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Speaking of… Creating a blog for the Communication Studies Department

Hello world!  Is anyone out there?  This is my very first blog post ever, and I want to use it to explain this blog.  First of all, I’m Professor Eve-Anne Doohan, an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of San Francisco.  I had an idea a few weeks ago to create a blog for our department, to keep students, alumni, and other friends of our department updated as to what we are doing.  It came to me much like those great ideas come to those actors in the Microsoft Windows commericals… you know, where they have an idea, the world stops for a moment, and when they recollect the idea coming to them they see themselves as much younger and more attractive than they actually are in real life?  The idea came to me like that.  And I have been fixated on it ever since. 

We do a lot of great things in our department.  Our faculty are accomplished in their fields, our students are involved in so many great activities, both inside and outside of the classroom, and our alumni are going on to do great things.  So I created this space (with the help of Philip Chen from USF’s ITS Department… thanks Philip!) to keep all of you updated about our department.  I think it is appropriate to acknowledge that those of you who know me already, my collegues and students, can attest that I am an unlikely blogger.  I am not that technologically inclined.  My colleague, Professor Evelyn Ho, is technologically inclined.  Me?  Not so much.  I wouldn’t say that I am completely out of it, I can get by just fine, but as my students can confirm, I struggle with technology, especially in the classroom.  (Yes, I still use VHS tapes once in awhile…).  But in spite of this, I am creating this blog.  For one big reason.  Because I really think the members of our department do many great things and this can be a forum to showcase them, as well as keep people updated about important events, deadlines, and activities. 

So, I hope you will follow this blog.  Check it often for updates, and contact me with questions and suggestions.  I already have a lot of ideas for it, including a “Student Shout-Out” section to highlight accomplishments and activities of current students, an “Alumni Spotlight” to profile our former students, a “Faculty Feats” section to acknowledge the accomplishments of our faculty, “Red Alerts” for important deadlines, “Dons Doings” to post events and activities, and “Internship Ideas” to showcase current students’ internship positions and give other students some ideas.   

Be patient, as this is all new to me.  But my goal is to post at least once a week and to hopefully develop this into a nice forum for our department.  If you have questions or ideas, please contact me at edoohan@usfca.edu or post a reply here.  One more thing before I sign off for now.  I recruited many people to come up with ideas for the name of this blog.  At first I was sure that something alliterative or involving rhyme would win out.  There were many great suggestions, but the current name came from a conversation I had with Professor Sarah Burgess.  I asked her for a suggestion and she said immediately “Speaking of speech!”  While that didn’t sound quite right, I did very much like the idea of “Speaking of…”  Anyone who has exchanged more than one e-mail with me might notice that I am a fan of elipses and usually use them at least once per message.  So, that is the name.  “Speaking of…”

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8 Comments

  1. This is a great idea! I felt pretty attached to the department while I was at USF, so it’s nice to keep a connection going after I’ve graduated. Thanks for starting this!

  2. Professors do not always do a great job of explaining to students what is actually expected of them and what it is that we actually get up to during all those hours they do not see us, and why we do those things and how that work relates back to them.

    So this blog is an excellent antidote to that problem, which is I think a sort of low-lying infection that is hardly noticed but which in fact causes lots of problems.

  3. Great idea Professor…this very much seems like an idea that would come from you (finding a way to keep past, present, and future comm studies majors to stay in touch).

    I’m looking forward to seeing what will come of all this, Congrats!

  4. I got my first degree in communicatons! Have you studied the Uncertainty Reduction Theory yet?

    I’m a huge comm theory geek… nice blog – best wishes with the studies!

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