Kyle A. Hammonds (MA, 2016) and Dr. Karen Anderson-Lain were awarded the Michael T. Marsden Paper Award at the Midwest Popular Culture/American Culture Association during the annual conference held in Chicago on October 8, 2016. The award recognizes the top paper in The Popular Culture Studies Journal. Their essay, "A Pedagogy of Communion: Theorizing Popular Culture Pedagogy" builds a theoretical approach to teaching with popular culture blending popular culture theory and narrative theory to argue for a pedagogical approach that uses popular culture, cultural narratives, and dialogue to foster learning.

http://mpcaaca.org/the-popular-culture-studies-journal/volume-4/