SCHUYLKILL, Pa. — This spring, Penn State Schuylkill's largest cohort of student researchers had original research accepted into the Eastern Communication Association's James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference (ECA-USC) held in Baltimore, Maryland. Thirteen students had 20 projects, including both research papers and posters, accepted to the conference. Penn State Schuylkill had its most successful year at the conference, with two students taking home top paper awards and three students earning top poster awards. The campus also had a 95% acceptance rate into the conference this year.
In addition to student projects, Penn State Schuylkill faculty mentors, Valerie Schrader, professor of communications arts and sciences, and Janelle Gruber, lecturer in corporate communication, had their paper, "Burkean Identification and the 'Ton:' A Rhetorical Analysis of the Netflix Series 'Bridgerton,'" accepted for the top paper panel of the Rhetoric and Public Address Interest Group.
"I've taken Penn State Schuylkill students to ECA-USC since 2011, and every year they do outstanding work and are excellent representatives of the University," said Schrader. "I've never had a team of students receive this many awards at the conference before. I'm so proud of each and every one of these students and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to mentor them."
Award Winners
Top paper awards
Second place: Poetic Session – "A War Like Many Others: Analyzing Statements Surrounding the Ukrainian War through Burkean Identification and Social Constructionism"
Fourth place: Sophia Bates – "'Opening-Up' about Mental Health: A Rhetorical Analysis of Burkean Identification in BetterHelp Advertising"
Top poster awards
First place: Poetic Session – "Poster Portrayals of Mental Illness in Animation: Applying Burkean Identification to the TV Shows 'BoJack Horseman,' 'Arcane,' and 'Komi Can't Communicate'"
Second place: Hayley Salen – "History in Our Backyard: The Creation of Public Memory in Local Military Memorials"
Third place: Jenna Walton – "Burkean Identification in Vaping Advertisements that Target Our Youth"
Rhetoric, Burkean Identification, public memory, and more – featuring a wide breadth of student research
Sophia Bates
Bates had two projects accepted in this year's ECA-USC — a poster presentation, "Breaking the Cycle of Misinformation and Pandemic Fatigue: A Rhetorical Analysis of Public Memory and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic," and a paper, "'Opening-Up' about Mental Health: A Rhetorical Analysis of Burkean Identification in BetterHelp Advertising," which received second place in the top paper awards.
Bates is a fourth-year student majoring in corporate communication with minors in biology and communication arts and sciences. She has been a member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program for three years and currently serves as the secretary of the Honor Society. This is Bates' fifth communication conference. She's also a Penn State Undergraduate Research Ambassador.
Bates had top papers at the National Communication Association in 2021 and 2022 and has presented work at the 2021 and 2022 ECA-USC. Bates received the 2022 Penn State Schuylkill Communication Research Award and has co-authored a paper with Schrader that's published in the Kentucky Journal of Communication, a peer-reviewed communication journal. Bates and Schrader have since had two other articles accepted to peer-reviewed state communication journals. She is also a co-president for the Alpha Epsilon Lambda chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication honors society, and has been accepted to James Madison University's master's program in communication and advocacy, which she plans to attend in the fall.
Karandhir Flora
This is Flora's second time attending the ECA-USC, with his paper, "The Illusion of Greed: Facework in the Film 'The Prestige,'" which was completed as part of an independent study in the fall of 2022. The paper was accepted to the "Managing Friends, Families, and Frenemies in Contentious Spaces" panel. His previous paper, "Relational Dialectics and the Musical 'Daddy Long Legs'" was completed in an honors-level effective speech class Schrader taught in spring of 2021 and was accepted for a paper panel in the 2021 ECA-USC.
Flora is a third-year student majoring in nursing with a minor in communication arts and mass media, and has served as the vice president of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Society since 2021. Outside of his major coursework, Flora has a special interest in film.
Kyla Guillermo
After attending the ECA-USC in the spring of 2020 to learn more about communication research, Guillermo decided to submit two projects to this year's conference, and both were accepted. Guillermo had a poster, "Facework Theory and the Musical 'Daddy Long Legs'" and paper, "The 'Face' of the Strike: Katherine Plumber's and Joseph Pulitzer's use of Facework in the Musical 'Newsies'" accepted. Her paper was completed as part of her independent study in fall 2022.
Guillermo is a third-year student majoring in nursing with a minor in communication arts and mass media. She is the current treasurer of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Society and has a keen interest in musical theater.
Dominique Hughes
Hughes had three projects accepted into this year's ECA-USC. Her first project, "Contemporary African American History Told through Film: A Rhetorical Analysis of 'Just Mercy'" was accepted to the Rhetoric and Public Address interest group. Her second project, "Creating Public Memory of African American History Through Film: A Rhetorical Analysis of '42'" was accepted as a poster. Her third project, "Fighting for African American Rights, Then and Now: Malcolm X's and John Boyega's Use of Simons' Social Movement Strategies," was accepted for the "Analyzing Social Movements, Crises, and Policies," panel.
This was Hughes' third ECA-USC and she has also presented her work at the Pennsylvania Communication Association and at the 2022 National Communication Conference, where her paper was the second-ranked student paper on the Theatre, Film, and New Multi-Media's Top Student Paper Panel.
Hughes is a fourth-year student majoring in corporate communication with a minor in communication arts and sciences. She's a member of the Penn State Schuylkill Co-Op, president of the Penn State Schuylkill Honor Society and vice president of the Alpha Epsilon Lambda chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication honor society. Hughes has research interests in social justice, public memory, and the use of film in sharing Black history stories. Following her upcoming graduation, Hughes' will be relocating to Maryland, and has accepted a position with Customer Value Partners where she will work alongside the Veterans Health Administration for an annual event that highlights veterans' stories.
Mikayla Kupstas
Kupstas attended the ECA-USC for the first time this year. Her paper, "Forgiveness – A Necessary Component of Cognitive Dissonance Theory: A Rhetorical Analysis of Cognitive Dissonance Theory in the Musical 'Allegiance,'" was accepted for a paper panel.
Kupstas is a second-year student majoring in nursing with a minor in communication arts and mass media. She's an active member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honor Society and has a special interest in music.
Lily McDonald
McDonald attended the ECA-USC for the first time this year. Her paper, "Social Movement Strategies and the Musical 'Allegiance,'" was accepted for a paper panel.
McDonald is a second-year student majoring in biology. She's an active member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program and the Nittany Players, a theater and performance group on campus. This year, she played the role of Miss Scarlet in the spring musical, "Clue."
Grace Muench
Muench graduated from Penn State Schuylkill in the fall of 2022 but was able to attend the ECA-USC due to her project submission being prior to her graduation. The is Muench's second time at the conference. Her project, "Paper Protecting Raptors, Then and Now: Narrative Theory in Hawk Mountain Sanctuary's Conservation Messaging," was accepted for a paper panel.
Muench graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology and a minor in communication arts and mass media. She has a special interest in environmental communication and is currently employed at the Avian Research Center at Powdermill Nature Reserve in western Pennsylvania.
Hayley Salen
Salen has attended the ECA-USC three years in a row. This year, she had a poster presentation and a paper accepted. Her project, "History In Our Backyard: The Creation of Public Memory in Local Military Memorials," received second-place overall in the top posters. Her paper, "Burkean Identification and the Inspirational Legacy of Robin Williams: A Rhetorical Analysis" was accepted for a paper panel.
Salen is a third-year student majoring in Psychology with minors in communication arts and sciences and criminal justice. She's part of Penn State Schuylkill Co-Op and has been member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program for three years. Salen is the current scholarship officer of the Alpha Epsilon Lambda chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication honor society.
She also currently serves as the student representative of the campus' Undergraduate Research Council. Her research focuses on how rhetorical texts convey messages regarding mental health and how that can break down stigma associated with mental illness. Salen is also a peer academic coach.
Poetic Session
Session received two awards at this year's ECA-USC in the top paper and poster categories. Session's project, "Poster Portrayals of Mental Illness in Animation: Applying Burkean Identification to the TV shows 'BoJack Horseman,' 'Arcane,' and 'Komi Can't Communicate,'" received first-place overall in poster presentations. Her paper, "A War Like Many Others: Analyzing Statements Surrounding the Ukrainian War through Burkean Identification and Social Constructionism," was accepted in the top paper panel, where she received second-place overall.
Session has attended four communication conferences and is a third-year student majoring in psychology with minors in communication arts and sciences and communication arts and mass media. She's part of the Penn State Schuylkill Co-Op and has been a member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program for three years. She's also one of the campus's Lion Ambassador student tour guides, serves as a peer academic coach, and is passionate about undergraduate research. Much of Sessions's research focuses on social constructionism as a theory.
Sarah Tran
The ECA-USC is the first communication conference Tran attended, and they had two projects accepted. Their first project, "Balancing the Factors of Friendship: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Musical 'Allegiance' Using Rawlins' Relations Dialectics," was accepted for a poster session. Their second project, "A Rhetorical Analysis of Social Movement Leadership and Strategies Theory in Larry Kramer's Lifetime Acceptance Award speech," was accepted for a paper panel.
Tran is a second-year student majoring in biology with a minor in communication arts and mass media, and has been a member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program for two years. They completed rhetorical work in several communication arts and sciences classes in their first and second year of courses, which drew them to continuing their research.
Jenna Walton
This is Walton's second time attending the ECA-USC. Last year, Walton was the only first-year student from Penn State Schuylkill to be accepted. Her project, "Burkean Identification in Vaping Advertisements that Target our Youth," was not only accepted for a poster session, but also placed third overall for poster presentations.
Walton is a second-year student majoring in biology and has a keen interest in health communication, and is currently the historian of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program and a member of the campus Lion Ambassadors. Walton will be attending University Park next semester, and plans to pursue dental school after graduation.
Cassandra Ward
This is Ward's fourth communication conference. Her project, "'My Mom Thought I Liked Girls For Years': Burkean Identification and LGBTQ+ Representation in 'Our Flag Means Death'" was accepted for a paper panel.
Ward is a fourth-year student majoring in business with the accounting option and a minor in communication arts and sciences. She's been a member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program for four years and is a co-president of the Alpha Epsilon Lambda Chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication honor society.
She co-authored an article on "Hamilton" alongside Schrader in 2022 which was published in the Carolinas Communication Annual. Ward also had the sixth-ranked student paper on the Theatre, Film, and New Multi-Media's Top Student Paper Panel at the National Communication Association Conference in 2022.
Brendan Welsh-Lowe
Welsh-Lowe participated in the ECA-USC for the first time in this year's conference. His project, "Facework Theory and the Movie 'Shutter Island,'" was accepted for a paper panel.
Welsh-Lowe is a third-year student majoring in business with the management and marketing option, with a minor in corporate communication. He's been a member of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program for three years and completed his first rhetorical analysis paper this year.
Participating in the ECA-USC
Penn State Schuylkill encourages students to engage in undergraduate research as early as their first year of studies, across almost any discipline. Those interested in learning how to create conference-ready work for the ECA-USC can contact Schrader at vls146@psu.edu.