UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Nearly 40 faculty members, graduate students and alumni of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications will participate in the 68th annual International Communication Association Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, this week.
Eighteen faculty members and 16 graduate students from the Bellisario College will serve as presenters, moderators and panelists during the five-day conference. The theme of this year's ICA meeting is “Voices.” Participating experts will present research on evolving communication technologies and shifting cultural and political dynamics.
Five alumni from the Bellisario College also will be participating. More than 1,300 people are expected to attend the global conference from May 24-28 in the Hilton Prague Hotel.
Bellisario research offers expertise that is innovative, timely and affects millions around the globe every day. Penn State’s presence at the annual communications conference is an example of the diverse and novel work conducted by the Bellisaro College’s faculty.
ICA is hosting several preconference sessions on May 24 that feature Bellisario College researchers. Topics include communication technology training for future scholars (led by Distinguished Professor S. Shyam Sundar), global communication human rights (Yael Warshel, assistant professor of telecommunications), and the use of algorithms in journalism (Bu Zhong, associate professor of journalism), among others.
During the main conference, Penn Staters will be involved in more than 35 sessions, which cover a variety of topics, including sports media, environmental news, health communication, public relations ethics, social media credibility and more.
The ICA is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching and application of all aspects of communication. The Bellisario College has been well represented and active in the organization for years.
ICA was founded more than 50 years ago as a small association of U.S. researchers and is now an international association with more than 4,500 members from 80 countries. It aims to advance the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide. Since 2003, ICA has been officially associated with the United Nations as a nongovernmental association.