Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / Geographical borders represent a clash of cultures. Those inhabiting or moving through borderlands struggle to maintain a sense of place and, in turn, an understanding of cultural collective memory. This project strives to understand how the visual and discursive elements that constitute the U.S.-Mexico border function rhetorically to communicate difference and establish place. By utilizing a social semiotics perspective, I analyzed visual rhetoric of the U.S.-Mexico border in the form of photographs and maps produced in both the United States and Mexico. Additionally, a theory of cultural memory was used to explore the confluence of events and rhetorical phenomena that shape the U.S.-Mexico border, and allow the U.S.-Mexico border to shape the rhetoric of the countries it divides. I argued that borders are inherently rhetorical and the intersection of visual elements, culture, place and memory make borders important to understand from an anthropological, and geographical perspective, as well as a rhetorical one. This project holds political and social implications for the relationship between the United States and Mexico, and reveals key findings regarding how cultural identity is negotiated in fragmented places like borderlands.

Master of Arts / Department of Speech Communication, Theatre, and Dance / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / On August 17, 1959 a jazz album entitled Kind of Blue hit record store shelves nationwide and changed the music forever. Recorded by the Miles Davis Sextet, the album popularly introduced a new sound, modal jazz, and has become one of the best selling jazz records of all time. A week after the release, following a concert promoting the album at the Birdland in New York, Davis was walking a white female friend to a taxi when he was stopped by a policeman. The officer told Davis to move along, and the two exchanged a few words and looks before the cop clubbed Davis over the head and arrested him. Davis was released shortly, but this incident is illustrative of a time in history where African-American music was embraced while the people themselves were treated as second-class citizens. This study explores rhetorical connections between jazz music and American democracy as it existed during the late 1950s. Using Sellnow & Sellnow's (2001) 'Illusion of Life' Rhetorical Perspective, this study analyzes the music of Kind of Blue as it connects with the political upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement. It concludes that the incongruity between the political and social tension of the country and the relatively laid-back sound of the music correlates with the non-violent resistance strategies used in the Movement. Implications are drawn about Sellnow & Sellnow's (2001) methodology, jazz music's potential in promoting/maintaining an inclusive democracy, and areas for future study.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / William Schenck-Hamlin / According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overweight and obesity rates in the United States continue to increase. And yet, despite their resources to encourage healthy lifestyles, college campuses reflect the national trend. Colleges and universities often utilize health campaign strategies such as social norms marketing and peer health education to encourage campus-wide health initiatives. However, based on an application of effective health communication attributes, both strategies demonstrate limitations that must be addressed in future collegiate health campaign approaches. I analyzed the effectiveness of adopting an induced hypocrisy health campaign to encourage nutrition. The induced hypocrisy paradigm has resulted in successful behavioral change by having participants create a pro-attitudinal message. Then, participants are reminded of their past failure to engage in the behaviors they advocated. It was hypothesized that hypocritical subjects would purchase more nutrition bars than subjects in any of the other conditions. The results indicate that, although more hypocritical subjects purchased more nutrition bars than subjects in the other conditions, the findings were not found to be statistically significant. Interpretations of the study findings as well as implications for future nutrition campaign initiatives are discussed.

Master of Arts / Department of Speech Communication, Theater, and Dance / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / This work explores the emergence and evolution of the rhetoric choice rhetoric as it pertains to contemporary American abortion politics. <Choice> is explored from an ideographic perspective, borrowing from the theoretical framework for ideographic rhetorical criticism established by Michael Calvin McGee. The analysis begins with a diachronic analysis of the emergence of the ideograph of <choice> within the law with an investigation of the written decisions in four Supreme Court cases central to the construction of the right to choose: Roe v. Wade (1973), Maher v. Roe (1977), Harris v. McRae (1980), and Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989). This investigation reveals a synchronic relationship between <choice> and another higher order ideograph, <liberty>. The criticism continues with an investigation of the usage of <choice> by pro-choice advocates in two documents published by NARAL Pro-Choice America, Choices: Women Speak About Abortion is a collection of women's narratives about their experiences obtaining an abortion, and Breaking Barriers, a guide for the development and implementation of proactive policy campaigns for pro-choice advocates. McGee's method is employed to investigate the ideographic usage of <choice> within these documents, revealing the ideographic abstraction that associates the alleged idea content of ideographs. This ideographic analysis reveals the inability of <choice> to live up to its alleged idea content as a result of the limitations inherent in the grounding of <choice> within the higher order ideograph of <liberty> and the impact of these limitations on particular populations, mainly indigent women in the United States.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Nicole M. Laster / The adoption of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy affords a company with the opportunity to engage with stakeholders in a manner that is not necessarily tied directly to a company’s business as usual. CSR research has burgeoned in the last several decades, keeping pace with companies worldwide and their steady incorporation of CSR policies into their business models. To that end, research has been primarily focused on CSR policy perception from external stakeholders or managers. This research project examines the sensemaking processes related to an environmental sustainability-related CSR policy among a diverse group of internal stakeholders at a mid-sized electric utility company. An analysis of the data suggests that hierarchical divisions of employees are non-existent when the CSR policy is enduring, consistent, and upholds company values. Moreover, employee enactment of CSR policies operates as a mechanism whereby employees internalize the promoted corporate values. Such environmental CSR policies tacitly reinforce an organization’s cultural values among its employees. Additionally, environmentally sustainable CSR policies supported by environmentally exhausting companies induce a minimal justification hypothesis when dissonance is present between the nature of a company’s industry and practices related to sustaining the environment.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Leann M. Brazeal / Communication between countries is an essential part of international relations. Leaders use the media to build confidence, advance negotiations or garner political support. This process is identified as media diplomacy. Television is an important part of international relations, and some have even gone so far to say that ambassadors between countries serve nothing more than a social function. In this analysis it is argued that current strategies of media diplomacy do lead to violence because they encourage power plays, violence, and overemphasis on national ego. The proposed alternative is to embrace a Buddhist alternative identified as Right Speech to overcome current deficiencies. The study found that President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union violated the tenets of Right Speech. The implications of violations including the increased likelihood of violence between nation states will be discussed.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Charles J. Griffin / This study seeks to discover the loci, or themes, within the post-World War II books of Theodor Geisel, whom generations of American readers came to know as “Dr. Seuss.” A prolific children's author and social activist, Dr. Seuss penned more than 40 children’s books during the period under investigation. After World War II, Seuss’ books began to merge social themes with his entertaining storylines and trademark illustrations. This thesis applies a methodology that draws from both close textual analysis and topically-oriented critical approaches in order to illuminate loci in 10 selected works. Through Cicero’s critical process of invention, relationships between arguments and loci are established. Analysis of these “message books” reveals the complex political and ideological themes present in Dr. Seuss’ texts while situating his work within a larger American rhetorical tradition of didactic children’s literature.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Nicole M. Laster / Goffman (1959) suggests that it is through communication that we are able to form impressions of self and express our identity to society. With the emergence of computer-mediated communication and social network sites we’ve witnessed a new form of communication online, and as a result, the traditional forms of impression management used to construct and display identity have shifted to include not just speaking or writing our identity, but displaying who we are through photographs online. This research investigates the connection between the use of a particular social network site, Facebook, and the pattern of impression management techniques through the management and addition of photographs on the site. A two-month ethnography of 16 participants was conducted followed by 3 interviews. Results indicate that digital natives (individuals who have grown up heavily in the presence of technology) tend to convey a variety of conflicting online identities through images, resulting in a “no consequences” generation that, while concerned with privacy, are more concerned with communicating an impression that fits within their primary social roles.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Nicole Laster / This study examines the effect of using a combination of narrative and statistical evidence on persuasion. Literature is divided on whether narrative or statistical evidence is more persuasive. There are a number of explanations to support both arguments, but arguing that one is superior may be flawed because these evidence types function differently and are not necessarily competitive. A few studies support the use of both narratives and statistics together, but none of these studies address the proportions when combining the two evidence types. This study fills the gap by creating messages with different degrees of anecdotal and statistical evidence. Conditions range from full anecdotal support to full statistical support and include three blended conditions (25/75, 50/50, 75/25). A total of 384 participants were surveyed via a national survey company. Results indicate that evidence type (narratives or statistics) and the various blends of evidence type do not change the persuasive effectiveness of a claim. While supporting persuasive claims with some kind of evidence is imperative, general populations do not favor one evidence type (narratives or statistics) over the other, and in fact, may be split in what they find more effective. Nor do people believe that evidence types function all that differently—at least when it comes to the support they provide for claims from livestock producers. Results, implications and recommendations for future research are discussed in detail.

Master of Arts / Department of Speech Communication, Theatre, and Dance / LeAnn Brazeal / Though communication and learning theory suggest that human interaction is a key component that could enhance both processes, little has been done to incorporate these findings into the basic public speaking course. This study is an attempt to develop a dialogic approach for teaching the introductory college public speaking course. Through the incorporation of standardized analytic grading rubrics, instructor feedback prior to the public speaking performance, peer workshops, and peer evaluations of performances, a process-centered teaching approach is developed that has the potential to increase cognitive learning, improve the quality of student speeches, and increase the consistency between public speaking sections. After implementing this teaching approach for one semester, the results showed an increase in cognitive learning but no improvement in the quality of student speeches or grading consistency. However, a review of other research and the qualitative data collected in this study suggest that there might be greater impacts than could be seen here and that this approach needs to be developed and implemented over a longer period of time for its effects to be fully seen.