School of Communication hosts health communication workshops

Today our Graduate Studies department hosted workshops for health communication and collaboration between the communication and medical schools.

Faculty and students from the School of Communication joined with the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health for a day of shared learning about “Sharing Theory, Research & Practice.”

The morning session was led by Professor Tom Steinfatt, giving an overview of the field. A session on health communication theory & research was taught by Victoria Orrego-Dunleavy. Associate Professor Kim Grinfeder and Assistant Professor Clay Ewing discussed “New Media for Change.” Afternoon sessions — including epidemiology & population health science, community-based participatory research and prevention science, were led by faculty from the medical school. Sanjeev Chatterjee and Ed Talavera led a session entitled “Creating Video for Change.”

To read more about our program in health communication, click here.

Health Communication is an emerging specialty in the field of communication. This graduate program is designed to provide a broad introduction to human communication in a health-care context. Career opportunities in this area include public health leaders, practitioners, and researchers who design, evaluate, and disseminate health communication messages for private and governmental organizations, advertising, public relations and marketing agencies, and journalists. Students will explore the roles of patients and caregivers, social and cultural issues, communication in health organizations, and the role of mass media. Two programs are offered. The thesis track program emphasizes the student’s development of research skills under faculty supervision (30 credits). The non-thesis track program emphasizes a theoretical foundation based on application of communication courses (36 credits).

Click here to read more about the course requirements for the health communication track of our MA program. Apply online here.

Graduate Student Association

The University of Miami has a Graduate Student Association, with the mission of  improving the grad student experience. The group aims to serve as a liaison between students, faculty and the administration.

They have an executive board and participates with advisory boards and committees.

They’re on Twitter and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/University-of-Miami-Graduate-Student-Association/264296003597774)

Click here to learn more and get involved.

 

President Obama speaking at the University

President Barack Obama is coming to the University of Miami on Thursday.

He will give a speech on energy policy, and tour the college of engineering.

Click here to read more.

An Interview with Professor Treaster

Joe Treaster is a Professor in the School of Communication. (Click here to read a previous blog article about him and his work.)  He is encouraging grad students to get involved in a new online newspaper, called “The Miami Planet.” Professor Treaster kindly answered some questions about this project.

 

Question: How did this new online newspaper, The Miami Planet, originate at the School of Communication?

Answer: It was the idea of Professor Sig Splichal. We at the University of Miami were the hosts of the Society for Environmental Journalists conference. Professor Splichal had the idea that we could create a newspaper that would be for all the environmental journalists that were coming to South Florida.

 

Question: What did you first envision its mission to be?

Answer: We would write stories that would give slices of life about South Florida, and we would cover every aspect of the conference so that environmental journalists could read about everything.

 

Question: How did the project take off?

Answer: It was a collaboration between the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Miami Dade College. We had about 100 student reporters and photographers working on it. We got some fabulous photography and really good stories. And we found that as students worked on this newspaper, the quality of their writing exceeded where it had been previously. The pressure of being under the spotlight of knowing your work is going to get published and seen by a large audience has actually caused professors and students to work harder and better. Which is just what we want as a university. We want our students to go out of here writing well and reporting well. So we add to the beauty and effectiveness of our stories by hiring professional editors who edit the copy after it’s been submitted, add an extra level of polish to it, and the student sees how the story has evolved and improved.

 

Question: What kind of audience does this online newspaper have?

Answer: We have people in more than 60 countries reading the stories. We’re getting really good feedback. We’ve got a couple hundred comments on our articles.

 

Q: What’s the significance of an interactive newspaper receiving online comments?

A: We’ve learned in this process that some young readers aren’t going to read an article if it doesn’t have any comments on it. So I’m encouraging everyone who reads to comment. It’s kind of a snow-balling effect. We’re getting more readers all the time. We’re also promoting The Miami Planet on Twitter and Facebook. So you can go to The Miami Planet’s page on Facebook and “like” it.

 

Q: Who can submit articles?

A: It’s designed to work not as an army of individual freelancers but as a way of enhancing the writing skills and reporting capabilities of students at universities. We want to use this as a model for universities.

 

Q: Is the project limited to universities in Miami?

A: We’re expanding. We just added a university in Texas. We’re optimistic that we’re going to add one in California. We can add more universities, then we’ll have a lot more reach.

 

Q: How does Miami Planet differ from a typical student newspaper?

A: There’s a lot of professional guidance. The faculty members are professional editors/writers.