Sovannie Len and Kyungin Kim’s paper is “Who Matters in Asian American Movies? A Content Analysis of Subgroup Representation and Intergroup Dynamics,” A top paper in the Communication and Social Cognition Division of NCA.
Kyungin Kim, Jennifer Kam, Ricardo Delgado, Solis, Karla Vazquez, and Roselia Mendez’s paper is “Exploring the Effects and Content of Gratitude Expressions in Latina/o/x/e Couples Experiencing Migration-Based Family Separation: A Mixed-Methods Study,” A top paper in the Interpersonal Communication Division of NCA.
Erick Garcia’s paper is “Counterspeech: A Review of Bystander Intervention, Source Effects, and Support for Victims of Online Hate Messages,” A top student paper in the Group Communication Division of NCA.
Dr. Hannah Stevens is Temporary Lecturer, following her recent role in the same position at the University of California, Davis, where she taught courses including Research Methods, Communication Theories, and Health Communication. Before that, she was a T32 National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, where she received training in psychophysiology and tobacco regulatory science. Broadly speaking, her work focuses on the interactions among social media, their users, and their social contexts, emphasizing ways social media can be leveraged to mitigate health disparities. When she’s not working, Hannah loves binge-watching reality shows, making cupcakes, and spending quality time with her two senior dogs, Cleo and Coke, at the dog park!
Dr. Jiaying Liu has been awarded a National Institute on Drug Abuse R01 grant as a Co-Investigator, developed with colleagues at the UC San Diego School of Public Health. The research team will also be working closely with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. The over $3 million project goes from July 2025 to April 2030. The project, titled “Strengthening text-based warning labels on cannabis edible packages” focuses on enhancing health warning messages for recreational cannabis products in California, using experimental and eye-tracking methods.
Brittany Wheeler won a Top Poster Award from the Information Systems Division of ICA (Denver, June) for her poster entitled "Is Academic Online Bullying a Widespread Phenomenon? A Study of Scholarly Discourse on Twitter/X."
Cynthia McLeod has accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Arts, Media and Writing Studies in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts at the University of California, Merced (see https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/majors/gasp).
The UCSB Graduate Student Association would like to congratulate the following winners and honorable mentions for this year’s Excellence in Teaching Awards (ETA). The applications this year were of incredible caliber and every applicant should be proud of their work. We have had an unprecedented number of applications and are proud that ETA has become an important part of the recognition of the work of graduate student teachers on our campus. This year 4 of the 12 winners were from the Department of Communication: Alan Crawley, Musa Malik, Lindsay Miller, and Hannah Overbye-Thompson!
Assistant Professor Madrigal has been selected as this year’s Chicanx/Latinx Graduación Ceremony Speaker. The Chicanx/Latinx Graduación, also known as CLG, or the UCSB Comunidad Latinx Graduación is a student-run organization that funds for its own graduation by coordinating fundraisers, finding generous sponsors, and collecting member fees. The UCSB Comunidad Latinx Graduación is an end of the year celebration for Latinx students and families.
Minghui and Robin Nabi have been awarded a top paper in the Health Communication division of the International Communication Association Conference (held in Denver, June) this year, for their paper entitled "Media versus Meditation: A comparison of the stress-relieving benefits of four media experiences".