Evolution and Diffusion of the Michigan State University Tradition of Organizational Communication Network Research

This article documents the 30‐year history of communication network research at Michigan State University (M.S.U.), providing a case study of the evolution and diffusion of an academic innovation. Three past and continuing issues for network scholars are identified: a lack of professional reward for developing user‐friendly computer programs, unresolved methodological problems, and a need for better theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The narrative also illustrates the difficulty communication as a discipline has in impacting broader intellectual traditions. The story begins with the first doctoral dissertation (Schwartz, 1968 Richards, W. D. and Barnett, G., eds. 1993. Progress in communication sciences: Advances in communication network analysis, Norwood, NJ: Ablex.  [Google Scholar]) and the first network analysis software program in 1970 (Richards’ Negopy), continuing to the last dissertation (Susskind, 1996 Susskind, A. M. 1996. The impact of an organizational downsizing effort on survivors’ communication network relationships and attitudes, East Lansing: Department of Communication, Michigan State University. Unpublished doctoral dissertation [Google Scholar]), and ending in 1998 when J. David Johnson left the M.S.U. faculty. Other major players in the M.S.U. network tradition included David K. Berlo, Eugene Jacobson, Everett M. Rogers, Vincent Farace, Peter Monge, and Erwin Bettinghaus. Ironically, Schwartz and Susskind met in 1998 while Schwartz was preparing to retire from Cornell University and Susskind was starting as an Assistant Professor in a different department, thus providing closure to the M.S.U. network.     

Coverage of Methamphetamine in GLBT Newspapers

Research demonstrates that methamphetamine is a serious problem in gay communities. This study examined the framing of methamphetamine in nine gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) newspapers. Results showed that methamphetamine was framed as a “gay problem,” that sexual health and solutions frames were prevalent, and that GLBT newspapers covered methamphetamine in a way that is similar to how they covered AIDS in the 1980s. Implications for health campaigns are discussed.     

Can classroom emotional support enhance prosocial development among children with depressed caregivers?

Preschool children from economically disadvantaged families often experience difficulties in developing prosocial behavior. Risk associated with depressive symptomatology in caregivers (parents and guardians) may further compound these difficulties. The overall objective of the present study was to examine the compensatory effect of Head Start classroom environments on the development of prosocial behavior among children with caregivers high in depressive symptomatology. We initially examined the association between caregiver depressive symptoms and children's starting levels of prosocial behavior and then tested classroom emotional support as a moderator of the relation between caregivers’ depressive symptoms and children's prosocial behavior development during the school year. The sample of 194 Head Start preschoolers in 28 classrooms was part of a larger study designed to test the effects of an emotion-based prevention program. As expected, caregivers’ levels of depressive symptoms predicted lower starting levels of prosocial behavior. However, classroom emotional support promoted improvements in prosocial behavior for the children of the caregivers high in depressive symptomatology. The implications of these findings for the development of preventive interventions are discussed.     

Gender Differences in High‐school Students’ Views about Science

This study examined gender differences in 79 high‐school students’ attitudes towards their science classes, their perceptions of science and scientists, and their views about majoring in science. The study identified some of the subtleties underlying females’ low participation in, and interest in, science documented in previous research. Four themes emerged from responses on the rating scales and questionnaire. First, even when females planned to major in science, they were more interested than males in the people‐oriented aspects of their planned majors. Second, biology was the one exception to females’ low interest in science. Third, females often planned a science major mainly because they needed a science background in order to enter a health profession such as medicine or physical therapy. Fourth, females generally found science uninteresting and the scientific lifestyle (as perceived by them) unattractive. Implications for teaching science were discussed.     

Historical memory and the importance of the Bracero Project in the struggles of trabajadores migrantes today

The author undertook a field study at the Centro de los Trabajadores Agrvcolas Fronterizos (Center for Border Agricultural Workers, or CTAF) in El Paso, Texas, while she was a student on the Border Studies Program in the fall of 2000. This ethnography treats the theme of the connections between institutionalized racism and the suppression of historical memory, with specific reference to the Bracero Program. It also examines what roles ''outsiders'' can play in progressive political movements.     

A Learning-Based System to Categorize Teacher Behavior

As part of their quest to secure academic credibility, physical educators in Australia, Canada, Britain, and the United States have increasingly privileged empirical–analytical forms of research. We argue that this strategy has resulted in a montage of professional values and practices that we term technocratic physical education (TPE). We contend that TPE is based on ideologies of professionalism, scientism, and instrumental rationality, which articulate one-dimensional definitions of excellence in teaching, the body, and sport and also marginalize issues related to political and moral ends. By drawing on the traditions of critical pedagogy and reflective teaching, we suggest some ways in which the limits of TPE can be transcended in pre- and inservice teacher education curricula.     

Book review section

FREE SPEECH: RESPONSIBLE COMMUNICATION UNDER LAW. By Robert M. O'Neil. Indianapolis, Indiana: The Bobbs‐Merrill Company, Inc., 1966; pp. viii 123+$1.25.

THE MOYNIHAN REPORT AND THE POLITICS OF CONTROVERSY, by Lee Rainwater and William L. Yancey. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1967; pp. xvii+493. $3.95.

VOICES OF CRISIS: VITAL SPEECHES ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES, by Floyd W. Matson, New York: The Odyssey Press, Inc., 1967; pp. xi+304.

THE BLACK POWER REVOLT. Edited by Floyd B. Barbour. Boston: Porter Sargent Publisher, 1968; pp. 287. $5.95 cloth; $2.95 paper.

THE AGITATOR IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. By Charles W. Lomas. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice‐Hall, 1968; pp. viii+182.

BLACK POWER: THE POLITICS OF LIBERATION IN AMERICA. By Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton. New York: Vintage Books, 1967; pp. xii+ 198. Paper $1.95.

REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CIVIL DISORDERS. New York: Bantam Books, 1968; pp. xi+609. Paper $1.25.     

Health education for Somali Bantu refugees via home visits

Background: Somali Bantu refugees, with unique health information needs, created challenges for health and social service providers. Objectives: A service innovation was developed (i) to raise awareness, especially among local health and social service providers, about the Bantu refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and their information needs and (ii) to deliver needed health information, emphasizing child health, to the Bantu mothers in their homes. Methods: The project consisted of: (i) a community conference targeting local health and social service providers, describing the refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and information needs. (ii) Focus groups conducted with members of the Bantu population elicited additional information needs. (iii) Curriculum was developed based on identified needs, and (iv) the curriculum was delivered to the refugees in their homes. A clinical informationist and MP3 technology enhanced the project. Findings: Conference attendees’ evaluation responses indicated improved understanding of Bantu culture. Focus groups’ identification of health information needs provided a framework for the health education curriculum. A project website made educational materials available to other healthcare providers. Conclusions: The project raised awareness of the Bantus’ presence, culture, and information needs. Identification of other unmet needs demonstrated that additional support for refugees is required.     

Support for student and staff wives in social transition in a university setting

This paper describes an university sponsored, professionally mediated self-help support program for wives of graduate students and staff members and discusses the rationale for its structure. First, we identify the kinds of problems these women have that make it difficult for them to adapt to their new surroundings. We then present the program as it now functions, together with reports on the wives' assessments of different features of the program. In the discussion that follows, we outline the problems of implementing and maintaining this kind of support program and suggest why self-help groups for this constituency need the active involvement of a professional familiar with the details of campus resources and social life. We also address the importance of locating that professional in a strategic place within the organization to be able to act on that knowledge.     

“The Best Minute and a Half of Audio”

In the introduction to a police audio recording of Bristol Palin describing her family’s involvement in an Alaska house party brawl, CNN anchor Carol Costello commented: “This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across.” The incident, however, involved an alleged assault—an act that mainstream journalism generally reports in a serious manner. Costello’s glib treatment of the event could therefore be seen as potentially breaching the boundaries of professional practice, which brought a widespread media response from both mainstream organizations and right-leaning blogs. Through textual analysis of these items, this study illustrates the challenge of conducting media boundary work—and the role strain that results—when the subject of a story occupies space within both entertainment and news spheres.