Communication students to attend national forum

Ten Radford University students from the School of Communication will participate in the 27^th National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse from April 11 through April 13.

Students at NCUR present their research and creative work in posters, exhibits, and oral and performance sessions. In addition to sharing their undergraduate work, participants will attend presentations by university faculty and graduate programs from across the country, hear three keynote speeches and take part in several social events and excursions.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for students to earn national recognition and present their research to their peers," said Betty Kennan, faculty mentor and instructor in the School of Communication. "I've learned a lot from them."

The communication students developed their research projects in two classes taught by Kennan: Teamwork and Interpersonal Communication. Students submitted abstracts in December. They were notified of their acceptance in January and worked through the semester to prepare their research for the conference.

The students participating and their projects are:

• Ryann Driscoll and Maggie Rhodes, "Examining Identity Management in Electronic Relationship Initiation."
• Robert Lambert, Reba Miller and Gabrielle Pidal, "The Influence of New Communication Technologies on Undergraduate Preferences for Social Capital: Initiation, Maintenance and Termination."
• Alex Garcia and Elizabeth Damron, "It's Nothing Personal:  Research and Analysis of the Growing Popularity of Text Messaging Instead of Voice Calling."
• Megan Ahrenberg, Dakota Carter and Taylor Franklin, "Examining Conflict Management Styles in Face-to-Face and Computer Mediated Communication."

NCUR promotes undergraduate research scholarship and creative activity done in partnership with faculty or other mentors as a vital component of higher education. Students from more than 300 research universities, comprehensive universities and private liberal arts colleges will present their research, scholarly and creative works. More than 3,000 delegates from more than 35 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada and other countries are expected to attend.

Students at NCUR represent nearly all academic disciplines, including biology, business, chemistry, communication, computer science, engineering, geography, humanities, mathematics, physics, political science, psychology and sociology.

Learn more about Radford University at www.radford.edu