Cornell University, Dept. of Communication

Professor Melissa Harris-Perry will deliver the lecture “Radical Care: Nurturing Self, Community, and Democracy” on Thursday, February 27, 4:00 pm, in 305 Ives Hall. This public lecture will be the third event in the Black History Month series organized and hosted by the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures. Following her talk, she will participate in a fireside chat with Associate Professors Neil Lewis, Jr. and Jamila Michener.

Ashley Kim '27 and Matthew Manno '28 served as creative interns for Thrive LouD Productions (TLP) this past fall. Ashley developed a social media marketing strategy and scripted content for social promotional videos, rolling out across the company's Instagram and TikTok accounts. Matthew helped bring the content to life and specialized in video production where he created a new intro to the video openings on Thrive LouD's YouTube. Congratulations to both students on being asked back to intern for a second semester!

Professor Katherine Sender, January 2025, “The Queer Vanguard: How Television Streaming Platforms Promoted Intersectional LGBTQ+ Content to Establish their Brands,” Journal of Communication. This paper proposes that streaming television services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime used intersectional LGBTQ+ content to appeal to subscribers in both national and international markets. However, once new markets are established, more recent programming suggests a return to more conservative content designed to appeal to mass audiences.

Farm Grrrl Folk Punk, a short documentary co-produced by Beatrys Fernandes Rodrigues, was selected for the Ithaca Underground Music Video Festival and screened at Cinemapolis. The film originated in Cornell’s Rural Humanities Seminar.

During the Winter Break, Senior Lecturer Michelle LaVigne taught Experiential Writing in Mexico: Cultural and Environmental Communication, COMM 3090, which takes undergraduate students to Oaxaca, Mexico. During their stay, they explored the region, wrote about cultural and artistic traditions, breathtaking natural areas and archeological sites, and enjoyed its rich culinary scene.

Graduate students Sohinee B., Amanda Vilchez Zuñiga, & Roxana Mika Muenster, January 2025, “The Persistent Global Disparities in Environmental and Climate Communication Scholarship,” Frontiers in Communication. To understand whether environmental and climate communication scholarship reflect the global nature of climate crises, the authors conducted a publication review of 505 articles published in the top-producing journals of climate communication between 2020 and 2022, along with an authorship survey and keyword network analysis. They found that the Global North dominates in authorship (93%) and research focus (67%), while the Global South affiliated authors make up a fraction of the sample (7%) and of the research focus (12%), revealing a gap in scholarship based in and about the Global South.

Aarum Farrah Youn-Heil, Ph.D. and Assistant Professor Wunpini F. Mohammed, Ph.D., February 2025, “America Was Terrified … of an Orange”: Using Film to Subvert Hegemonic Narratives on Asian Identity,” Critical Studies in Media Communication. This study investigates intertextual discourses in Daniel Cretton’s 2021 film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Using AsianCrit and critical discourse analysis, the study examines the role of intertextuality as a social practice that interacts with past and current socio-politics. The authors argue that not only does AsianCrit help us understand the representation of Asian identity in this film, the film also intentionally uses intertextuality drawn from historical propagandic portrayals of Asians in American media to challenge and subvert harmful narratives.

Aleshia Hayes, PhD., Graduate Student Kevin Martinez, Beth Karlin et al., December 2024, “Acting on Immersion: 360° Videos Viewed in VR Headsets Inspire Behavior Change,” International Journal on E-Learning. This exploratory study tested a short climate change 360° video immersing users in Greenland on VR headsets and PCs with remote and local participants in the lab. In particular, the authors explored how modality (i.e., PC vs VR) influenced participant affect, behavioral intent, user experience (e.g., presence, agency, enjoyment), and learning outcomes. Most notably, they found that users in the VR condition reported higher intent to act to mitigate climate change compared to PC users (p = .038).

Professor Brooke Erin Duffy is now a contributor for Forbes, with four articles already published in the last two months.

Professors Lee Humphreys, Ph.D and Jeff Niederdeppe were interviewed for the Cornell Sun’s Valentine’s Day article, “’Partners in Everything’: Married Communication Professors Share Love Story.” Learn how miscommunication brought these communicators together!