Department of Communication Major and Senior Honor's Student Nicole Anderson has been named a Junior Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Each year the Academy invites leading social science departments in the United States to nominate one undergraduate senior as a Junior Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science who satisfies three criteria:
* an outstanding grasp of a discipline's theories and methods, as demonstrated through prior coursework in the student's major department,
* an enthusiasm for understanding social issues, and
* the promise of making substantial contributions to the social sciences in the future.
Nicole was the department's nominee this year and she has been selected for the honor. She will receive a certificate from the Academy that acknowledges their appointment as a Junior Fellow, as well as one year's free online subscription to the Academy's bimonthly journal, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Nicole's senior honor's thesis (in progress under the direction of Professor Michael Stohl) will examine the effects of news and entertainment television programs on attitudes towards Arab Americans. She will investigate how different portrayals of Arab-Americans on television affect viewers' attitudes towards people of Arab descent, how different portrayals of Arab Americans on television affect viewers' opinions on public policy regarding race, immigration, and national security and whether news or entertainment television depictions of Arab-Americans have the larger effect on viewers' attitudes towards ethnicity and public policy.