News

Melissa Haas ’15 (communication studies) is entering the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus as a postulant on Aug. 27.

Haas is the third MSUM student to enter a religious vocation under the direction of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Moorhead, which offers room and board to students attending area higher education institutions.

To read more about Haas’ journey, visit crookston.org.

How are classes going? Did you have an expectation when you walked into class? Maybe hear about the professor before you took the class? The students of the communication studies senior seminar course would like to know your thoughts! We invite you to participate in a short 10-minute survey to help us better understand professor-student interpersonal relationships and students’ expectations. If interested, please click the link below! If you have questions or concerns please contact the researchers by email. See contact information below.  Read the rest of this entry →

Leadership Studies capstone students partnered with Hospice of the Red River Valley for a “Death Over Dinner” service project. Communication Studies majors Bailey Gemar, Payton Hoskins, and Madison Kramer hosted two dinners this week to highlight the need to share with loved ones feelings about end of life care. “Death over Dinner” is a concept created by Michael Hebb with a goal of removing the taboo associated with death. The content of the event is also connected to the novel “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande. The dinners included a mix of community members and MSUM students and sought to increase effectiveness in talking about death. The events included presentations and discussions with Dr. Tricia Langlois, Medical Director and Brenda Iverson, Director of Community Relations for Hospice of the Red River Valley. Free will donations benefit Hospice.

By Danielle Rebel

At MSUM, advising is more than a requirement to receive registration access codes. The university strives to make every student heard, provide support for all aspects of college life, and empower students to reach their lifelong goals.

Spring 2017 semester advising begins Monday, Oct. 3.  Read the rest of this entry →

Dr. Anthony Ocaña, assistant professor of communication studies in the School of Communication and Journalism, has had his eBook “Clashing Wor(l)ds: From International to Intrapersonal Conflict” published by Inter-Disciplinary Press.

The edited book is a multidisciplinary collection of research presented in Lisbon, Portugal, at the 4th Global Conference on Communication and Conflict in 2015. Included in the book is a co-authored chapter by Dr. Ocaña and Dr. Aileen Buslig (Concordia College) presenting their research on student group conflict and reactions to group leader messages.

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Startup Weekend team develops tool for nonprofits

By Danielle Rebel

What would you be willing to give up in order to help others?

That’s the question the winning team at Fargo’s Startup Weekend asked and answered. In just a few short days, the team turned a question into a functioning, reliable nonprofit fundraising platform: GIVV App.  Read the rest of this entry →

Professor’s passion documented in writing

BY DANIELLE REBEL

Merrie Sue Holtan is more than a professor in the School of Communication and Journalism. She’s a freelance writer, experienced baton-twirler and avid volunteer. Her vibrant personality is central in all she does, especially when it comes to the art of storytelling.

“I call myself a story catcher,” Holtan said. “It’s from a book I love about the ability of listening and finding people’s stories, then I get the privilege of telling those stories. As a result I have hundreds of stories wrapped up in who I am because of all these people.” Read the rest of this entry →

Can’t attend commencement? Watch the ceremony live.

Minnesota State University Moorhead will award degrees to 362 students during its fall commencement program Thursday, Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. in the university’s Nemzek Fieldhouse. Read the rest of this entry →

Recently, the Mass Communications and Communication Studies department have come together under one department named ‘The School of Communication and Journalism’. Registration for old departments will now be held under COMM. Courses that shared common course numbers will now be slightly shifted. For instance, Speech Communication CMST100 and Introduction to Mass Media MC100 has been adapted to COMM 100 and COMM 101 respectively. Courses that shared a similar number have had their number shifted, but course title has remained the same. Students have been recognizing the new department as COJO as well as COMM.

The School of Communication and Journalism would like to remind students as registration begins that communication course subjects have changed. The Mass Communication subject MC and Communication Studies subject CMST are now being offered with the subject “COMM”.

Nine employees were recognized for excellence at the 2014 Retiree Recognition and Employee Excellence Awards Luncheon May 15.. Employees are nominated by their peers for recognition in five categories. This year’s award winners include:

Excellence in Service to Students: Hannah Severtson, Director of Learning Communities and Dr. Theresa Hest, Professor of Communication Studies
Excellence in Service to the Community: Brittney Goodman, Executive Director of Library Services
Excellence in Service to the University: Joanne Strandlien, Records Office; Dr. Richard Lahti, Associate Professor of Chemistry; and Nathan Hollatz, Admissions Counselor
Excellence in Teaching: Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson, Associate Professor of Film Studies
Excellence in Research and Creative Activity: Dr. Peter Geib, Professor of Business Management and Dr. Lisa Stewart, Professor of Psychology

Congratulations!

An essay titled “Survivance as Resistance to Authoritative Discourse,” by Rebecca Gardner, Communication Studies, was included in the book “Feminist Challenges or Feminist Rhetorics? Locations, Scholarship, Discourse,” recently published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Academic advisors offer advice and support for students

By Danielle Rebel

As students are filling their wish lists for next semester’s courses, and eagerly staring at their screens waiting for the moment their registration window opens, it can only mean one thing.

It’s time for registration.

Students are required to meet with their academic advisors for help planning course schedules, and to receive an access code needed for online registration. Read the rest of this entry →

This is the second of what have become monthly segments entitled Spotlight on Service-Learning.

Each monthly Spotlight will highlight the endeavors of one of the many MSUM service-learning practitioners. This month’s Spotlight on Service-Learning recognizes Dr. Theresa Hest. Hest was recently interviewed regarding her service-learning work. Hest is a Professor of Communication Studies here at MSUM. Hest has been incorporating service-learning into a variety of her courses for over 11 years. Read the rest of this entry →

Attend the next Take the Lead! It will be on Wednesday, Dec. 4 in CMU 101 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. There will be a panel of leaders from the MSUM campus and community. The panel will include:

* Gavin Doppler, Collegiate DECA President
* Katherine Beneby, The Group and a Dragon Mentor
* Anthony Ocana, Assistant Professor for Comm. Studies
* Kristi Huber, United Way of Cass-Clay Resource Development Director Read the rest of this entry →

Merrie Sue Holtan, Communication Studies, recently won first place for travel writing, and honorable mention awards in sports and home writing from the National Federation of Presswomen. The awards were presented in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the national conference.

Holtan has served as president of North Dakota Professional Communicators for the past two years.

Merrie Sue Holtan, Communication Studies instructor, won first place awards in Travel, Sports, Home and Personality Profile writing at the North Dakota Professional Communicators spring conference held in Minot, N.D. She also won third place and honorable mention in feature writing. Read the rest of this entry →

Amy Sannes, Director, Academic Support Center, Dr. Theresa Hest, Professor of Communication Studies, and Jayne Washburn, Admissions, are participating in the NACADA Academic Advising Conference in Savannah, Ga., Feb. 7 – 9. One goal of this Administrators’ Institute is to interact with advising experts and create an advising action plan for MSUM.

Tammy Miller

Monday, Oct. 22 is the 31^st Annual L.B. Hartz Professional Achievement Award Banquet. The banquet will be held in the CMU ballroom starting at 6 p.m. Tammy Miller, CEO of Border States Electric and MSUM alum, is the 2012 award recipient.

Miller has a B.S. in accounting and a M.B.A. from MSUM. She has received two distinguished alumni awards and led MSUM’s Major Gifts Initiative to fund scholarships and the new Wellness Center on campus.

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Merrie Sue Holtan, Communication Studies, presented a workshop session on intercultural communication for the Internationalization Managers at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.