Graduate Student Corner
This section will showcase student members' achievements and share their experiences as MAC Division members.
In this section:
- Testimonials
- Achievements
Testimonials
Danielle Kilgo
The first year of my doctoral program was consumed almost entirely with research, teaching and adjusting to academic life. That paid off: I presented research at my first AEJMC conference that year. However, one of the most memorable moments from the conference was running into MAC Officer Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez, who encouraged me to attend the MAC business meeting. When I left that meeting, I was inspired and energized by the award-winning research and the mission of the division. I immediately joined the next year, and am so thankful for the opportunities to connect and work with an incredibly diverse network of researchers, professors and graduate students from across the country and globe.
This year, I have also had the opportunity to dive into the service aspects of academic life, and was appointed an officer position with the Division. As the Graduate Liaison, I have had a hand in organizing some of the future opportunities MAC will offer graduate students. These experiences have truly been some of the most rewarding in my academic career.
Vinicio Sinta
I became a member of AEJMC's Minorities and Communication division to join a community of scholars dedicated to the study of diversity in the media. I want to stay up to date with the latest research on how media portray racialized groups and the impacts of these representations, as well as on the current state of ethnic-oriented and other alternative news outlets. I'm constantly on the lookout for best practices on teaching about race, ethnicity, migration and the news, and the insights from seasoned scholars in the MAC division are very helpful. At the moment, I am working on my dissertation proposal, which deals with media constructions of minority polítics
Lourdes Cueva Chacón
Because my research interests rest in the intersection of media sociology and minorities in newsrooms, joining the MAC Division was an expected path once I joined AEJMC during the first year in my doctoral program. What I didn’t expect was the warm and nurturing encouragement I received from every MAC Officer I encountered. My interactions with Dr. Riva Brown as the coordinator for the Division’s panels at the 2015 AEJMC Mid-Winter Conference, and Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez as my moderator and discussant, were reassuring for a first-timer. They made me feel welcomed.
Later, I attended my first MAC business meeting in San Francisco, and awe-inspiring is the only expression I can find to describe it. Many of the researchers I respected and admired were there in the flesh. Just to give an example: Dr. Felix Gutiérrez gave a very moving speech as a retirement farewell for Dr. Clint C. Wilson. I feel honored to be part of such an impressive group of scholars. Their example and encouragement are a great impulse for my professional career.
Davi Israel Kallman
I am extremely proud to be a member of the Minorities and Communication (MAC) division of AEJMC. Minority representation and issues pertaining to social justice and social change are very important to me and are evident in both my teaching style and my research. I consider myself blessed to be a part of several different minority groups and am delighted to know that the MAC division provides scholars, minorities, and activists an opportunity to advance research initiatives that explore minorities and mass communication. In fact, MAC’s commitment to explore and respond to social and physical disparities within minority communities is one of the many reasons I joined. Over the years my research has covered everything from health disparities within the Latino/a community to explicit and implicit biases toward the disabled community and MAC gives me and other scholars the opportunity to share research with others in the field, providing opportunities for improvement and collaboration.