Month: February 2021

LAS Alum Wins Film Award

Samone Roberts

Samone Roberts, a 2020 Communications B.A. graduate, recently won a Silver Telly Award for the short animated film she made as a student in the Digital Filmmaking Track of the Communication Department. Her film, The Gardener, was made with the assistance of an LAS Student-Faculty Research and Creative Works grant that was awarded to Samone and her mentor, David Nelson, Professor and Chair of Communication. The Gardener was one of only 20 films in the country that won a Silver Telly in the Student Category. Professor Nelson first met Samone when she was in his Freshman Seminar class “Storytelling: From Casablanca to Star Wars”.  She told him then that she would like to make an animated film someday.

Watch Samone’s short film, The Gardener.

Online Communication Degree Rated in the top 10 by Study.com

Study.com has published its 2021 rankings, and UCCS was ranked #7 on their list Best Online Bachelor’s Degrees in Communications. To compile the list study.com considered hundreds of universities across the country and selected University of Colorado Colorado Springs based on academic and career resources, the quality of education, faculty, and more. 

The online BA in Communications at UCCS is designed to provide a well-rounded overview of the field of communication and includes multiple electives to customize the program to students’ specific interests.



LAS FACULTY IN THE COMMUNIQUE: CHRIS BELL’S NEW BOOK “Disney Channel Tween Programming”

Chris Bell

Dr. Chris Bell, Associate Professor of Communication, was interviewed by the Communique about his new book “Disney Channel Tween Programming: Essays on Shows from Lizzie McGuire to Andi Mack.” Anna Squires conducted the interview and authored the article: “7 Questions with Chris Bell, author of “Essays on Shows from Lizzie McGuire to Andi Mack.”

Research of Tara Cepon-Robins from Anthropology Featured in High Impact Outlets

Tara Cepon-Robins

The research of Dr. Tara Cepon-Robins, Associate Professor of Anthropology, was recently published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), and also featured in the journal Science. Dr. Cepon-Robins’s scientific article in PNAS, “Pathogen disgust sensitivity protects against infection in a high pathogen environment,” was described for a broader audience in Science: “Disgusted by spoiled food? You may be protecting yourself from disease,” by Ann Gibbons. This research was also featured recently in the UCCS Communique in an article written by Anna Squires: “Cepon-Robins: A healthy sense of disgust can keep you from getting sick.”

Faculty in Technical Communication and Information Design Receive Cybersecurity Grant

A team of faculty in Technical Communication and Information Design (TCID) received a UCCS Faculty Cybersecurity seed grant to support their research. Sean Williams, Director of TCID, led the team that includes Alex Ilyasova, Associate Professor of TCID, Janice Thorpe, Senior Instructor of Communication, and Gurvirender Tejay, Associate Professor of Business. The project is titled “Exploring the User Experience Design of Commercially Available Cybersecurity Products for Personal Mobile Devices.” Continuing reading to view the project abstract.

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