Congratulations to Dr. Mark Hlavacik and a cross-disciplinary team for receiving a
$5000 Research Colloquium-Team Mentoring Grant from the Office of Faculty Success
within the College of Arts and Sciences. The grant was spearheaded by Hlavacik in
search of a more inclusive way to continue the former Communication Studies Department's
"New Voices, New Perspectives" annual research conference. Hlavacik contacted various
departments of allied disciplines and organized a team consisting of, Sara Champlin,
School of Journalism, Jordan Frith, Technical Communication, Kyle Jensen, Department
of English, Robin Lakes, Dance and Theatre, George S. Larke-Walsh, Media Arts, Teresa
Marrero, Department of Spanish, Dana Nogay, Technical Communication, and Jacqueline
Vickery, Media Arts. Together they set a goal to gather $12,000 for a year long event
including various guest speakers that would bring departments together and spark more
ambitious research for faculty and students. Hlavacik writes in the original grant
application that, "These visitors will make presentations about the research opportunities
they oversee, network and workshop with faculty, visit UNT classrooms, give public
presentations, and meet with UNT graduate and undergraduate students." Hlavacik noted
while looking for guest speakers, "We wanted to look for the best way to support research
here at UNT with mentor options such as scholars, editors and grant writers that would
show everyone how to design and execute larger interdisciplinary research projects."
He also mentions the benefits are many, but he believes it will ultimately build better
scholarly relationships with people studying communication. On the list of presenters
so far are four journal editors, one of which specializes in politics and will be
discussing the upcoming presidential candidates, Georgia State Professor of Communication
Studies Dr. Mary Stucky. Also, National Cancer Institute Program Director for the
Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch Dr. Wen-Ying (Sylvia) Chou will
be visiting. The event will take place during the 2016-2017 school year. When asked
about making this an annual conference, he said he would like to but it might be something
on a smaller scale the next year unless they receive funding again. Stay in touch
on social media for further announcement of speakers and dates.