Seven graduate students from the College of Communication and Information Sciences Department of Journalism and Creative Media traveled to Panama City, Florida to present research at the American Journalism Historians Association Southeast Symposium last weekend.
The two-day conference takes place in late January or early February each year and is designed to promote graduate and undergraduate student research through a scholarly forum of research presentations and discussion. Students are selected by faculty from participating institutions to present their research in a welcoming and encouraging setting.
Faculty from The University of Alabama, the University of Florida, the University of North Florida, Georgia State University and Samford University attended the conference.
Student papers are not reviewed for acceptance, but are judged by faculty to determine awards for the best papers in undergraduate and graduate student categories. UA student Ben Pockstaller was awarded first place for Best Graduate Student Paper. Kaylin Bowen and Hailey Grace Steele, also UA students, received second and third place, respectively.
“Earning an award is an honor, but I was really just happy to be there,” Pockstaller said. “I put quite a few hours into this paper, so getting to present it to some very smart people was rewarding. Everyone in my class worked very hard. They’re all super-talented folks, and I was just proud to be alongside them in all this.”
JCM faculty member Dr. Dianne Bragg teaches UA’s graduate course in media history and is also the AJHA symposium coordinator. UA students who attended the symposium include: Kaylin Bowen (thesis track), Christopher Edmunds (thesis track), Samantha Hill (community journalism), Keith Huffman (community journalism), Ben Pockstaller (community journalism), Oliver Simpson (thesis track) and Hailey Grace Steele (thesis track).
