Dr. Diana Peck
February’s Faculty of the Month Department of Communication What advice would you offer to our Communication students? Get involved! It’s been harder this year with COVID, but there are still ways to participate in our department’s activities WPSC radio, The Pioneer Times, The Society of Professional Journalists and The Public Relations Society of America student chapters, the TV Club, the Student Film Association, Lambda Pi Eta—these are some of the organizations where students can practice their professional skills, build their resumes, and create networks of friends and future colleagues. Alumni who were involved in the radio station forty years ago still get together! Through their participation in these department organizations, several of our students have won national awards in radio, television, film and journalism. Tell us about your experience with the Hurricane Maria relief efforts? In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Its destruction of infrastructure added to the loss of life as people lost access to clean water, electricity, medical services, food, gas, and communication services. My colleague in the department, Dr. Lori Ramos, had close ties to people on the island of Vieques, which is part of Puerto Rico. Several weeks after the hurricane, when one of our students, Tiernan Doyle, interviewed a resident of the island for WPSC Radio, it was clear the people there were still suffering. With support from William Paterson’s administration, we were able to take a team of students to help support the community radio station on the island, WVQR-FM, Radio Vieques. The students were shocked at the island’s condition and the lack of aid that had come from our government. The only power was from generators, access to gas was limited, cell phone service was barely available - even months after the hurricane. We have returned two more times with students to help establish a network of “ham” radio operators in the event of another disaster. Students helped with many projects, including rebuilding trails. In turn, they met with local experts to learn about the island’s political and ecological history. A highlight on the last trip was being able to kayak at night on the world’s best bioluminescent bay. Our students rose to the challenges, comporting themselves as professionals and pitching in without complaint. The trip provided our students with a powerful illustration of the importance of civic engagement and many students called it “life-changing.” (Center) Stellenbosch University outside of Cape Town, South Africa: Dr. Peck and Tamika, a law student, who has a radio show at mfm 92.6, pose together.
What do you enjoy about teaching in the Communication Department? The integrated curriculum of the Communication Department is intellectual heaven to me as I strongly believe in viewing all aspects of communication as parts of the same symbolic process. As an “umbrella” department, we offer students the ability to move across all the subdisciplines and see them as linked. A student focusing on film can take an acting class. Journalism students can delve deeply into video and audio production as well as public relations and international aspects of media. Media students can study organizational and intercultural communication. I love watching students make connections across these different areas as they realize the central role of communication in their professional and personal lives. The selfish part of teaching is that I get to keep learning. I learn constantly from my colleagues as they share their creative projects and research results. Many of them have lived in other cultures and helped deepen my understanding of places I haven’t visited. Prior to the pandemic, the department was trying to provide more opportunities for students to travel to present papers at conferences. I was fortunate to do this with students at conferences in Toronto and Birmingham, UK and learned from them as we developed the presentations together. This past semester the courses I taught all required constant attention to new developments in the fastchanging fields of International Media, Global Communication and Media Industries. I loved the challenge of keeping students informed with the latest news in telecommunications. The controversy over Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act was old news for my students - we had already studied it in October. Continuing to stay informed about media developments around the world is a welcome challenge!
(Bottom) Vieques, Puerto Rico: Dr. Lori Ramos and Dr. Peck pose with students who were in the January 2019 course on Community Media. The picture was taken in front of the ancient iconic Ceiba tree, a symbol of the strength and endurance of Vieques. SPOTLIGHT WINTER 2021 9
