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OBU—Oklahoma Baptist University

Students to Present Papers at Sooner Communication Conference

March 2, 2016

Two OBU communication studies students were recently selected to present their research papers at the University of Oklahoma's Sooner Communication Conference March 5 on OU's campus in Norman. The conference features graduate and undergraduate communication scholars from across the nation discussing developments in theory and research in the communication discipline. All student papers went through a blind-review process for selection.

Emma Patton, communication studies major from Oklahoma City, and Maile Hopkins, communication studies major from Shawnee, will represent OBU at the 27th OU Sooner Communication Conference.

Patton’s original research, "A Walk Down Memory Lane: Spiritual Communication Acts of Elderly Patients with Memory Loss," examines the relationship between spiritual communication acts and memory expression in dementia patients. Hopkins’ original research, "Clinton Rhetoric: A Comparative Analysis of Bill and Hillary Clinton," involved a sociolinguist assessment of language style and design. Patton and Hopkins’ research was conducted during the communication research course offered within the communication studies major at OBU.

The Sooner Communication Conference is hosted by OU’s Communication Graduate Student Association. The event joins faculty and students from schools throughout the region and the nation. The conference presents an opportunity for students and faculty to discuss developments in theory and research across the communication discipline and for students to fine-tune research papers for other conferences and possible publications.

“Emma's work with the elderly patients at the Baptist Home for the Elderly in OKC was impressive,” said Dr. Vickie Ellis, professor of communication arts at OBU. “Her interviews took a great deal of time and energy. Emma's dedication to research combined with her love and compassion for senior citizens generated a research project that has shed light on the importance of lifelong spiritual truth that is maintained, even in the midst of memory loss.”

Dr. Ellis also commented on Hopkins’ work. “The arguments that Maile made before Hillary started her 2016 bid for president have since been reflected in her presidential campaign rhetoric. In the end, Maile argued that though both Bill and Hillary Clinton are powerful communicators, they have dynamically different approaches to engaging audiences. In part, she assessed to what extent those differences are necessitated due to gender inequality.”