Introduction
Thank You from the Research Chair
Calls for Submissions
Announcements
Personals
Spotlight On . . . Elizabeth Moyer Perse
 

Introduction
 

This is the second issue of GATEKEEPER in the year 2000. GATEKEEPER is the e-mail newsletter of the Mass Communication Division of the National Communication Association and contains information on a variety of topics related to the Division.

Thank You from the Research Chair
 

I deeply appreciate all of the people who volunteered to serve as reviewers for the competitive papers this year. In alphabetical order, they are:

In addition, this year, with the support of the Chair, Rebecca Ann Lind, and the Chair-Elect, Mary Beth Oliver, I established a Certificate of Merit of Outstanding Review to recognize the outstanding work of the Division's paper reviewers. The Certificate is to be presented to reviewers who had turned in outstanding paper reviews which were deemed to be above and beyond the call of duty. Five reviewers to receive the Certificate this year are: Dane Claussen (Southwest Missouri State University), John Dahlberg (Canisius College), Travis Dixon (University of Michigan), Nancy Signorielli (University of Delaware), and Emmett Winn (Auburn University). The Certificate will be presented in the Mass Communication Division Business Meeting during the 2000 NCA Convention in Seattle.

Again, my sincere thank to all the reviewers. It is the hard work of our reviewers that shapes the Division's panels in the annual convention.

Shing-Ling Sarina Chen

Call for Submissions
 

Call for papers: Special theme issue of the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media: New Media and the Commercial Sphere. New Media and the Commercial Sphere is the title of a special issue now being planned for the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. This issue will be guest co-edited by Matthew P. McAllister of the Department of Communication Studies at Virginia Tech and Joseph Turow of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. The interrelationships between society's commercial sphere and such new electronic media as the wired Internet, the wireless Web, interactive television, and digital radio have not received enough scholarly attention. This special issue is intended to encourage research on a broad spectrum of topics relating to the process and effects of marketing and advertising on the emerging digital interactive media environment. Submission deadline for papers is August 1, 2001. Possible relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The impact of the new media environment on traditional commercial media, and vice versa;
• The role of media conglomerates, including the use of internal synergies and joint ventures in developing the new media sphere;
• The impact of the new digital commercial environment on journalism in new and traditional media;
• Forces encouraging or discouraging the blurring of advertising and media content in the new media realm;
• The implications of electronic commerce for the media system;
• Critical studies of advertising and marketing in the new media;
• The influence of commercial Web content on traditional media;
• The process and implications of database/target marketing;
• The industrial construction of audiences in the new media environment;
• Digital production and manipulation of advertising imagery;
• The process, nature and effects of interactive advertising;
• Textual and content analyses of advertising on new media.

We encourage a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to this broad area.

Manuscript Broadcasting and Electronic Media. (For detailed information, see http://www.beaweb.org/pubs1.html) To be considered for the special issue, manuscripts must be received by August 1, 2001. Inquiries and five copies of the manuscript should be sent to Matthew P. McAllister, Department of Communication Studies, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0311, 540-231-9830 (phone); 540-231-9817 (fax).

Call for abstracts: 8th Annual Comic Arts Conference. July 20-23, 2000. Convention Center, San Diego, California. A joint meeting of comics scholars and professionals held during the Comic-Con International. Critical and historical perspectives on comic books, comic strips, graphic novels and woodcut novels. For information about attending this year's conference or submitting an abstract for next year's conference contact Dr. Randy Duncan, HSU Box 7834, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, AR 71999-0001, (870) 230-5042.

Call for papers: Papers are sought for inclusion in an edited volume on Public Service Announcements around the world, to be edited by Lisa Cuklanz and Wendy Wong. In particular, critical examinations of PSAs from European and African countries are needed, although articles on PSAs of other countries will be considered. Please send inquiries or completed papers by May 15 to Lisa Cuklanz, Department of Communication, 215 Lyons Hall, Boston College, Chesnut Hill, MA, 02467, 617-552-8894.

Call for book chapters: Media Hegemony, Social Class, and Globalization. Researchers, scholars, and media professionals around the world are invited to submit original papers based on case studies or critical analysis for consideration in a book, Media Hegemony, Social Class, and Globalization, to be edited by Lee Artz and Yahya R. Kamalipour. Dominated by the United States, many factors, including international expansion of advertising, marketing, public relations, entertainment, and communication technologies, are altering social norms and cultural traditions throughout the world. In many instances, these changes aggravate social inequality--a consequence, seldom mentioned in media accounts of globalization. Within the framework of media globalization and U.S. international cultural hegemony, this book has the following objectives:

1. To present analyses of the consequences of media globalization on workers, peasants, youth and other non-elite populations;
2. To identify the influence of transnational media products on popular cultures around the world;
3. To analyze U.S. media representations of the political, social, and economic consequences of globalization; and
4. To consider the significance of social class in the U.S. and internationally for media globalization.

Please send your proposal, a 50-word biography, and a copy of your vita, by July 1, 2000. Chapters must be limited to a maximum of 30 double-spaced typed pages, written according to the 4th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) manual, and submitted by December 15, 2000. Proposals and inquiries should be sent to Lee Artz, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Communication, Department of Communication, Loyola University Chicago, 6525 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626, USA, 773-508-3408.

Call for papers: Conference Announcement and Call for Presentations. Conference: Visual Communication: Rhetorics and Technologies, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY, March 29-April 1, 2001. "Visual Communication: Rhetorics and Technologies" provides a forum for scholars and practitioners working in diverse areas of visual communication. Paper and panel proposals are solicited that focus on research related to:

1. the rhetoric of visual messages in their various media
2. the relationship between visual communication and those technologies used to produce, distribute and receive visual messages and
3. the uses and effects of visual communication. Areas of interest might include but are not limited to, internet images, photography, digital publication, imaging science, television, film, illustration and cartoon/animation.

The conference is hosted by the William A. Kern Professorship, an endowment dedicated to continuing research in communications at the Rochester Institute of Technology, College of Liberal Arts. Conference planners and participants include faculty from RIT programs in Photography, Graphic Design, Printing, Advertising, Fine Art and Digital Media as well as faculty from the Department of Communication. Conference events, lectures and exhibits will take place at RIT and various sites in Rochester, New York. Rochester is home to a number of world class image and archival collections. The International Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman House, in addition to films and photographs also focuses on photographic processes. The Strong Museum houses 500,000 artifacts of Americana including toys, home furnishings and miniatures and 50,000 objects related to advertising history. Other museums include The Visual Studies Workshop, Susan B. Anthony House, Memorial Art Gallery and Rochester Museum and Science Center. Facility tours will be available at Eastman Kodak Company, Xerox Corporation and Gannett Publications. Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2000. The web page is under construction and will be posted in May. Please address all inquiries and submissions to Dr. Diane S. Hope, William A. Kern Professor in Communications, Department of Communication, College of Liberal Arts, 92 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, (716) 475-6053, Fax: (716)-475-7732.

Call for papers: Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression, November 2, 3, & 4, 2000, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The steering committee of the eighth annual Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression solicits papers dealing with U.S. mass media of the 19th century. Selected papers will be presented during the three-day conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 2-4, 2000. The purpose of the November conference is to share current research and to develop a series of monographs on the 19th century press, the Civil War and the press, and 19th century concepts of free expression. The steering committee is proud to announce that papers from the first five conferences have been published by Transaction Publishers as a book of readings called The Civil War and the Press. While the central focus of this conference -- and most of its anticipated future publications -- is the 19th century press, the symposium also welcomes papers on the civil war in fiction and history. The steering committee has selected from past conferences six papers to be published in a book called The Civil War in Fiction and History: From Uncle Tom's Cabin to Scarlet O'Hara and Cold Mountain. The committee hopes to select as many as fourteen more papers on this topic from future conferences to complete this volume, and so it is particularly eager to receive symposium papers on such topics as The Red Badge of Courage, The Birth of a Nation, Gone With the Wind, and Glory. The symposium is sponsored by the George R. West, Jr. Chair of Excellence in Communication and Public Affairs and the UT-Chattanooga Department of Communication, and because of this sponsorship, no registration fee will be charged. Symposium headquarters is Chattanooga's historic Read House hotel four blocks from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus. The hotel and the university campus are only blocks from Union and Confederate cemeteries, located within sight of both Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Deadline September 1, 2000. Papers should be able to be presented within 20 minutes, at least 10 to 15 pages long. Send four copies of your paper and a 200-300 word abstract (sending the abstract and paper on computer disk will indicate willingness to be published in a future volume) to: Dr. David Sachsman, George R. West, Jr. Chair of Excellence in Communication and Public Affairs, 212 Frist Hall, Dept. 3003, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 615 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403-2598, (423) 755-4219, FAX (423) 785-2199, see http://www.utc.edu/commdept/conference/index.html.

Call for papers: The Velvet Light Trap A Critical Journal of Film & Television, Number 48, Fall 2001. Call for Papers: Children, Teens, and the Media. Throughout the histories of film and television, children and teenagers have received extensive attention from policy makers, marketers, creative personnel, and scholars. The focus on the child and teen demographics has only intensified in recent years, in addition to their importance in the past, and producers and advertisers are eagerly seeking their lucrative patronage as much or more now than ever before. At the same time, parents, government leaders, and other concerned citizens have called for increased protections, citing such social dilemmas as teen pregnancy, school violence, and broken families as evidence of the potentially harmful influences of media. But as both producers and consumers, children and teens continue to interact with film and television in a range of creative and sometimes surprising ways, with responses ranging from adoration to outrage. The Velvet Light Trap invites papers that explore social, industrial, regulatory, textual, and audience-centered questions about teens, children, and the media from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Possible topics for this issue may include, but are not limited to: Representations of Youth in Film and/or Television; Teen or Child Stars and Actors (e.g., Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, Gary Coleman); Teen Idols (e.g., Elvis Presley, James Dean, Shaun Cassidy); Use of Media in Education and Pedagogy; School Violence and the Media; Teen/Child Sexuality; Kids and TV and Movie Ratings Codes (including the V-chip); Youth-Targeted TV Programming (e.g., kids and public television, Saturday morning TV); Disney and Children; Child Culture Fads (e.g., Teletubbies, Davy Crockett); Origins of the Youth Market; Child Genres (e.g., the adventure serial, animation, after-school specials); Cross-Cultural Youth Favorites (e.g., Pokemon, Power Rangers); Gendering of/by Children's Media; Race and Ethnic Dif Kids as Producers of Texts (e.g., Sadie Benning, public access programming); Merchandising and Tie-Ins; Teen Fandom and Fan Cultures; Youth Countercultures and Media; Teens and Music Video; Children's Video Market (e.g., Veggie Tales); Kids' Channels (e.g., Nickelodeon, Fox Family Channel); Teens and Sports in Media; Child/Teen Exhibition Sites (e.g., drive-ins, the Internet); Policy and/or Regulation (e.g. family viewing hour, children's television legislation). Papers should be between 6,000 and 7,500 words (20-25 pages double-spaced), in MLA style with a cover page including the writer's name and contact information. Please send four copies of the paper (including a one-paragraph abstract with each copy) in a format suitable to be sent to a reader anonymously. All submissions will be refereed by the journal's Editorial Advisory Board. For information or questions, contact Elana Levine (608-263-3996), Doug Battema (608-221-3893), or Christopher Sieving (608-256-3740). Submissions are due September 15, 2000, and should be sent to: The Velvet Light Trap, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Communication Arts, 821 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin USA 53706-1497. The Velvet Light Trap is an academic, peer-reviewed journal of film and television studies. The journal is published bi-annually in March and September by the University of Texas Press. Issues are edited alternately by graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Editorial Advisory Board includes such notable scholars as Donald Crafton, Michael Curtin, Alexander Doty, Cynthia Fuchs, Herman Gray, Lynne Joyrich, Barbara Klinger, Charles Musser, Chon Noriega, Lynn Spigel, and Chris Straayer.

Call for papers on Media, Literacy, and Education: The Teacher-Scholar in Film and Television, Journal of Popular Film and Television. Deadline for submission of essays is 1 March 2001. A theme issue of the Journal of Popular Film and Television is announced on the topic of "Media Literacy and Education: The Teacher-Scholar in Film and Television." This issue is scheduled for Fall of 2001. Articles may include (but are not limited to) the following agenda items: What is media literacy? What are the underlying assumptions of a media literacy perspective? What are the differing philosophies and approaches towards media literacy operating in the world today? How widespread are efforts at media literacy? What countries, organizations, school systems, and universities are recognized leaders in media literacy and why? What strategies are now most effective in raising awareness of and teaching media literacy? What is the history and development of film and television studies in higher education and secondary schools? What are the various goals of the moving image arts as a discipline? How is film, television, and video taught as a subfield in other disciplines in the arts, humanities, and social sciences? How does one best organize and administer programs in the moving image arts? What are the most effective ways to prepare an overall curriculum as well as plan and offer specific courses in film and television? What are the most pressing challenges in film and television education and research? What do we need to preserve in what we do today and what are the areas in most need of innovation? How are the new digital technologies changing our roles as teachers, researchers, and administrators? How are these technologies transforming the classroom, instructional techniques, publishing (among many other areas)? How is the Internet impacting on film and television studies? What is our future in respect to distance/distributed education? Submissions that are interdisciplinary in theory and method, and emphasize the relationship between film, television, and contemporary culture are most welcome. Relevant bibliographies and filmographies dealing directly with media literacy and film and television education and curricula are also encouraged. In general, papers should be ten to twenty-five, double-spaced pages, carry notes at the end, and follow the MLA Style Sheet. Accepted essays will, moreover, serve as the core for a follow-up anthology on the same topic. Inquiries on the theme issue should be directed to the issue's co-editors: Gary Edgerton and/or Michael Marsden. Three copies of the manuscript (and a self-addressed stamped envelope if return is desired) should be mailed to: Dr. Gary R. Edgerton, 633 Batten Arts and Letters, Communication and Theatre Arts Department, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529-0087, (757) 683-3831 -- office. Please no faxed or e-mail submissions.

Call for Position Papers: NCA Summer Conference, "Communication and Cultural Politics." The date for the summer conference nears, so if you have not already done so, please register and encourage your colleagues, graduate students, and undergraduate students to attend the NCA summer conference "Communication and Cultural Politics," to be held in Iowa City on July 13, 14, and 15. Raymie McKerrow originally conceived of this conference as a place/space to discuss the many critical, cultural approaches to communication that have been being practiced by scholars over the past several years. While the conference line-up is nearly set (nearly 75 people are scheduled to be there), there are still opportunities for your colleagues and students to present position papers in the seminars associated with the conference. Registration information is available on the NCA homepage-- Lenore Langsdorf or Ron Greene ; Critical Race Theory-Contact Lisa Flores, Tom Nakayama, or Jennifer Willis-Rivera; Postcolonialism-Contact Raka Shome or Wenshu Lee; Transnationalism-Contact Radha Hegde, Sujata Moorti, Rona Halualani, or Aimee Carrillo Rowe.

Announcements
 

NCA summer conference, "Communicating Politics: Engaging the Public in Campaign 2000 and Beyond," June 21-24, 2000, Washington, D.C., Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill. As the twenty-first century begins, it is difficult to deny that much has changed in the way society communicates and engages in political activity. While new technologies and a proliferation of media outlets have made political information more accessible than ever, fewer and fewer Americans actively participate in the political process. Dozens of books, hundreds of scholarly and popular press articles, and thousands of discussions have commented on the apathy and alienation that permeates American political culture. As part of the continuing dialogue within the communication profession on the public sphere and civic engagement, the Communicating Politics summer conference was developed. This conference is co-sponsored by NCA and the Political Communication Center at the University of Oklahoma and the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. Unlike traditional conferences at which academic papers are presented and commented on by members of the academic community, this conference combines presentations by campaign and media practitioners, analysis by scholars, and discussion of previously written position papers: To use what we know as communication scholars and practitioners to engage the public in political discourse; To involve more political communication scholars in media commentary about political discourse; To shape our own research, pedagogy, and practice in political communication as we enter a new century; To develop new ways to disseminate our research findings beyond the scholarly community. The conference keynote address, "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community," will be delivered by Robert D. Putnam, Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University. Conference presenters include, among others: Curtis Gans, Director of the Committee for the St of the American Electorate; Michael X. Delli Carpini, Director of the Public Policy Program, Pew Charitable Trust Edward M. Fouhy, Director of Pew Center on the States; Jim Gerstenzang, White House correspondent, Los Angeles Times; Nancy Kegan Smith, National Archives, Office of Presidential Libraries; Janet H. Brown, Executive Director of the Commission on Presidential Debates; Brian Lamb, Chairman & CEO, C-SPAN; Max Fose, Internet Manager, John McCain for President; Robert Shrum, Media Consultant, Gore 2000 Presidential Campaign; Russ Schriefer, Stevens-Schriefer, Media Consultant, Bush for President Campaign; Julia Cohen, Executive Director, YouthVote 2000; Ed Goeas, President, The Tarrance Group; Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, President, League of Women Voters. The conference opens Wednesday, June 21 with a reception at the U.S. Capitol hosted by several members of Congress. Attendees also will participate in a tour and workshop at C-SPAN, and visit a special election-year exhibit at the Newseum, Every Four Years: Presidential Camping Coverage, 1986-2000. Conference Registration Deadline: May 19, 2000. For detailed information about the conference agenda go to: http://www.natcom.org/Conferences/conferenceagenda.htm. For conference registration and hotel reservation information go to: http://www.natcom.org/Conferences/polcommreg.htm. For Call for Papers go to: http://www.natcom.org/Conferences/call_for_participation_and_paper.htm. For more information contact: Sherry Morreale, NCA Associate Director, 703-750-0533.

July 20-22, 2000 Rochester Intercultural Conferences: "Social Justice, Peace, and International Conflict Resolution: Civic Discourse in the Civil Society." This Fifth Rochester conference will feature about 50 papers on topics related to the conference theme, at the Holiday Inn Airport in Rochester, NY. Papers will relate to the conference theme with linkages to intercultural, international, and global communication. All interested persons are invited. The registration fee is $150 or for a full time student $125 before a June 6 postmark, or $175 or $150 for a full time student after June 6. The conference includes an opening dinner, keynote, and roundtable on July 20, plenaries, selected papers, roundtables, two luncheons, and a reception. Hotel reservations can be made directly with the Holiday Inn Airport, 1-800-Holiday, $89 for one or two adults, + 12 % tax daily. Please send registration fees to Rochester Intercultural Conferences, Michael Prosser, RIT, 92 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5604.

The First Annual Nielsen research Forum was held on Thursday, April 20, 2000 at Morgan State University. The Forum was Co-sponsored by Nielsen Media Research (who sent in their VP of Methodology Research, Dr. Rachael Muller-Lust, and Client Service Executive Mike Houston), the Assn. of Black Media Workers, and our department, the three-hour forum addressed issues in electronic media measurement, minority media use and measurement, and careers and opportunities in media research. It is expected that this will become an annual regional/national event based on this campus.

Job Announcement: The Department of Communication Studies at Morgan State University is seeking candidates for a tenure-track teaching/production position beginning August, 2000. The ideal candidate will hold a doctorate in communications and have an academic/ professional background in TV/video production, with the ability to teach a variety of related courses. Duties: Teach eight courses/year, develop/produce curricular and extra-curricular programming, advise majors/organizations, continue a program of scholarship, and work with students in a new state-of-the-art video editing suite. Production and distribution of long-form programming is preferred, as is previous work with CNN Newsource or CBS Newspath. Opportunities: Involvement in a new cross-disciplinary, script-writing component, networking with professionals in the Baltimore/Washington region, creating new student/community programming and publications, assisting in the development of a new TELC Masters program and in design of/relocation to a new communications teaching/production facility in the nation's 18th market (opening 2007). MSU is a Baltimore-based, state-supported HBCU with a growing 6,000 student population. The Department: Communication Studies offers undergraduate degrees in Speech Communication and Telecommunications, and serves 400+ majors enrolled in six sequences. The department is home to two scholarly journals, WEAA-FM (Gavin Report's 1999 Jazz Station of the Year), an award-winning debate team, and features the largest student chapter of the National Black Media Coalition in the USA. The Position: Rank and salary are dependent upon qualifications and experience; a Ph.D. in-hand is required for appointment on the tenure-track. Women and minority candidates are encouraged to apply. Applicants may review department programs and courses at http://www.Morgan.edu. This position will remain open until filled. Candidates: Forward a letter of application along with a vitae, recommendations, teaching evaluations, transcripts, Faculty Search Committee, Dept. of Communication Studies, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251.

Personals

The University of Chicago Press has published THE BLACK IMAGE IN THE WHITE MIND: Media and Race in America by Robert M. Entman (NC State University) and Andrew Rojecki (University of Illinois at Chicago). The associated website, featuring further information, updates and discussion, is www.raceandmedia.com.

Robin R Means Coleman's book, AFRICAN AMERICAN VIEWERS AND THE BLACK SITUATION COMEDY: SITUATION RACIAL HUMOR, was released in paperback this year It was published by Garland Publishing. The cost is $20. The ISBN is: 0-8153-3781-7.

Dr. Andy O. Alali, Chair of the Department of Communications at California State University, Bakersfield has been selected for the 2000 CASE Media Fellowship on "Information Technology: The Medium Not The Message" at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies.

A new addition of the following book has come out: Douglas A. Boyd, Broadcasting in the Middle East: A Survey of the Electronic Media in the Arab World. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1999.

Charles Bantz, Vice Provost and Professor at Arizona State University, will join Wayne State University on August 1st as Senior Vice President and Provost and Professor of Communication. Sandra Petronio, Professor at Arizona State, will join Wayne State University as Professor of Communication and also conduct research in the Medical School.

Janet Davis recently received tenure at Truman State University, Missouri's Liberal Arts and Sciences University. Additionally, she will be presenting a paper titled "Working With Pseuds" at the upcoming the Rhetoric Society of America biennial meeting in May in Washington, D.C.

Kathleen J. Turner is the new chair of the department of communication at Queens College in Charlotte. In the spring she gave the keynote address for Communication Week 2000 at Southwest Texas State University, speaking on "Communicating the Contemporary Female: *Cathy* v. *Sports Illustrated* on the Swimsuit Issue."

Spotlight On . . . Elizabeth Moyer Perse
 

Interview by Larry Mullen

Elizabeth (Betsy) Perse is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware.

She received her Ph.D. in 1987 in Telecommunications at Kent State University. It was there that she met two of her most influential mentors, Alan and Becky Rubin. Her dissertation was entitled, "Cognitive and Affective Involvement with Local News." Elizabeth also received her Master's degree from Kent State. Her thesis was about college student soap opera viewing and the cultivation process. Prior to her graduate work, Elizabeth was at Northwestern University where she majored in English Literature.

From 1980 to 1983 Elizabeth worked as a suburban correspondent for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, covering local government activities and elections.

At the University of Delaware, Betsy teaches a broad range of undergraduate courses that are oriented around the mass media. Examples include Introduction to Mass Communication, Experiments in Mass Communication, Mass Media Effects, and Mass Media and Culture. She also teaches mass communication theory at the graduate level. Her teaching philosophy is to get students to think theoretically and critically. She also tries to encourage students to enhance their oral and written communication skills through class assignments. Students who take her classes can expect to participate in group work and numerous short written assignments. She wants students to learn how to integrate media and computer presentations and to learn how to write concisely and make points clearly and succinctly. In January of 2001 she'll be teaching for five weeks in London--something she's very excited about.

With almost 40 refereed journal articles, five book chapters, three books (one in production) and several other professional publications (not to mention the 50-odd conference papers, book reviews, and various other editorial activities), she is one of the most prolific communication scholars of our time. She has been ranked as the 36th most prolific active communication researcher from 1915-1995 (Stacks and Bodon, 1999). She ranked as the third most productive scholar from 1985-1995 (Atkins and Jeffres, 1998). She is one of the top 50 most cited communication scholars (Eastern Communication Association) and has been ranked as the 13th most prolific woman scholar in communication since 1915 (Communication Quarterly).

Much of her research is about media use and effects. Her most significant work is that which focuses on audience selectivity as shown in access to television technologies that increase channel options, channel changing, and channel repertoire. Her research has considered how uses and gratifications can help us understand selection of media content in a multi-channel environment.

She has served the discipline in numerous ways. Betsy serves on many editorial boards, is constantly reviewing manuscripts, has served in various capacities for the National Communication Association (and the former SCA), and is an excellent college and university citizen, serving on many committees in leadership roles.

On a more personal level, Betsy is really into weaving and knitting. She even attends fiber workshops and conferences during the summer.

For diversion, her favorite movies are "The Stunt Man" and "The Man Who Would Be King." Favorite books are those by Tony Hillerman. And her favorite television shows are the "Sopranos," "Law & Order," and "West Wing." She likes to eat out and when she does her favorites are of the spicy variety--Thai, Indian, and Mexican foods.

Her husband of eight years is Jeff Bergstrom. Her daughter, Rebecca Perse is a middle-school English teacher and her son, Jonathan Perse is an MA student in geology at Ohio State University. Her cat, Lucky, finds the balls of yarn that lie around Elizabeth's loom quite useful and gratifying all the while being theoretically fascinating.

Look for Elizabeth at this year's NCA meeting in Seattle and if you go out to dinner with her, don't forget the Tums.