Graduate Research Overview

Graduate students in the Department of Communication participate in research in a variety of ways. In addition to developing their own projects, they collaborate with faculty, with other graduate students, and with undergraduate students as well. Here is a sample of current research projects in the department during 2012-2013:


Current Dissertation Projects, 2012-2013

Yannick Atouba Ada, " How does interorganizational collaboration work? Examining interorganizational collaboration among human services NGOs." Advisor: Michelle Shumate.

George Boone, "Technological Contexts and the Remediation of Fantasy Narratives in Role Playing Games." Advisor: Ned O'Gorman.

Peter Campbell, “Queer Phronesis: A Radical Queer Legal Rhetoric of Constitutional Law.” Advisor: Kent Ono.

Courtney Caudle, "Jacqueline Kennedy and the Politics of Popularity." Advisor: John Murphy.

Gwen Costa Jacobsohn, "The Influence of Pediatric Communication in the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity: A Relationship-Centered Approach." Advisor: Kristen Harrison.

Sabrina Marsh, “Religious Women in Modern American Social Reform: Evangeline Booth, Aimee Semple McPherson, Dorothy Day and the Rhetorical Re-construction of Female Moral Authority.” Advisor: Ned O’Gorman.

Ashley Middleton, “A Normative Approach to Communication in the Context of Alcohol and/or Drug Use: The Experiences of Parents and Siblings.” Advisor: John Caughlin. With undergraduate research assistants Ge Gao, Yijie ‘Christy’ Lu, Ximena Reyna, and Sara Salmon.

Jillian Klean Zwilling, “‘Caught in a Web of Indifference': U.S. Legislation, Birth Control, and the Rhetoric of the Lysol Douche.” Advisor: Cara Finnegan.

Complete List of All Dissertations Completed in the Department of Communication, 1951-2012


Mentoring Through Research and Practice: Graduate/Undergraduate Student Collaborations (*=dissertation research)

Fall 2012

"Romantic Relationships and Depression: How do Couples Communicate about Changes to Sexual Intimacy." Graduate mentor: Amy Delaney.* With undergraduate mentee Marshae Carroll. Supervising faculty: Leanne Knobloch.

"Influences of Cognitive Complexity on Network Perceptions of Social Groups." Graduate mentor: Melissa Dobosh.* With undergraduate mentee Angelina Shea. Supervising faculty: Scott Poole.

"The Privacy Rules and Communication Challenges Experienced by Confidants of Sexual Assault Survivors." Graduate mentors: Ashley Middleton, Kelly McAninch, and Amy Delaney. With undergraduate mentees Elizabeth Baker, Marshae Carroll, and Juliana Michelotti. Supervising faculty: John Caughlin and Leanne Knobloch.

"The State of Diabetes Portrayal in Televised News" and "The Influence of Graphic Cigarette Labels on Perceptions Toward Smoking Behaviors." Graduate mentor: Julius Riles. With undergraduate mentee Nikita Patel. Supervising faculty: Dave Tewksbury.

Spring 2013

"Technological Contexts and the Remediation of Fantasy Narratives in Role Playing Games." Graduate mentor: George Boone.* With undergraduate mentees Michael Drackley and Timothy Mallory. Supervising faculty: Ned O'Gorman.

"Interpersonal Collaborative Communication in Multidisciplinary Emergency Response Teams." Graduate mentor: Elizabeth Carlson. With undergraduate mentees Ashley Stewart and Judson Van Antwerp. Supervising faculty: John Lammers.

"Romantic Relationships and Depression: How do Couples Communicate about Changes to Sexual Intimacy." Graduate mentor: Amy Delaney.* With undergraduate mentee Kylie Mussay. Supervising faculty: Leanne Knobloch.

 "Influences of Cognitive Complexity on Network Perceptions of Social Groups." Graduate mentor: Melissa Dobosh.* With undergraduate mentee Angelina Shea. Supervising faculty: Scott Poole.

"Poverty in Reagan's America: Visualizing the Poor through the Great Depression." Graduate mentor: Marissa Lowe. With undergraduate mentee Darcy McLaughlin. Supervising faculty: John Murphy.

"The Rhetorics of Athletics: Its Significance for Self-Fulfillment." Graduate mentor: Jermaine Martinez. With undergraduate mentee Shagun Praghan. Supervising faculty: Ned O'Gorman.

"The State of Diabetes Portrayal in Televised News" and "The Influence of Graphic Cigarette Labels on Perceptions Toward Smoking Behaviors." Graduate mentor: Julius Riles. With undergraduate mentee Sage Markgraf. Supervising faculty: Dave Tewksbury.

"Grief Experiences of Accidental Killers." Graduate mentor: Erin Basinger. With undergraduate mentees Sarah Olles and Maureen Daly. Supervising faculty: Leanne Knobloch.

"Goals for Relationship Talk." Graduate mentor: Kelly McAninch.* With undergraduate mentees Nicole Bergen and Ximena Reyna. Supervising faculty: Leanne Knobloch.

For information about participating in the Mentoring Through Research and Practice program, see here.


Some Current Research Projects Featuring Student-Faculty Collaboration

"A Contingency Theory of Organizational Response to Paradoxical Requirements: A Study of Emergency Response Organizations." Scott Poole, John Lammers, Elizabeth Carlson (doctoral student), & Natalie White (doctoral student). Funded by the National Science Foundation.

"Multiple Interpretations of Institutional Messages: A Case Study of the Institutionalization of MABAS." John Lammers & Natalie White (doctoral student).

"GroupScope: Instrumenting Research on Interaction Networks in Complex Social Contexts." Scott Poole, Melissa Dobosh (doctoral student), & Stacy Kim (master's student), research assistants. Funded by the National Science Foundation.

"Market Maker, an online business-to-business web application." Scott Poole & Kristen Guth (Illinois M.A., 2012). Funded partly by I-CHASS.

"Science Education with Native Alaskans." Scott Poole & Kate Cooper (doctoral student). Funded by I-CHASS.

"Virtual Worlds Exploratorium." Scott Poole & Andy Pilny (doctoral student). Funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Bolt, Baranek, and Newman and the Army Research Laboratory Network Science Collaborative Technology Alliance.

“High School Students' Conversations with Friends about Substance Use.” Jennifer Kam. Ashley Middleton (doctoral student), Kimberly Pusateri (doctoral student), Nathan McCullough (master's student), & Lance Keene (School of Social Work), research assistants. Undergraduate research assistants Taylor Behrman, Regina Hinders, Taylor Schulz, and Anna Tanaglia. Funded by the Campus Research Board.

“Communication and Information Challenges for Adult Children Coping with a Parent's Lung Cancer.” Ashley Middleton (Illinois Ph.D., 2012), Anne Stone (Illinois Ph.D., 2011), Sylvia Mikucki-Enyart (Illinois Ph.D., 2012), John Caughlin, & Laura Brown (Illinois M.A., 2010). Funded by the Campus Research Board.

“In Close Relationships, It’s Both Online and Face-to-Face Communication, Not Online versus Face-to-Face Communication.” John Caughlin & Liesel Sharabi (doctoral student).

“Measuring Interpersonal Interaction.” John Caughlin & Erin Basinger (doctoral student).

"Media Patterns and Preferences in Different Stages of Romantic Relationship Development." John Caughlin & Liesel Sharabi (doctoral student).

“Interpersonal Interaction in Primetime Television.” David Tewksbury, Julius Riles (doctoral student), Kira Varava (doctoral student), Andrew Pilny (doctoral student), Eric Weimer (undergraduate student), & Sage Markgraf (undergraduate student).

“High-Bandwidth Media and the Distribution of News Content Preferences.” David Tewksbury & Julius Riles (doctoral student).

"Framing On-line Cancer News: Influences on Perceptions about Credibility, Culpability and Risk." David Tewksbury & Julius Riles (doctoral student),

“Relational Turbulence Among Couples With Depression.” Leanne Knobloch, Amy Delaney (doctoral student), Liesel Sharabi (doctoral student), & Samantha Surrane (Illinois M.A., 2012). Funded by the Campus Research Board.

“Relational Turbulence of Military Families during Reintegration following Deployment.” Leanne Knobloch and undergraduate students Katie Clausing, Ben Ganellen, Bethany Carmien, Anthony Carlsen, & Geena Wakeley. Funded by the University of Illinois Family Resiliency Center.

“Resiliency of Military Youth During the Post-Deployment Transition.” Leanne Knobloch, Kimberly Pusateri (doctoral student), and undergraduate students Katie Clausing, Corey Bandur, & Amanda De Matteo. Funded by the University of Illinois Family Resiliency Center.

"Localizing Histories of Collaboration between English and Speech: The Verbal Expression Course at the University of Illinois." Cara Finnegan & Marissa Lowe (doctoral student).

"Race, the Visual Presidency, and White House Art." Cara Finnegan and Anita Mixon (doctoral student).

"A Comparison of Direct Mail Organ Donation campaign." Brian Quick and Nicole LaVoie (doctoral student). Funded by Health and Human Services Division of Transplantation.

"A Direct Mail Organ Donation campaign Targeting Illinois, Iowa, and New York 50-55-Year Olds." Brian Quick and Natalie White (doctoral student). Funded by Health and Human Services Division of Transplantation.

"Baseball and Steroids." Brian Quick and Natalie White (doctoral student).

"Is Psychological Reactance an Outcome of Fear-Control Processing?" Brian Quick, Nicole LaVoie (doctoral student), Macarena Pena Y Lilo (doctoral student), & Natalie White (doctoral student).

"The Rhetoric of Video Games." Ned O'Gorman and George Boone (doctoral student).

“Interorganizational INGO Network Evolution.” Yannick Atouba (doctoral student) and Michelle Shumate.

“SusDeViKI and the NGO/Farmer Relationship.” Barry Pittendrigh, Julia Bello Brava, Michelle Shumate, Yannick Atouba (doctoral student), Katherine Cooper (doctoral student), Ariann Sahagun (Illinois M.A., 2012), Andrew Pilny (doctoral student), Malik Ba, & Madame Dabire.

“The Nonprofit Capacity Project.” Michelle Shumate, Katherine Cooper (doctoral student), Macarena Pena y Lillo (doctoral student), Andrew Pilny (doctoral student), & Ariann Sahagun (Illinois M.A., 2012) with undergraduate students Ivan Haros, Jalisa Huckabee, Ashley Chang, Patricija Kirvaitis, Chelsea Peppa, Jenny Sum, Marva Dar, & Jasmin Patron. Funded by the National Science Foundation.