Goals

The Mass Communication & Society Division is one of the largest and most active divisions within AEJMC. Our division hosts the academic journal, Mass Communication and Society (see http://www.aejmc.net/mcs/submission.php for submission information). Division members receive Mass Communication and Society as part of their membership. We also offer a yearly competitive research grant and annual awards for service, teaching, and research excellence, and our conference and journal submissions reflect a wide array of theories and methodologies.

I am honored to serve as division head for the 2010-2011 year, standing on the shoulders of the esteemed scholars who have previously led this division. My goals for this coming year are aimed at working toward a general, yet succinct definition we can use to describe our division to non-members, as well as learning how we might serve our members in additional, perhaps novel ways.

My three specific goals are as follows:

1. Regarding the defining of who we are to others - By the end of this 2010-2011 year, I will have launched a survey to ask our membership to revisit how our division defines itself to new members of AEJMC, as well as existing AEJMC members outside our division. In other words, do we do a good job of describing who we are and what we reflect to others? Is it clear to conference submitters what our manuscript reviewers would (or would not) consider to be relevant to the division? Can we do better in defining our division?

2. Regarding ways to increase graduate student participation - I hope to encourage graduate students to play active roles in our division's leadership, in addition to our conference activities. To this end, look for special guest features in our year’s newsletters penned by graduate students (e.g., our front-page story in the Fall 2010 newsletter). Graduate students - please feel free to send suggestions on what you would like us to consider to me (francesca.carpentier@gmail.com) or to one of our graduate student liaisons (see the Officers page at http://www.aejmc.net/mcs/officers.php).

3. Regarding the possibility of becoming more thematic in our conference programming - By the end of the 2010-2011 year, I will have launched another survey to gauge our members’ interest in grouping teaching, research, and PF&R (Professional Freedom and Responsibility) panels to reflect a particular theme, as proposed by our division membership. Currently, sessions are not designed, such that one conceptual theme (e.g., social media) is reflected in a teaching, a PF&R, and a research session (e.g., use of social media in classroom activities, responsible use of social media as a source by journalists, and the role of social media in setting the public agenda). Is this type of programming strategy something the membership might be interested in trying with one or two themes, with the remaining sessions being open for any topic area?

I look forward to an exciting and productive year with the Mass Communication Society Division!

-Francesca Dillman Carpentier