UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Faculty members and graduate students from the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications will once again play a prominent role at the annual International Communication Association conference. Their scholarly contributions will be featured across a variety of sessions at this year’s event, the organization’s 75th, which runs from June 12-16 in Denver, Colorado.
The conference is expected to draw thousands of communication scholars, researchers and professionals from universities and organizations around the world. This year’s theme is “Disrupting and consolidating communication research.” Fifteen Bellisario College faculty members and 15 graduate students will participate in or contribute to ICA this year. Many Bellisario College alumni will also be in attendance.
The expertise of Bellisario College scholars covers a variety of areas, including artificial intelligence, biases in technology, crisis and trauma, ethics, media law and policy, political communication, social change and more.
Christopher Ali, Pioneers Chair and professor of telecommunications, is presenting four papers co-authored with Bellisario College graduate students and other collaborators. Those studies are: “Unpacking the media hegemony and strategies of global and local major” with doctoral student Dong Wook Jeong, “Public media governance” with doctoral student Sydney Forde, “Competitive or concentrated? An analysis of trends and dynamics in U.S. media and communication markets,” with Forde, and “Increasing and high media concentration across telecoms and internet access infrastructure, online advertising, and online search.”
Ali is chairing a panel for ICA’s Communication Law and Policy Division called, “Disrupting and Consolidating Communication Research.” He also serves on the association’s mentorship committee and the advisory board for the ICA handbook.
Denise Bortree, professor of advertising/public relations and associate dean for academic affairs, is presenting “(De)Motivating Environmental Action: Role of Call-to-Action in Corporate Social Responsibility Messaging.” The paper was accepted by the ICA’s Public Relations Division and was coauthored with Bellisario College doctoral students Peixin Hua and Yanan Wu.
A paper by Distinguished Professor Homero Gil de Zúñiga and lead author Zichen Cheng, a Bellisario College doctoral alumna and an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, was accepted. The work is titled, “TikTok influencer’s political endorsements: An experimental study on the effects of direct address and media label disclosure in TikTok videos on audience attitudes.” Gil de Zúñiga is an ICA fellow.
Yujin Heo, assistant professor of advertising/public relations, is presenting two papers. One study, “AI ethics in the headlines: Examining the frames of South Korean newspapers in communicating responsible AI innovation” was co-authored with Sangwook Lee, Bellisario College doctoral alumnus and assistant professor at the University of Colorado. The other study, “Real or reel? The impact of AI on consumer behavior of fashion advertising,” was co-authored with Bellisario College doctoral students Jiaqi Bao, Yansheng Liu, Yongnam Jung, and doctoral alumnus Bingbing Zhang, now assistant professor at the University of Iowa. Heo also is moderating two sessions as part of ICA's Information Systems Division.
Mary Beth Oliver, Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Media Studies, is participating in several events, including a panel on emotional research in media reception and a number of organizational events. Oliver is the general secretary on ICA’s board of directors. She has been an ICA fellow since 2014 and has held several positions with the organization over the past 25 years.
Holly Overton, associate professor of advertising/public relations, is presenting a study, “Gen Z and social change: Examining the effect of CSA expectancy violations on positive and negative behavioral intentions.” Co-authors are Wu and associate professor at Shippensburg University and Bellisario College doctoral alumna Carrie Sipes.
Rachelle Pavelko, assistant teaching professor of advertising/public relations, is presenting a paper in ICA’s Popular Media and Culture Division. The study, "Gossiping for our mental health: How the normal gossip podcast impacts perceptions of social biases, genderization, and social support,” is co-authored with Cory Barker, assistant teaching professor of film production.
Michael Schmierbach, professor of media studies, is participating on a panel discussion titled, “The evolution of mass communication: Adapting research to a fragmented media landscape and digital future.”
Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Advertising Fuyuan Shen, the head of the Department of Advertising/Public Relations, is participating in a panel discussion on combatting health disinformation and the effects and audience responses to deep fakes.
Chris Skurka, assistant professor of media studies, is participating in a workshop on mentoring doctoral students studying environmental communication. Skurka is also a co-author on a paper led by doctoral student Eunchae Jang titled “Mitigating the news finds me perception: Evaluating educational warnings on political learning” and co-authored with Gil de Zúñiga and doctoral alumna and assistant professor at the University of Georgia Mengqi Liao.
S. Shyam Sundar, the Evan Pugh University Professor and James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects, is participating in a number of events, including a workshop on artificial intelligence in communication research and panels on health communication, trust in emerging technologies and more. He is also an ICA fellow and has held leadership positions in ICA over the years.
The Bellisario College’s Institute for Information Policy is hosting a preconference workshop titled, “The political power of information technology industries.” Teaching Professor of Telecommunications Ben Cramer is opening the event with a presentation on “big tech’s push for nuclear-powered data centers.” Visiting professor and IPP co-founder Amit Schejter is also participating in the preconference workshop. The all-day event will be held at the University of Denver. Krishna Jayakar, professor of telecommunications and Public Policy and IIP co-director, is co-chairing the event.
Graduate work
Forde is presenting “Arm’s length or joined at the hip? Public service media’s coverage of Gaza” as part of the Philosophy, Theory & Critique Division. Forde will also be presenting “International media ownership and concentration studies in the age of digital platforms: Findings and policy implications from the GMICP” for the Communication Law and Policy Division.
As part of the Information Systems Division, Hua is presenting a paper titled, “Do virtual influencers’ life shares give you the creeps?: Exploring the impact of identity disclosure and product type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) on consumer perceptions and advertising effectiveness.” That study was led by Jung and co-authored by Bao. Bao recently defended her dissertation.
Doctoral student Abigail Simmerman is presenting a paper during ICA’s 2nd Annual Disability, Communication and Media ICA Pre-Conference event. She is also assisting with the Institute for Information Policy preconference event.
Doctoral student Zhenyu Zhang will be on a panel in the Popular Media and Culture Division titled, “Resistance of reinforcement?”
The ICA is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching and application of all aspects of communication. The Bellisario College has been well-represented and active in the organization for years.
ICA was founded nearly 76 years ago as a small association of U.S. researchers and is now an international association with more than 6,000 members from 80 countries. It aims to advance the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide. Since 2003, ICA has been officially associated with the United Nations as a nongovernmental association.