Emerson College School of Communication

05/05/2026

When Matt Mascobetto, MA’26, traveled to Poland in January to support deaf and hard-of-hearing Ukrainian refugees, the experience felt deeply personal, shaped by his own upbringing in a multilingual immigrant household.

“It’s really humbling, seeing people in these circumstances and realizing that our profession can help people past country boundaries,” said Mascobetto. “When we seek out these opportunities, we can make a difference in that community, and it’s really special to see [how] the way we practice our profession can have long-term impacts. A lot of these families were in tears after we gave them hearing aids.”

Read more about his journey to Emerson College Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders and Ukraine on Emerson Today.
https://today.emerson.edu/2026/04/29/mascobetto-ma-26-supports-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-ukrainian-refugees/

05/01/2026

Gen X came of age in analog, built careers through the digital revolution, and now finds itself helping define what creativity, leadership, and authenticity mean in the age of AI.

That perspective shaped a recent conversation hosted by Business of Creative Enterprises @ Emerson College, as part of its 10th anniversary celebration. The forum brought together alumni, faculty, and industry leaders to reflect on how creative professionals can adapt to constant change without losing sight of their voice, values, or point of view.

Thank you to moderator Brenna McCormick, MA ’06, Senior Executive-in-Residence and Director of BCE, and to our panelists for sharing their insight and experience:

Michael Gilday ’99 reminded students that creativity is rooted in lived experience: “Great creativity is not made, it’s discovered.”

Dave Habeeb, MA ’91, spoke to the importance of keeping technology connected to humanity: “If I’m going to succeed in the digital world, it needs to be grounded in the analog, or dare I say, human world.”

Nina Webb ’96 offered a valuable perspective from her years in the music industry, recalling early skepticism about the internet and urging students to see new technologies as tools rather than threats: “Understand that there is room for many different elements of technology, and they aren’t always trying to replace each other.”

And Dr. Brent Smith emphasized the value of authenticity, community, and creative confidence: “You need to be in your own frame, and your own system, because that is the system that won’t fail.”

At a moment when AI is reshaping creative work, the panel offered a clear message to students and emerging professionals: embrace the tools, but don’t outsource your voice, your process, or your point of view.

Read more in Emerson Today: bit.ly/BCE-intersection26

04/24/2026

Recognition matters — not just for those who receive awards, but also for those whose work earns the respect of their professors and peers.

Earlier this month, the School of Communication gathered for its annual SOC Awards, celebrating student achievement across a wide range of categories. This year’s ceremony also marked an important step forward: in addition to the schoolwide SOC Awards, each of our four academic departments presented awards of their own, making the program more inclusive and reflective of the breadth of disciplines and talents across SOC.

We were proud to honor this year’s recipients, and just as proud to recognize every nominee. With 79 nominations for School of Communication awards alone, plus another 75 for departmental honors, the event was a powerful reminder of the talent, dedication, community, and respect that define the School of Communication.

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and award recipients. We see you, and appreciate you.

Read more and see the program recording at Emerson Today: bit.ly/SOCawards26

2026 SOC Award Recipients:
DJ Mara, Bushe Wang, Averie Morren, Oliver Katz, Amaya Briones, Jocelyne Castellanos, Logan Ramos, Carter Castaneda, Iselin Bratz, Bryan Hecht, Meg Richards, Emily Martinez, Jules Telfort, Everest Leach , Arthur Mansavage, Katelyn Chen, Jordan Fayne, Elani Waight, Briana Cordon, Logan Braden, Kendi Bispham, Shibo Mu, Olivia DeCesare, Harry Sostek

📸 : Melis Basaran

03/31/2026

What do SXSW, Bad Bunny, and research spanning AI to autism have in common?

They’re all part of the latest SOC News.

Inside this issue:
• Faculty revealing new discoveries through new questions
• Students reporting from SXSW
• Research on how Bad Bunny’s music shapes social awareness
• A student agency working with a national journalism organization
• Student journalists covering Super Bowl media week

It’s a snapshot of how communication is being taught and learned by doing.

Dive into the full issue: https://conta.cc/47IQPwP

03/23/2026

Emerson’s Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders is a community of faculty, clinicians, and students whose work begins with care—to help individuals and families navigate physiological and neurological communication challenges.

Among the faculty—each with their own specialty—two professors are considered leaders in the field of autism research, and once again they are sharing findings with colleagues from around the globe during the spring conference circuit. (Fun fact: many of their colleagues and current and former students are presenting their own research as well.)

Professor Rhiannon Luyster is a developmental psychologist whose research focuses on autism, with a longstanding interest in early social cognition. In March, she presented seven posters at the biannual Meeting on Autism Language (MoLA), for which she is co-organizer and founding member, and she will present another two at April’s International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) annual meeting in Prague.

Ruth Grossman, Professor and Director of the FACE Lab, explores face-to-face communication among autistic and non-autistic children and adults, examining how conversation partners integrate verbal and nonverbal information and how that communication is perceived. Professor Grossman is the co-author of six posters at MoLA), and seven posters being presented at INSAR.

Communication is connection, and we are proud of our faculty, clinicians, and students helping individuals and families be understood.

02/24/2026

In a marketplace flooded with beauty unboxings, coffee run snapshots, and celebratory hauls, the act of buying something just for yourself can feel ubiquitous–even trivial. However, a new study by professors Brent Smith and Sereikhuoch Eng delves beneath the surface of this everyday behavior, revealing that self-gifting may be tied to something deeper: the psychological imprint of relationships formed early in life.

In their study, ‘Drivers of self-gifting motivations: insecure attachment, compulsive and impulsive buying and existential isolation,’– published in the Journal of Consumer Marketing – Smith and Eng surveyed hundreds of U.S. consumers to understand why some people are drawn to self-gifting–purchasing products for themselves without external prompts.

What emerged was a clear pattern: individuals with insecure attachment styles, whether anxious or avoidant, were more likely to turn to these purchases as a form of emotional reward or compensation.

The study uses attachment theory, a psychological framework often used to explain how early bonds with caregivers shape emotional responses throughout someone’s life, as the basis of its research. It found that both anxious and avoidant attachment–patterns linked to insecurity in close relationships–can push consumers toward self-gifting as a way to soothe disappointment or reaffirm self-worth.

For some, that may show up as buying a treat after a long week. For others, it might be a symbolic gesture to offset a letdown or a way of expressing self-care when emotional support feels scarce.

The implications extend beyond psychology into retail marketing strategy. By understanding that emotional needs, not just taste or trend, can drive self-gifting purchases, marketers could tailor messaging that acknowledges those motivations more thoughtfully. For example, messaging that speaks to self-acceptance may resonate differently with someone who struggles with avoidant attachment than with someone whose insecurity centers on self-doubt.

What this research ultimately suggests is that self-gifting is not merely a spontaneous indulgence on a whim. For many consumers, it’s a behavior rooted in emotional experience and psychological history, revealing that the products we choose for ourselves can say as much about our inner lives as they do about our preferences.

https://www.emerald.com/jcm/article-abstract/doi/10.1108/JCM-03-2025-7698/1334767/Drivers-of-self-gifting-motivations-insecure?redirectedFrom=fulltext

02/20/2026

UPDATE: Due to the weather, this has sadly been cancelled.

Next week, the Business of Creative Enterprises - Emerson College program presents a double header for any and all Emersonians who have faced their fears and pursued their passions from the margins, and who are open to new ways of managing their stress…in any field.

On Tuesday, February 24th, at 7:00PM in the Bright Family Screening Room, anyone is welcome to attend Beautiful Was The Fight: Documentary Screening + Q&A with Dave Habeeb (MA '91), Ruby Rose Fox ('07), and Liz Bills

Beautiful Was the Fight is an engaging and deeply personal portrait of women artists from Boston’s music scene fighting for equality, recognition, and meaningful change. Through powerful live performances, behind-the-scenes studio footage, and candid interviews, the complex layers of identity, resilience, and the transformative power of music to create profound human connections are explored. As the artists face challenges such as a dwindling number of venues and affordable rehearsal spaces—threatening the very heartbeat of their craft—the film captures the unrelenting spirit of a music community determined to redefine its cultural landscape.

Incorporating themes of inclusion and solidarity, with an urgent message about the need to create economically sustainable futures for artists, Beautiful Was the Fight is more than just a music documentary—it’s a call to action and a celebration of creativity that will inspire audiences everywhere.

Free RSVP Required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1982203435836?aff=oddtdtcreator

Then, on Wednesday, February 25th, from 6-8pm in the Judee, current students are welcome to attend a workshop with Ruby Rose Fox (‘07): Being Seen without Avoidance or Burnout: Nervous System Tools for Creatives. This workshop is for creatives who are tired of swinging between hiding and forcing.

In this two-hour session, Ruby Rose Fox (a performer, musician, and nervous system educator) and her Muscle Music partner Colin Sipos, guide artists and future creative entrepreneurs through the why behind visibility fatigue and the how of building sustainable capacity for being witnessed.

After this workshop, students will be able to:
- Understand why being seen can feel unsafe...even when you want it.
- Recognize the nervous system patterns behind avoidance, freeze, and overdrive
- Stay present and connected while your work is witnessed
- Expand their capacity for visibility without self-abandonment
- Recover more quickly and gently after exposure
- Create from a body that doesn’t shut down or burn out when it’s time to show up

Whether you’re a performer, musician, writer, teacher, or creative entrepreneur, this workshop offers practical, body-based tools to help you be seen without losing yourself in the process.

Free sign-up required: https://forms.gle/D7Zfx9Tcsfds3Bm67

02/06/2026

Hyperlocal news plays a quiet but essential role in many communities – especially those where local stories too often go untold.

For students like Amyah Bishop and Iselin Bratz, that absence was personal. Both came to Emerson from small towns where they saw firsthand what happens when local journalism disappears.

“I saw homelessness growing in my town and never saw it covered in our paper,” Bishop said. “I wanted to change that.”

Through the Hyperlocal News Initiative, journalism students are paired with local and community-based publications—often small newsrooms with limited staff and resources. The work gives students real reporting experience while helping publications cover stories that matter to their communities.

Unlike traditional internships, students are financially compensated for their reporting, allowing them to focus fully on the work and the responsibility that comes with it.

“The experience reinforced both my respect for local journalism and my awareness of the realities of working within it,” Bratz said.

09/27/2025

The School of Communication proudly joins Sustainable Emerson and the many faculty, alumni, and students contributing to the 2025 Teach In on Sustainability. Together, we're working today to make good things endure, and advance hope for a better, sustainable tomorrow. See the schedule at bit.ly/EmersonSustains

08/22/2025

All the world’s a stage… and once again Emerson snags the spotlight!

Hot off The Princeton Review press:
• Thanks to the hard work of its student journalists and editors, The Berkeley Beacon roars to #2 Best College Newspaper—talk about front-page news!

• WERS, Emerson's pride of the airwaves for more than 75 years, lands #4 Best College Radio Station—tune in and crank it even higher!

• And the whole college? Emerson is shining bright at #2 Best College Theater—BRAVO!!!

Whether you’re reading, listening, or watching, Emerson’s excellence is on repeat. Let’s hear it for the creatives making every narrative, broadcast, and performance unforgettable!

Ratings are based on surveys distributed to students.