Interview with Scholarship Winner Anagrace Fagot

Communication major, Ms. Anagrace Fagot is a recipient of the Government Relations Association’s Future Leaders Scholarship! This scholarship is awarded to exceptional students with demonstrated leadership and service to the community, and who aspire to careers in public service, government relations, advocacy, and similar fields.

The Communication Department at Hope College is excited to celebrate with Ms. Fagot! Join us for an interview with Ms. Fagot.

Ms. Anagrace Fagot

When you think about the future, what is a key way you think communication matters in government relations?

Effective communication is essential in the realm of government relations. As a Communication and Political Science double major, I see a need for communication to bridge gaps within politics. 

Communication is a powerful tool for understanding and creating change across diverse perspectives. Unfortunately, our culture has witnessed a decline in the art of respectful listening and dialogue. Through my studies in the Communication Department, I have continued to acquire the skills necessary to promote unity within our nation, even in the face of difficult agendas.

What’s your dream job for right after graduating from Hope College?

I am keen to work in a company that involves my communication skills in journalism and media. This aligns directly with my interest in current politics since journalism is often intertwined with politics. Specifically, I envision myself working in a nonprofit focusing on human rights. In this role, I hope to make a meaningful impact by giving a voice to the voiceless and promoting social justice. 

What are some of the communication strategies or practices that you used when applying for this scholarship?

Critical thinking, writing, and experience in classes such as Writing for Media with Dr. Doshi helped me prepare for this scholarship. The opportunity to study Communication enhanced my abilities in conducting research for my scholarship and using those skills in the form of written essays. 

Researching Poetry & Politics

While studying Communication at Hope College, Rachel Johnson began a project in Comm 260: Rhetorical Methods in Communication studying Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb.” This led to a research collaboration between Ms. Johnson and Dr. Sarah Kornfield, rhetorically analyzing Gorman’s inaugural poem and the vision of democracy Gorman offered in her performance.

This research was recently published in Rhetoric & Public Affairs, a top research journal in the field of rhetoric.

Through this research, Ms. Johnson and Dr. Kornfield not only studied how inaugural ceremonies communicate but specifically focused on the persuasive affordances of Gorman’s political poem, and the genre it participates in, which is known as the Black jeremiad.

Ms. Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb,” Inaugural Poem, 2021

Ms. Johnson joins us for a brief interview on this research experience!

What is a jeremiad?

Named for the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, the jeremiad is a narrative structure that typically follows three stages through a past, present and future: (1) an affirmation of the good life that once was, (2) a crisis or violation of the good life, and (3) a restoration through a return to the good life. Our research showed that U.S. political discourse has frequently used jeremiads to optimistically look ahead to a new era.

What did you find meaningful about this research?

It was meaningful to engage with poetry and politics—two seemingly unrelated topics—in tandem. Starting the project in the context of the 2020 presidential election and 2021 inauguration was a unique way to process the political climate. As a result of our research, my eyes were trained to see power dynamics and patterns at play in language all around us.

What would you say to a Hope undergrad who is considering doing research with a Comm faculty member?

Undergraduate research looks different for each project and faculty member so, even if you’ve never considered yourself a “researcher,” be curious about the process. Researching with Dr. Kornfield deepened my experience in the communication department and opened up opportunities beyond it. It was definitely a highlight of my time at Hope.

How are you using your Hope Comm major in your career?

As a writer at an international NGO, I am constantly analyzing public rhetoric and how it shapes people’s perceptions of injustice. My communication major and rhetorical research prepared me to be a steward of ethical communication and developed me as a creative and critical thinker. 

Independent Study & Comm Research

By Joanna Thornburg

This semester I had the opportunity to complete an independent study in Communication with Dr. Sarah Kornfield. Over the course of 16 weeks I accomplished several things and learned a lot. 

For starters, I conducted research and wrote entries on “Punk Feminism and the Riot Grrrls,” the “Guerilla Girls” and their activism, and the many different forms of “Body Positivity.” These three entries will be published by Bloomsbury Press in Dr. Kornfield’s forthcoming book, Feminism and Feminist Movements in America: An Encyclopedia of Ideals and Activism.

To develop these entries, I conducted extensive research on my own before meeting with Dr. Kornfield to outline each entry. I then learned the professional and scholarly practice of drafting, revising, and editing my writing with editorial feedback. At the end of the semester I had three completed entries that will be published under my name in the coming years. 

Ms. Joanna Thornburg and Dr. Srah Kornfield at the Central States Communication Association

Additionally, during this independent study I built on the research that Professor Kornfield and I had done the previous summer. Focusing on the agony shot in popular television, we presented our findings during a panel at the Central States Communication Association’s (CSCA) annual conference, which was hosted locally at Grand Rapids in April this year. While there I attended several presentations, including one about the TV show Love is Blind and another about how to integrate games in classroom learning.   

I also assisted Dr. Kornfield in some of her current projects, specifically finding and fixing endnote citations! Through this experience, I learned Chicago citations in-an-out as well as developing an understanding of the publishing process. 

Overall, I’m very grateful for this experience and all of the things that I was able to learn and accomplish.

Comm’s New Assistant Professors (Part 4): Jennifer Sorek

In Fall 2023, the Hope College Communication Department is celebrating three newly appointed tenure track assistant professors and an assistant professor of communication instruction!

Join us for an interview with our newly appointed Assistant Professor of Communication Instruction, Professor Jennifer Sorek.

Professor Sorek joins Hope College with extensive experience in communicating Public Health from the Ottawa County Department of Public Health. Hope College is lucky to have her in the Communication Department where she teaches introductory courses in communication and Comm 140: Public Presentations.

Her resent research, “Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response After COVID-19,” analyzes communication strategies that help communities respond to public health crises.

What do you want your teaching and research to accomplish in the world?

I would like my teaching to impact the world by uniting with the learner beyond the classroom experience.  I want learners to be challenged with experiences they may face in the corporate world.  Simply put, “learning is teaching, and teaching is learning.” The goal is to create an environment for students that challenges them through experiences; where they can try different techniques, explore boundaries, and test out speaking environments. In the area of research, I also hope to continue exploring the area of crisis communication and emergency management, with a focus on the field of public health and healthcare.  I would like my research to offer strategies on how to improve communication through the emergency cycles (preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation).

What ideas/theories are currently the most exciting to you?

I love teaching the theories of persuasion, like Social Judgment Theory and Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.  These theories stimulate our thought process by challenging us to critically think and consider our audience from differing perspectives.  I enjoy working with students to help them see that persuasion is a process that may occur over time and in stages (incremental persuasion).

Hope College is famous for its “Pull” tradition in which a team of Firstyear students compete with a team of Sophomore students in an enormous, strategic “tug of rope” competition. The teams have “pullers” and “moralers.” The pullers lie down in separate pits and pull on the rope, the moralers coordinate with one another and–sitting beside their puller– tell the puller when to pull extra hard! Would you rather be a puller or a moraler?

Honestly, with my competitive spirit, either would make me happy.  Recognizing the team approach I would probably do best in the role of a moraler.  My human nature is that of one to assist others; ensuring they have what is needed to succeed.  Observing for obstacles, encouraging them through struggles, and boosting them up or even pushing them if needed.

Comm’s New Assistant Professors (Part 3): Austin Beattie

In Fall 2023, the Hope College Communication Department is celebrating three newly appointed tenure track assistant professors and an assistant professor of communication instruction!

Join us for an interview with our newly appointed Assistant Professor of Communication, Dr. Austin Beattie.

Dr. Beattie studies media technology, and Hope is lucky to have him teaching a variety of media courses, Comm 280 Quantitative Methods, and Comm 151 Media & Society.

His research is broadly publish and focuses on how humans and AI communicate. For example, his publication, “A Bot and a Smile: Interpersonal Impressions of Chatbots and Humans Using Emoji in Computer-mediated Communication,” considers the interpersonal impact and communicative effects of AI in roles once served by humans.

What do you want your research to accomplish in the world?

I am interested in how people communicate in technologically mediated contexts, both when engaging with other humans as well as machine agents (e.g., chatbots,  social robots). Although my projects have answered smaller questions relating to text messaging, social media, and supportive communication contexts, I hope my research can contribute to bigger questions surrounding how we create meaning for the common good in digital spaces and how we make sense of the complex role of artificial intelligence and other digital interlocutors in our world.  

What ideas/theories are currently the most exciting to you?

I think the way people adapt and apply social scripts when interacting with technology is fascinating. Some early theorizing argued that in order to make sense of interactions with machines, that people mindlessly apply human social scripts to them. One earlier study that I love directed participants to complete a task with a computer and then evaluate its performance after the task was complete. Participants who were surveyed on the same computer used for the task were significantly less critical of its performance than participants who responded on a different computer (as well as a control group responding on paper; Nass et al., 1999). In other words, people were more “polite” about their feedback when responding to their task computer, which I just think is such a cool finding. Scholars have advanced and extended this perspective to the technologies we know now (e.g., Siri, Alexa, and numerous others) to argue that we don’t mindlessly apply social scripts to computers entirely (because we, of course, know they are not human), nor do we treat them as lifeless mechanical tools either. Instead we are forming new “media scripts” for machine agents altogether (see Gambino, Fox, & Ratan, 2020). The nature of these scripts I think will be interesting to continue researching in the coming years, and can also help shed light on what makes “human-human” communication special. 

Hope College is famous for its “Pull” tradition in which a team of Firstyear students compete with a team of Sophomore students in an enormous, strategic “tug of rope” competition. The teams have “pullers” and “moralers.” The pullers lie down in separate pits and pull on the rope, the moralers coordinate with one another and–sitting beside their puller– tell the puller when to pull extra hard! Would you rather be a puller or a moraler?

Definitely a moraler! I like the strategy aspect!

Comm’s New Assistant Professors (Part 2): Paul Hangsan Ahn

In Fall 2023, the Hope College Communication Department is celebrating three newly appointed tenure track assistant professors and an assistant professor of communication instruction!

Join us for an interview with our newly appointed Assistant Professor of Communication, Dr. Paul Hangsan Ahn.

Dr. Paul Hangsan Ahn

Dr. Ahn studies organizational communication and public relations. Hope is thrilled to have him teaching courses such as Comm 330 Organizational Communication and Comm 358 Advance Public Relations, Comm 280 Quantitative Methods, and our introductory courses!

His exceptional research currently focuses on how human minds attend to ideas, and how this affects group and teamwork (e.g., brainstorming, problem solving) within organizations. For example, his recent publication, “Innovative Ideas Desire Earlier Communication: Exploring Reverse Serial-order Effect and Liberating Cognitive Constraint for Organizational Problem-Solving” (2023) specifically focuses on the communicative processes of problem-solving and decision-making.

What do you want your research to accomplish in the world?

One of my long-term goals is to contribute to science communication and PR on topics such as health and climate change, among others. For example, I would like science communication to strike a great balance between data-driven insights and reasoned intuitive judgments, often mentally simulated, especially during unpredictable situations like health crises.

Another broader goal is to enhance relationships within organizations, schools, and families through communication insights. For instance, framing relational challenges as temporary or situational—instead of structural or dispositional factors that may not be readily improved—has the potential to fortify individuals’ sense of belonging. A greater sense of belonging can diminish the cognitive burden from anxiety and ancillary concerns, leading to heightened cognitive ease, capability, personal agency, and potentially performance. Another example involves facilitating effective member idea sharing during collective problem-solving processes. This can be made easier by first identifying any deep-seated cultural norms of communication shared in organizations. Ultimately, this can mutually benefit both individuals and organizations in terms of learning and growth.

What ideas/theories are currently the most exciting to you?

Currently, I’m working on developing the IDEA (Ideas Desire Early Acknowledgment) theory, which is based on my recent publication (Ahn et al., 2023). This theory integrates individual cognition, group interactions, and organizational rules (norms) related to employee idea sharing. Additionally, the recently-developed STOPS (Situational Theory Of Problem Solving), which integrates PR with collective problem-solving, is something I would like to actively explore.

Would you rather be a puller or a moraler?*

  • Hope College is famous for its “Pull” tradition in which a team of Firstyear students compete with a team of Sophomore students in an enormous, strategic “tug of rope” competition. The teams have “pullers” and “moralers.” The pullers lie down in separate pits and pull on the rope, the moralers coordinate with one another and–sitting beside their puller– tell the puller when to pull extra hard!

I would like to be a moraler!

Comm’s New Assistant Professors (Part 1): Patrick Gentile

In Fall 2023, the Hope College Communication Department is celebrating three newly appointed tenure track assistant professors and an assistant professor of communication instruction!

Join us for an interview with our newly appointed Assistant Professor of Communication, Dr. Patrick Gentile.

Dr. Patrick Gentile studies intercultural communication and sports communication, and Hope is lucky to have him teaching Comm 371 Intercultural Comm and developing a new course, Comm 295 in Sports Communication! His other courses include Comm 270 Qualitative Methods and introductory courses in the Communication Major.

His research is broadly published in academic journals and focuses on intercultural communication within sports teams. For example, his recent publication “Learning English is the Single Most Important Thing: A Qualitative Analysis of the Linguistic Acquisition of Latino Minor League Baseball Players” (2022) focuses on how language-learning shapes teamwork within professional athletics.

What do you want your research to accomplish in the world?

I want my research to go in-depth with how intercultural communication and language barriers impact professional sport team performance. Many sports in the US are composed of international and domestic athletes, so looking at this unique team dynamic is what I am most passionate about. There are statistics to measure performance, but there is a human element that cannot be quantified. I want my research to be applicable to these teams/leagues and I hope to offer solutions and strategies for how to unite teams through intercultural communication.

What ideas/theories are currently the most exciting to you?

I love the relatively newly developed theory called cultural fusion theory. This theory claims that when two cultural groups come in contact with one another, they each change to accommodate each other. Looking at this through the lens of sport is a new avenue of research that I am pursuing.

Hope College is famous for its “Pull” tradition in which a team of Firstyear students compete with a team of Sophomore students in an enormous, strategic “tug of rope” competition. The teams have “pullers” and “moralers.” The pullers lie down in separate pits and pull on the rope, the moralers coordinate with one another and–sitting beside their puller– tell the puller when to pull extra hard! Would you rather be a puller or a moraler?

Definitely a moraler! I love competition but I like the strategy aspect more than actually participating, especially with something of this nature!

Summer Research Report!

~ By Joanna Thornburg

This summer I had the privilege of working as a research assistant for Professor Sarah Kornfield as she began drafting her book Watching Women. As part of my role, I was entrusted with tasks such as curating an annotated bibliography on a wide array of topics, including post-feminist theory, queer theory, and race theory as well as aesthetics, conceptions of femininity, and the concept of femmephobia. Reading dozens of scholarly articles, I collected and organized information that Professor Kornfield can use when drafting chapters.

Image of the Annotated Bibliography’s organization; its topics are listed in the outline summary on the right and its core concepts color-code key is on the right.

In addition to that responsibility, I fact-checked the statements made in the chapters. This involved conducting thorough research to ensure the accuracy and credibility of the information presented. I also spent a significant amount of time perfecting Chicago-style footnotes, doing over 100 in just one chapter.

Perhaps the most important task with which I assisted Professor Kornfield was watching TV. I watched many popular TV shows, such as Bridgerton, The Rookie, and Elementary, and took meticulous notes of particular camerawork patterns and themes.

The focus was largely on how we as the audience watch men watch women. I also focused on how the men on TV gazing longingly at the women they desire, as well as how queer characters and overtly feminist characters are portrayed. 

Working as a research assistant for Professor Kornfield provided me with invaluable experience. The opportunity to contribute to Watching Women allowed me to delve into the world of research, engage with important feminist discourse, and witness the intricate process of writing a book. This experience has further fueled my passion for gender and TV studies and solidified my commitment to advocating for gender equality in society.

Hope’s Communication Department @ NCA

The National Communication Association (NCA) held their 2022 research convention in New Orleans. Representing the Communication Department at Hope College’s culture of excellent research, Drs. Marissa Doshi, Patrick Gentile, and Sarah Kornfield attended this national research conference.

Dr. Doshi’s research draws on feminist perspectives to examine the creative and cultural dimensions of media and technology use.

Recognizing her extraordinary research, NCA’s Ethnography Division’s awarded Dr. Doshi the Early Career Award. This award recognizes Dr. Doshi’s contributions to communication scholarship in digital culture.

Dr. Doshi receiving the 2022 Early Career Award.

Dr. Sarah Kornfield was honored to chair a panel regarding Rhetorical Criticism pedagogy that specifically responded to her new book, Contemporary Rhetorical Criticism (2021). Dr. Kornfield also presented four different research projects, including her recent publication, “Televising Popular Feminism” (2022).

Dr. Sarah Kornfield and her new book, Contemporary Rhetorical Criticism (Strata, 2021).

Dr. Patrick Gentile is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Hope College. His research focuses on sports and intercultural communication. Dr. Gentile presented two research projects, focusing on the coverage of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the linguistic acculturation experiences of Latino Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players in the U.S. south.

Dr. Patrick Gentile