What are Communication Studies Faculty Doing?

Distinguished Professor Joe Angotti will be inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers’ Richard M. Fairbanks Hall of Fame. Former colleague and longtime friend Tom Brokaw will provide a videotaped introduction of Angotti at the Oct. 6 ceremony.

The Hall of Fame honors members of the industry who have made significant contributions to broadcasting’s growth and improvement. Nearly 150 people have been inducted since the Hall of Fame was founded in 1981, representing all areas of broadcasting: “on air” talent, engineers, technicians, salespeople, owners and management.      

Angotti was born and raised in Gary, Ind., where he worked at his father’s bakery, making donuts and rolls before delivering them to canteens in the steel mills. While at Indiana University, he was the first student news director of WFIU and earned the first graduate degree awarded at IU in broadcast journalism.    

After stints at Louisville’s WHAS and Chicago’s WMAQ, Angotti was promoted to New York where he was eventually named senior vice president of the NBC News division and executive producer of “NBC Nightly News.” He later moved to London to become general manager of news for Europe and Africa.        

Angotti was named professor and chair of the broadcast program at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1999. Six years later, he joined the faculty at Monmouth College, where he also serves as director of student publications.

Professor Kyle Christensen has just had some of his recent research  published in the Fall 2011 issue of Studies in Popular Culture.  The article is entitled “The Final Girl versus Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street: Proposing a Stronger Model of Feminism in Slasher Horror Cinema.”  Just in time for Halloween!!  Christensen is an alumnus of Monmouth College ('09) and the Department of Communication Studies and recently joined the faculty after completing his graduate work at Northern Illinois University.

Professor Chris Goble was awarded Monmouth College's Hatch Faculty Research Award for the 2010-2011 school year. The Hatch award is the college's highest award for faculty scholarly and creative work.  Goble's recognition was based on his continuing series of video projects conducted with students including his award winning documentary film, "Western Stoneware: The Molding of a Company" and his follow up documentary, "Hidden Homeless." 

Goble previously was honored to be a Faculty Fellow by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the Emmy people) to attend their prestigious week long fall Faculty Seminar in Hollywood.  He continues to write a blog on his experience working with media and students.  Follow Chris's MC blog about Student Broadcasting or on his production blog on Blogspot.

Professor Sue Van Kirk has received substantial interest and aclaim for her new book, The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks), a collection of creative non-fiction stories about her teaching experiences at Monmouth High School. Van Kirk has recently lectured at Western Illinois University and Bradley University on topics related to her book and her continuing interest in supporting teacher education programs and participatedin multiple readings and book signings in the region at local libraries and schools. 

The book describes experiences from her teaching career from 1968-2002. Interestingly, one of her Monmouth College students suggested that she write the book.  One of the stories relates an incident concerning local efforts to block school use of Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions.  Letters exchanged between Van Kirk and Vonnegut as a result of this incident will be used in a new book of Vonnegut’s correspondence being published by Dan Wakefield with Dell publishing company. 

Her book website is now live.  This website was designed by Darren Jackson (MC ’08); built by Chris Goble, currently an instructor in the MC Communication Studies Dept; and will be hosted by Dan Endthoff, (MC ’96).

Professor Kate Zittlow Rogness is well represented in the ranks of communication scholarship with two new publications and two forthcoming conference presentations.  Earlier this year Professor Rogness (along with Christina Foust) published work growing out of her doctoral research: Zittlow Rogness, K. &  Foust, C. R. (2011) Beyond Rights and Virtues as Foundation for Women’s Agency: Emma Goldman’s Rhetoric of Free Love. Western Journal of Communication Studies.

A book chapter titled, The Intersectional Style of Free love Rhetoric, written by Professor Rogness will be appearing later this year in Standing in the Intersection: Feminist Voices, Feminist Practices in Communication Studies ed. Karma Chavez & Cindy Griffin.

Rogness is also making conference presentations in the next several months first, at the National Communication Association, she will present, "Invading Spaces: The Embodied Rationality of Intersectional Style."  Later in the semester she will present, "Generating Possibility through Embodied Rationality," at the bi-annual Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference in Mankato, MN.