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News Blotter |
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On the heels of the 25th ACM Conference on Intelligent Virtual Machines (IVA25), new NSF-funded work by Dr. Jaime Banks, Jianghui Li, Zhixin Li, and myself is now available as part of the published confernece proceedings. Scraping multiple subreddits on machine companions and parners, and using LLM to assist in identifying themes, we considered how people talk about the nature of their connection to their chat agent in their own words.
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People change, especially during college; but social media now easily allow us to look back at the 'old you' and how you've grown and changed over the years. New work by Alina Niftulaeva, Omolola Lasisi, Millicent Elewosi, Matthew Edor, and myself looks at how employers are affected by older vs. newer self-disclosures from an applicant, and whether getting 'better' or 'worse' as a human further impacts hiring decisions. The good news: Your old dumb stuff is bad; but not as good as the newer good stuff.
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Back to where it began, I'll be at the biennial MediaPsych conference. There, Matt Merkling will be presenting some of our team's latest work on identity shift and the Proteus effect, Zhixin Li will present work (with Dr. Jaime Banks, Jianghui Li), and myself) on how humans talk about their AI companions, and I'll chair a special session containing works to be published in a forthcoming issue of JMP. See you in Duisburg-Essen!
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We're giving Denver another shot, following rescheduling ICA21 due to COVID. This June, we're a mile high in Denver, meeting and collaborating with colleagues, scholars, and friends from around the world. I've got three papers being presented, addressing suspicion in warranting theory, parent's perceptions of their kids' social media use, and the interpersonal effect of multitasking during videochats. Check out the ICA25 program for more, and I will see you in the Rockies!
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Overview |
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| Having received an education along US-27
in Michigan (including Alma College, Central Michigan University,
and Michigan State University), I emigrated from Michigan to Illinois by way of Oklahoma. A Professor of communication, I best-enjoy teaching courses in computer-mediated
and organizational communication, and work with diverse undergraduate and graduate students to delve deep into
the way communication and communicative technologies
change the way individuals learn about and interact with each
other. I count myself lucky I have a career to which I look
forward to every morning and that supports my other pursuits,
including travel.
At both the scholarly and personal levels, I love what I
do, and try to dive into each new activity fully. From researching
the ways that individuals use technologies to augment and
enhance decision making in work groups to sushing the slopes
of Colorado's back
bowls, I try to find the joy of each experience. Always
willing to try new things (from qualitative research to luging),
I find much of my life guided by a dogma common among my friends,
"Always do, never don't." At ease conducting social
network analyses and discussing theoretical implications of
research articles as well as touring vineyards and watching
Phineas
& Ferb with my nephews & niece, colleagues and friends
often describe me as eclectic, so I've tried to articulate
a bit of me below. |
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Professional
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I have taught courses in Communication and Business to
a variety of students: residential, nontraditional, and continuing
education at several institutions. I have had the opportunity
to teach courses in Mediated Communication, Group Communication, Public
Speaking, Organizational Communication, Social and Economic
Impacts of Telecommunication, Introduction to Media, and International
Business; as well as online courses in Interpersonal and Group
Communication.
As a researcher, I have a variety of research interests,
including the use of technology for communication and decision-making
within organizations (my primary focus) and online identity
construction and presentation. Trained in a variety of methodologies,
I have a preference towards experimental and survey research,
especially in online contexts. |
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Educational |
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Ph.D., Media and Information Studies;
Michigan State University
M.A., Interpersonal Communication; Central
Michigan University
B.S., International Business Administration;
Central
Michigan University |
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Personal |
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| I was born and raised just outside of Flint, Michigan. For
those of you who have seen Roger
and Me, those scenes (both geographical and political)
were the daily stage upon which my youth was played out. My
family comes from both sides of the union aisle (blue and white
collar, almost 50/50), which is probably what drew me to business
and communication in the first place.
Though I was born in Michigan, soon into high school I began
to take advantage of my new-found passion for travel and did
so frequently. Many of my travels brought me to the East Coast,
specifically the Garden
State, which I consider my second--and real--home. Many
of my friends live in the Philadelphia metropolitan area,
and it's not uncommon for me to come up missing on a Saturday
morning, only to be eating a Gino's
cheesesteak ("with") by evening.
Beyond my studies and travels, I am also a ravenous thespian,
an avid alpine skier, and enjoy lazing away an afternoon with
a good book on the shore of a nearby lake. I have a propensity
towards books as escapism, and was happy that the release
of the final Harry
Potter was during a time when losing a day to reading
it didn't detract from anything else. Alongside these more
pedantic pursuits, I've also had the privileged to perform
in a West End (London) theatrical
production, water ski in alligator-infested waters, sing
in a Parisian
cathedral, hit a deer with an airplane, and enjoy combative
watertubing. |
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