facultynotes

Professor Kay Amert’s research on the history of typography continues to focus on the work of the French Renaissance printer, Simon de Colines. Amert recently presented two papers about his work. She delivered “Intertwining Strengths: Simon de Colines and Robert Estienne” at the annual meeting of SHARP (the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing) held in Lyons, France, in July. She also presented “The Phenomenon of the Gros Canon” at the annual meeting of AEJMC (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication) held in Toronto, Canada, in August. At the Toronto conference, Amert also made a presentation titled “Cultural and Comparative Methods in Typographic Research” as part of a panel sponsored by the Visual Communication Division. “The Phenomenon of the Gros Canon” is scheduled for publication in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America in June 2005.

Associate Professor Julie Andsager has published a book this year entitled Free expression and five democratic publics: Support for individual and media rights. Andsager recently presented three conference papers at the International Communication Association (ICA) and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The first paper was “Increasing perceived similarity of exemplars: Effects on message evaluation,” which she presented at the 2004 AEJMC convention for the Communication Theory & Methodology Division in Toronto. Andsager, with three University of Iowa graduate students, received the top faculty paper award for this work. The second was “Attitudes toward access to public records: A test of power expression protection hypothesis.” This was presented at the ICA in New Orleans. The third was “Content analysis of the Draw-A-Sketch Task (DAST-S) for high-risk sexual situations,” which she also presented in New Orleans. In addition to her work as Associate Editor of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Andsager is also the head of the Commission on the Status of Women for the AEJMC, and is an elected member of the Standing Committee on Research for the AEJMC.

Assistant Professor John Bennett has been working to expand video capabilities as the J-MC school moves into the Adler Building. Bennett has also continued working on the school’s new Learning Portfolio requirement as an outcome assessment process to evolve the curriculum. Bennett taught Journalistic Reporting and Writing and Broadcast Journalism Workshop this fall.

Associate Professor Stephen Berry expanded his course offerings in his second year teaching at The University of Iowa. This fall, the Pulitzer Prize winner taught Depth Reporting and Writing and the MAP and Honors section of Journalistic Reporting and Writing. Berry won many awards as an investigative reporter for such papers as The Orlando Sentinel and The LA Times. In the field, Berry researched such topics as the criminal justice system, medical malpractice and corruption in law enforcement. Recently Berry wrote an article titled “CBS Lets The Pentagon Taint its News Process,” which was published in the fall 2004 issue of Nieman Reports for the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Asssociate Professor Venise Berry is currently working on Historical Dictionary of African American Film published by Scarecrow Press (2005) with co-author S. Torriano Berry at Howard University. She is also working on another publication, Racialism and the Media, a nonfiction research book. A theatrical adaptation of her second novel, All of Me, A Voluptuous Tale, is also in progress. The play will explore issues of weight and wellness from a diverse perspective. Berry has also completed a fourth novel, Still So Good. It is a sequel to her first novel, So Good, ten years later in Danielle, Sundiata and Lisa’s lives. In research, Berry’s, “The Rap Experience: Exploring Fandom” is a research paper that is under consideration at the Howard Journal of Communication.

Associate Professor Dan Berkowitz is continuing his research on cross-cultural media relations with his current focus being media practices in Korea and Israel. Recently, his co-authored article titled, “Third Gatekeeping in Korea: Screening First Edition Newspapers by PR Practioners” has been published in Public Relations Review. He has also been featured in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly with another co-authored piece, “Professional Confidence and Situational Ethics: Assessing the Social-Professional Dialectic in Journalistic Ethics Decisions.” Berkowitz has also co-authored an article with University of Iowa Assistant Professor Jane Singer and Yehiel Limor titled, “Professional Confidence and Situational Ethics: Assessing the Social-Professional Dialectic in Journalistic Ethics Decisions.” Berkowitz is a recent Fulbright Senior Specialists awardee and will collaborate with faculty in Kingston, Jamaica, at the University of the West Indies. Berkowitz is also teaching a new course entitled Media and Terrorism.

Professor Stephen G. Bloom’s essay on Jane Elliott is scheduled to appear in Smithsonian magazine in January 2005. The article is the basis of Bloom’s next book, to be titled Blue-Eyes, Brown Eyes: The Experiment that Shocked a Nation. To underwrite his research, Bloom received a grant from The University of Iowa’s Arts and Humanities Initiative. Two of Bloom’s short stories were published in the fall and winter. “The Reptile King of Atlanta” appeared in Wapsipinicon Almanac and “Ode to Maestro Järvi” appeared in Points of Entry: Cross-Currents in Storytelling. Bloom’s story, “The Swedish Wife” was published in The Exquisite Corpse: A Journal of Letters and Life last winter. A nonfiction story called, “Is Everyone Batty Out There, or What?” appeared in DoubleThink magazine in the summer. Bloom’s dramatic play, Shoedog, co-written with colleague Brian Cronk, was produced this fall at the Five Flags Theatre in Dubuque and at the McCreary Theatre in Perry, Iowa. Bloom’s Iowa Journalists Oral History Project has been launched as an interactive Internet site. Begun in 1997 as a semester-long class, the project has been recognized as the nation’s first effort to collect oral histories of newspaper editors, reporters and photographers. The project can be accessed at http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/journalists/. Bloom was promoted to full professor in the spring.

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