EIU Master of Arts in Communication Studies

Recent Graduate Student Accolades

• Raya Petty receied the 2017 Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants

• Kelli Halfman was named the 2017 Distinguished Graduate Student from the Department of Communication Studies

• Olubusola Akinpelu was named the 2017 Distinguished International Graduate Student from the Department of Communication Studies

• Clinton Brown was named a 2016 Hamand Society Scholar

• Anna Percival received the 2016 EIU Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants
  
  
• Anna Percival received an Honorable Mention in the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools excellence in graduate teaching competition
  
  

• Two students were awarded the Graduate School Research and Creative Activity Grants for the 2016/17 academic year

  • Brandon Goodman
  • Allison Grussing

• Clinton Brown was named 2015/16 Distinguished Graduate Student from the Department of Communication Studies

• Clinton Brown was named the 2015/16 Department of Communication Studies Outstanding Graduate Students
  
  

• Three students were awarded Williams Travel Grants for the 2015/16 academic year
  • Clinton Brown
  • Bianca Tomlin
  • Jamie Alexander

• Kelli Halfman received a Top Student Submission Award from the Illinois Communication and Theatre Association conference (September 2015)
  
  
• Clinton Brown received Norton Higher Education Student Award at the Illinois Communication and Theatre Association conference (September 2014)
  
  
• Ethan Kruger and Clinton Brown’s ICTA panel: “Best Practices for Leveraging Technology and Popular Culture in the Classroom” was voted Best Panel of ICTA and were invited to re-present at the Central States Communication Association’s Annual Conference (September 2014)
  
  
• Audra Clodfelter’s paper Responding to Boston: Improving Marathon Reputations and Stakeholder Relations through Pre-Crisis Communication was designated as the Top Student Paper by the Public Relations Division of the Central States Communication Association
  
  
• Audra Clodfelter was named 2014/15 Distinguished Graduate Student from the Department of Communication Studies
  
  
• Audra Clodfelter and Ethan Kruger were named the 2014/15 Department of Communication Studies Outstanding Graduate Students
  
  
• Malcolm Allen was awarded the Department of Communication Studies Graduate Student Scholarship for the 2015/16 academic year
  
  
• Anna Percival was awarded the Kenneth E. Hadwiger, Ph.D Graduate Scholarship for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 academic years
  
  
• Clinton Brown was awarded the Carol Manhart Scholarship for the 2014/15 year
  
  
• Five students were awarded Williams Travel Grants for the 2014/15 academic year
  • Clinton Brown
  • Audra Clodfelter
  • Ethan Kruger
  • Bianca Tomlin
  • Victoria Weinberg
    
    
• Eight students were awarded Department of Communication Studies Travel Wards for the 2014/15 academic year
  • Clinton Brown
  • Audra Clodfelter
  • Amanda Feder
  • Alyssa Long
  • Ethan Kruger
  • Bianca Tomlin
  • Victoria Weinberg
  • Thelca White

Graduate Student Accolades from Recent Years

Distinguished Graduate Student

2016 - Clinton Brown
2015 - Audra Clodfelter
2014 - Amanda Feder

Department of Communication Outstanding Graduate Student

2016 - Clinton Brown
2015 - Audra Clodfelter & Ethan Kruger
2014 - Amanda Feder & Emily Vajjala

Department of Communication Studies Graduate Student Scholarship

AY 16/17 - Bradley Chatman
AY 15/16 – Malcolm Allen
AY 14/15 – Audra Clodfelter

Kenneth E. Hadwiger, Ph.D Graduate Scholarship

AY 15/16 – Anna Percival
AY 14/15 – Anna Percival
AY 13/14 – Emily Vajjala

Carol Manhart Scholarship

AY15/16 – Clinton Brown

Williams Travel Grant Award Winners

AY 15/16

Jamie Alexander: Women in the military: An autoethnographic study of muted group theory. Presented at the Southwest PCA/ACA annual conference, Albuquerque, NM.

Clinton Brown: Interpreting Sexual Orientation in Social Interaction. Presented at the Central States Communication Association Annual Conference, Grand Rapids, MI.

Bianca Tomlin: What’s their expiration date?: Age discrimination in the workplace. Presented at the PCA/ACA annual conference, Seattle, WA.

AY 14/15

Clinton Brown: Fancy Gadgets…Not in my Class: Cultural Representations vs. the Reality of Technology in U.S. Higher Education. Presented at PCA/ACA annual conference, New Orleans, LA.

Audra Clodfelter: Responding to Boston: Improving Marathon Reputations and Stakeholder Relations through Pre-Crisis Communication. Presented at the Central States Communication Association Annual Conference, Madison, WI. Paper designated as the Top Student Paper by the Public Relations Division.

Ethan Kruger: Looking for group!: The uses and gratifications of MMORPG players. Presented at the Central States Communication Association Annual Conference, Madison, WI.

Bianca Tomlin: From woman to warrior? Presented at PCA/ACA annual conference, New Orleans, LA.

Victoria Weinberg: Looking at Life Porn: Cultivation of the Soul Mate and Relationship Representations Online. Presented at the Central States Communication Association Annual Conference, Madison, WI.

AY 13/14

Amanda Feder: “Fighting Business with Business:” Construction and Representation of the “Vulnerable and/ or Exploited Woman” Through the Communicative Labor of the Not for Sale Campaign. Presented at the Central States Communication Association Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN. Paper designated as the Top Student Paper by the Communication Ethics and Freedom of Expression Interest Group.

Nate Furstenau: Maternity Leave as a Site of Difference: A Consideration for Mothers and Families. Presented at the Central States Communication Association Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Ethan Kruger: Ideological Borders: Presidential Rhetoric During the Cold War and War on Terror. Presented at the Rhetoric Society of American Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX.

Emily Vajjala: Colonizing Factors in Internet Rhetoric: Postcolonial and Transnational Feminist Themes from the Reporting of the Murder of Kapari Leniata. Presented at the Central States Communication Association Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Department of Communication Studies Travel Awards

AY 2014/15

Clinton Brown
Audra Clodfelter
Amanda Feder
Ethan Kruger
Alyssa Long
Bianca Tomlin
Victoria Weinberg
Thelca White

AY 2013/14

Amanda Feder
Nathan Furstenau
Stephanie Gruner
John Kraps
Ethan Kruger
Emily Vajjala

AY 2012/13

Andrew McLaughlin
Jessica McDonald
Lisa Schleef
Jonathon Mattson

Thesis Awards

Tasha Rennels - 2010 Award for Excellence for the College of Arts and Humanities, Taking out the trash: Critiquing the equipment for living of white trash films

King-Mertz Research/Creative Activity Awards

Brandon Hensley - 2011 Distinguished Research/Creative Activity Award, Body billboards and brand colonization: Embodied corporate advertising in postmodern branding culture.

Melissa Territo – 2010 Award of Excellence for the College of Arts and Humanities, , Hidden in the shadows: A qualitative analysis of the “impossible” possibility: Male rape.

Research/Creative Activity Grants

Nora Swalls - 2010, Clark County Ready, Set, Grow! Workshop

Alumni Awards

Jessica McDonald (M.A. 2013) named a Hamand Society Scholar

Angela (DeLong) Bryne (M.A. 2009) named PR Rookie of the Year
by Ragan's PR Daily - October 2012

Ajay Ojay (M.A. 2000) receives Outstanding Alumni award - April 2012