Diapers full of … pampered,hugged, and “luved” babies: Teaching ideological criticism through diapers

Courses: Communication Criticism, Rhetorical Criticism, Introduction to Rhetoric, Introduction to Communication, Media Studies, and Persuasion courses.

Objective: The aim of this activity is to introduce and explain the method of ideological criticism through commonplace advertising.     

Brokering Community–University Engagement

Although substantial areas of agreement exist regarding the characteristics of effective community–university partnerships for research, there is little empirical research on the relationship between the characteristics of such partnerships and their outcomes. In this study, we explored the relationship between partnership characteristics and partnership outcomes. Analyses of the relationships between partnership dynamics and perceived benefits show that (1) effective partnership management is associated with increased research on a community issue, problem, or need; (2) co-creation of knowledge is associated with improved service outcomes for clients; and (3) shared power and resources are negatively associated with increased funding for community partners’ organizations. Our findings suggest that effective partnership management and opportunities for the co-creation of knowledge are practices that are worthy of deliberate cultivation within community–university partnerships for research. Miles McNall is the Assistant Director of the Community Evaluation and Research Center, University Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Minnesota. His research and scholarship focus on program evaluation and the evaluation of university–community partnerships. Celeste Sturdevant Reed is an evaluator with University Outreach and Engagement at Michigan State University. She has an M.S.W. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Social Science/Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University. Her current evaluation projects focus on comprehensive early childhood services and out-of-school time (K-12) programs. Robert E. Brown is the Associate Director of University–Community Partnerships, Michigan State University Outreach and Engagement. He brokers, facilitates, and participates in university-community partnerships that are scholarly, community-based, collaborative, responsive, and capacity-building for the public good. He has a master’s degree in public administration from Western Michigan University. Angela Allen is an ABD Research Associate with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. She is completing her Ph.D. in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University. She holds an M.S.W from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a B.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from Michigan State University. Her dissertation research is entitled, “Faculty and Community Collaboration in Sustained Community–University Engagement Partnerships”.     

Seeing “Straight” through Queer Eye: Exposing the Strategic Rhetoric of Heteronormativity in a Mediated Ritual of Gay Rebellion

Bravo's hit series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy has garnered much popular and critical acclaim. While from a Queer theory perspective, Queer Eye's openly gay stars and their easy fraternization with straight men can be celebrated, there are reasons for critical concern. In interrogating the series as an expression of the strategic rhetoric of heteronormativity, we examine how Queer Eye functions as a mediated ritual of rebellion that domesticates Queers, contains Queer sexuality, and places straight men at the sociosexual center. The series thus supports the very heteronormative order it seems to challenge.     

A snapshot of multicultural training in school psychology

With the rapidly increasing racial and ethnic diversity of the school-aged population, school psychologists must be properly trained to engage in culturally competent practice; however, little is known about how school psychology programs prepare their trainees to serve diverse populations. The purpose of this study was to update Rogers et al.'s study on multicultural training by examining the extent to which school psychology programs use multicultural training recommendations noted in the literature. Thirty-eight school psychology program coordinators completed the Multicultural Environmental Inventory-Revised (MEI) to assess their perceptions of their program's multicultural environment. Participants were also asked about their training in multicultural and diversity issues and how their program conducts multicultural training. Findings suggest that programs most frequently used the integration and separate course models for multicultural training along with clinical experiences serving diverse students. In addition, multicultural coursework was associated with higher scores on the MEI Curriculum and MEI Research subscales. With regard to program environment, the percentage of racial and ethnic minoritized (REM) students was positively correlated to the percentage of REM faculty and the number of required multicultural courses. However, programs lacked specific strategies to recruit and retain diverse students. Findings and implications for training programs are discussed.     

The functions of epideictic: The Boston massacre orations as exemplar

Existing theories of epideictic focus on the content of the speeches as “praise and blame,”; on the speaker's uses of the event or, more recently, on the audience's uses of the event. This essay argues that three pairs of functions define the epideictic experience for speakers and audiences and produce their characteristic message contents. Those pairs include definition/understanding, shaping of community, and display/entertainment. The utility of the perspective is indicated through an exemplary case of such “communal definition.”