UC-Hosted Conference Showcases Appalachian and Mother-Daughter Communication

Topics ranging from Appalachian women, mother-daughter communication and the reshaping of Hillary Clinton’s communication style from a first lady to a Senate candidate will be featured at a national communication conference hosted by the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Communication.
 
The 26th annual meeting of the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender will meet Oct. 9-12 at the Drawbridge Inn in Fort Mitchell, Ky. The conference, expected to draw about 100 scholars and practitioners in the field of communication, was organized by Cynthia Berryman-Fink, professor of communication in UC’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

Berryman-Fink planned the session on Appalachian women’s personal experiences to spotlight local flavor at the national conference. Speakers at this session at 8-9:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 10, will include Pauletta Hansel, poet and director of Women Writing for (a) Change Foundation, Joy A. Fowler, writing department chair at The School for Creative and Performing Arts, and sociologist Roberta M. Campbell, assistant professor at University of Cincinnati Raymond Walters College and a member of the Urban Appalachian Council board who was raised in Eastern Kentucky.

From 3:30-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, a panel presentation will bring six daughters and their mothers together in a presentation discussing “What Mothers and Daughters Learn From Each Other.” Panelists will include Alyssa Ballard-Reisch, Deborah Ballard-Reisch, Chandra Spencer, Shawna Spencer, Makeena Martin,  Patricia Geist-Martin, Brianna R. Roberts, Kim Kline, Darby Turner, Paige Turner, Hannah Stafford and Sandra Berkowitz. The session is chaired by Patricia Geist-Martin of San Diego State University.

The reshaping of Hillary Clinton from a first lady into a U.S. senatorial candidate will be examined in a research presentation by UC communication professor Judith Trent and her former student, Cady Short-Thompson, now associate professor in communication at Northern Kentucky University. Trent and Short-Thompson examined 20 speeches that Hillary Clinton gave as first lady and 26 speeches she presented as a Senate candidate in New York. They found that in her presentations as first lady, Clinton tended to use the “we” pronoun – as in the Clinton administration – and talked little about herself. She also focused mainly on issues affecting women and children, education, women’s rights, human rights and health care. In her Senate campaign speeches, Clinton used the “I” pronoun primarily and often spoke about her own qualifications and experience as well as the problems of New York. This presentation will be at 8-9:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 10.

The keynote speaker for the conference will be Robert C. Harrod, president of the National Conference for Community and Justice. He will speak on “Communicating for Inclusive and Just Communities” from 6 to 6:45 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, on the University of Cincinnati campus in Room 4400, Aronoff Center for Design and Art (DAAP). It will be followed by a MUSE concert.

More information: Cynthia Berryman-Fink, 513-556-4455