Mississippi Communication Association
Annual Conference Program
9:00-9:45 a.m. - Panel and Roundtable Discussion
Panel: President's Dining Room
Suzanne Osborn, Michael Osborn & Randall Osborn, University of Memphis
How Communication Continues to Change
Facilitator: Monette Callaway, Hinds Community College
Roundtable Discussion: Meeting Room A
Topic: Debating Mississippi’s Future: A Centennial Commitment to Education and Civic Life
Participants: Brandon Knight, William Carey University; Brett Harvey, Mississippi State University; Paul Strait, University of Southern Mississippi; Micah Everson, Coach at Murrah High School; Rachel Clapper Davis, Madison Central High School
Moderator: Lindsey Conlin Maxwell, University of Southern Mississippi
Suzanne Osborn, Michael Osborn & Randall Osborn, University of Memphis
How Communication Continues to Change
Facilitator: Monette Callaway, Hinds Community College
Roundtable Discussion: Meeting Room A
Topic: Debating Mississippi’s Future: A Centennial Commitment to Education and Civic Life
Participants: Brandon Knight, William Carey University; Brett Harvey, Mississippi State University; Paul Strait, University of Southern Mississippi; Micah Everson, Coach at Murrah High School; Rachel Clapper Davis, Madison Central High School
Moderator: Lindsey Conlin Maxwell, University of Southern Mississippi
9:50-10:45 a.m. - Concurrent Sessions
Graduate Paper Presentations: Meeting Room A
GIFTS: Meeting Room B
Cheryl Chambers, Mississippi State University, “Guided Discussions”
John Saunders, University of Alabama, Huntsville, “Celebrating a Century: The Power of Words,
Stories, and Media”
Amy Knight & Amy Fountain, Mississippi State University, “Synchronous Presentations in an
Asynchronous Course”
Chair: Terri Sasser
Roundtable: President’s Dining Room
Tonya Hayes, Vineeth Vanga, Caroline Donnelly, Samuel Phyfer, and Darron Kastner, Mississippi State University, Applied Theatre in Communications
Moderator: Stacey Duke, Hinds Community College
- Andrew Morris, University of Alabama, “Social Media Persuasion”
- Luana Peters Garcia Bouriche Coutinho, University of Southern Mississippi, “Communicating ESG Efforts in Brazil and the United States: Analysis of Environment, Social, and Governance Reports in the Technology and Energy Sectors”
- Matthew Martin & Mohammed Rashid, University of Southern Mississippi, “Taking a Knee: Symbolic Activism as Solidarity and Spectacle"
GIFTS: Meeting Room B
Cheryl Chambers, Mississippi State University, “Guided Discussions”
John Saunders, University of Alabama, Huntsville, “Celebrating a Century: The Power of Words,
Stories, and Media”
Amy Knight & Amy Fountain, Mississippi State University, “Synchronous Presentations in an
Asynchronous Course”
Chair: Terri Sasser
Roundtable: President’s Dining Room
Tonya Hayes, Vineeth Vanga, Caroline Donnelly, Samuel Phyfer, and Darron Kastner, Mississippi State University, Applied Theatre in Communications
Moderator: Stacey Duke, Hinds Community College
10:50 a.m. -11:45 a.m. – Concurrent Sessions
Undergraduate Paper Presentations: Meeting Room A
Professional Paper Presentations: Meeting Room B
Roundtable: President‘s Dining Room
Brad Bailey, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, “Cruisin’ the South Mississippi Roads: Stories Collected by Community”
Moderator: Brandon Knight, William Carey University
- Madeline Rossi, Mississippi State University, “Effects of Media Influence on Body Satisfaction in Emerging Adults Moderated by Maternal Behaviors”
- Jaylynn Whitfield, University of Alabama at Huntsville, “Incomprehensible: The Social Collective Memory–Collective Memory Core of the Columbine Car Memorials and Memory Work Negligence in Wound Addressing”
- Claire Gerber, Hannah Grace Kirland, and Sadie Stevenson, Mississippi State University, “What Drives Consumers in Fast Fashion?”
Professional Paper Presentations: Meeting Room B
- Mohammed Rashid, University of Southern Mississippi, “We Don’t Talk About it: Family Sexuality Communication Among South Asians”
- Lindsey Conlin Maxwell, University of Southern Mississippi, “Revisiting the TV World: How Transportability and Opinion Leadership Aect the Willingness to and Frequency of Rewatching TV Shows”
- Randrika Henderson, University of Southern Mississippi, “For Color or Colored Girls Who Considered Natural when the Perm was Enuf: A Cultural Examination of the Political Significance of Natural Hair YouTube Influencers”
Roundtable: President‘s Dining Room
Brad Bailey, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, “Cruisin’ the South Mississippi Roads: Stories Collected by Community”
Moderator: Brandon Knight, William Carey University
11:50 a.m. - 1:05 p.m. - Lunch and Keynote Speaker: Walt Grayson, Anderson Hall
Walt Grayson is a life-long Mississippian. He was born and raised in Greenville where he started his broadcasting career at a Greenville radio station while he was still in high school. After moving to Jackson shortly after graduating he worked at various radio stations over the years, making a move to television in 1984. He was a weather anchor and feature reporter for WLBT for over three decades before coming back home to WJTV-12 where he actually began his TV career as a part-time weekend weatherman while still working full-time “across the driveway” at Jackson’s WSLI radio.
Walt graduated from Mississippi College with degrees in history and Bible. He is married to his junior high school sweetheart, “Miz Jo” and between them they have four children and four grandchildren.
Walt is also the longtime host of Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s popular show, “Mississippi Roads.” He has written 4 books about his travels around Mississippi and writes a monthly column for the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi’s newspaper, Today in Mississippi.
Walt graduated from Mississippi College with degrees in history and Bible. He is married to his junior high school sweetheart, “Miz Jo” and between them they have four children and four grandchildren.
Walt is also the longtime host of Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s popular show, “Mississippi Roads.” He has written 4 books about his travels around Mississippi and writes a monthly column for the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi’s newspaper, Today in Mississippi.
1:10-1:45 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions
Undergraduate Paper Presentations: Meeting Room A
Undergraduate Creative Work: Meeting Room B
- Jason Gatson, William Carey University, “The Healer’s Approach: A Rhetorical Critique of John Chrysostom’s Lent Homily”
- Makenzie Stone, Mississippi State University, “Persuasive Analysis of Eleanor Roosevelt’s “The Struggle for Human Rights”
- Anna Rachel Krebs, William Carey University, “Wolves in the Lambs Cassock: An Application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory to the USCCB response to Sexual Abuse Scandal”
Undergraduate Creative Work: Meeting Room B
- Parker Acosta, Maggie Heath & Abby Zupa, Mississippi State University, “Public Relations Integrated Student Media Agency (PRISM) Campaign”
- J.D. Roberson, William Carey University, “An Earnest Defense of Redneck Culture”
1:50-2:45 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions
Roundtable Discussion: Meeting Room A
Gil Carter, Mississippi State University; John Nicholson, Mississippi State University; John Saunders, University of Alabama-Huntsville; & Jeremy Rogerson, Mississippi State University, “Victors, Villains, Martyrs, and Trailblazers: Mississippi Political Rhetoric during the Hundred Years of MCA”
Graduate Paper Presentations: Meeting Room B
Gil Carter, Mississippi State University; John Nicholson, Mississippi State University; John Saunders, University of Alabama-Huntsville; & Jeremy Rogerson, Mississippi State University, “Victors, Villains, Martyrs, and Trailblazers: Mississippi Political Rhetoric during the Hundred Years of MCA”
Graduate Paper Presentations: Meeting Room B
- Gretta Graves, University of Southern Mississippi, “Man’s Best Friend: Analyzing Depictions
- and Negotiations of Femininity in Pop Music”
- Emily Keith, Vivek Paudel & Lilum Irby, University of Southern Mississippi, “Public Perception of VR”
- Colby Penton, University of Southern Mississippi, “Firstfers: Pilot Study”
2:50-3:00 p.m. – Awards Reception, Anderson Hall
3:00 p.m. – Business Meeting, Anderson Hall