Ph.D. Students

 

Chelsea Bonser  

Chelsea is a first-year Ph.D.  student in Media Communication and is a May 2019 M.S. graduate in JMC. Chelsea received a B.S. in Animal Science from CSU in 2012 and spent the five years after receiving her degree working in the beef cattle industry as a domestic beef sales account manager. Knowing herself as a communicator and writer at heart, she left the professional world to pursue her interests in agricultural communications. Her research interests include communications involved with the agriculture industry, specifically livestock. Her ultimate goal is to be an educated voice for farmers and ranchers, and connect consumers to an industry in which most are far removed.

 

Sera Choi

Sera is a first-year Ph.D. student and received her M.S. in Journalism and Media Communication from JMC in May 2019. She grew up in Suwon, South Korea and received her undergraduate degree at Hongik University in Advertising and Public relations, where she developed a strong interest in public relations. In 2014, she witnessed the devastating news report about the sinking Sewol ferry that capsized while carrying 476 people and led to 304 deaths. She criticized the government for its poor response to the crisis and this tragedy made her decide to become a PR specialist capable of communicating with the public in an effective way when a national crisis occurs. After setting a definite goal to be an expert in crisis communication, she naturally turned her attention to pursue a M.S. degree at CSU. Her aspiration is to become a government PR specialist in the years to come and her mission is to overcome crisis by communicating effectively with the public.

 

Joy Enyinnaya

Joy Enyinnaya is from Abia State in Nigeria. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Abia State University and earned a Master’s degree from New Mexico State University, both in Agricultural Economics. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Media Communication at C.S.U. Her research interest is in Agricultural Communication and Migration. She hopes to examine the factors that influence rural-to-urban migration or the international migration of agricultural producers. She is passionate about teaching photography, videography, and info-graphics, as they are skillsets that are invaluable in Communications. In her spare time, she volunteers with Ane Osiobe International Foundation, a non-profit organization in Nigeria whose goal is to provide educational support to under-privileged children.

 

Parisa Farhadi

Parisa Farhadi is currently a Ph.D. student at the Department of Journalism and Media Communication, Colorado State University. She got her B.S. in Cellular Molecular Biology from the University of Shiraz, Iran. She earned her first M.A. in Communications Sciences from the Department of Communication at Allame Tabatabai University in Tehran, Iran.  She got her second M.A. in Communication Technology with a focus on Human-Robot Interaction.  Her research attempts to reveal the significance of the perceived existential status of social robots from the users’ perspective. She investigates how social robots come to real presence and produce the experience of social presence for human users.

 

Di Lan

Di Lan is originally from Guizhou, China.  She went to Shanghai to receive her BS in Economics from Shanghai Normal University. After finishing her undergraduate degree, she was excited to go to England to get her MA in Media and Society from the University of East Anglia. To further her studies in media and communication, she came to CSU for her PhD. Di's research interests lie in intercultural communication and media sociology.  She is specifically interested in how different elements from culture, ideology and politics influence journalistic norms and practices in different societies.

 

Stephen J. McConnell 

Following careers in journalism, marketing, and public relations, Stephen McConnell joined the department in 2017 to work toward earning his Ph.D. in Media Communication. Stephen worked for daily and community newspapers in Pennsylvania and Alabama, including the Scranton Times-Tribune, where he was a county bureau chief and police, courts, and local government reporter, culminating in high-profile investigative and enterprise reporting. He published more than 2,000 stories about every subject imaginable.  In 2013, Stephen launched Guiding Type, a marketing and professional writing company. He was also the director of marketing for Conundrum Press, a publisher of literary fiction. In 2016, he earned an M.S. in writing from NYU. He also recently finished a novel and a screenplay.  His research interests include exploring how new communicative technologies are reshaping our culture, knowledge, and perceptions, propaganda (examining elite mainstream media propaganda and fake news), and algorithms, particularly personalization of news/information.

 

Zoey Rosen

Zoey is a first-year Ph.D. student and graduated in May 2019 with an M.S. degree in Journalism and Media Communication from JMC. She previously attended the University of Nevada, Reno where she received a B.S. in atmospheric science, with minors in communication studies and mathematics. Throughout her studies, Zoey was always left with the question “How does what I’m learning affect others?” This curiosity for social impact and passion for physical sciences led her to intern in the Office of Communications for the National Weather Service. With an interest in severe weather and public safety, Zoey aims to combine her love of writing and science into her graduate research for her Ph.D. degree. In the future, Zoey hopes stay close to the meteorology field, either working in forensic meteorology, as a public communication officer, or as a writer/editor for a trade magazine.

 

Jesse Scaccia

Jesse arrives from Virginia, where he was the editor-in-chief for the daily online alternative magazine AltDaily.com.  Jesse is most proud of the concentrated engagement projects he was able to spearhead, including starting the region's first arts district, The NEON; helping move the region's LGBT Pride event to center stage downtown; birthing Mentally Healthy Norfolk Month, which reached thousands through its TalkAboutNorfolk effort; and pushing the Norfolk City Council to film and publish their informal meeting sessions. Jesse also worked as the director of strategic communications and fundraising for Virginia NORML, where he was on the small team that helped legalize medical cannabis in Virginia.  He has been published in The New York Times, interned for ESPN News, and was the executive producer of a documentary series for B.E.T. Jesse's research interests include how city communications foster or inhibit civic engagement, and college journalism programs that cover local and state politics.

 

M.S. Students

 

Will Beaton

Will believes in the transformative power of wilderness. As an undergraduate Wildlife Biology major at the University of North Dakota, Will served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and founded the U.N.D. Psychedelic Club and Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter. With his professors, he spent two summers on Hudson Bay in Canada filming polar bears and conducting ecological research on migratory waterfowl. This year as a second-year student in the M.S. program, he teaches a video editing lab and helps direct the CSU RamProductions student videography group. His graduate project will build on work he has done in the Minnesota Boundary Waters for the Will Steger Wilderness Center.

Meagan Black

Meagan is excited to join the M.S. program in Journalism and Media Communication at CSU. A Chicago native turned Texan, she is delighted to be back in a state with a all four seasons. Meagan comes from a strong communications background where her focus was in marketing communications, database development, sales and data analysis.  She also has experience in content creation, copy writing, videography, and social media management.  A storyteller at heart, Meagan's passion for communication stems from her 20 years performing in the theatre.  She looks forward to exploring strategic and creative innovation; all while in pursuit of her passion for storytelling.

Chaz Callendar

Chaz Callendar is a second-year M.S. student at C.S.U. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of South Florida, he moved to Colorado to be a research assistant in the JMC department. Through that research, he learned how theories in communication can aid him in his own interests: how music affects narrative in interactive media. He plans on continuing his academic career after achieving his Master’s degree to pursue a Ph.D.

Morgan Clark

Morgan Clark is a first-year graduate student at CSU.  She came to Colorado after graduating from The Ohio State University in the spring of 2019 with a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences and a B.A. in Strategic Communications. While pursuing her undergraduate degrees, she produced her own weather broadcasts for the school's news sources, Buckeye TV and Lantern TV.  In her final semester, she interned and cohosted in a meteorological podcast, Storm Front Freaks.  After a research opportunity at the National Weather Center, she saw the importance of communicating severe weather events, climate change, and other atmospheric processes to the general public.  During this experience, she became less interested in pursuing broadcast meteorology and more open to graduate school.

Zoe Clemmons

Zoe Clemmons is a second-year M.S. student and graduated from Illinois State University in 2016 with a degree in Public Relations and Environmental Studies. Her background includes communications work for a non-profit land conservation organization. Her work focused on content writing, media relations and strategic planning.  She enjoys telling stories about people and their relationships with the natural land. Her research interests include the intersections of people and nature. Her career interest includes working for a federal agency such as the U.S. National Park Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Carolina Del Pozo

 Carolina was born in Quito- Ecuador, a little and certainly magical country located in South America. Her passion for social sciences and topics like culture, gender, society, economics, history, encouraged her to studied Political Science and International Relationships. Communication had an evolution in Carolina, going from fear to passion, considering that at early age she showed to the a very shy and introvert girl. Now she is a woman who imposes on herself every day the urgency to improve and fight for what she wants. She grew out of her fears and wants to be a channel of communication for others.  Willing to share content, generate emotions, and develop a strong media presence, she was admitted into Georgetown University in the program of Digital Marketing. She´s hopping not only to make a name recognized, but also to make people feel something through it. Generate loyalty is one her main goals, and there is no greater loyalty than the one given by empathy. She is working hard to contribute to make this a better world, one where communication is not overwhelming but rather a channel of liberation.  She supplements her passion for media content communication with tangible technical skills because of her interest in having a working knowledge of transmitting messages more efficiently. She believes that before a message is delivered it is of the utmost importance to gather data in order to identify variables that can truly provide relevant information about the audience. She attended to professional certifications in Crisis Management (ECU), Developing Communication Plans (ECU), Successful Political Marketing Campaigns (COLOMBIA), Neuro-marketing (MEXICO), among others.

Emily Luft

Emily Luft is a first-year M.S. student.  Emily is a Fort Collins native and received her B.A. in Journalism and Technical Communication from CSU in 2012. As an undergrad, she wrote for The Collegian, served as News Director at CTV and worked as a video producer, recording hundreds of M.B.A. level courses at the College of Business.  Since graduating she worked as a digital producer for WINK News, the CBS station in Fort Myers, Florida.  Most recently she worked in communications while sailing on the Spring 2019 Semester at Sea voyage.  Her work in Florida had a heavy focus on environmental crises and local water issues, which directed her towards science communication.  Her research interests include documentary production, science journalism, and journalism best practices in a changing media world.

Meredith Finch

Meredith is a second-year M.S. student and received her B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Kinesiology from Kansas State University. During her time at Kansas State, she was a Division I Scholar Athlete on the Equestrian Team where she earned First Team All-American Honors. She then attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, completing her M.Ed. in Health, Human Performance, and Recreation. After working in the fitness industry for three years, she realized that she has higher aspirations in life and left the professional world to pursue her interests in science communication. Her research interests include health and environmental communication as well as sustainability. Outside of her academic pursuits, she is an avid runner and in her free time enjoys training for marathons.

Elias Gbadamosi

Born in Nigeria, Elias holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language from Obafemi Awolowo University located in lle-lfe, Osun State, Nigeria.  Prior to attending Colorado State University as a M.S. student, he worked in the Corporate Sustainability and Non-Profit sectors in Nigeria.  His teaching and research interests lie at the intersection of social/policy development and communications. He is currently exploring how governments can effectively communicate social policies to the citizens they serve in a bid to build trust and foster inclusive governance.  In the course of his graduate degree program, he hopes to gain specialized communication skills, contribute meaningfully to the academic and social communities whilst forging strong personal and professional relationships.  Elias aspires to a career in public service where he can apply his skills and knowledge towards building resilient institutional and governance structures especially in his home continent in Africa.

Jordan Gorostiza

Jordan is a first-year M.S. student and graduated in 2017 from California State University, Sacramento with a B.A. in Communication Studies with a focus in Mass Communication. After undergrad, he spent two years working for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Disaster Assistance - an experience that, for him, underscored the importance of treating our changing natural environment as the most threatening issue of our time. His research interests include understanding how communication strategies can be deployed efficiently and creatively to enhance the public's understanding of environmental issues.  He hopes this research will inform best practices that promote and facilitate public participation in the problem-solving process.  In the future, he hopes to either stay in academia or work for a federal land management agency.

Scott Hansen

Scott is a second-year M.S. student at C.S.U. and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, with an emphasis in print journalism, from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah in 2014. He then spent four years working as a business features reporter, first for the Gillette News Record in Gillette, Wyoming, and then the trade publication RV News Magazine in Louisville, Colorado before deciding to pursue a Master’s degree. His interests include cultural research into social media, films, and televised sports, looking into why people choose to view the things they do, and why people choose to post (or not post) certain things on various social media platforms. His ultimate goal is still in development, but he knows he wants to continue in cultural and hermeneutic research.

Amanda Martinek

Amanda is a second-year M.S. student at C.S.U. Born and raised in Southern California, she received a B.A. in Communications and Creative Writing from U.C. San Diego in 2012. She worked for the past six years as the Director of Social Media and social media strategist in the digital marketing start-up agency 85SIXTY. With a passion for live music and writing, she was the Editor-in-Chief and a staff writer for San Diego-based music publication ListenSD from 2013 – 2017. She is an avid hiker, traveler, writer, reader and coffee drinker. Her research interests include environmental communication with a focus on private company branding of climate change, public land and sustainability conversations online. In the future, she is considering staying in academia, working for a governmental agency or diving back into the private sector.

Lindsey Middleton

There can be a knowledge gap between the scientific field, a discovery front for new ideas and technologies, and the people who could use that science in their daily lives. Lindsey Middleton hopes to serve as a science translator. Lindsey has a degree in Journalism (CSU, 2010) and a degree in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability (CSU, 2015). She worked for five years at the Colorado Water Institute as an Editor and has worked at the North Central Climate Science Center as a Communications Specialist since mid-2016. She has developed a communications plan for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for an agricultural community outreach campaign, and has also contributed to High Park Fire area watershed research. Lindsey hopes to use her master’s degree to improve her understanding of communications research and evaluation methods, and would like to research the effectiveness of science communication.

Katharyn Peterman

Katharyn is a second-year M.S. student and is originally from Houston, Texas, but made her way to Colorado in 2014 when she started at Colorado School of Mines. She graduated in 2018 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. While at Mines, Katharyn realized she was interested in the theory she was learning, but not the application. As editor-in-chief of CSM’s student newspaper, The Oredigger, Katharyn realized journalism and communications were her true passions. Her current research interests include understanding the pervasiveness of anti-intellectualism as it relates to the environment and water resources, and the distrust of journalists from both scientists and the public alike.

Kit Seeborg

Kit has built her career managing communications and digital outreach for software companies and climate research organizations and institutes.  Currently, she is the Director of Communication for Project Drawdown.  Her video production work has been recognized by The White House Office of Science and Technology and her photos have appeared in two United Nations publications.  She served as a regional editor for WorldChanging.com and has written for numerous publications about digital media production and sustainability.  From 2010 to 2013, Kit was the community editor for SlideShare, and then LinkedIn. She is the co-author of the book Present Yourself: Growing Your Business With SlideShare.  Kit plans to study trends in the way climate change is discussed in society and among scholars, how marginalized groups are represented in the public discourse about climate, with the aim of understanding public reactions and applying industry methods to increase the impact of climate change communications.

Zoe Shark

Zoe is the Community Relations Manager for the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department and is a part-time JMC Ph.D. student. She has worked for the city since 2001, most recently managing the education, outreach and volunteer coordination team and leading communications. Previous to her work with the city, Zoe earned a Masters Degree in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from CSU and a bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology and Outdoor Education from Prescott College in Arizona. Zoe is interested in studying best practices in environmental communications and public engagement.

Urusha Silwal

Urusha Silwal is a first-year M.S. student from Nepal. She received her bachelor's degree in Communications with a minor in Psychology from Mississippi University for Women in 2018. While in college, she worked as a Public Relations Assistant for the Office of Public Affairs and as a Broadcast Editor for the college newspaper - The Spectator. After graduation, she worked as a Production Assistant for WCBI-TV in Columbus, Mississippi for a year. This experience increased her interest in exploring other fields of communication, which led her to pursue a M.S. degree at CSU.  Her current research interests include new communication technologies, strategic communication, and international communication.  In her spare time, she likes to travel, dance and read novels.  She speaks three languages and has visited more than ten countries in the world. Her ultimate goal is to work for international non-governmental organizations promoting peace and diversity.

Hannah Tran

Hannah Tran is returning to grad school after spending over seven years in both the broadcast and print news industry.  Her most recent role as the Director of Video at the Colorado Springs Gazette widened her outlook on the variety of platforms and formats of visual storytelling.  Video on the digital, online, and social domains of print legacies remain somewhat undefined, which created room for innovation and experimentation.  Despite the excitement experienced during her experimental time at the Gazette, engaging audiences on high levels was never consistent with each assignment. Also, many younger audiences do not consume local, visual content, including from local TV newscasts.  Hannah knew that someday she would seek to study that gap - why it happens, why we're disengaged, and what can be done. There is a desperate need for new ways to tell local stories.  She hopes the graduate program at Colorado State University will give her the tools she needs to guide her journey toward finding new media approaches that will engage young consumers.  She also hopes to continue pursuing her passion in visual storytelling as well.

Kibum Youn

Kibum is a second-year M.S. student and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Media in Society JMC course. He earned his M.A. in Communication Studies at SungKyunKwan University in Korea in 2016 and earned a B.A. in Communication and a B.A. in Business Administration as a double major at Myongji University in 2014. Kibum’s goal for graduate school is to further develop his research and his teaching skills which he believes will play a vital role in his growth as a researcher and an academic. With this experience, he will be one step closer to his long-term goal of entering a Ph.D. program. Kibum is interested in Health Communication and plans to study health campaign tactics that cause positive behavior changes and he would like to study how successful health communication strategies can be implemented in different cultural contexts.

Ryan Whitney

Ryan first arrived at C.S.U. in 2014 as an undergraduate after serving eight years in the U.S. Air Force as a Public Affairs Specialist.  After graduating in 2016 with a B.A. in Journalism and Media Communication, Ryan went on to serve as the communication and marketing director for a hospital in Georgia.  After nearly two years in that position, Ryan returned to C.S.U. and is now a second-year M.S. student in the Journalism and Media Communication program.  His research interests include new communication technologies, propaganda theory and advertising effects.  Ultimately, Ryan wants to better understand how quickly our society adopts to new technologies and is considering continuing his education following the graduate program.

Lina Zhu

Lina did her undergraduate training in Journalism in China, and is presently a second-year M.S. student in the Journalism and Media Communication program. Growing up in the southeast coastal area of China, she has witnessed the dramatic change in her hometown due to globalization and rapid development. This increased her interest in human psychology and behavior in a global and fast-changing society. Lina’s research interests lie in investigating how emerging new media technologies influence the way people behave, and studying how to create effective and efficient communication strategies for targeted audiences. Lina loves traveling and outdoor activities and has visited eight countries around the world. In her spare time, she likes to workout, watch movies, and hike.