Lynette Sharp Penya's Archive

This year’s National Communication Association Convention was in Seattle, Washington. Sahori Hernandez-Quiñones presented her paper, “A Company in Denial: An Analysis of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder Crisis Response Through the Lens of Situational Crisis Communication Theory.” Her paper was on the Lambda Pi Eta top paper panel and Dr. Lynette Sharp Penya was her research mentor.

Senior communication major Jackson Scott and Dr. Lauren Lemley presented on the top panel in the Communication Centers Division at NCA. Their panel was titled “Renewing Our Focus on Tutor Training: The Transformation of Communication Training Needs.” 

Members of the sociology division gave several presentations at this year’s Pacific Sociological Association’s (PSA) virtual meeting. Sociology junior Becca Ritchie presented her research titled “The High Price of Cheap Leggings: An Analysis of LuLaRoe’s Social Hierarchies and Business Practices.” She outlined the multi-level marketing company LuLaRoe and its discourse in women’s fashion by applying insights from her experience in her Fall 2020 sociology theory course.

Dr. Daniel Morrison, associate professor of sociology, presented his research titled “Football Helmet Technologies and the Cultivation of Ignorance.” As chair of the Committee on Freedom of Research and Teaching, Morrison also organized two panels: “Teaching and Research in Politically Sensitive Times” and “Academic Freedom and the Management of Higher Education.” The panels featured scholars from the University of California at San Diego, University of Nevada Reno, Sonoma State University, Chapman University and Northern Arizona University, among others.

A record number of communication majors presented their scholarship at the 2021 ACU Undergraduate Research Festival. Students presented papers written in Fall 2020 for two courses: Rhetoric of Pop Culture and Crisis Management in Organizations. Five students presented virtually, including Madelyn Cupit, Lauren Little, Megan Scott, Sebestyn Szenttornyay and Emilie Thompson. In-person presenters included Heather Johnson, Sahori Hernandez-Quiñones and Jackson Scott. Johnson won Top Paper Presentation in the Humanities for her work titled “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Grief and Mourning on TV.”