Neil Connelly, English
Dr. Connelly’s ninth book, Slubber Doffers, will be published in September by Fomite Press. Inspired by his years serving on the local school board, the book consists entirely of speeches by fictional characters during public comment at school board meetings over nine months. Reviewer Peter Hassebroek writes, “Connelly captures the pretensions, flaws, and vulnerabilities that enrich small towns to humorously poignant effect.”
Read a review of the book here: Review.
Carrie Sipes, Communication, Journalism, & Media
Dr. Sipes was part of two separate academic panels at the recently concluded 109th annual convention of the AEJMC, held in New Orleans from August 4-8. She was one of the speakers on the first panel, titled “Tenure, Now What?” Overcoming the Sophomore Slump in Teaching, Research and Service. The panel explored ways to retain momentum in teaching, research, and service after tenure. She also chaired a second panel, sponsored by the Small Programs Interest Group, titled: From Small to Large Classes: Innovative Teaching Models and Strategies for Resource-Restricted Programs. This international panel had speakers from the Education University of Hong Kong, Shippensburg University, University of Melbourne, Simpson College, and Drake University. The panel drew on international perspectives and offered evidence-based strategies for maintaining instructional quality, student engagement, and workforce relevance as faculty numbers decrease and class sizes increase.
More about AEJMC 2026: https://www.aejmc.org/aejmc-events/conference/conference-schedule
James Lohrey, Communication, Journalism & Media
Prof. Lohrey will be attending the 2026 Television Academy Foundation Media Educators Conference as a faculty fellow from October 21–23 in North Hollywood, California. This national conference brings together more than 100 college media educators with television industry professionals, creators, executives, and Emmy Award-winning talent to explore current developments in television and entertainment. Lohrey’s participation will provide valuable opportunities to learn about emerging industry practices, technologies, and trends and to consider how these developments can be incorporated into his Communication, Journalism, and Media courses. The conference will also allow him to network with media educators and industry professionals from across the country and bring current, industry-informed perspectives and practices back to his students and colleagues.
More about the conference here: https://www.televisionacademy.com/foundation/programs/media-educators
Karin Bohleke, Director, Fashion Archives & Museum
Dr. Bohleke presented her paper “An Army of Fifty Thousand: Fashion Frocks of Cincinnati,” co-authored with Dr. Jean Parsons (professor emerita, University of Missouri), at the national symposium of the Costume Society of America, held in Charlotte, NC, June 1-3.
More about the event: https://www.costumesocietyamerica.com/renewing-ideas-practices-and-community-in-charlotte
Chad Bennett, Melissa Knouse, Michael Levinstein, Academic Engagement and Exploratory Studies
AEES faculty Dr. Bennett, Dr. Knouse, and Dr. Levinstein, along with graduate students Courtney Staton (MS in Counseling and Mental Health) and Nicole Ruiz-Tagel (MSW), presented to a packed room at the PA Chapter of the National Association for Student Success Annual Conference at the SU Conference Center. Their session, Utilizing a Summer Bridge Program to Build Academic Self-Regulation Among Academically Vulnerable Students, highlighted SU’s five-decade-old Academic Success Program and the ways faculty and academic coaches cultivate and reinforce essential self-regulation skills. Participants from across the commonwealth showed strong interest in the model and its impact.
Read more about it here: https://canva.link/gek6bfngpl7th9u
Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Communication, Journalism & Media
Dr. Chattopadhyay presented a research paper and chaired two separate sessions at the recently concluded 109th annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC) in New Orleans (Aug 4-8, 2026). His paper, co-authored with his son Ishan Chattopadhyay (Penn State), was titled: Best of Journalism or Gatekeeper of Stereotypes? Visual Framing of Women in TIME Magazine and presented at a session of the magazine media division.
He also chaired two other research paper sessions. The first (South Asia Communication Association) was a session titled: Media Research on South Asia & Its Diaspora Worldwide-Analyzing Media Coverage and had presenters from Ohio University, University of Texas El Paso, University of Minnesota, Auburn University, and Lamar University. The 2nd session (Media Management & Economics Division) was a Scholar-to-Scholar Refereed Research Paper Session where presenters included scholars from Nanjing University (China), Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea), Texas Tech University, and Fudan University (China).
In addition, Dr. Chattopadhyay also met with the leadership of the Vermont-based Center for Community News and discussed being a new member/champion of the Knight Foundation-funded “News–Academic Partnership”. This partnership will potentially help Shippensburg University’s student media journalists to write/create and publish news content for regional/community news organizations.
More about the Center for Community News here: https://www.uvm.edu/ccn
More about the AEJMC convention: https://www.aejmc.org/aejmc-events/conference/conference-schedule
