The garden at the House of Tricks in Tempe was once again the setting for the spring reception to honor our scholarship, fellowship, and award recipients. Scholarship donors, Hugh and Ruth Downs, Mary Morrison, Christine Muldoon, and Kristin Bervig Valentine, were there to share in the celebration along with the award winners, their families, and faculty.
Director Angela Trethewey with faculty, (l-r) Steve Corman, Jennifer Linde, Belle Edson,and Kory Floyd
UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS
Cami Louise Samuels was awarded the Working Your Way Through School scholarship. The recipient of this award must be a full-time student, working at least 15 hours per week, supporting themselves while maintaining at least a 3.0 cumulative ASU GPA.
Working Your Way Through School scholarship winner Cami Louise Samuels
Heather Magoun was awarded the Barnes-Pharr Endowment Scholarship. Heather is a full-time Communication major with an emphasis in interpersonal communication.
The following merit-based scholarships were also awarded: Hugh Downs School of Human Communication Scholars Program scholarships were awarded to Jessica Beth Heigh, Bettina Emily Loison, and Joshua Paul Taylor. Katelin Anne Hodson was awarded the William & Teeny Drakos Endowed Scholarship, Olivia Rose Warner was awarded the Gentleman Endowed Scholarship in Communication, and Rachel Aline Blataric was awarded the Louis & Louise Menk Endowed Scholarship. Michael Mincheff was awarded the Rusty and Rosie Lyon Endowed Scholarship and Kaylene Campbell was awarded the House of Broadcasting Inc. Endowment Scholarship.
Hugh Downs School of Human Communication Scholars Program scholarship winners, Jessica Beth Heigh and Bettina Emily Loison with Hugh Downs
House of Broadcasting Inc. Endowment Scholarship winner,
Kaylene Campbell with Mary Morrison
Lindsey Curley and Eddie Gamboa, Jr. were awarded The Kristin Bervig Valentine Undergraduate Scholarship in Performance Studies. This scholarship has been awarded 
annually since 2000 to undergraduate students who excel in performance studies communication classes and who made significant contributions to the study of performance through creative activity, scholarship and/or community service.Kristin Bervig Valentine Undergraduate Scholarship in Performance Studies scholarship winner Lindsey Curley with Kristin Valentine
Kenneth Jason Sanchez was awarded the Robert & Sue Karatz Forensics Endowed Scholarship. All students with at least a 3.0 ASU GPA who are members of the Forensics Team are considered for this scholarship.
Allison Tucker was chosen by The Hugh Downs School to receive a Dean’s Circle Scholarship. The recipient of this award must be a full-time student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a minimum 3.5 cumulative ASU GPA.
Dean's Circle Scholarship recipient chosen by The Hugh Downs School, Allison Tucker with Dr. Belle Edson and Dr. Angela Trethewey
GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS and AWARDS
Erin Bryant and Keri Fehrenbach were each awarded a Jeanne Lind Herberger Fellowship. Fehrenbach was recognized for her contributions to the study of conflict. Bryant was recognized for her contributions to both conflict and to work-life. Erin Bryant was selected as a Herberger Fellow due to her research regarding both conflict and work-life issues. She has conducted and 
presented research on topics such as textual harassment (i.e., harassment via text messaging devices), and media portrayals of workplace bullying (i.e., on the show The Office). Her study regarding peer co-worker deception was named as a "Top Four Paper" by the Organizational Communication Division at the 2010 National Communication Association (NCA) convention, and was recently published in Communication Monographs with a translation essay in Communication Currents.
Erin Bryant with Dr. Jess Alberts and Dr. Angela Trethewey
Whether family and community members are negotiating conflict on their own or through the help of a neutral third party, research on conflict can make a positive impact on their lives. The Herberger Fellowship will support Keri Fehrenbach in her pursuit of improving lives by researching outcomes associated with how we communicate when in conflict. Fehrenbach's main area of conflict research involves community mediation and, more specifically, clients' perspectives of mediator neutrality and satisfaction in the mediation session. A few other conflict research topics that she has in various stages of progress include: timing of apologies, conflict styles and satisfaction, and family decision-making and eldercare. The Herberger Fellowship will allow Fehrenbach not only in conducting the research, but also in disseminating the results to community members and practitioners.
Sandra Rath was awarded the Dessie E. Larsen Graduate Fellowship. This fellowship provides support for an outstanding graduate student with the potential for great success in performance studies. Rath is currently working on a dissertation project that is focused on the stories and legacies of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. From the interviews collected, a performance piece that represents her research findings as a performance text will be created. The project has been reviewed and accepted in a pilot group for The Marsh Performance Studies Collaborative, a program that will provide workshops and mentoring for a selected small cohort of Ph.D. Performance Studies students who are creating performance pieces from research data. The Dessie Larsen Performance Studies Award will be utilized to fund the performance so that it may be showcased at the Marsh-Berkeley in 2012.
Michael Zirulnik was awarded the Christine Duff Muldoon Communication Fellowship. The recipient of this award must have a minimum 3.0 GPA and will likely make important contributions to the communication discipline. As this year's recipient of the Christine Duff Muldoon Fellowship, Michael Zirulnik will use this award to fund his scholarship in the spirit of Muldoon's personal belief that scholarship must bridge the gap between academia and the rest of society, contributing to our communities and to commerce.
Michael Zirulnik with Christine Duff Muldoon and Dr. Angela Trethewey
Erin Bryant was awarded the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication Outstanding PhD Student Research Award. Erin's research examines interpersonal and computer-mediated communication. She spent Summer 2010 working as a research intern with Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England. As part of her internship, she led a field study of two prototype exploratory search engines and authored a forthcoming manuscript detailing the study. She co-authored four publications during the 2010-2011 school year, which appeared in Communication Monographs, Communication Currents, The Kentucky Journal of Communication, and a book entitled Computer-Mediated Communication in Personal Relationships. Erin also gave numerous conference presentations, including two manuscripts that were named as a Top Four Paper by the NCA Organizational Communication Division, and as a Top Four Paper and Top Student Paper by the NCA Interpersonal Communication Division.
Jie Gong was awarded the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication Superior PhD Student Research Award. His research interests span new media, rhetorical criticism, public communication, collective memory, and national identity, particularly situated within contemporary China’s national ascendancy, civic activism, and sociocultural constellations. During the 2010 calendar year, his co-authored article, “Emerging Media and Cyber Vigilantism: Transmedia Collective Intelligence in Humanistic Search Experiences,” was published in the Chinese Journal of Communication. Meanwhile, his public memory-oriented interrogation of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games led to his “Re-Imaging an Ancient, Emergent Superpower: 
2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Public Memory, and National identity,” which was selected as the top paper by NCA’s Chinese Communication Studies Association, and was recently accepted by Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies.
Dr. Belle Edson, Dr. Benjamin Broome, Dr. Angela Trethewey, Amy Way, Geeta Khurana, Erin Bryant, Dr. Sarah Tracy, and Jie Gong
Jennifer Marmo was awarded the Hugh Downs School Superior PhD Research Award. During the 2010 calendar year, Marmo published three articles, which appeared in Qualitative Inquiry and Kaleidoscope, as well as more specialized outlets - Kentucky Journal of Communication special issue on CMC and relationships. She also presented five papers at conferences with one co-authored paper receiving a Top Student Paper and Top Four Paper award in the Interpersonal Division at NCA. Moreover, Jennifer was the third author on a new conflict book with Drs. Daniel J. Canary and Sandra Lakey.
Amy Way was awarded the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication PhD Student Service Award in recognition of her service to the profession, the school and the university. The majority of her service contribution has been as an executive officer of the Communication Graduate Student Association, including her contribution to recruitment at conferences and the planning and implementation of Welcome Weekend.
Geeta Khurana was awarded the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication Outstanding Doctoral Teaching Award. Geeta was selected for her conscientious curriculum development and her immediacy within the classroom. Moreover, Geeta’s performance during the 2010 calendar year exemplifies her continued commitment to teaching a variety of courses and serving multiple roles such as independent instructor, seminar assistant, teaching assistant, and recitation instructor. One nominator suggested that Geeta has “the ability to actively engage with students and create an effective, safe and interesting learning environment. Her passion for teaching is obvious and the students clearly respond to this. I have consciously tried to emulate some of her organizational strategies in my own classes and have received positive feedback from students in regard to these changes. Geeta is a valuable asset to any teaching program.” 
Hugh Downs School of Human Communication graduate students Megan Fisk, Coleen Kelman, Michael Zirulnik, Shawna Malvini Redden, Geeta Khurana, Amy Way and Jennifer Robinson