Ph.D. Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant

About

  • Find Me On:

    linkedintwitter

  • Office Hours:

    Spring: By appointment.

  • Role:

    Graduate Student

  • Position:

    • Ph.D. Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant

  • Concentration:

    • Journalism
    • Media Studies

  • Department:

    • Journalism & Media Communication

  • Education:

    • Bachelor of mass communication, University of Zambia, '21
    • Master of Science in media studies, Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville), '23
    • Ph.D. in media communication (Ongoing)

Biography

Victor Kalalanda was born and raised in Zambia, Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a Ph.D. student and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Journalism and Media Communication at CSU. He currently teaches strategic writing and communication in the department. A first-generation student, he earned his bachelor’s in mass communication from the University of Zambia in 2021 and his Master of Science in media studies from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE) in 2023.

Victor began his journalism career at the University of Zambia as a reporter and features editor. He eventually became the managing editor of the campus newspaper, the Lusaka Star. Since 2017, he has worked in journalism, media and communications for the Zambia Daily Mail in Zambia, Mediaschneider & Hoy AG in Switzerland, and the communications unit in the dean's office of the College of Arts and Sciences at SIUE in the United States. Before graduate school, Victor worked as a features journalist and opinion columnist for the Zambia Daily Mail.

His research foci include strategic communication, media psychology, feminist research, and journalism studies. His most recent study employed semiotic analysis to denude gender myths in Africa's growing digital culture epitomized by comedy skit makers in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria.

Academic & Career Awards:

  • Winner of 2022 Carol Kimmel Scholarship, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2022
  • 2022 Nominee, Graduate Student Leader of the Year, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2022
  • The Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) Award for Most Outstanding Graduating Student in Mass Communication, University of Zambia, 2021
  • Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) 1st Prize Best Graduating Student in Media Law & Ethics, University of Zambia, 2021
  • The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia Award for Most Outstanding Student in Media and Communication Studies, University of Zambia, 2021
  • Valedictorian, University of Zambia Mass Communication Class of 2020, University of Zambia, November 2020
  • Award for Service as managing editor, Lusaka Star, Sept 2019 – '20
  • Global Media Internship Award, Mediaschneider (Switzerland), 2020
  • Award for High Standards of Excellence and Creativity in Writing, University of Zambia, 2019
  • Award for Service as Features Editor, Lusaka Star, 2018 - '19
  • Award for Service as University of Zambia Media Students Association Publicity and Information Secretary, Sept 2018 – '19
  • Most Hardworking Reporter Award, Lusaka Star, 2016/2017

Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Kalalanda, V. (2022, March 17-19). Exploring media representations of women in Nigerian YouTube skits [Conference presentation]. AEJMC Southeast Colloquium (Visual Communication Division), Memphis, Tenn., United States.

Poepsel, M. & Kalalanda, V. (2023) How bad can it be? Threats and attacks on U.S. journalists in global context. [Manuscript in preparation].

First Generation Story

I am the third born in a family of four children. My parents had no college education. This precluded them from pursuing professional careers and the attendant middle class lifestyle. We were not able to build savings, go on vacations or go shopping in reckless abandon, or even own a car. We constantly lived on the verge of lack and want. Without a precedent, much of what I knew about education came from reading books and observing the lives of others. As I grew older, I realized I had an intuitive appreciation for learning and academic achievement. Much of this interest over the years has been developed by scholarships and the benevolence of an academic community that believes in education as a form of empowerment for the marginalized. From a little nondescript township in Africa, undeterred by debilitating poverty and local hopelessness, learning opportunities have taken me to Europe and two beautiful American college campuses. The campuses include Colorado State University, where I am pursuing my Ph.D. in media communication. I believe education is not only a way out of a wretched existence, but an asset that can transform whole communities in practical ways through innovation, teaching, and research. Through student leadership, community service, and citizenship, I try to actualize the transformative power of education and make a positive difference in my environment while developing my academic career. I previously served as president of the African Students Association at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, where we advocated for the removal of meretricious English proficiency tests for African students coming from English-speaking countries. Rather than predict academic success, this admission requirement arguably served as an unnecessary financial hurdle to disadvantaged but academically gifted African students whose hopes for advanced studies in the interest of their families, communities, and countries lay in the United States. Partly for leading this campaign, I received the university's Kimmel scholarship.