06/12/15
Two Fort Hays State University professors presented papers at a recent international convention of communication scholars.

Dr. Hsin-Yen Yang, assistant professor of communication studies, and Dr. Carrol R. Haggard, associate professor of communication studies, each made presentations at the 65th annual convention of the International Communication Association, held recently in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Yang presented ''New Media and Cultural Studies'' at the digital media workshop, which was part of the day-long preconference session on ''Stuart Hall and the Future of Media and Cultural Studies.''

Hall, who died in February 2014, was one of the leading scholars in critical and cultural studies. The preconference was designed to pay tribute to Hall's contributions by focusing on his influence on contemporary and future communication scholarship. Yang shared her research on the democratic potentials of digital media. She also initiated and facilitated the discussion on the ''keywords'' for future new media and cultural studies at the workshop.

Haggard presented ''Welcome Home: Dimensions of Communicative Reverse Adaptation faced by Chinese Students upon return to China'' to the intercultural communication division. Former FHSU graduate student and current University of Texas Ph.D. student Zhengyu ''Tracy'' Zhang was co-author. The paper examined the types of changes in communication behaviors which were required of Chinese students as they returned home to China following an extended study abroad experience in the Unites States. The paper identifies communication patterns which had to be learned to be successful in the United States which then had to be unlearned in order to be successful in their home culture.

Haggard was also selected and served as a respondent to the intercultural communication interactive panel ''Short Intercultural Presentations.'' This panel, which was a new format for the convention this year, included five papers which were presented in five minutes each, followed by a response. Then, most of the time was devoted to audience questions and discussion. Haggard's role in this process was to help stimulate discussion based on ideas presented in the papers.