The School of Communication strives to maintain a sustainable environment that welcomes and nurtures inclusion of diverse experiences and opinions in all aspects, including within the School, student body, staff, faculty, curriculum and teaching, creative, scholarly and professional activity, and service.
SOC offers a variety of courses that aim to broaden understanding about different perspectives and communities in communications. A sample of those classes include:
National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists: SOC has a student chapter of both the NABJ and NAHJ which are mentored by senior journalism faculty. In 2020 for the organizations’ joint virtual convention, SOC will fund five students to attend the conference. SOC Professor John Watson is the faculty advisor for NABJ and SOC Professor Bill Gentile is the faculty advisor for NAHJ.
The Blackprint is a student-run online and print publication that serves as a platform for raising minority issues and an amplifier of marginalized voices. SOC Professor John Watson is the faculty advisor.
The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) is dedicated to bringing public relations, advertising, marketing and communication students together professionally and socially, to enhance members' education, broaden their professional network, and launch their careers after graduation. SOC Professor Gemma Puglisi is the faculty advisor.
SOC Ambassadors are a group of undergraduate students who create programming to support and promote the excellence of the school for both current and prospective students.
Benjamin Stokes’ proposal “Engaging Beyond Our Walls: Libraries as Hubs for Making Neighborhood Games and Storytelling” has been selected to advance to the second phase of the National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The proposal was based on preliminary testing of the tool over the summer, paid for by the SOC grant. The grant is for $250K and the abstract is below.
"American University will train libraries in 30 cities to serve as hubs for making neighborhood games and facilitating storytelling for community engagement. Applications include mural hunts, local history audio tours, and interactive public art experiences like “texting with a sculpture.” Over two years, residents will make hundreds of free games -- no coding skills needed (and social-distancing supported). The games are made with Hive Mechanic, a game engine for cities. Equity is a priority: the games can be played with ordinary cell phones; data plans are not required to text photos. With this project, libraries will leverage their expertise in media literacy and local information to help democratize civic play, amplify hidden voices, and engage new audiences in public space."
In 2021, students in Sherri Williams' COMM 588 Race, Ethnic and Community Reporting class produced stories about how the 2020 racial justice uprising affected people on the beats they chose to cover. Teen Vogue Senior Politics Editor Allegra Kirkland was a guest speaker in the class early in the semester and students pitched stories to her. The best pitches were chosen and will be published this week by Teen Vogue during the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's killing. Racial Reckoning: A Year After a Movement Rocked the Nation is a five stories series produced by SOC students that prioritizes racial and social justice reporting. This project is amplified by Teen Vogue and is intended to have journalists document history through the lens of their generation.
Past Partnerships
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum partnership and grant with SOC Professor Benjamin Stokes has created the DC Storytelling System and installed it in public libraries with the DC Public Library system. As part of this project, the Humanities Truck, a collaboration across AU departments, seeks to engage more directly with DC communities by having communities tell their own stories, with a focus on diversity and inclusion of those facing gentrification and displacement. In response to COVID and #BlackLivesMatter protests, the Smithsonian is currently using the hotline to gather stories on moments of resilience.
Books:
Borum Chattoo, C., & Feldman, L. (2020). A Comedian and An Activist Walk Into A Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice [Foreword by Norman Lear]. University of California Press. Launch volume: “Communication for Social Justice Activism” series.
Peer-reviewed Scholarship with a diversity, equity and inclusion focus:
Saif Shahin's new article in Social Movement Studies, co-authored with Margaret Ng (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), examines the emotive, cognitive, and networked aspects of online social mobilization. It draws attention to the influence wielded by the state, political parties, technology companies, and "legacy" media organizations over seemingly bottom-up discourses of resistance online.
Benjamin Stokes published a new article on "digital placemaking" with urban furniture, including a game with a storytelling payphone, the transformation of a pedestrian plaza in LA's Leimert Park, and an art exhibition on race & ethnicity. Published in the journal Convergence. Co-authored with Francois Bar, Karl Baumann, Ben Caldwell, and Andrew Schrock. Full access: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856521999181
Caty Borum Chattoo, Lori Young, David Conrad & Aras Coskuntuncel (2021). “The rent is too damn high”: news portrayals of housing security and homelessness in the United States. Mass Communication and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2021.1881126 Borum Chattoo, C. (in press, publication September 2020). Story Movements: How Documentaries Empower People and Inspire Social Change.: Oxford University Press.
Filippo Trevisan published a new journal article in Qualitative Research. If you're planning a focus group study, teach research methods, or just want to know more about inclusive research, check it out: Trevisan, F. (2020) Making focus groups accessible and inclusive for people with communication disabilities: A research note. Qualitative Research, published online before print, 1-9.
Williams, S. (2020). The Black Digital Syllabus Movement: The Fusion of Academia, Activism and Arts. Howard Journal of Communications, DOI: 10.1080/10646175.2020.1743393
For more of our DEI scholarship work, click here.
Maggie Stogner’s film "Unbreathable - the Fight For Healthy Air” is now a New Day Film! New Day was co-founded by Julia Reichart who won this year’s documentary Oscar Award for “American Factory”. We have many events coming up. Please check our website. Unbreathable screened: August. 19: 3:30-5pm ET, virtual screening of the film with a Youth Climate Activism/Environmental Justice panel featuring Shashawnda Campbell, Ruhan Nagra, Lana Weidgenant and moderated by Diana Van Vleet.
Maggie Stogner and Rick Stack’s film In the Executioner’s Shadow was selected for the 23rd UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival). The 30-member Jury committee reviewed almost 600 submissions for the 60-hour festival program and found the film well suited for this year's festival theme, THE POWER OF EMPATHY.
MIXED (2020) A documentary film about what it means to be mixed race in American shortly after the 50th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia. Directed and Produced by Caty Borum Chattoo and Leena Jayaswal. Funding through Center for Asian American Media, Milton and Dorothy Sarnoff Raymond Foundation, Shirley Brownrigg Charitable Trust, Norman Lear Foundation, American University
Jayaswal, Leena Director of Photography, “Rubi: A DACA Dreamer in Trump’s America” distributed to public television by National Educational Telecommunications Association
Gentile, W. F. (December 2019). "Freelancers: Valuable and Vulnerable" in NPPA: The Voice of Visual Journalists. (vol. November/December 2019, no. November/December 2019). Washington: National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).
Engel, L. (Cinematographer, Editor, Producer), Kuba, M. (Editor), Sherafat, a. (Editor), Filmmaker in Residence. "Voices from the Border," Investigative Reporting Workshop, SOC, CLALS. (March 2016 - Present) (In Post-Production)
Amy Eisman is an advisory board member of the Power Shift Project at the Freedom Forum Institute, an effort to promote workplace integrity on behalf of women in the news industry.
For more of our DEI media production work, click here.
The School of Communication (SOC) is committed to creating a welcoming environment that nurtures inclusion within all aspects of the School: student body; faculty; curriculum and teaching; creative, scholarly, and professional activity; programming; and service. The Inclusive Excellence Committee is charged with ensuring that American University’s statement on diversity and inclusion is effective and relevant for students, faculty, and staff. The committee, which includes voting members from the faculty, staff and student body, works to provide meaningful discussions about issues related to race/ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, and more, both in the classroom and in the workplace. The committee may advocate on behalf of the SOC community by offering suggestions to faculty and SOC leadership on how to incorporate principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion into workplace operations, curricula, and classroom practices. The committee may also hold workshops and panel discussions, at which speakers can address relevant issues. If you are interested in getting involved with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, contact socinclusion@american.edu
Tia Milledge, Co-Chair
Director of Communication & Outreach, School of Communication
Gemma Puglisi, Co-Chair
Assistant Professor, School of Communication
Terry Bryant
Journalism Division Director, School of Communication
Veronica Castro
Online Content Manager, School of Communication
Claudia Myers
Associate Professor, School of Communication
Kristi Plahn-Gjersvold
Senior Assistant Dean, Strategic Partnerships & Internal Affairs, School of Communication
Student Representatives:
Mira Celik, Graduate
Mateo Guevara, Undergraduate
SOC's Inclusive Excellence Week 2024 included a panel with notable alumni discussing critical issues for success in the workplace. Watch the video to see how the event fostered candid conversations and strengthened alumni-student connections.
Alumni
From strategic communications to launching her own podcast, American University Alumni Board Member Megan Nguyen Rummler, SOC/MA ‘19, uses storytelling to center advocacy and identity.
Journalism
Trey Yingst (SOC/BA ‘16) returned to campus to speak to Bill Gentile’s Visual Literacy Class about his career, time at AU, and his advice for journalists.
Communications
Samiya’s journey highlights the power of resilience, collaboration, and purpose in her films and her recent work with local middle and high school students.