April 27, 2023                                                                          

BATON ROUGE—The LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Graduate Program is excited to announce this year’s recipients of two prestigious research grants awarded to students receiving their Master of Mass Communication or Ph.D. in Media & Public Affairs. 

Third-year doctoral students Hope Hickerson and Soheil Kafiliveyjuyeh are the recipients of the John Maxwell Hamilton Fellowship for Media and Public Affairs Research.

Hickerson’s project, “Post-Pandemic Life of Black Mothers in the U.S. South – A Mixed Method Approach,” (Faculty Advisor: Asha Winfield, Ph.D.) serves to explore, through conversations with Black mothers, the lived experiences of Black mothers in a post-COVID world to understand the pandemic’s effects on their health and relationships. Additionally, it explores what impact social media may have had on those experiences. 

Kafiliveyjuyeh’s research project, “Emotional Diplomacy from Tel Aviv to Baghdad: Analyzing the Impact of Emotional Appeals on Social Media Engagement,” (Faculty Advisor: Lance Porter, Ph.D.) serves to investigate, through social media engagement, the effectiveness of emotional appeals conveyed by politicians and ambassadors in building relationships with their audiences. It focuses on emotional appeals employed by United States ambassadors in Iraq, Israel and Turkey.

In addition, a student-led team of second-year doctoral student H. Dat Tran and first-year doctoral student Uyen Diep will receive the Len Sanderson Graduate Research Award.

Their project, “The More the Merrier: How Single vs. Multiple Statement(s) Fact-Checking and Partisan Identity Influence Individuals’ Trust in Fact-Checks,” (Faculty Advisor: Ray Pingree, Ph.D.) centers on whether citizens believe in fact-checking of false information from political candidates regardless of partisanship and offers suggestions for more effective fact-checking practices in newsrooms. 

Recipients of this year’s research grants will receive recognition at the annual Manship Outstanding Student Awards Ceremony on May 2. 

The Hamilton Fellowship offers grants of $4,000 to up to two outstanding doctoral student research projects in media and public affairs and is open to Manship School doctoral students who have completed their first year with more than a 3.0 cumulative GPA and more than 9 credit hours.

The Sanderson Award offers grants of $750 to up to two outstanding graduate student research projects in media and public affairs and is open to any Manship School full-time graduate students with more than a 3.0 cumulative GPA and more than 9 credit hours.

For more information, contact acharbonnet1@lsu.edu. 

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LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication ranks among the strongest collegiate communication programs in the country, with its robust emphasis on media and public affairs. It offers undergraduate degrees in public relations, journalism, political communication, digital advertising and pre-law, along with four graduate degree programs: Master of Mass Communication, Ph.D. in Media and Public Affairs, Certificate of Strategic Communication and a dual MMC/Law degree. Like us on Facebook @ManshipSchool, or follow us on Twitter @ManshipSchool, Instagram @ManshipSchool and LinkedIn LSU Manship School of Mass Communication.