On January 15th, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's day of service – and in honor of its second year of podcasting The Climate Daily – The Climate, Inc. launched its inaugural Climate Champions project. The goal was to get 33 of our followers/listeners to commit to donating $3/day for 4 months, enough to plant 10,000 trees—a 20-acre forest in California. Jeffrey Madison, co-founder and CEO of The Climate Inc., said “Not only did we do it, all 33 Climate Champions signed up and donated in just one week!” (see tweet) “We looking forward to launching our second Climate Champions campaign soon.”
The local neighborhood magazine Stroll Spring Valley features this month an article about the Full Moon Tours of AU's campus, a community-oriented undertaking organized in 2016 by Joe Campbell in cooperation with AU landscape architect Mike Mastrota and grounds supervisor Stephanie de Stefano. The article described the tours -- which were resumed in Fall 2022 after a hiatus forced by the Covid-19 pandemic -- as "a great way to learn more about the past, present, and future of AU's bustling campus." It also noted that the tour in November 2022 "ended on AU's East Campus under a spectacular full moon."
Aram Sinnreich and the students of COMM 754 Media Law & Policy traveled to the White House to meet with the Chief of Staff of the Office of Science Technology & Policy.
Professors Aram Sinnreich and Patricia Aufderheide, and SOC PhD students Mariana Sanchez-Santosand Neil W. Perry, published a new article in Communication Law & Policy entitled "Performative media policy: Section 230’s evolution from regulatory statute to loyalty oath.” The article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1080/10811680.2022.2136472
Patricia Aufderheide led a workshop on Jan. 27 about values, ethics and accountability at the Independent Television Service, the part of public broadcasting that coproduces independent documentaries for programs such as Independent Lens, POV, American Masters, American Experience, and Frontline.
SOC adjunct professor Gillie Haynes, who is currently working on a masters certification in Teaching, Design and Facilitation at AU’s School of Education, took part in an experiential learning expedition via the school's International Training and Education Program (ITEP) at the historic Highlander Research and Education Center, located on an Appalachian mountainside of Tennessee. Read about it at bit.ly/auITEPatHIGHLANDER.
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication has approved a panel titled “Covering Gun Violence Ethically, Legally and Professionally” for its Aug. 7-9 annual conference in Washington, D.C. SOC professors John Sullivan, W. Joseph Campbell and John C. Watson will be on the panel.
SOC Adjunct Professor Adam Konowe has been named co-chair of the National Press Club's broadcast/podcast team for 2023. In late January, Adam presented a one-hour lecture on business-to-business branding, marketing and thought leadership trends to small-business owners enrolled at Keele University, his undergraduate study abroad alma mater, the second such presentation in two years.
Priya Doshi was an invited panelist for a session of American University Model UN (AmeriMUNC) chapter largest convening of the year. The Panel called HOW TO THINK LIKE A DIPLOMAT: STRATEGIES BUILT FOR NEGOTIATION involved how to apply principles of civil discourse to public diplomacy. AmeriMUNC convened more than 800 high school students at AU for this annual conference.
The Library Journal published an advance review of Caty Borum's forthcoming book, The Revolution Will Be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power (NYU Press, 2023), calling it "an important addition to support multidisciplinary research in the social sciences and fine arts, with a wide appeal for those interested in the role of activist comedy on emerging social media platforms.”
The European Journal of Humor Research published a positive new review of Caty Borum's and Lauren Feldman's co-authored book, A Comedian and An Activist Walk Into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice (UC Press, 2020): "...a well-researched and invaluable attempt to foreground the social, political, and environmental impacts of comedy at a historical moment when social and economic inequalities are increasing."
Jane Hall’s American Forum interview with students and January 6 police officers Daniel Hodges and Harry Dunn is highlighted ----along with the video excerpts—online in the winter edition of American magazine.https://www.american.edu/magazine/article/seeing-is-believing.cfm
SOC alums are playing a starring role on NBC’s Today Show. Jill Olmsted reports that two of her former broadcast students are having reoccurring reporting gigs on the morning show. Investigative reporter Catie Beck has been reporting from South Carolina on the drama in the murder trial of the attorney accused of killing his wife and son. Reporter Emilie Ikeda reported on the upcoming Beyonce world tour. It pays to be a pack rat as Jill had just played one of Emilie’s stories in her audio class on Monday.
Maggie Burnette Stogner and Jeffrey Madison were both invited to participate in an outstanding “Craft the Climate Narrative” convening last week. Axios Climate and Energy Reporter Andrew Freedman and Energy Reporter Ben Geman moderated at this invitation-only roundtable discussion focused on the role storytelling plays in creating and disseminating climate narratives and successful messaging on environmental issues in today’s era of information overload. Representatives from the Union of Concerned Scientists to Greenpeace to the U.S. Climate Alliance and National Wildlife Federation attended. The event was supported by the National Geographic Society as an extension of their annual Nat Geo Storytelling Summit.
Dr. Maya Livio is joining the Center For Environmental Filmmaking as an Associate Director. Please join Executive Director Maggie Burnette Stogner and the rest of the CEF team in congratulating Dr. Livio!
Kurt Braddock appeared on The Morning Show with Mary Jacobsen last week to discuss stochastic terrorism and his next book exploring the topic. In the interview, Kurt commented on the public rhetoric of elected officials and his thoughts regarding the future trajectory of the United States and its capacity for avoiding large-scale violence.
This past week, Kurt also signed a contract with Edward Elgar publishing to produce an edited volume on the dynamics of radicalization. In this volume, Kurt will include between 25 and 30 chapters from terrorism researchers, security experts, and others to explore the social, cultural, psychological, and communicative dimensions of the radicalization process. Kurt will also contribute two chapters to the book, respectively related to counter-radicalization dynamics and the role of disinformation in radicalization processes. The book, titled The Research Handbook on Radicalization, will be Kurt's third book and his first edited volume.
Jack Hornady, Public Communication adjunct professor (and Professor Anya Karavanov’s husband), has a solo art show at the D.C. chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIADC), where 21 of his beautiful paintings will be on display from February 7 to May 10.