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Eight master of arts (M.A.) students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) presented work at the annual Conference, which was held March 29-April 2 in Boston.

Kiah Bennett, Codey Bills, Ryan Bince, Kyle Colglazier, Brandon Daniels, Logan Gomez, Myles Mason and Hunter Thompson shared their work with faculty and graduate students in the field of communication studies.

Ryan Bince’s paper, “Waxing Spectacular:  An Activist’s Taxonomy of Public Spectacle,” was named the top paper in the Philosophy of Communication Division. Bince presented a total of three papers at the conference.

The students’ papers were selected from among submissions by faculty and Ph.D. students, as well as M.A. students. They explore how gender, sexuality and social movements contribute to the making of our public and social worlds.

“It is a real sign of the strength of our graduate program,” says Charles E. Morris III, professor and chair of CRS. “Our M.A. students are competitive with the best in the field.”

In addition to Bince’s top paper, the following papers were selected:

• Kiah Bennett, “The Funny Feminist: Reappropriating Postfeminism’s Appropriation of Feminism, Appropriate?”

• Codey Bills, “Same Old Song and Dance Routine: Sensus Communis and Vernacular Publics”

• Ryan Bince, “All we’ve known, but know no more”: Memory and reality in Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address” and “Getting Back on Track: Negotiating Conversational Tasks in Intimate Settings”

• Kyle Colglazier, “’Revolt’ of the Homosexual: The Mattachine Society, the Lavender Scare, & the Meaning(s) of Activism”

• Brandon Daniels, “Connections in Critical Race Linguistic Theory: Fred Moten and Franz Fanon”

• Logan Gomez, “Girl Power Ideology and the Culture of Concealment: An Analysis of Always’ #LikeAGirl Campaign Commercials.”

• Myles Mason, “The Flâneurse: Genderqueering Flânerie Through the Scopic Gaze of Cruising”

• Hunter Thompson, “Revealing Violet Chachki Digital Circulation of Drag in a Visual Culture”

The students learned a great deal from the conference experience.

“It makes research interactive and allows for a collectivity that is often lost when writing and researching,” says Mason. “It also holds the potential for meeting and talking with people you wouldn’t normally encounter and can give another perspective on your research that normally wouldn’t happen.”

The students’ travel was supported by CRS, VPA and the Graduate Student Organization.

The Eastern Communication Association was initially established in 1910 and continues as the oldest professional communication association in the United States.