Current Affairs... and Books on the Nightstand

Michael Mackert, Assistant Professor of Advertising

How will your research make the world a better place?

My current research focuses on the issue of health literacy, which is the ability of people to obtain, understand, and act upon health information. Approximately half of U.S. adults have low health literacy, and it’s particularly common among the elderly, minority groups, immigrants with limited English skills, and those of lower socioeconomic status.

If we do a better job getting health information to these individuals, we can help eliminate a lot of unnecessary costs (unnecessary emergency room visits, etc.) for the U.S. health care system.

Working with faculty around UT, and other universities, I’m trying to find ways of providing health information to people in a way they can understand.

What prompted you to pursue research in health literacy?

My first graduate advisor, Pamela Whitten, associate dean in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University conducted a lot of research on telemedicine and health communication, and I quickly fell in love with the type of work she was doing. I had a lot of opportunities to work on important projects that really changed people’s lives. I’d love to spend the rest of my research career working on projects that can have a positive impact on people’s health and quality of life.

What are some titles on your night stand?

I recently read Al Gore’s The Assault on Reason and Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. Both are a nice break from the reading I do for research.

Talia Stroud, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies

How are you working to make the world a better place?

The broad goal of my research is to improve the role of the media in politics and to engage citizens in politics. In our democratic system of government, the media are the most important resource for citizens to learn about the workings of the government.

Today, many people use media outlets that match what they already believe about politics. But in a democracy, it is important for people to be exposed to views unlike their own and to learn about what others think. It is my hope that my research will help us to understand the causes and consequences of this behavior, as well as to illuminate ways that we can work toward improving any undesirable consequences.

What book do you recommend to up-and-coming researchers?

For someone preparing to enter the academic job market, I would recommend: “The Academic Job Search Handbook” by Mary Morris Heiberger and Julia Miller Vick.

What are your favorite work-related Web sites?

Factcheck.org, techpresident.com, prezvid.com

What disruptive technology do you see playing a role in engaging citizens in politics?

YouTube—we’ve only just begun to witness the role that this type of technology will play in politics.

Lisa Bedore, Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders

How are you working to make the world a better place?

My research is in the areas of child language and phonological development and disorders with a special interest in Spanish-speaking children. More specifically, I’m studying morphological development in Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment compared to typically developing children.

Children with language disorders—especially bilingual children with language disorders—are at greater academic risk than their typically developing peers. And children who begin learning a second language when they enter the education system are at particular risk for misdiagnosis with a language disorder.

I’m working on creating culturally appropriate tools to assess language impairment in bilingual children. By accurately evaluating language impairments in bilingual children we can determine if they truly need speech therapy or if they are in the early stages of bilingual development and their language skills are merely in flux with no need for therapy.

What book do you recommend to up-and-coming researchers?

Larry Leonard’s Children with Specific Language Impairment offers a comprehensive look at language impairment, while The Development of Language and Language Researchers: Essays in Honor of Roger Brown delivers scholarly information with a human touch.

Paula Poindexter, Associate Professor of Journalism

How are you working to make the world a better place?

The dramatic changes in the news media landscape—the founding of 24-hour cable news networks and the transformation of the Internet into a consumer-friendly communication medium—have altered how news is delivered and how audiences consume the news. My research monitors assumptions of the traditional news media and tests ideas that take into account the variety of ways news is delivered and the diversity of news consumers.

My hope is to help reverse the decline in news consumption and strengthen consumers’ commitment to being informed, which will benefit individual citizens, the news industry and society as a whole. The future vitality of the news industry—and our democratic society—depend on individuals who are committed to being informed.

What book do you recommend to up-and-coming researchers?

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. This book provides insight into consumers and the factors that influence why certain ideas, products, entertainment, information and innovations become popular.

How do you stay informed?

I love newspapers and get The New York Times and Austin American-Statesman delivered every morning. I also watch network evening news, local TV news, CNN and MSNBC. I also get news from Face the Nation and Washington Week in Review. The New York Times and The Washington Post arrive in my e-mail each day, but my preference is read the news in a print newspaper.

Shanti Kumar, Associate Professor of Radio-TV-Film

How are you working to make the world a better place?

As a teacher and a researcher, I see my role extending beyond the classroom. I regard education as a process of exchanging ideas among equals, rather than a top-down transmission of knowledge. I encourage students to be critically aware of the major academic traditions in the field of media studies, so they can productively engage their classroom experiences with their professional goals in the future.

What prompted you to pursue research in the area of South Asia?

Given the dominance of Hollywood productions in the global media industry, academic and journalistic debates about globalization have often emphasized the potential for "Americanization" or the fragmentation of national cinemas and television cultures around the world.

However, in my research, I am interested in looking at the ways in which the globalization of production practices outside Hollywood has significantly transformed the circulation of films and television programs around the world. My research focuses on the globalization of film and television in India. India – or more broadly South Asia – is a very important region for the study of global media because India is home to the world's largest film industry which is popularly referred to as "Bollywood."

What books are on your night table and/or what books would you recommend to up-and-coming researchers, or people simply interested in South Asia?

Some of the book that I am currently reading and would recommend to people interested in the globalization of Indian cinema are: Bollywood: Popular India Cinema Through a Transitional Lens, edited by Raminder Kaur and Ajay J. Sinha. Sage Publications, 2005; Brand Bollywood: A New Global Entertainment Order, by Derek Bose, Sage Publications, 2006; and Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance, edited by Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti, University of Minnesota Press, 2008