Headlining the March 2003edition of CommunicationMonographs, the premiere jour-nal in the communication disci-pline, was an article authored bythree members of the UM-St.Louis Department ofCommunication graduate faculty.

The essay, entitled “ S e l f -Reported Extroversion,Neuroticism, and Psychoticism”was penned by A s s i s t a n tProfessors Alan Heisel and BettyLa France, as well as departmentchair Michael Beatty.

With this research, the teamwas hoping to shine some light onour understanding of why indi-viduals interact with each other incertain ways, and the results sug-gest that certain personality traitsdetermine how we associate withone another.

“ With our research, we wereable to predict people’s verbal

aggressiveness and friendlinessfrom their personality,” Beattysaid.

For example, people who areconsidered anti-social also tend topersonally attack others, and peo-ple who are emotionally unstablehave a much harder time gettingothers to like them. Also, peoplewho are extroverts, or outgoing,have a much easier time getting

others to think positively towardthem. According to La France,“These findings demonstrate thatimportant personality characteris-tics determine the way individu-als interact with others.”

“In the other collaborativework we have done, we have con-sistently demonstrated that peo-ple's own perceptions of their

A looki n s i d e . . .

Graduate faculty workheadlines top journal

By N i ck BowmanStudent E di to r

Vol. I, No. 1 Feb/Mar 2004

of the

see Journal on page 2

Being a scholar-athlete canbe a challenge to your averagecollege student, and succeedingat both can be even harder.

However, for UM-St. Louisjunior Ashley Richmond, it’sjust a matter of “doing whatdrives you.”

As several of the UM-St.Louis Communication facultycan attest to, it is hard to find astudent more driven thanRichmond. Since coming toUM-St. Louis from her nativeMilford, Ohio, the two sportathlete has had great successboth as a member of the volley-ball and basketball teams as

well as a student in the newly-formed College of Fine Artsand Communication.

“Basically, I chose UM-St.Louis because it just seemed tofit. I wanted to go to a schoolwith a solid academic reputa-tion that wouldn’t leave medeep in debt when I was done,”

Department chair Michael Beatty talks about his newest theory.

Tw o - s p o rt athlete is this year’sBuck communication scholar

By Nick Bowma nS tudent Ed i to r

see Buck on page 3

on page 2 - an introduction tothe newsletter,and some newsand notes onrecent alumni...

on page 3 - UM-St. Louis @ theNationalCommunicationAssociation. Howdid our facultyfare at this meet-ing of the minds?

on page 4 - Get to know thedepartment facul-ty. A quick “who’swho” of theresearchers andeducators for thedepartment...

For more informa-tion about our

University, checkout:

www.umsl.edu

Communication Journal

personality and communicativebehaviors were consistent withothers' perceptions of those samepersonality and communicativec h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , ” La France said.

Of course, in keeping with theold teaching adage “publish orperish,” this team, as well as therest of the faculty, are fast at workon their newest research projects.

Beatty is currently runningdouble-duty with two projectsu n d e r w a y, one that has to do withself-control traits and one thatlooks to explain how peoplerespond to everyday conversa-tions. With the former, Beatty is

trying to discover whether self-control is “hard-wired into (your)brain of if it’s a learned trait.” T h elatter project will hopefullyexplain whether or not peopleactually react to “mundane con-versations” or if they just use asort of pre-programmed answer.

“ I want to find out if people,when they hear certain things ona daily basis, just enter into aresponse program or if they areindeed interacting and having anew conversation eache n c o u n t e r,” Beatty said.

Heisel, who is also the gradu-ate coordinator for the communi-cation department, has beenworking with fellow facultymember Alice Hall on a paperthat will look at how people cometo trust one another using non-verbal cues, specifically whenlooking at face-to-face interac-tions compared to computer-mediated ones.

from Journal on page 1

UM-St. Louis headlines the March‘03 Communication Monographs

“With ourresearch, we were

able to predictpeople’s verbal

aggressiveness andfriendliness from

their personality”

Communication JournalVol 1 No. 1 Feb/Mar 2004

Staff

special thanks to

Editor Nick BowmanCoordinator Alice HallChair Michael Beatty

James Palmer - KathyKinney - Todd Addington -

U M - S t . Louis Libraries

- disclaimer -Communication Journal is apublication of the University

of Missouri - St. LouisDepartment of

Communication chargedwith informing the students,faculty, staff, and alumni of

the UM-St. LouisDepartment of

Communication of the latestnews and events involvingthe department. Any unau-thorized reproduction or

improper use of the materi-als in this publication is pro-hibited. For questions about

or submissions to theCommunication Journal,

contact the editorial staff atcommalumni@umsl.edu.

- disclaimer -

Welcome to the JournalFor starters, thanks for read-

ing this premiere issue ofCommunication Journal. Wi t hyour help, we can work to spreadthe good word about the UM-St.Louis Department ofCommunications and get it theattention and prominence that itd e s e r v e s .

This is an exciting time to getassociated with the departmentand, for myself and my 700 class-mates, a great time to be a studentin it. Enrollment is steadily grow-ing for both the underg r a d u a t eand the newly-formed graduateprograms, and our faculty arequickly working to establish thedepartment as one of the best in

the nation. At the most recent meeting of

the National CommunicationAssociation, UM-St. Louis com-munication faculty presented sev-eral papers about various topicsof communication, includingsome cutting-edge research abouthow communication and biologyare more intermixed than we maynow understand.

In a recent issue ofCommunication Monographs,the top journal in the field today,a team of UM-St. L o u i sresearchers headlined the journalwith an entry about aggressive-ness and how it relates to commu-nication skills.

Recently the department wasgiven approval to hire new facul-ty and add to its courses offered, asign that the University recog-nized the department’s growth.

H o p e f u l l y, after reading thisissue and successive issues ofCommunication Journal, you willalso see that growth, and withyour support, the UM-St. L o u i sDepartment of Communicationcan keep growing!

S i n c e r e l y,

Nick BowmanE d i t o rB.A. Communication 03M.A. Communication 05

Communication Alumni Notes- 1994 -

Charles “Andy” Mastersopened Masters PerformanceI m p rovement LLC in 2003.MPI is a sales, management andcustomer service training andconsulting firm. Andy recentlyearned two master's degrees, inhuman resource developmentand marketing, from We b s t e rU n i v e r s i t y. He currently residesin Ballwin, Mo.

- 2002 -Jillian Oxler has enrolled

in the M.A. Communicationprogram at UM-St. Louis. Shealso works at Maverick TubeC o r p o r a t i o n in the salesoffice. Jillian lives in Clayton,Mo.

- 2003 -Amanda “Mandy”

Wilsonholme has enrolled in theM.A. Communication program atU M - S t . Louis. She also is thePublic Relations manager of N e wLady Fitness. Amanda lives inSt. Charles, Mo.

- don’t see your story? -Contact Nick at

c o m m a l u m n i @ u m s l . e d u and tellhim what you’re doing thesedays. We’re always looking forjob and family announcements,as well as any job or scholarshipleads that you may have!

- do you have your card? -Contact Kathy Kinney at the

Alumni A s s o c i a t i o n to renewyour membership. Support yourschool and stay connected!

Richmond said. “I’m the first person in my

family to go to a four-year col-lege, so I was excited to gethere and succeed.”

Richmond came to UM-St.Louis with the help of an athlet-ic scholarship and a NationalAccess award. SinceRichmond’s arrival, her athleticskill, coupled with her academ-ic successes, have earned herseveral other scholarships,including the departmentalMark McDonough scholarshipand the 2003-2004 Carole andJack Buck scholarship.

But it’s not just about themoney. During her time her atUM-St. Louis, Richmond, whoaspires to be a sports broadcast-er, has interned at KMOV-AMSt. Louis and W K R C - T VCincinnati in their sportsdepartments.

“Cincinnati was a greate x p e r i e n c e , ” Richmond said.“They were really impressedwith what I knew about newswriting and broadcast writing,

and they gave me a lot of inter-esting projects because of that. Iwas able to apply what I hadlearned, and toward the end ofmy internship my network hadme putting together segmentsfor the evening news.”

D r. Michael Murray, abroadcast writing professor atUM-St. Louis and one ofRichmond’s professors, as wellas the faculty advisor for thecampus chapter of the NationalBroadcasting Society, hasworked closely with her to helpdevelop her broadcasting skills.The two have even put togetheran audition tape for Richmond,using some of the productionequipment on campus in LucasHall.

“[Dr. Murray] has been agreat help in starting myc a r e e r,” Richmond said. “Hehas helped develop my broad-cast writing skills, and when wemade the audition tape it reallygave me something to showpeople. The tape is a good wayfor me to showcase my talentsto prospective employers.”

Ashley Richmond in action during the Riverwomen volleyball sea-son. Richmond plays on both the volleyball and basketball squads.

photo by Anthony Granda

from Buck on page 1

Faculty present at the ‘03 NCASeveral instructors answer call to present papers in Miami

“Reaching Out/Reaching In”was the theme of the 2003National CommunicationAssociation convention.

At the event, held in Miami,several members of the UM-St.Louis communication faculty pre-sented papers.

In keeping with the conven-t i o n ’s theme, which asksresearchers and other communica-tion professionals to “reach out” t opeople in other disciplines foranswers to communication-relat-ed questions, UM-St. Louis facul-ty wrote papers dealing with thebiology of communication,including department chairMichael Beatty’s “In search ofphysical evidence of verbal plan-n i n g : A neuroscience approach to

construct validation.”At the same time, other faculty

members approached the confer-ence presentations diff e r e n t l y,including Betty La France’s pieceon homophobia in collegiate fra-ternities. This paper, which LaFrance is co-authoring withJ e ffrey Hall of the University ofSouthern California, will look atcertain perceived homophobictraits of college fraternity mem-b e r s .

“ We're excited about our pre-liminary results and look forwardto publishing those results fromthe final analyses,” La France said.

Other faculty presentationsincluded a report in aggressionand personality by Beatty, LaFrance and Alan Heisel and a lookat sensation-seeking by audiencesand it’s effect on media behavior

by Alice Hall. Thomas Preston,who is currently on sabbatical inTexas, also presented a paper atthe convention.

“The conference is a greate x p e r i e n c e , ” said La France. “It isalways interesting and exciting to

discover what other scholars areworking on.”

Founded in 1914, the NCA i sone of the largest and oldest com-munication organizations, withover 7,100 members in 20 coun-t r i e s .

B y Nick B owm anStudent Ed i tor

The Fountainebleau Hilton Miami, host of the 2003 NCA convention.

About the faculty......the people who make it all happen

Michael Beatty

Alice HallAlice came to UM-St.

Louis from her doctoral studyat the A n n e n b e rg School ofCommunication at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.She is a member of theU n i v e r s i t y ’s Internal ReviewBoard and the CommunicationDepartment scholarship com-mittee. At the University, sheteaches the undergraduate andgraduate seminar in MassCommunication.

Alan HeiselAlan comes to UM-St. Louis

from West Vi rginia University,where he earned his Ed.D. in2000. He has had several journalarticles published, including fourin Communication Monographs,the top journal in the communi-cation field, and has won severalawards for his research, includ-ing Article of the Year by theNational CommunicationA s s o c i a t i o n .

At UM-St. Louis, Alan teach-es both undergraduate and gradu-ate course in organizational com-munication and computer- m e d i-ated communication

L e i g h a n n eH e i s e l

Leighanne is in her third yearat UM-St. Louis, having earnedher master’s degree at We s tVi rginia University. She servesas the online course developerfor the CommunicationDepartment, and her work hasbeen integral in the success ofM y G a t e w a y, the student on-lineclassroom tool. In her three yearshere, she has taught nine diff e r e n ton-line courses.

Betty La France

Betty is in her third year atUM-St. Louis, having finishedher doctoral study at MichiganState University, one of the topcommunication schools in thecountry. Her research has beenpublished three times inCommunication Monographs,the pre-eminent journal in thefield of communication, andshe teaches underg r a d u a t e“Business Communication” aswell as the graduate seminar inRelational Communication.

C l a r kM c M i l l i o n

T h o m a sM c Ph a i l

Thomas joined the faculty in1990, having been in educationfor over 30 years. He is an often-cited source on telecommunica-tions and global communication,and has been quoted by theAssociated Press, NPR, and USATo d a y, along with several othermedia sources. His book, GlobalCommunication, has been a bigsuccess with both academics andprofessionals.

At UM-St. Louis, he teaches“International Communication,”“Public Policy inTe l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n , ” a n d“ C o m p a r a t i v eTelecommunications Systems.”He also served as Associate Vi c e -Chancellor for Academic A ff a i r sduring the 1990s.

M i c h a e lM u r r a y

Michael has been a memberof the faculty for over twodecades, specializing in commu-nication history and media law.He has authored or edited sever-al books, including P o l i t i c a lP e r f o r m e r s, T V in A m e r i c a, andThe Encyclopedia of T V N e w s.He received the MissouriG o v e r n o r’s Award for Te a c h i n gExcellence and has been hon-ored for his teaching by severalother organizations. He currentlyteaches “Broadcast Writing &R e p o r t i n g ” and “Media Law”and is a founding advisor for thecampus chapter of the NationalBroadcasting Society.

Clark has been at UM-St.Louis for two decades, teachingpublic speaking, persuasive com-munication and small groupcommunication during that time.He also serves as the advisingcoordinator for all communica-tion undergraduates, and runs thed e p a r t m e n t ’s internship pro-g r a m s .

Michael is the communica-tion department chair, and iswell-regarded as one of the topresearchers and authors in thefield today. His most recentbook, published with JamesMcCroskey of West Vi rg i n i aU n i v e r s i t y, explores the idea ofc o m m u n o b i o l o g y, or communi-cation as a trait of biology.