The 109th Eastern Communication Association’s conference, held in Pittsburgh April 25-29, 2018, was planned by the association’s vice president, Dr. Leeanne Bell McManus, who will go on to become president of the ECA for 2018-2019. Eight students, accompanied by Business Communication faculty members Stephanie Verni and Chip Rouse, worked the conference in logistics, registration, social media, food service, and technology, in addition to presenting their work in three panels.
The eight students were Adrienne Civetti, Ben Wanaselja, Courtney Hottle, Kamica Price, Meghan Loveless, Matthew Patti, Grace Clark, and Kaya Roberts.
Bell McManus, Verni and Rouse also sat on a panel about event planning and the communication curriculum, and Verni moderated a panel about The Mill course she taught in which the ECA was a client. Master’s graduate and current adjunct Michael MacFee spoke about his graduate research in the form of a poster during the graduate presentations.
Kaya Roberts presented her research on Game of Thrones, while Courtney Hottle spoke about her experiences as vice president of Lambda Pi Eta as part of a panel on student organizations.
The group enjoyed a dinner together at the top of the Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh’s authentic iconic wooden cable car climb up to the top of Mt. Washington.