Campus On The Common

In France, we’re seeing a continuous pattern of discrimination, fear, hatred, and violence associated with Islamophobia. What’s at the heart of the matter and is it possible to be both French and Muslim in France?

COTC spoke with Dr. Carol Ferrara, assistant professor of Marketing Communication at Emerson College and a sociocultural anthropologist with expertise and field experience in France.

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Drawing upon her diverse academic and professional expertise in anthropology, diversity, pluralism, religion, education, and business, Carol Ferrara's teaching in Marketing Communication encourages students to explore the ways that the social sciences can be leveraged to help make marketing and business better, smarter, and more socially and environmentally responsible.

Her research has focused on religion in secular societies, and most prominently, the ways that Muslims and Catholics navigate and negotiate faith, plurality, ethics, and national identity in secular France. She has published multiple articles and book chapters about private Muslim schooling in France. During the 2019-2020 academic year, Carol was awarded the Fulbright-EHESS Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue new ethnographic research about independent private schooling in France.

Carol holds a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from Boston University, a dual MA in Middle East & Islamic Studies and International Affairs from the American University in Paris, and a BS in International Business from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a co-Chair of the American Academy of Religion’s “Religion in Europe” Program Unit, and is on the Research Editorial Board of the journal EuropeNow.

At Emerson, Carol teaches Social and Mobile Marketing (DD603), Global Cultures: Applied Anthropology and Sociology for Marketing (MK665), and Communication, Media and Society (MK120) ,and has previously taught courses on Islam (HI204 and RL115), and Religion and Secularism in Contemporary Societies (SO310).

How do children with autism spectrum disorder develop language skills? Recent research shows signs that third party conversations may be a possible avenue for children with ASD to learn the language.

If correct, this hypothesis may reveal insights into new ways of teaching children important early language skills.

In this episode, we’ll talk with Dr Rhiannon Luyster about her research into how children with autism may benefit from a language-rich environment.

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Dr. Luyster is a developmental psychologist who studies social communication and language in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, American Philosophical Society, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, Organization for Autism Research, and Emerson College. Dr. Luyster has published her work in several peer-reviewed journals, including Developmental Psychology, Development & Psychopathology, Journal of Child Language, Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, Autism Research, and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Dr. Luyster offers graduate courses on research methods and ASD, as well as an undergraduate course on developmental psychology. Her research activities are open to Emerson students interested in learning more about clinical research with young children and toddlers with ASD.

Dr. Luyster was the recipient of the Emerson College Alumni Award for Teaching Innovation in 2016, and she was awarded a Huret Faculty Excellence Award for 2021.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Some of the most iconic moments in modern history have been captured through the lens of photojournalists. These dedicated witnesses to history conform to an ethical code of conduct and apply their truth in documenting what they see.

As modern technology democratizes who gets to craft and share the story, what separates the professional photojournalist as a multimedia storyteller from a passerby with a smartphone camera?

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Gina Gayle joined Emerson's Department of Journalism as assistant professor in the Fall 2020 semester. Dr. Gayle is a photojournalist, educator, and researcher whose professional work has taken her across the United States, as well as to Cuba and Italy, while previously working in New York City with numerous news organizations. Gayle earned her doctorate in Mass Communications from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, with research interests in media credibility, innovation, new technologies, the future of photojournalism, and digital media entrepreneurship using experimental research, as well as applied research methods She has taught multimedia, photojournalism, entrepreneurship, and media management courses, with future interests in data visualization, AR/VR/360 storytelling, and entrepreneurial journalism.

NFL Quarterback Colin Capernick took a knee during the national anthem, Olympic medalists John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists on the podium, and basketball legend LeBron James refused to shut up and dribble.

How do professional sports and social activism intertwine, and what impact do sports continue to have on the ongoing struggle to build a more equitable world?

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Lauren Anderson earned her Ph.D. in Communication at Florida State University, with a cognate in Sports Management. Her research and publications focus largely on media representations of gender and race in sport, as well as the ways in which media shapes social and cultural values and (re)produces dominant ideologies. Currently, Lauren is working on a book project on media coverage of domestic violence in sport, as well as a critical media analysis of mainstream media coverage of Kobe Bryant’s death. A critical scholar at heart, her research agenda is driven by a desire for social change, which is also a large focus in her classroom teachings. Lauren has been actively involved in the field of Sports Communication for the past seven years, presenting research at the annual summit for the International Association of Communication and Sport and the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, as well as the sports communication divisions of AEJMC and NCA. Lauren is also an avid sports fan. Born and raised in the Chicagoland area, you can always find her cheering on the Bears, Cubs, Bulls, and Blackhawks.

In stressful times, it’s easy to lose our cool. Empathy and reason become hard to come by and we can react to others as well as ourselves in a less-than-positive manner.

So what can we do about how we feel and how we manage relationships with others? Let’s talk about emotional intelligence.

In this episode- we’ll talk with Sara Asem ’00, MA’02 founder of Luminary Minds and emotional intelligence coach.

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

As the founder of Madrid-based Luminary Minds, Sarah is a personal growth consultant and emotional intelligence professional with experience in creating multidisciplinary workshops that enhance social and emotional learning to support self-management. Sarah's creative skills are focused on developing programs that magnify innate strengths that exist within each individual.

Her work manifests core life skills to improve well-being. Kindness, resilience, growth mindset, gratitude and self-awareness are essential takeaways in every session she facilitates.

In just the last few months, we've witnessed plague, brutality, protest, murder hornets, locusts, wayward comets, and unemployment numbers unseen for generations.

So who do we look to in a time a crisis? What do we, the public, need to hear? Why are some leaders effective in getting the public to respond, while others fail miserably? How do you get the word out? What are the key concepts and best practices of crisis communications?

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

In addition to his appointment as assistant professor of Communication Studies at Emerson College, Vincent Raynauld is an affiliate professor in the Département de lettres et communication sociale at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Canada). He is also serving as research associate in the Groupe de recherche en communication politique (GRCP), as member of the Réseau démocratie électronique based at Université Paris-Est Créteil (France), as member of the North American Digital Diplomacy Initiative (NACDI) based at Queen's University (Canada), and as academic adviser for the non-profit research organization Samara (Canada). His areas of research interest and publication include political communication and campaigning, protest politics, social media, research methods, political marketing, e-politics, and journalism. He earned his doctorate in Communication at Carleton University under the supervision of Dr. André Turcotte in October 2013.

In this powerful and insightful discussion, we explore...

• The origins and persistence of institutional racism in the U.S., and how its driven by individual racism

• The legacy and manifestation of white privilege

• The definition and nuances of racism, and what we get wrong about it

• What white people can do to understand and combat racism

About Cheryl Owsley Jackson...

Cheryl is a is a journalist-in-residence at Emerson College and a certified diversity trainer. She previously directed the Washington, D.C. video news program for Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Prior to joining the academic world, Cheryl worked for CNN, PBS, and Racing Towards Diversity Magazine.

About Heather May...

Heather May is chair of the Emerson Faculty Assembly and a senior lecturer in Communication Studies. She has worked as a consultant in public speaking and presentation skills, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in psychology.

Media is a powerful tool that shapes our everyday lives. But how do others worldwide engage with media and harness its power for social change?

In this episode, we’ll talk with Azeta Hatef, Assistant Professor of Journalism, who studies how marginalized groups—such as women in Afghanistan and the Czech Republic's Roma community —find ways to shape their own identity by engaging the media.

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Azeta joined Emerson's Journalism faculty in the summer of 2019. She is a media researcher and award-winning instructor whose academic interests focus on issues of social media as activism for underrepresented groups, gender and identity, and media systems in a global context. She has conducted research in Afghanistan examining the complex global beauty industry, including analysis of the post-feminist politics of choice, ethnic/class politics, and consumerism in Afghanistan. In 2017-2018, Hatef was the recipient of a Fulbright Research Scholarship in the Czech Republic. Her research examined minority media production and social media engagement among Romani activists to better understand the contextualized dynamics of these mediated spaces in providing marginalized groups places to negotiate identities, build communities, and experience feelings of belongingness.

"Alexa, help me with my homework!"

Voice-enabled technology has arrived and is becoming a bigger part of our daily lives. Where is this technology going, what are the implications for industry, education and at home? How do you get in on this trend's ground floor? Why should we care?

In this episode, we speak with Emerson Launch Director Sanjay Pothen, who is leading several initiatives to advance the use of voice technology here on campus and beyond...

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Sanjay's career began in management consulting and ultimately transitioned into digital and mobile marketing and advertising. He is passionate about helping brands engage with consumers in impactful ways and scale emerging media and technologies. Having successfully founded a variety of startup companies himself, Sanjay is a driven entrepreneur with specific knowledge of the startup ecosystem. Sanjay first started at Emerson College as an Emerson Launch Mentor and has now taken on the role of Director to help infuse creative and problem solving thinking skills into academia.

In our discussion with Laura, we also learn about...

• The symptoms and processes of different types of dementia

• Tools and strategies that family members and caregivers can use to help their loved one with dementia

• How family members can take care of themselves as well as their loved one

• The different types of therapies used at Emerson's Robbins Center, and how therapists determine which is best for each patient.

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Laura Glufling-Tham has more than 20 years of clinical experience working with adults who have cognitive-communicative disorders, including aphasia, apraxia of speech, dysarthria, cognitive-linguistic impairments, and difficulty in swallowing, known as dysphagia. An experienced clinical supervisor and teacher, Glufling-Tham works in Emerson's Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center. There, she supervises graduate students as they conduct evaluations and therapy with adult clients who present with various neurogenic communication disorders.

Glufling-Tham also teaches a clinical methods course covering clinically based adult topics, including professional issues, interviewing, documentation, and assessment tools.