YSU students earn top awards at state Communication meeting
Vice President Tammy Bosley and YSU student
Allison Centofanti
Students in Youngstown State University’s Department of Communication took home awards for the top graduate and top undergraduate student papers at the 2018 Ohio Communication Association conference earlier this month at the University of Akron’s Wayne College.
Allison Centofanti and Kaija DiPillo, graduate students in the Professional Communication master’s degree program, won for their paper, “Perception, Team Roles, and Cohesion in Student Groups.”
The top undergraduate paper award went to Jessica Cann, Sarah Demetruk, Joseph Anastasia and Christiana Savo for their study, “So you think you can teach? A look into how negative evaluations impact university professors.”
All papers submitted to the OCA for presentation at the annual conference go through a rigorous selection process involving communication scholars from across the state.
“The students worked really hard during the Spring semester to produce research papers that were high in quality and scholarly in scope,” said Jeff Tyus, YSU associate professor of Communication Studies. “I couldn’t be more proud of their accomplishments.”
Top papers were presented during a special session at the conference.
“These awards are a testament to the strength of our communication program,” said Adam Earnheardt, chair and professor of Communication. “We’ve known for a long time that our students, and our faculty who teach and direct research in communication, are some of the best in the state. Awards like these are a validation for the work we’re doing in our department.”
Other YSU students who presented original communication research at the conference included Alene Harris, Joseph Lyles, Y. Marie Ortiz, Enzo Recchia, Laura Roch, Drae Smith, and Crawford Warrick.
Earnheardt and Daniel O’Neill, professor of Communication, also presented at the conference.
"I was fortunate to work with such hard-working graduate students in our Professional Communication research methods courses this year," said Rebeccca Curnalia, associate professor of Communication. "Our students' presentations at OCA, and Kaija and Allison's award, are much-deserved recognition of the quality of their projects."