Symposium Archives

Communication Studies Symposium 2019

Leading with Purpose: Navigating Organizational Culture, Communication, & Identity

Keynote

Patrice M. Buzzanell, Ph.D. - Chair and Professor of the Department of Communication, University of South Florida; Endowed Visiting Professor for the School of Media and Design, Shanghai Jiaotong University

Panelists

Navigating Diversity & Inclusion in Your Early Career

• Jemia Young - Inclusion & Diversity Program Manager, TEKsystems
• Hailey Bowley - Director, Staff DEI and Development, Teach For America Baltimore
• Ms. Mia Forbes - Doctoral Student, Towson University

Navigating Gender Discrimination & Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

• Jameta Nicole Barlow, Ph.D., MPH - Assistant Professor of Writing, University Writing Program, The George Washington University
• Dr. Melissa A. Osborne Groves - Associate Professor of Economics, Towson University
• Jan Baum - Director, Center for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, Towson University

A Little More About The Experts

Jameta Nicole Barlow, PhD, MPH, a Charlottesville, Virginia native, is a community health psychologist and an assistant professor of writing in the University Writing Program, as well as an affiliate faculty member in the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, Africana Studies Program, Global Women's Institute and in the Milken Institute school of Public Health's Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at the at The George Washington University, in Washington, DC. Dr. Barlow utilizes decolonizing methodologies to disrupt intergenerational trauma, chronic health conditions and structural policies adversely affecting Black girls' and women's health. She has spent nearly 22 years in transdisciplinary collaborations with physicians, public health practitioners, researchers, policy administrators, activists, political appointees, and community members in diverse settings. Dr. Barlow holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English from Spelman College, a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Maternal and Child Health from The George Washington University and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Psychology from North Carolina State University. Certified as an Emotional Emancipation Circle Facilitator and trained as a doula and childbirth educator, Dr. Barlow is a 2015 AcademyHealth/Aetna Foundation Scholar in Residence Fellow and a 2016 RAND Faculty Leaders Fellow in Policy Research and Analysis. Her most recent work, the Saving Our Sisters Project (www.savingoursistersproject.com), is focused on Black women's mental health and well-being, employing writing and the personal narrative. She believes "writehealing" is an effective approach towards uncovering trauma and healing.

Jan Baum is the Founder and Director of the Center for Innovation + Entrepreneurship at Towson University where she is also a full professor. The Center for Innovation + Entrepreneurship (CIE) is creating an innovation and entrepreneurial ethos across the university community in order for TU and TU graduates to continue to be leaders throughout Maryland Whether you are a traditional entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, intrapreneur or just someone with ideas, CIE meets you where you are and takes you where you want to go. Baum is a serial entrepreneur and a passionate expert on innovation, change, and leadership. Known for her expertise and leadership in 3D printing technologies, Baum founded and directed 3D Maryland the first state-wide initiative to establish 3D printing as a strategic industry for Maryland after establishing the first comprehensive digital fabrication lab in the USM in 2011. Baum’s work has been recognized with numerous recent awards: The Baltimore Sun’s 25 Women to Watch in 2016, The Daily Record’s Influential Marylanders 2014, The Daily Record’s Innovator of the Year 2013, 2014, the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore’s Rock Star Series 2012, and Smart CEO Voltage Award finalist, 2012, 2014.

Hailey Bowley graduated from Towson University in 2005 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Communication Studies with a Political Science concentration. Shortly after graduating, she worked in the Office of Student Life at Loyola College in Maryland before transitioning into the non-profit education reform sector. Most recently, prior to joining Teach For America in 2011, she served as the Senior Manager of Recruitment and Admissions at New Leaders in Washington, DC. While at Teach For America Baltimore, Hailey served as the Director of District & School Partnerships where she worked closely with Baltimore City and County Public School Staff and Principals to place incoming teachers into high need vacancies. Currently, Hailey is the Director of Staff Diversity, Equity Inclusiveness & Development. In this role, she designs and facilitates staff learning and engagement experiences focused on DEI, staff culture and performance. Hailey was raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland and currently resides in Baltimore County. She is the spouse of Stephen Bowley and has two children, Stephen II- age 10 and Serenity- age 5.

Patrice M. Buzzanell (Ph.D., Purdue) is Chair and Professor of the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida and Endowed Visiting Professor for the School of Media and Design at Shanghai Jiaotong University. Fellow and Past President of the International Communication Association, she also has served as President of the Council of Communication Associations and the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender. She became a Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association (NCA) in 2017. Her research focuses on career, work-life policy, resilience, gender, and engineering design in micro-macro contexts. She has published: 4 edited books; over 200 journal articles, chapters, and encyclopedia entries; and numerous engineering education and other proceedings. She has edited Management Communication Quarterly (MCQ) and forums or special issues for several journals. She has served on 25 editorial boards (17 current) and on the Oxford Research Encyclopedia and other advisory boards. Her NSF grants focus on engineering ethics scales and processes as well as design thinking for the professional formation of engineers. Among her awards and honors, she recently received ICA’s B. Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award and the Provost Outstanding Mentor Award at Purdue, where she was University Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair and Director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence.

Mia Forbes; I am currently working as an Epic Business Operations Analyst for the University of Maryland. I am a two time Alum of Towson University. Most recently graduating with my Master’s degree in Applied Information Technology with a concentration of Information Security and Assurance last spring. I also graduated with my Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Studies in the fall of 2016 – all while working and attending school full-time. I think it’s safe to say the classroom is my happy place! One of the most impactful takeaways that TU has given me, amongst the diversity and learning experiences, were the communication courses that were offered here – especially Rhetorical Theory and Organizational Communication. Both of these courses were not only interesting to learn, but they have shaped me professionally and personally! Becoming more culturally and organizationally aware of all communication opportunities – verbal and nonverbal – has lead me to this very panel! Being able to share my experiences is one of the most rewarding opportunities. Doing so has not only allowed me to be a presenter here, but also to break cultural, organizational, stereotypical and personal barriers in everyday life. With that, I am pursuing my Doctorate degree here at Towson with plans to be a tenured professor at a university!

Dr. Melissa Groves is an Associate Professor of Economics at Towson University and her research focuses on better understanding the naturalization decision of US immigrants as well as on the importance of personality in the labor market. Her work has been published in the Review of Social Sciences, American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Psychology and the Journal of Economic Literature as well as in her co-edited book, “Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economics Status”. Dr. Groves is also passionate about financial literacy and has worked for the past twelve years with the Maryland Council on Economic Education and the Maryland Coalition for Financial Literacy teaching workshops for elementary, middle and high school teachers to help them integrate economics and financial literacy knowledge into the curriculum. In addition, Dr. Groves has worked with the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) on projects estimating the value of Pre-K education, and with Maryland Public Television as well as with Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Maryland on research projects to better understand the level of financial literacy knowledge among college students. Dr. Groves is married and lives in Phoenix, Maryland with her husband and their two children.

Jemia Young has been a part of the TEKsystems team since 2013. She has held various roles, but her current role on the Inclusion & Diversity team is by far her favorite. Jemia focuses on building the TEKsystems brand across our local & national partners and to continue to lead the strategy around attraction & retention of diverse talent. Jemia is a certified Diversity & Inclusion Practitioner from Georgetown University. She has a B.S. in Communication from East Carolina University and Master's in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. In Jemia's spare time she enjoys reading, traveling, cycling, brunch and keeping up with her career & lifestyle blog - DistrictValley. Jemia is based in Northern Virginia.

Communication Studies Symposium 2018

Showing Up, Making Space, and the Political Imagination of Diversity

Keynote Speaker Amber Johnson

Amber Johnson, the symposium's keynote speaker, is an award-winning scholar, artist, and activist, who is a professor at Saint Louis University. Johnson spoke to the crowd about their conception of radical forgiveness, wherein change becomes possible when folks heal from social injustice. Dr. Johnson's keynote address was titled, "The Revolution Requires Forgiveness, Imagination & Fun."

The Towerlight covered the event that described both the keynote speaker, Amber Johnson, and Amber's pop-up forgiveness quilt in Freedom Square. 

The speakers for the 2018 event were:

• Keynote speaker Dr. Amber Johnson, "The Revolution Requires Forgiveness, Imagination & Fun"
• Panelist Ka'Lyn Coghill (Independent Scholar), "Met with Anger: A Look into Violence Against Black Women on Twitter Affiliation"
• Panelist Safiya Jennings (Towson University), "#TransFolksAreNotJokes: Black Transwomen and Vulnerability to Violence"
• Panelist Kahleeka N. Perry (Independent Scholar), "A Critical Cultural Study of Lived Experiences and Societal Implications of the 21st Century Natural Hair Movement"
• Panelist Metise Moore (Towson University), "Wakanda is Home: Afrofuturism and Black Representation in Black Panther"
• Panelist Laura Pazuchowski (Towson University), "The Contemplative Mapping Instruction Adventure"
• Panelist Drew Holladay (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), "Institutional 'Misfits' Acceptable Discrimination and (Mental) Disability Diversity"
• Advocates for Inclusion and Diversity at TU: Fatime-Zara Beri, International Studies Student at TU; Martha Kakooza, Graduate Student in Women and Gender Studies at TU; Stephanie Colon, Graduate Student in Professional Studies at TU; Jason Begue, Deaf Studies Professor at TU; Jody Cripps, Deaf Studies Professor at TU