Honors Program
Introduction and Requirements...
The Honors Program is a two-semester sequence that allows qualified students the opportunity to enrich their experiences in communication theory, history and practice. In the fall of their senior year students enroll in the Honors Seminar and develop an independent research project. In the spring of their senior year students enroll in a second CUE seminar in which they revise their thesis under the guidance of the Honors Director. The experience culminates in an oral defense with a faculty committee. To remain a member in good standing, honor students must maintain the qualifying Grade Point Averages; pass the fall and the spring honors seminars; successfully participate in an oral defense of their thesis; and present their paper or creative work to members of the department at the year-end-colloquium. Students who actively participate in the Honors Program are eligible to graduate with “Honors (or in exceptional cases, “High Honors”) in Media & Communication.” Note: For students who have been accepted into the COM Honors Program, 472: Media and Comm Honors Seminar will satisfy the CUE requirement.
Qualifying...
To qualify for membership in the Honors Program, students must have achieved at least a 3.7 grade point average (GPA) within the major, and a 3.6 GPA, overall. Qualified students receive a letter from the Department notifying them of their membership in the Honors Program in the spring of their Junior year. The Department of Media & Communication faculty then reviews all applications and votes on them. Candidates who are accepted into the program receive a second letter from the Department welcoming them into the Honors Program.
Colloquia...
The Media & Communication colloquia offers honor students opportunities to test their intellectual talents at levels that go beyond the expectations of normal classroom instruction. Each year an outstanding media & communication scholar of national or international repute is brought to campus to speak to and/or conduct a workshop for honor students. Because participation in these sessions is restricted to honor students and faculty, students have significant opportunities for informal interaction with these guests.
Other Opportunities...
Membership in the Honors Program also provides other opportunities for intellectual enrichment and networking. Students who produce outstanding research papers or creative work are encouraged to submit their work to regional and national conferences and competitions. Faculty members work closely with these students in preparing these submissions. On an individual, rotating basis, honor students may also be invited to participate in other special events, dinners, and receptions. A few may earn credit-bearing opportunities to serve as student mentors in media & communication classes or to participate in faculty research or production projections. These opportunities both draw upon and enrich honor students talents, interests, and intellectual gifts.
The James D. Schneider Memorial Award for Social Justice...
Every year the department honors one of our graduating seniors with the James D. Schneider Award for Social Justice. This award is given in honor of our late colleague, Dr. Jim Schneider, who worked tirelessly to advance the cause of social justice both within the department and in his community volunteer efforts in the Lehigh Valley. Each year we bestow this award upon a Media and Communication graduating senior who has pursued these values in her work at the College, both in and out of the classroom. This award may go either to one of the honors students or to another graduating senior major. Click here for more information.
Any and all questions can be directed to Dr. Michael Buozis (Professor and Honors Director, Department of Media & Communication).
Honors Presentations
MADELINE ANDERS
Childhood on Camera: Family Vlogging, Privacy, and Harm
On YouTube, family vlogging videos showing the day to day lives of a given family have only grown in popularity. This study examines the ethical implications of this content, through a textual analysis of vlogs uploaded by three popular vlogging families, The ShayTards, Bratayley, and The LaBrant Fam. This analysis found evidence of harm through displays of embarrassment, negative emotional responses, an acknowledgement of the audience, narratives driven primarily by the adults, and an overall lack of clear consent. This research aims to examine these harms as they concern a vulnerable population that cannot speak for themselves, especially as this content is largely monetizable. Overall, this study found that while parents may claim they are filming for the sake of capturing memories, these children are performing labor for the sake of filmed entertainment.
DAISY CUNNINGHAM
"It’s all about the he says/she says bull”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Representation of Intimate Partner Violence in The New York Times Coverage of Depp v. Heard (2022)
Depp v. Heard (2022) was a defamation case that relied on testimonies of intimate partner violence (IPV). As it was a televised trial that focused on two prominent celebrities, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, it became a cultural phenomenon that permeated public discourse. IPV can be recognized as a public health issue and an issue of systemic violence, so the ways in which it is reported on, especially in celebrity instances, can influence public perception and policymaking surrounding the issue. Foucault’s concept of biopolitics can be used as a grounding framework to understand institutions of power, such as the media, and the ways in which their power affects whether physical bodies are allowed to thrive or suffer. A critical discourse analysis was chosen to analyze the rhetorical strategies of 20 New York Times articles that covered the trial to specifically look at the representation of IPV. Findings demonstrated subtle rhetorical biases that placed Depp’s narrative in the foreground, and language that was used to downplay the severity of the alleged abuse and IPV overall. Other language was used to sensationalize the trial and posed it as a source of entertainment.
KATIE DEMICCO
Final Girl to Monstrous Woman: Exploring Binaries in Contemporary Horror Through Maxine and Pearl in Ti West’s X Trilogy
Throughout the course of this project, I researched women’s portrayal in horror, going back to Gothic literature all the way to 90s slasher films. The “final girl” trope became a widely known and recognized trope for women in horror films. Now in contemporary horror films, there seems to be a shift of how women are represented. The X trilogy, including the three films X (2022), Pearl (2022), and MaXXXine (2024), contain strong, powerful, scary, and even potentially “monstrous” main leads who rattle the “final girl” trope and prove that women do not have to fit into a mold when being a part of the horror genre. This breakaway from stereotypical representations serves as a source of female inspiration and empowerment. The characters of Pearl and Maxine represent a shift in horror films and this brings refreshing change into the horror genre as the “final girl” has transformed into the “monstrous woman.”
HARPER G. HOGAN
“The Girls That Get It, Get It”: The Power of Digital Parlance on TikTok
This study examines the functions of feminine-coded slang on TikTok, specifically girly, baddie, demure, and brat as mechanisms for identity formation, sites of cultural redefinition, and objects of commodification—thus illuminating the intricate interplay between identity curation, consumerism, and gender expression in digital spaces. Through digital ethnography and rhetorical analysis of over 500 videos, I trace how specific terminology migrates from marginalized communities into the algorithmically produced mainstream, evolving to become socially generative and commercially exploitable. Key findings include the rapid commodification of girly as a marketing tool, inspiring the development of the "Vanity Theory"---which illustrates how intimate settings collapse boundaries between public/private life while transforming parasocial presentations into economic enterprise. Another important finding was the dichotomy between demure and brat as a symbolic, contemporary iteration of Freud's Madonna-Whore complex: reinforcing rigid feminine archetypes rooted in the male gaze. Ultimately, this paper finds that slang most popular in communities of women online is now deeply entangled with commercial logics, shaping how young women navigate femininity in digital society in ways that ultimately reinforce postfeminist sensibilities. Empowerment is reframed through consumer choice rather than structural change, ensuring femininity remains commodifiable while obscuring the extent to which women’s self-expression remains tethered to market forces.
ARDEN MCHUGH
Sleaze
Sleaze is a dramatic television series set in post-9/11 New York City that follows 21-year-old Andy, a Stanford dropout grappling with the death of her father in the attacks. Andy reconnects with her childhood best friend Shaun, who invites her to manage his up-and-coming band, Fraught. By grounding Sleaze in the historical realities of the early 2000s, the series reflects on how trauma and subculture collide.
HANNAH PERFETTI
Embodied Expression: Dance as a Dialogue of the Body
This research explores the intersection between the fields of Media & Communication and Dance and discusses dance as a live communication event. Through interviews with student choreographers and dancers at Muhlenberg College as well as a voluntary online survey of audience members from the 2024 production of Reset, I explain how the meaning of a dance piece is co-constructed and understood from different perspectives. The physical embodiment and sharing of dance has the power to transcend verbal communication in carrying out personal narratives. Choreographers often use music as a central source of inspiration in developing their work. Dancers bring the choreographer’s artistic vision to life through emotional investment, creative input, and developing camaraderie among the cast. Audience members then engage with the final presentation of a dance work on stage, forming their own interpretation through what they witness at the performance. My findings highlight how music and performer authenticity significantly influence audience reception and emotional engagement. Live dance performances offer a unique, communal experience that cannot be replicated through mediated platforms, emphasizing the value of in-person artistic exchange
DYLAN SCHWARTZ
Analyzing Ideological Discourse in Viewer Reactions to the Political Satire of The Boys
Satire often serves as a mirror to society’s current socio-political tensions, provoking laughter, discomfort, and debate. This project investigates how political satire in the television series The Boys is interpreted by viewers within digital fan communities, specifically the subreddit r/TheBoys. Through discourse analysis of twelve posts and their comment sections, this study explores how users’ ideological leanings shape responses to the show’s critique of political extremism, corporate power, and performative activism. By categorizing comments according to political orientation, the research identifies recurrent behaviors: liberal users reinforcing the show’s critique of right-wing ideologies, conservative users defending or reframing controversial characters, and centrists or unaffiliated viewers expressing frustration over ideological conflict. While some conversations yielded insightful critique, most devolved into polarization and conflict, rather than engagement with the show’s themes. These findings support theories of selective exposure and echo chambers, showing how entertainment media becomes a platform for political identity reinforcement. This project contributes to media and communication studies by illustrating how satire in popular media can both challenge and deepen political divides. The paper argues audience interpretation through individual ideology plays a central role in shaping the impact of political satire in contemporary discourse.
MARIE E. TOHILL
“Lookin’ for a new America”: Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Reclaiming the Country Music Genre
Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter (2024) serves as a Black feminist and counter-hegemonic reclamation of the country music genre. Through the album’s musical content, visual paratexts, and performance at the “Beyoncé Bowl,” Beyoncé speaks to a legacy of Black excellence in country music, specifically the contributions of Linda Martell and the artists of the Chitlin Circuit. She also reclaims the aesthetics of American patriotism as a Black woman through her choices of mise-en-scène in the album’s visual content. My research contextualizes Cowboy Carter within a larger history of Blackness in country music, while also answering questions about how white folks came to erase and exclude Black musicians from the country music industry when the music was recorded and commodified. By analyzing the album’s themes and visuals, while considering the socio-political context of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, my essay argues that Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter critiques the exclusionary practices of the country music industry and reimagines the genre through a Black feminist lens. Beyoncé uses the album to call out the concept of genre as an exclusionary tool, reclaim American patriotism for a marginalized audience, and break down barriers for Black musicians.
ANDREW WHITE
Comfort in Crisis: Children’s Media as a Coping Mechanism by Young Adults
This project looks at how young adults consumed children’s media during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as a coping mechanism to handle stressors surrounding the lockdown. The research involved a multi-methodological approach of surveys and interviews to explore the motivations and emotions surrounding children’s media usage in young adults. The research found that young adults were motivated to consume children’s media to deal with the increased time from the lockdown and find a source of comfort to handle their anxieties. The top emotions from respondents were joy, laughter, comfort, and nostalgia, and these point towards how children’s media had a positive impact on mental health. The research found that young adults did not form attachment to specific characters, but they did feel attachment to certain themes found commonly in children’s media, such as themes of friendship and family. The research also found how children’s media consumption helped create opportunities for social interactions, such as social TV watching and participation in children’s media fandoms. All of these findings are important as they can help guide future recommendations on ways young adults can manage their mental health and types of content media industries should create.
Honors Presentations
PIPER ACKERMAN
"All the Young Dudes: A TikTok Potlatch"
This thesis answers the question of how TikTok has affected fan status within the fan potlatch through an examination of TikTok fan videos within the All the Young Dudes (ATYD) fandom. Status within a potlatch, or fan gift exchange, is dictated by whether a fan object (fanart,edit, text) is accepted by the collective. Archive of Our Own user Mskingbean89 wrote the fanfiction, All the Young Dudes, in 2017 and it remains the most circulated fan text of all time with 13.6 million hits. ATYD is a prequel to the Harry Potter series following the Marauders, a friend group from Harry Potter’s father’s generation. I conducted a qualitative textual analysis of ATYD TikTok videos. Patterns in form and tone revealed the collective’s value for consistent character visualization and angst. Fans positioned themselves as a part of their fan object, directly intertwining viewers’ perceptions of the content with their perception of the user. Because of TikTok’s emphasis on the individual user, fan content creators are motivated to follow the collective’s established content standards in order to increase their visibility within the platform’s algorithm. Ultimately, this thesis revealed a transition in the objective of fan content creation from a generous content network to prioritizing algorithmic visibility.
EMMA ASH
"In My Artist Connection Era: An Exploration of Fan Parasociality with Artists through Mediatized Liveness"
This study explores fans’ emotional connections with artists when watching mediatized concert videos on YouTube. Through a focus group and four semi-structured interviews, I heard directly from respondents about their expectations from liveness, perception of artist authenticity, and experiences with mediatized liveness. From this qualitative study, I drew conclusions about mediatization’s effectiveness as a medium to emotionally connect with an artist. I found that mediatization reveals its own shortcomings by lacking the physicality and fleetingness of in-person shows, but is still sought after to emotionally connect with an artist if being at an in-person concert is unattainable. For the videos, most respondents are willing to suspend their disbelief of the screen and emotionally connect with an artist if the video embodies their in-person concert expectations: the video is unpredictable; offers variations and uniqueness; the artist personalizes the show and appears relatable onstage; and if the viewing experience itself feels authentic. By exploring fan expectations from concert videos, this study redefines liveness to exist on a continuum where mediatization’s impact on liveness should be considered in today’s concert experiences.
ELIZA BLOCK
"The Cost Of $elf-Care: An Analysis of Self-Care Haul Videos on YouTube"
Within the past few years, self-care haul videos have emerged on YouTube. These videos have garnered millions of views and have grown into a popular trend where predominantly young female-presenting YouTubers shop for hygiene, skin-care and beauty products. As self-care is now being used to promote hygiene and beauty products, the meaning of self-care has transformed from taking care of your mental and physical health to enhancing your appearance. Through a textual analysis of the most viewed self-care haul videos and top comments on YouTube, this study analyzed the gendered labor and consumption involved with self-care. The findings of the study communicate that female-identifying YouTubers define self-care as consuming products to improve themselves through enhancing their physical appearance. The YouTubers also encourage their viewers to consume these products by using the same advertising tactics that they claim to despise. The main takeaway that this study of self-care haul videos provides is that “self-care” is a term that is used to promote stereotypes of gendered consumption and existing beauty standards.
SHOBHA PAI
"Breaking the Mold: Analysing Gendered Perceptions of Chefs in Reality Cooking Competitions through the Stereotype Content Model"
This paper delves into analyzing audiences’ gendered perceptions of chefs in cooking competitions shows through the stereotype content model. As a form of labor, cooking is stereotypically feminine, but the cooking industry is male-dominated. Drawing upon the stereotype content model, this research focuses on the perception of warmth and competence of chefs using gender as a differentiating factor. The study also undertakes an exploratory analysis of media literacy for the perception of stereotypicality through reality television. A survey was used with eight different videos of chefs from the show Hell’s Kitchen. Findings suggest that female chefs are seen as more stereotypical when compared to male chefs but male competent chefs are considered more stereotypical than female competent chefs. This suggests the importance of competency in the perception of chefs. The media literacy part of the study focused on a qualitative exploration of survey responses broken down into six categories to suggest questions for a future media literacy reality television scale. By shedding light on these perceptions, the study can be used to understand the nuances of the cooking industry and also inform the way producers create storylines on cooking shows to highlight the gender differences in competition shows.
SARAH WEDEKING
"'There’s Only One Bed!': Examining the Romcom Narrative Used in Supernatural’s Case of Queerbaiting"
“Is the romantic comedy dead?” people have ruminated in recent years. My answer: No, but it does look different. Elements of the romantic comedy, such as its structure, have been found in unexpected places like the CW television show: Supernatural (2005-2020). My study focuses on the fan pairing between characters Dean Winchester and Castiel, colloquially known as “Destiel,” and how elements of the romantic comedy have developed or hinted at their relationship. “Destiel” is a famous case of queerbaiting, in which a queer couple is hinted at to draw viewers with no intentions to actualize it. Queerbaiting is a nuanced topic, both developed through fan interpretations and the intentions and marketing of the producers. Through visual and textual analysis of Supernatural, coupled with fan discourses, my study examines how Supernatural both fits and complicates the romcom genre as a case of queerbaiting. It also focuses on viewers and how they’ve identified elements of the romcom with “Destiel.” My study exemplifies how the elements of the romcom contest the masculine framework of Supernatural and importantly, how fan readings invigorate the genre. Rather the romantic comedy acts as a central villain from Supernatural: something that never truly dies, always coming back in ways we’ll never expect.
