CCI Makes Impact at NCA Convention; Iannacone Earns Top Paper Honor
Assistant Professor Jeannette Iannacone, right, receives her Top Faculty Paper award from Laura Lemon (’17), an associate professor at the University of Alabama who graduated from CCI’s doctoral program.
Twenty-nine faculty and graduate students from the College of Communication and Information participated in the 2024 annual convention of the National Communication Association in New Orleans at the end of November, and they were actively engaged as presenters, respondents, panelists, chairs, co-chairs, and more.
One of the stand-out moments for CCI is Assistant Professor Jeannette Iannacone winning the Top Faculty Paper award in the Public Relations Division at the convention for her paper Entangled Networks: Social Capital and Power Dynamics in the Context. This is the third conference this year in which Iannacone, who is an assistant professor at the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations, has garnered a best paper award.
This paper derived from her dissertation research, and it studies the social networks of recent Afghani refugees who resettle in the United States of America. The main point that originated from her research that this paper delves into is that social capital is intrinsically entwined with other forms of capital in building trust in this group of people. Iannacone noted that in public relations, social capital is typically separate from economic capital, cultural capital, and symbolic capital (this is legitimacy and/or documentation of who someone is).
For example, even if a nonprofit or resettlement agency is robustly assisting Afghan refugees, when those same refugees send their children to school or go to a hospital and find those institutions lacking in knowledge about Afghani culture, it can heavily impact the trust the refugees have in this country’s institutions and people. Trust, Iannacone said, is important because it helps refugee populations to find a place in society, which is subsequently followed by having a voice to advocate for their needs.
Iannacone is hoping to publish a whitepaper for organizations that serve these populations so they can work on solutions to help build that trust more holistically across institutions.
“Proof of these resources are really integral in how we help groups feel a sense of belonging in society and feel that trust as new residents to the United States,” she said. “Afghan refugees exemplified a group that does not have space in our societal processes for making their issues better known and having communicative power. So, building trust with societal institutions is a step forward to gaining that access to our ongoing debate over issues and how to improve society.”
Iannacone, who attended this convention for the second time as a faculty member, said it was a bit intimidating but also validating to present her work to a room of people that included researchers she has cited in her paper.
“I really like the Public Relations Division at NCA, you get a really good range of scholarship and, to me, it’s always fun for your brain,” she said.
CCI graduate students also made a strong showing at the convention, including Zehua Li, who is in his first year as a doctoral student in the college. He had the chance to present his paper WeChat Group as a Virtual Third Place: The Digital Mediation of Soccer Fandom, about how Chinese soccer fans create online spaces through social media platforms to cultivate their sense of belonging and relaxation, in the Communication and Sports Division.
“Attending the NCA conference for the first time was an incredibly enriching experience,” he said. “Over the nearly four-day conference, I learned a great deal about new developments in the field of sports communication and connected with many likeminded scholars. Academic conferences like NCA are invaluable for newcomers like me, providing a precious platform to explore diverse ideas, expand my academic network, and hone my presentation skills. I’m deeply grateful for the full support of the College of Communication and Information and School of Journalism and Media that made attending NCA in New Orleans possible.”
CCI Director of Collegewide Graduate Programs Moonhee Cho said the graduate students’ presentations and work were a “testament to their academic growth and innovation.” She said the college encourages and supports students in attending such events to give them an opportunity to showcase their research and expand their professional networks.
While this was the third time PhD student Carla White has attended the NCA convention, she said her expectations were still surpassed by the breadth of opportunity and knowledge it offered. She presented her paper, Uncertainty Management in Work-from-Home Settings, in the Health Communications Division.
“The opportunity to receive thoughtful feedback from peers and to learn about the incredible research being conducted across the discipline is both inspiring and invaluable. Attending NCA has consistently been a standout experience in my academic journey, and I look forward to connecting with peers, sharing my research interests, and gaining new insight each and every time,” White, who presented said.
CCI Makes Impact at NCA Convention; Iannacone Earns Top Paper Honor written by Hillary Tune and originally published on the College of Communication & Information site.