How can English class be a place to help students analyze Websites that target sales specifically to teenagers? And how can English teachers help students to think critically about memes in a world were content is purposefully designed to trigger our biases and inflame social divisions? We’ll find out on this episode as host Shelly Kiser, Communications Manager, talks with Darren Crovitz, Ph.D., Director of English Education and Professor of English and English Education.

How can peacebuilding efforts transform from quick-fix, one-size-fits-all solutions to a blueprint for sustainable peace? We’ll find out on this episode with Dr. Volker Franke, Professor of Conflict Management. We’ll also hear about research that Dr. Franke’s students in the Ph.D. in International Conflict Management program are doing. And we’ll discuss the Iraqi elections, peace talks in Afghanistan and disarmament in Liberia, and find out what they can teach us about success or failure in peacebuilding.

How does southern hip hop fill the historical gap from the civil rights movement until now? We’ll find out as I talk with Dr. Regina Bradley, Assistant Professor of English and African Diaspora Studies, here at KSU. We’ll learn what southern hip hop has to say about race, region and identity. We’ll also find out how hip hop music came to the south, and what makes it an important genre for talking about the southern black experience.

How have some COVID 19 graphs misrepresent data and how big of a problem is intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of data? We’ll find out as I talk with Dr. Sara Doan, Assistant Professor of Technical Communication here at KSU. We’ll learn how visualizations like charts, graphs and maps helped birth the modern practice of epidemiology, the study of disease in different populations. And we’ll examine how you can be a savvy consumer of technical information. View the research paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1050651920958392. View the graphs discussed on the podcast: http://saracdoan.com/index.php/misleading-covid-19-visualizations/.

How can you meet people who lived through the holocaust face to face? On this episode of the Thought Provoking podcast, we’ll hear the words of holocaust survivors and people who lived through WWII that are part of oral histories gathered by history researchers here at Kennesaw State University. We’ll talk with Adina Langer, Curator of the Museum of History and Holocaust Education and Part-Time Instructor of History here at KSU, and James Newberry, Curator of Outreach and Special Projects for KSU’s Museums, Archives and Rare Books, about how researchers use these histories to help young people understand that history has meaning and relevance today. Visit the museum and listen to the oral histories at https://historymuseum.kennesaw.edu/.

How do researchers test what biases we may have, and how do they go about capturing biases we don’t even know we have? We’ll find out on this episode as we talk with Tracie Stewart, Ph.D., Professor of Psychological Science here at Kennesaw State University, about unconscious biases, also called implicit biases. We’ll learn if truly unbiased people exist or whether we are all biased to some extent. We’ll also discover how biases can impact the workplace, and how to rewire our brain to reduce our bias. And, we’ll explore an anti-bias model that can help employers in reducing bias in the workplace.

How did a decision by a youth football organization lead to claims they were weakening American society and emasculating American males? We’ll find out on this episode as we talk with Dr. David Cassilo, Assistant Professor of Communication, about his research on media framing. We’ll also discover whether the media shows support for athletes or organizations making choices to protect health or whether they frame it as another case of creating a “sissy generation,” as one social media user claimed. Then we’ll examine how the media coverage of mental health problems in athletes can promote or discourage certain types of activism, and we’ll look at the media portrayal of LeBron James’ activism and its implications for athletes who want to promote change.

Russian interference, bigamy and actual body counts – that’s not the latest spy novel. It’s a list of claims in historical elections. Think the current presidential election is the dirtiest campaign of all time? Think again. We’ll talk with Kerwin Swint, Ph.D., professor of political science and director of the School of Government and International Affairs here at Kennesaw State University, about his research on the brutal campaign that Abraham Lincoln almost lost, and the last openly racist campaign in the U.S. Then we’ll discuss how recent contentious presidential elections would rank in the dirtiest campaigns in American history.

Is it possible to educate students to think about and act on sustainability issues? Find out in this month’s episode as we talk with Vanessa Slinger-Friedman, Ph.D., professor of geography; Jason Rhodes, Ph.D., Lecturer of Geography; and Britt Pickering, Director of the OwlSwap Sustainability Initiative, about how using active learning can transform education and create students who are change agents. Also, learn how a Geography of Clothing class and active learning led to OwlSwap, one of the largest and most visible sustainability programs on campus. Visit the OwlSwap website and see the research students conducted on the production of clothing in partnership with a university in Bangladesh.

Our episode this month reveals the link between the Disney princess phenomenon and eating disorders. Join us as we talk with Erin Ryan, Ph.D., assistant director of the media and entertainment program and professor of communication, about how one anonymous social media user used Disney princesses as inspiration for her anorexia and how media identity messages impact young people’s view of their body and weight. Read Dr. Ryan’s research paper.