Burke-Hawthorne Hall Renovations Making Progress

UL Lafayette alumnus speaks about diversity

UL Lafayette, Qatar University communication programs form academic partnership

Davie, Auter attend AUSACE Conference

PR sequence enrollment at all-time high

UL debate members place among top five speakers

Faculty News:

Davie appointed interim department head for communication

Buckman visits Guatemala

Maher teaches in Germany

Ferguson named Outstanding Faculty Member

Auter Attends AEJMC and Synergy Convention

New Faculty Profiles:

Dr. Dedria Givens-Carroll

Heidi Bordogna

Alumni Profiles:

Anthony Cangemillo

New Graduates

Dr. William R. Davie, who holds the Board of Regents Support Fund (BORSF) Chair of Communication, was named interim department head to serve in the absence of Dr. T. Michael Maher, who is spending a sabbatical year teaching in Germany in the Fulbright program.

In addition to confirming plans for the Burke-Hawthorne Hall renovation project, Davie organized monthly faculty meetings, reorganized committee assignments, verified department workbook accounts and recruited representatives to serve on the Corporate Communication Council as professional liaisons in support of the department and its re-accreditation efforts.

"In the interest of building bridges to our professional community, it is important we keep these relations vital and relevant to the dynamic growth of our academic programs in journalism, broadcasting, advertising and public relations," said Davie.

In October, Davie joined Dr. Philip J. Auter on a Middle East initiative forming the groundwork for a partnership with Qatar University in Doha, Qatar. Prior to that trip, Davie presented his findings on the U.S. government and the volunteer sector's policies regarding international educational exchange to the Arab-U.S. Association of Communication Educators (AUSACE) conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. He presented the finding in a plenary session titled, "Innovation and Best Practices in U.S.-Middle East Cross Cultural Communication Education" with Auter and Prof. Ashraf Galal Bayoumy of Qatar University.

In terms of publications, Davie and Dr. Dominic Caristi of Ball State University in Indiana are collaborating on a new undergraduate textbook, Communication Law, due out from Allyn and Bacon/Longman in September 2009. Coinciding with this second textbook, Davie was recently invited to participate in the Oxford Round Table on Communication Law scheduled for March 2008. He also collaborated with Dr. Lucian Dinu of UL Lafayette on a research paper recently accepted by the Southern States Communication Association (SSCA), and published articles in Electronic News, a new broadcast news journal, and the International Encyclopedia of Communication.

Davie also continues to compete for grants and won two awards through the Student Technology Enhancement Program (STEP). With the assistance of Chief Engineer Michael Gervais, he secured digital audio recorders with Compact Flash technology and rack mounts for the Audio Annex and KRVS-FM. Davie and Gervais also secured funding for the EZ News software program this year.

As part of his leadership duties in the radio and television news divisions of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Davie helped organize the Edward L. Bliss Award Ceremony at the AEJMC Convention in Washington, D.C. honoring his co-author, Professor James Upshaw of the University of Oregon.