started her job this last week at PAN Communications in San Francisco. Justine graduated in Spring 2019 with her BA in Public Relations. Keep up the good work Justine Brown!

10/23/2019

Our Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter at APU is busy this semester! The next event is a gathering of some of LA's top journalists while enjoying breakfast at Kaiser Permanente LA, Tuesday, November 5 from 8:00am -9:30am. The panel is focusing on big issues and trends in LA and building relationships with local media. Students can get in for only $10.

10/21/2019

Our Department launched last year a local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSSA). Last week, 3 of our PRSSA students had the opportunity to volunteer at a PRSA-LA PRism awards event. They had the opportunity to network with award-winning professionals as well as organize and give the awards to the winning teams.

10/15/2019

What happened last week: The Saddleridge Fire spread quickly due to Santa Ana winds, Edison Power and PG and E have cut power to homes during times of high winds, and Ellen Degeneres still faces backlash for befriending former President George W. Bush.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/us/california-power-outage-friday/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSZtjol7mJA

An angry California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed the state's largest utility over its power shutoffs, saying they're the result of years of mismanagement and greed.

10/12/2019

We recently had the chance to catch up with one of our alumni Hannah Thomas (Public Relations '17) who works in the communication department of the Oakland Raiders. She was just in London with the Raiders as they played in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as part of the NFL's expansion to Europe. Next year, she will join the team as they move to Las Vegas. Way to go Hannah!