/ Communication Department

Faculty-Student Collaborations

Enhance your learning by collaborating with faculty mentors on research and creative projects. In the process, you’ll develop analytic skills and the confidence to succeed. 

  • A person sits next to an open laptop displaying an image of two people embracing and the title, "Three Main Themes." The person is looking at presentation notes on the table in front of her. She is wearing a black shirt with a blue lanyard ribbon badge holder. Other people are sitting a tables and conversing in the background.Savannah Baker ’25 presents her research at the Central States Communication Association Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  • Four people are standing in front of a research poster titled "To Embrace or Not to Embrace AI: Students' Perceptions of Professors Based on the AI Policy in Their Syllabus." All four are wearing dark-colored clothing and all are smiling at the camera. In the background, other people and bleacher seating/steps are visible.Dr. Austin Beattie stands with student researchers Sara Bromley ’25, Caroline Henry ’27 and Laine Zemaitis ’26 at the 2025 Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity.
  • Three people stand in front of a video screen displaying a picture of a family and the title, "Hasta tu Regreso: A Family Story through Detention and Distance." All three people are looking at the camera and smiling. A poster board, microphone on a stand, and a computer are visible in the background. A table with chairs is in the foreground.Danya Ortiz ’27, Alexus Ortiz ’26 and Gael Figerueroa-Enriquez ’26 present their documentary film at Hope CURCA 2025.
  • A student stands next to a research poster titled "A Feminist Reading of Darling Magazine" at a presentation event. The poster includes sections on introduction, methods, findings, and conclusions, along with various images and charts. The student is wearing a light-colored blouse, dark pants, and a name badge, and is smiling at the camera. Other participants and posters can be seen in the background.Kelsie Nyhuis ’17 presenting her project on the construction of womanhood in magazines at NCUR.
  • A man in a suit stands at a podium gesturing towards a projected presentation slide titled "A Photovoice Analysis of Happiness" with subheadings "Honduras | United States | Japan" and credits to Jean Luc Miralda from Hope College, mentors Dr. Deirdre Johnston from Hope College, and Dr. Rika Hamatani from Waseda University.Jean Luc Miralda ’17 presenting research on cross-cultural understandings of happiness at NCUR.
  • A large group of students and faculty are gathered in a gymnasium, engaging in discussions and presentations in front of rows of academic posters displayed on boards.Hope College Celebration of Undergraduate Research offers students an opportunity to share their research with the campus community.
  • Two people are standing in front of a research poster titled "Exploring Visual Appeal of Women's Health Apps." The person on the left is wearing a purple shirt and a striped tie, while the person on the right is wearing a black coat. Both are smiling at the camera. In the background, other people and posters are visible.Noah Jurik ’16, with faculty mentor Dr. Marissa Doshi, presenting a project on the visual appeal of health apps.

Our students regularly present at Hope’s Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Performance and have research projects accepted for presentation at regional communication conferences as well as the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) . Our students have also co-authored research with faculty mentors and won state-level awards for their creative media projects. Read on for a sampling of recent faculty-student collaborations and contact individual faculty if you are interested in collaborative opportunities.

RECENT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
  • You Can’t Do Everything on Your Own: Neoliberal Isolation and the Feminist Ethic of Care in A Man Called Otto (Maiya Santiago, CSCA 2026)
  • Living Death or Lived Experience? Countering the Dominant Dementia Discourse in The Father (Audrey Wells, CSCA 2026)
  • Love, Lies, and Limousine Liberalism: Navigating Cultural Collisions in You People (Ruth Anderson, CSCA 2025)
  • Missed Opportunities in Like A Boss: Neoliberal Feminism and Misrepresentation (Savannah Baker, CSCA 2025)
  • Trade (ing) Gendered Messages: A Feminist Rhetorical Analysis of Post-Secondary Education Options and its Effects on Equal Pay (Elsie Craig, CSCA 2025)
  • Acculturative Experiences of International College Students (Lauren Schiller and Brianna Olivarez, CSCA 2024)
  • VAStly Influenced: Exploring the Effects of Vocational Anticipatory Socialization and Social Support on the Undergraduate Career Decision Process (Katie Cole and Elsie Craig, CSCA 2024)
  • Reinventing a Reputation (Bethany Lawrence, CSCA 2024)
  • Exploring Coach-Athlete Dynamics: A Comparative Study Across Individual and Team Division III Sports (Zachary Riordan and Kenna Durian, CSCA 2024)
  • Why Smile? A Theoretical Analysis of Smiling Through the Lens of Communication (Allison Fulton, CSCA 2024)
  • Uncovering the Path to Reparation (Makena Mugambi, NCUR 2021)
  • Understanding Afrikaners' Perceptions of Affirmative Action (Kaelyn Poirier, NCUR 2021)
CO-AUTHORED PUBLICATIONS

Faculty-student collaborative projects can result in co-authored publications, an exciting opportunity for students who want to dive deep into communication research. Here are some recent examples:

AWARD WINNING STUDENT-LED CREATIVE PRODUCTIONS

Our students have been recognized for their creative productions by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and by the Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 

  • 2026 NATAS-Michigan Student Award for Excellence - Short Form Fiction, Radio Killer, produced by Grace Arakelian and Sydney Christiaans
  • 2023 NATAS-Michigan Student Award for Excellence - Audio Sound, A Night at the Ritz, Allison Fulton
  • 2021 Second Place – MAB Documentary Division, A Search for Belonging, produced by Kaleigh McKee, Alec Suchan, Bre Nolan and Sam Joachim
  • 2020 NATAS-Michigan Student Award for Excellence – Long Form Fiction, Detestable Tendencies, produced by Ben Douma
  • 2020 Second Place - MAB Documentary Division, Everything, produced by Abigail  Krueger, Elizabeth Melby, Aiyana  Cisneros
  • 2016 First Place – Mini Documentary category, Shaped by Flames, produced by Noah Jurik and Tony Byrne 

Hope students Catherine Hagenbush (COMM), Julian Gonzalez (COMM) and Annika VanEyl (PSYCH) produced a recycling video for the Holland-Hope College Sustainability Institute.

DIGITAL RESEARCH PROJECTS

Challenging Borders: Displaced Persons is a GLCA initiative to fund collaborative scholarship on the broad topic of borders. As part of this initiative, Dr. Jayson Dibble, along with students enrolled in his 300-level course on persuasion, collaborated with an international partner from Forman Christian College, Pakistan, to create:

  1. A short video that offers a research-based, persuasive message to counterbalance the negative rhetoric surrounding refugees in war-torn areas like Syria
  2. An interactive infographic that lets users learn research-based information about how refugees impact host countries

Dr. Marissa Doshi, worked with Hope Hancock ’16, a communication minor and Mellon Scholar, on a digital timeline project that compared youth music festivals (Woodstock and Coachella) to analyze changing discourses of cultural citizenship.

Interested in Research?

Our faculty look forward to collaborating with students on research projects. Visit faculty pages to learn about their research interests or to identify a mentor for your project.

Hope CollegeCommunication Department

Martha Miller Center257 Columbia AvenueRoom 107Holland, MI 49423

workP. 616.395.7595