Grady College announces its Spring 2016 recipients of CURO research assistantships

Five advertising and public relations students have been awarded
Spring 2016 CURO assistanships. 

Five students in the Grady College have been awarded Spring 2016 research assistantships from UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO).

The CURO Assistantship Program, now in its second year, provides one-semester, non-renewable $1,000 stipends to outstanding undergraduate students across campus to actively participate in faculty-mentored research. Three Grady College students were awarded assistantships for the fall semester.

The following Grady College students have received CURO assistantships for Spring 2016:

Bleak Chandler, a senior advertising major, is exploring the idea of how humans and computer A.I. would be able to form social relationships. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, assistant professor of advertising, is his faculty mentor.

Katherine McKeogh, a senior public relations major, is examining and analyzing the digital communication strategies used by ISIS, as well as the strategies used by the U.S. Department of State against it.  Her faculty mentor is Juan Meng, associate professor of public relations.

Kari Saunders, a senior majoring in public relations, is researching student housing the in the Athens community.  Working with Meng, she is studying reasons why students are attracted to and enjoy different types of living arrangements, with particular focus on the downtown area.

Emily Taylor, a senior public relations major, is studying sustainability initiatives on UGA’s campus, such as recycling, to see how people perceive the projects.  Meng is her faculty mentor.     

Taoli Zhang, a junior majoring in public relations, is exploring social media discourse about environmental pollution and possible regulatory solutions.  He is specifically focusing on air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions as topics of social media discussion and debate and how these issues are directly tied to the larger issue of global climate change. Zhang is under the guidance of Michael Cacciatore, assistant professor of public relations.

All student recipients of assistantships will present at the 2016 CURO Symposium, which will take place April 4-5 at The Classic Center.

Grady College students interested in applying for future CURO research assistantships can contact Alison Alexander, senior associate dean for academic affairs, at alison@uga.edu. For more details program, visit http://curo.uga.edu/CURO_Research_Assistantship.

Author: Stephanie Moreno, s.moreno@uga.edu 

Contact: Alison Alexander, alison@uga.edu

Two AdPR students chosen as 2014 Grady CURO assistants

Advertising major Chelsea Harvey

Advertising students Chelsea Harvey and Sapna Mistry have been chosen for Grady College’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities assistantships.

Part of an initiative to enhance the UGA learning environment, the CURO Research Assistantship Program began this year and provides a $1,000 stipend to 250 outstanding undergraduate students across campus to actively participate in faculty-mentored research. Each college/school will award a number of CURO Research Assistantships, Grady College has 12 assistantships to offer this academic year, and students should direct questions about eligibility & criteria to their Dean's office.

Advertising major Sapna Mistry

Chelsea Harvey, ABJ 2015, will be analyzing advertisements within early fan magazines to better understand early fan communities and how advertisers integrated into these communities. Her research mentor is Dr. Jay Hamilton.

Sapna Mistry, ABJ 2015, will be looking at industry trade journals to understand consumer co-creation of ads and brands as a long-standing promotional process. Her research mentor is also with Dr. Hamilton.  

Grady Graduate Courtney Witt Receives George M. Abney Award

Courtney Witt, a May 2012 advertising graduate from Alpharetta, was recently awarded the George M. Abney Award, an award that recognizes the graduating Grady senior who has achieved the most impressive record in the Honors Program.


The award is named for a former university professor, George M. Abney, who retired in 1993 after more than more than 40 years at the University, including 25 as the honors coordinator of the college and the college representative on the academic policy board of the university Honors Program.“We congratulate you on graduating with Highest Honors and for your research work with Dr. Reichert,” wrote Dr. Alison Alexander, Grady College professor and Senior Associate in the award letter. “You have done well, and we are proud of you.” 


During her time at Grady College, Witt was the Yarbrough Social Media Intern for Grady’s AdPR department. In addition, she was a Grady College ambassador and an Ad Club member. In 2011, she presented a CURO project supervised by Dr. Reichert. Around campus, she was a member of the sorority Delta Delta Delta, and was the UGA Relay for Life marketing director, where she worked on fundraising events. After graduation, she plans to work at Partners+Napier, an agency in Atlanta, this summer and then attend Portfolio Center for Art Direction this fall.