Publications and Research

The School of Communication is one of Virginia's leading institutions for communication and media professions because of the outstanding scholars who impart their knowledge to a future generation of communicators. Each year, School of Communication professors work hundreds of hours outside the classroom conducting research, writing scholarly papers, contributing to academic journals, attending conferences, and publishing books.  Following is a list of intellectual contributions by our faculty between 2000 and 2018.

Dr. Lisa Baker-Webster

French, S. L., Baker, L. E. (2013). Tales from the Tenure-Track: The Necessity of Social Support in Balancing the Challenges of Tenure and Motherhood. Mothers in Academia. Columbia University Press.

Stanaland, A. J. S., Webster, L. B., Taylor, R. L. (2009). Direct and Interactive Marketing in IMC Education: Marketing vs. Mass Communication Approaches. International Journal of IMC, 1(1), 43-56.

Baker, L. E. (2009). "Professor for a Day". Best Practices in Teaching of Diversity. Columbia, SC: Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication.

Dr. Courtney Bosworth

Herrington, J. D., Bosworth, C. C. Use of the Error Correction Mechanism to Examine the Short- and Long-term Effects of Advertising on Automobile Sales. Atlantic Marketing Journal.

Dr. John Brummette

Brummette, J. E., Fussell-Sisco, H. (2015). Using Twitter as a means of coping with emotions and uncontrollable crises. Public Relations Review, 41(1), 89-96.

Brummette, J. E. (2015). Merging public relations with health communication in the context of university alcohol prevention. Health Marketing Quarterly, 32(1), 65-80.

Brummette, J. E., Dodd, M., Hazleton, V. (in press). A social capital approach: An examination of Putnam's civic engagement and public relations roles. Public Relations Review.

Yao, S., Brummette, J. E., Luo, Y. (2015). Balancing between organizations and society: Exploring Chinese organizations' legitimacy efforts. Corporate Communications: An international journal. 20(1), 90-110.

Brummette, J., & Zoch, L. M. (in press). Identifying the values that guide stakeholder expectations. PRism.

Brummette, J. (2012). Trains, chains, blame and elephant appeal: A case study of the public relations significance of Mary the Elephant. Public Relations Review, 38, 341-346. 

Brummette, J. (2013). Mental models approach to risk communication. In R. E. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of public relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Brummette, J., & Zoch, L. M. (2015, August). If organizations are people, they need to have the same values: Personal values and organizational values in stakeholder evaluations of organizational legitimacy. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, San Francisco, CA.

Brummette, J. & Zoch, L. M. (2015, March). Connecting stakeholder values with expectations for organizations. Presented at the 18th Annual International Public Relations Research Conference in Miami, FL.

Fussell-Sisco, H., & Brummette, J. & Pidal, G. (2015, March). The reason behind a retweet: Using the theory of reasoned action to evaluate stakeholder decision-making. Presented at the 18th Annual International Public Relations Research Conference in Miami, FL.

Brummette, J., Zoch, L. M., Cavalcanti, N. & Palmer, S. (2014, March). Tweeting for your second amendment rights: A content analysis of how the NRA uses Twitter to serve its members and target its opponents. Presented at the 17th Annual International Public Relations Research Conference in Miami, FL.

Brummette, J., & Fussell-Sisco, H. (2014, March). Emotional tweeting: Using Twitter as a means of coping with uncontrollable crises. Presented at the 17th Annual International Public Relations Research Conference in Miami, FL.

Yao, S. & Brummette, J. (2013, November). “Making money with a soul:” A values-driven approach to examining legitimacy in China. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Conference, Washington, D.C.

Dodd, M., Brummette, J. & Hazleton, V. (2013, August). Support for a social capital theory of PR via Putnam's civic engagement and PR roles. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, Washington, D.C.

Brummette, J., Miller, L., & Zoch, L. M. (2013, March). PETA: Media reputation and press agentry in the context of animal rights activism. Paper presented at the 16th International Public Relations Research Conference, Miami, FL.

Yao, S., Brummette, J., & Yi, L. (2012, August).  The influence of Confucianism on the legitimacy of Chinese organizations. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, Chicago, IL. First place, Visual Poster Presentation

Dodd, M., Brummette, J., & Strickland, T. (2012, March). Using theory for strategic social media practices via conflict research: Risk, hazard and outrage in university crisis communication. Paper presented at the 15th International Public Relations Research Conference, Miami, FL.

Taylor, R., Zoch, L. M., & Brummette, J. (2012, March)Non-profit organizations, values, and the need for strategic legitimacy. Paper presented at the 15th International Public Relations Research Conference, Miami, FL.

Brummette, J. (2011, July). Trains, chains and elephant appeal: A case study of the public relations significance of Mary the Elephant. Paper presented at the 2nd Annual International History of Public Relations Conference, Bournemouth, England.  

Brummette, J., Zoch, L. M., & Taylor, R. (2011, May) Do Fortune 500 companies communicate their values?  Paper presented at the International Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA.

Brummette, J., Zoch, L. M., Taylor, R. (2011, March). Stating organizational values as an approach to obtaining strategic legitimacy:  An examination of corporate use of organizational values on Fortune 500 Web sites. Paper presented at the 14th International Public Relations Research Conference, Miami, FL.

Brummette, J. & Zoch, L. M. (2010, March).  Organizational legitimacy: Finding congruence with societal values. Paper presented at the 13th International Public Relations Research Conference, Miami, FL.

Brummette, J. & Zoch, L. M. (2010, August).  Grounding organizational legitimacy in societal values.  Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Denver, CO.  

Brummette, J., & Palenchar, M. (2007, August). University reputations and campus health education campaigns: Managing strategic stakeholder relationships. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, Washington, D.C.  First place, High Density Research Presentation

Levine, K .J., Kushniryk, A., Allard, S. L., Brummette, J., & Tenopir, C. (2007, November). Meetings and multitasking: Keep busy or looking busy. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, IL.

Dr. Scott Dunn

Tedesco, J. C., Dunn, S. W. (2013). Political Advertising in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election. In Robert E. Denton, Jr. (Ed.), The 2012 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective (pp. 77-96). Lanham, CT: Rowman & Littlefield. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442216747/The-2012-Presidential-Campaign-A-Communication-Perspective

Dunn, S. W., Tyler, J. A. (in press). Resisting Pluralism: Evangelical Media Framing of the Role of Faith in American Politics. In Mark Ward (Ed.), The Electronic Church in the Digital Age: Cultural Impacts of Evangelical Mass Media (vol. 2, pp. Chapter 13). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Collier, J. E., Dunn, S. W. (2014). Candidates as Brands: Examining College Students’ Perceptions of Political Candidate’s Brand Identities Using Traditional and Projective Qualitative Techniques. Florida Communication Association, 42(1), 33-43.

Dunn, S. W., Butler, S., Meeks, K., Collier, J. E. (in press). Rockin’ the Gubernatorial Vote?:  Young People’s Normative Democratic Attitudes and Behaviors in a Low-Involvement Election. Communication Quarterly,Taylor & Francis, forthcoming.

Turner, M. R., Dunn, S. W. (2015). “It’s No Vacation: Assessing Learning Objectives in Study Abroad Programs.”. Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings (pp. 125). Blacksburg, Virginia: Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy.

Dr. Sandra French

French, S. L., Baker, L. E. (2013). Tales from the Tenure-Track: The Necessity of Social Support in Balancing the Challenges of Tenure and Motherhood. Mothers in Academia. Columbia University Press.

Brown, G., Franck, M., French, S. L. (2012). Framing the Stem Cell Debate: George W. Bush and Bioethics. The George W. Bush Presidency: A Rhetorical Perspective. Lexington Books.

French, S. L. (2012). Positive Communication and Organizational Crisis: Can CEOs Look on the Bright Side? Positive Communication in Health and Wellness. Peter Lang Publishing.

French, S. L., Holden, T. Q. (2011). Women and Politics: Leadership and Communication on the Campaign Trail. In Elesha L. Ruminski  and Annette M. Holba (Ed.), Communicative Understandings of Women's Leadership Development: From Ceilings of Glass to Labyrinth Paths. Lexington Books.

French, S. L., Holden, T. Q. (2012). Positive organizational behavior: A buffer for bad news. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(2), 1080569912441823.

Holden, T. Q., French, S. L. (2012). Food fight! Gigante grocery versus the city of Anaheim The Battle for Legitimacy. Journal of Business Communication, 49(1), 74–94.

French, S. L., Brown, S. C. (2011). It’s all your fault: Kenneth Burke, symbolic action, and the assigning of guilt and blame to women. Southern Communication Journal, 76(1), 1–16.

French, S. L. (2003). Reflections on healing: Framing strategies utilized by acquaintance rape survivors. Journal of applied Communication research, 31(4), 209–319.

Dr. Samuel Jennings

Ragan, E. D., Jennings, S. R., Massey, J. D., Doolittle, P. E. (2014). Unregulated use of laptops over time in large lecture classes. Computers & Education, Volume 78, Pages 78–86.

Jennings, S. R., Cennamo, K. (2014). Structured Design Strategies for Attitude Instruction. Blacksburg Virginia: 2014 Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy.

Jennings, S. R., Blevins, S., Ruff, C. (2012). Eportfolios: Benefits and Challenges of Fostering Student Growth Through The Development of Electronic Portfolios From A Faculty Perspective (6th ed., vol. 2, pp. 5). The AAEEBL Learner.

Dr. William  Kovarik

Kovarik, W. J. (2011). Revolutions in Communication (pp. 384). New York, NY: Bloomsbury. www.revolutionsincommunication.com

Kovarik, W. J. (2015). Revolutions in Communication (2nd edition) (Second ed., pp. 464). New York NY: Bloomsbury. www.revolutionsincommunication.com

Book Chapters

Kovarik, W. J. (2013). Biofuels in history. In Singh, B.P. (Ed.), Biofuel crops: production, physiology and genetics (pp. 544). Sao Paulo: Commonwealth Agricultural & Biosciences Institute (CABI). http://www.cabi.org/cabebooks/ebook/20133196033

Dr. Matthew J. Smith

Smith, M. J., & Duncan, R. (Eds.). (2017). The secret origins of comics studies. New York: Routledge. 

Duncan, R., Smith,  M. J., & Levitz, P. (2015). The power of comics: History, form, and culture. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Continuum. 

Bolling, B., & Smith, M.J. (Eds.). (2014). It happens at Comic-Con: Ethnographic essays on a pop culture phenomenon. Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers. 

Duncan, R., & Smith, M. J. (Eds.). (2013). Icons of the American comic book: From Captain America to Wonder Woman. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Press. 

Smith, M. J., & Duncan, R. (Eds.). (2012). Critical approaches to comics: Theories and methods. New York: Routledge. Nominated “Best Educational/Academic Work” for the 2012 Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards. Winner of the 2013 Peter C. Rollins Book Award in Sequential Art/Comics and Animation Studies.

Duncan, R., & Smith M. J. (2009). The power of comics: History, form, and culture. New York: Continuum. 

Wood, A. F., & Smith, M. J. (2005). Online communication: Linking technology, culture, and identity (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Smith, M. J., & Wood, A. F. (Eds.). (2003). Survivor lessons: Essays on communication and reality television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. 

Wood, A. F., & Smith, M. J. (2001). Online communication: Linking technology, culture, and identity. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

DeWine, S., Gibson, M., & Smith, M. J. (2000). Exploring human communication.  Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing Company.

Published Books in Edited Series

Mikkonen, K. (2017). In R. Duncan & M. J. Smith (Eds.), The narratology of comics art. New York: Routledge. 

Brown, J. A. (2016). In R. Duncan & M. J. Smith (Eds.), The modern superhero in film and television. New York: Routledge.

Smith, P. (2015). In R. Duncan & M. J. Smith (Eds.), Reading Art Spiegelman. New York: Routledge.

Dr. Matthew Turner

“Rubrics Cubed: A Tripartite Approach to Teaching, Assessing, and Learning with Rubrics.” Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings. 2015.  Co-Authored with Robert L. Turner III, Ph.D. and Scott A. Turner, Ph.D.

“It’s No Vacation: Assessing Learning Objectives in Study Abroad Programs.”  Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings. 2015.  Co-Authored with Scott W. Dunn, Ph.D.

“A String in the Labyrinth: A Strategic Approach to Using Technology in Education.”  Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings. 2014.  Co-Authored with Scott A. Turner, Ph.D.

“The Last Marx Brothers’ Film.” Global Cinema.eu (Formerly, Jura Gentium Cinema. (June 2013).

“Entering the Hallowed Halls of Cyberspace: Developing Strategies for Teaching, Interacting, and Delivering Information Online.”  Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings. 2013.  Co-Authored with Scott A. Turner, Ph.D.

“Performing Pop Parody: Lady Gaga, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, and Parodied Performance.”

The Performance Identities of Lady Gaga. Ed. Richard J. Gray II. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2012.

“Goodnight Goodnight Moon: A Semiotic Analysis of Berkeley Breathed’s Goodnight Opus.” Interdisciplinary Humanities 29.1 (Spring 2012).

“Arrr!!!: Performing Piracy and the Origin of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Popular Culture Review 23.1 (Winter 2012).

“Comedy in the Classroom: Creating a More Enjoyable and Inclusive Atmosphere through Humor.”  Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings. 2012.  Co-Authored with Scott A. Turner, Ph.D.

“Orpheus in Brazil: Culture, Race, and Representation in Three Retellings of the Orpheus Legend.” Hogar, Dulce Hogar: Ideologies of Home and the Latin American, Latino/a Experience. (Accepted. Manuscript in circulation.)

“Black Sheriffs and Villains in White Hats: The Image of the Hero in Western Parodies.” American, British and Canadian Studies Journal. v17 (December 2011).

“Undisciplined: Interdisciplinary Teaching in a Disciplinary World.” Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings. 2011.

“Black Sheriffs and Villains in White Hats: The Image of the Hero in Western Parodies.”

Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery and Colorado State University – Pueblo. The Image of the Hero in Literature, Media, and Society 2010 Conference Proceedings. 2010.

'Working in the Newsroom: A Collaborative Problem-Based Learning Approach.” Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy Proceedings. 2010.

“Signs, Slapstick, and Silence: The Transformation of Semiotic Meaning in the Comedy of Harpo Marx.” A Century of the Marx Brothers. Ed. Joseph Mills. Cambridge Scholars Press. 2007.

“Cowboys and Comedy: The Simultaneous Deconstruction and Reinforcement of Generic Conventions in Western Parody.” Hollywood's West. Eds. Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2005. (This anthology was winner of the 2005 Ray and Pat Browne Annual Book Award of the Popular Culture Association).

“Cowboys and Comedy: The Simultaneous Deconstruction and Reinforcement of Generic Conventions in Western Parody.” Film & History 33.2 (2003).

Dr. Shuo Yao

Yao, S., Brummette, J. E., Luo, Y. (2015). Balancing between organizations and society: Exploring Chinese organizations' legitimacy efforts. Corporate Communications: An international journal. 20(1), 90-110.

Yu, S., Koplan, J., Eriksen, M. P., Yao, S., Redmon, P., Song, J., Uretsky, E., Huang, C. (2015). The effects of perceived anti-smoking messages from parents, teachers, and mass media on smoking behavior and smoking susceptibility among Chinese adolescents. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspective.

Yu, S., Koplan, J., Eriksen, M. P., Yao, S., Uretsky, E., Song, J., Redmon, P., et al. (2015). The effects of perceived anti-smoking messages from parents, teachers, and mass media on smoking behavior and smoking susceptibility among Chinese adolescents. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspective. Doi: 10.1080/10810730.2015.1018561

Yao, S., Brumette, J., & Luo, Y. (2015). Balancing between organizations and society: Exploring Chinese organizations’ legitimacy efforts. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 20, 90-110.

Shao, G., Xiao, T., Yao, S., & Shen, H. (2011). Guiding public opinion in civil disorders: The Chinese experience. Journal of International Communication, 17(2), 91-106.

Turner, M. M., Yao, S., Baker, S., Goodman, J., & Materese, S. (2010). Do lay people prepare both sides of an argument? The effects of confidence, forewarning, and expected interaction on seeking out counter-attitudinal information. Argumentation & Advocacy, 46(4), 226-239.

Yao, S., & Yao, X. (2001). Successful communication in everyday life. Shenyang, China: Liao Hai Publishing.

Guan, S. & Yao, S. (2000). World culture report 1998: Culture, creativity and markets. Beijing, China: UNESCO Publishing/Peking University Press.