UNC Hussman at the 2023 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium

Seven graduate students, three faculty members and various alumni will represent the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media on March 2-4, 2023, at the 48th annual AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, held at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. These scholars will participate in panel sessions and present authored or co-authored papers.

The Colloquium will begin with alumna Kathy Roberts Forde ’05 (Ph.D.) (pictured, left) delivering the keynote address, “How journalism and Jim Crow shaped the South – and why it matters now.” The event will also feature a special panel session honoring the contributions of alumnus W. Wat Hopkins ’73 (M.A.), ’87 (Ph.D.), who will be retiring this year. Dr. Hopkins’ contributions to legal scholarship and to the Law & Policy Division of AEJMC will be discussed. 

UNC Hussman faculty and student activities at AEJMC Southeast include:

Thursday, March 2

• Alumna Kathy Roberts Forde (Ph.D. ’05) will present the keynote address, “How journalism and Jim Crow shaped the South – and why it matters now.”

Friday, March 3

• Ph.D. candidate Kristie Patrow will serve on the panel “Enter the Thunderdome: Strict scrutiny applies (*except in Texas).”
• Tori Ekstrand ’03 (Ph.D.) will participate in the Law & Policy Division Paper Session.
• M.A. student Monica Crawford will present “Anti-gay legislation and the First Amendment: A statutory analysis of 2021-2022 anti-gay curriculum laws.”
• Brown James ’19 (M.A.) will present” Violent incongruencies: Analyzing the NYT’s discourse on George Floyd demonstrations and the Capitol riot.”
• Tori Ekstrand ’03 (Ph.D.) will serve on the panel “Honoring W. Wat Hopkins years of service to the Law & Policy Division of AEJMC.”
• M.A. student Coco Li will present “Gender, relationship status, and partner virtual intrusion as predictors for romantic relationship behaviors.”
• Ph.D. candidate Andrea Lorenz will present “Local news and democracy: A metajournalistic discourse analysis."
• Ph.D. candidate Andrea Lorenz will moderate the session “News routines and practices.”

Saturday, March 4 

• M.A. student Jessica Reid will present “The compelling case of compelled speech about climate change.”
• Rhonda Gibson will moderate the session “Mediated LGBTQ visibility.”
• M.A. student Monica Crawford will present “Complicating the sk8rgrl: Asymmetrical visibility of feminisms in Olympic skateboarding.”
• M.A. student Clay Williams will present “How COVID-19 affected the mediated and interpersonal communication networks and the relationships of LGBTQ+ individuals.”
• M.A./J.D. student Noelle Wilson and Amanda Reid will present “Data controllers, data processors, and data fiduciaries: Devil’s in the definitions.”
• Jaz Gray ’21 (Ph.D.) will present “Saving face.”

More details about this conference can be found on the Middle Tennessee State University’s website.