Go-Eun Kim

is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication, focusing her research on political and intergroup communication. Her research encompasses various areas, including the effects of debate watching, the role of partisan media in polarization, and intergroup discussion. 

In her ongoing research, Go-Eun is delving into communication strategies that have the potential to mitigate distrust aimed at experts and their supporting evidence. Her objective is to unravel specific message features that can maximize the effects of persuasion, particularly among individuals who are influenced by political and identity biases. 

As a member of the Political Communication Institution at Mizzou, Go-Eun has taken the lead in guiding and mentoring research endeavors related to political debates and the concerning issue of polarization. Additionally, she has contributed by serving as a graduate advisor for iCOM (The Intercollegiate Communication Organization of Mizzou), engaging in meaningful service opportunities for undergraduate students.

Blessing Okafor

holds a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Nigeria), a master’s degree in English Language from the University of Lagos, (Nigeria) and a second master’s degree in Communication Studies at North Dakota State University. Her research in organizational communication explores topics related to workplace communication, organizational dissent, organizational culture, and power. She explores the various expressions of dissent and how employees can effectively communicate in both social and cultural context. Blessing’s research has been presented at Regional, National and International Communication conferences. Her research on the influence of temperament and leader-member-exchange quality on employees’ use of upward dissent strategies received a top four paper award in the organizational and professional communication division of the Central States Communication Association 2019 conference. Her works have been published in Western Journal of Communication, Communication Studies, Journal of Family Communication. Outside academic publication, Blessing has two authored motivational books. 

As a teaching assistant, Blessing has years of experience teaching Public Speaking both online and in traditional face to face environment. She currently teaches a Public Speaking class, and Organizational Advocacy. She is a recipient of various Department of Communication awards such as Loren Reid outstanding graduate teaching award, the inaugural Department of Communication Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion award. She currently received the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Program (DSP): Dissertation Award. 

Outside of her research and teaching, Blessing is passionate about service and leadership. She consistently finds ways to serve and give back to her community. She is the Director of Public Relations for the Graduate Professional Council which is the graduate and professional student body for Mizzou. She is the president of Mizzou 2. She is currently serving in various internal and external boards and committees. She serves as a Deaton Advisory Board member for the Deaton Institute, Student Employee Advisory Board member for MU career center, Equity and Diversity Committee member for the Central States Communication Association, and National Communication Association. She is also a Graduate Scholar of Excellence Mentor for the MU Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. She has been invited couple of times by MU Graduate School to talk about her leadership experiences. 

Olivia Watson

is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri. She is currently spending the 2023-2024 academic year at the University of Luxembourg as a U.S. Student Fulbright Researcher to complete her dissertation. As a globally-minded interpersonal and health communication scholar, her research advances three main areas: 1) individual and family sense-making about difficult experiences, 2) familial socialization through narrative and memorable messages, and 3) family storytelling behaviors and practices across cultures. Although she is proficient in quantitative methods, her research primarily uses qualitative methodologies such as ethnography, grounded theory, and narrative analysis. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the International Journal of Communication and Southern Communication Journal, and has won multiple top paper awards at regional and national conferences. 
 
Olivia is passionate about international education and has studied abroad in Switzerland, China, Portugal, and Costa Rica. These experiences led her to get involved in creating and enhancing international opportunities for students at Mizzou. For example, in partnership with the University of Ghent in Belgium and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, she co-led an International Qualitative Methods directed reading course to increase cross-cultural understanding and collaboration among undergraduate student researchers. Further, this past summer, Olivia was the Assistant Director for the Communication and Culture in Tuscany faculty-led study abroad trip, where she spent 5 weeks in Siena, Italy helping Mizzou students employ concepts of intercultural communication. 
 
Throughout her graduate school career, Olivia has received internal and external grants, scholarships, and fellowships to support her research. Some of these include the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Reporting Fellowship (2018), G. Ellsworth Huggins Fellowship (2020-2024), the John D. Bies International Travel Award (2021), the Rebecca Verser & Alumni Award (2022), the Fulbright U.S. Student Program (2023), and the Advisory Council Summer Opportunity Scholarship at Mizzou (2023). Additionally, she has won numerous awards that recognize her for outstanding teaching, research, and service. Some of these include the Nancy Burrell Award from the Central States Communication Association for Top Student Paper in the Interpersonal/Family Division (both 2022 and 2023), Top Student Paper in the Family Communication Division at the National Communication Association (NCA; 2023), the Frank & Lila Gilman Memorial Graduate Research Award (2023), Mizzou’s Department of Communication Outstanding Service Award (2023), Top 4 Paper in the Health Communication Division at NCA (2023), and the Association for Communication Graduate Students (ACGS) Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award (2023). 

Xu Cen

is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication with the Huggins Fellowship at the University of Missouri. She is double minoring in Women’s and Gender Studies and College Teaching. Her research focuses on mediated communication and intergroup relations. She uses experiments to test how media exposure can shorten the distance between majority groups and minority groups. She brought intersectionality into media effects studies and is trying to extend it to transnational spaces. She also examines the media representations of minorities and how to improve their sense of belonging through media portrayal.  

She served as the Undergraduate Associates Coordinator for the Media & Diversity Center at the University of Missouri for two years. She has mentored undergraduate associates for content analysis and VR experimental studies, and organized activities to promote media literacy. She is currently the Graduate Advisor for the Arts, Social Science, or Humanities (ASH) undergraduate research team. She is also a Deaton Scholar who aims at empowering women. 

She was the Assistant Course Director for the COMM 2100: Media and Society class, and has taught this class for three years. She is currently the instructor for COMM 4638: New Technologies and Communication, and the teaching assistant for COMM 2500: Introduction to Communication. 

Alaina Leverenz

is a Doctoral Candidate in Communication at the University of Missouri. She studies how families, romantic partners, and friends provide support, enact resilience, and make sense of their complex health experiences, particularly through a narrative or metaphor lens. She conducts research with prominent narrative scholars in communication in psychology such as Dr. Haley Horstman, Dr. Robyn Fivush, and Dr. Jennifer Bohanek.  

​ 

Alaina has published in four peer-reviewed journals, two of which are ISI-ranked. These include a first-author publication in ISI-ranked Qualitative Health Research, one in ISI-ranked Health Communication, one in the family communication discipline’s flagship journal (Journal of Family Communication), and a first-author, interdisciplinary piece in Narrative Inquiry.   

​ 

Alaina has presented her research 16 various panels in the Interpersonal, Family, and Health Divisions at the National Communication Association (NCA) Conventions, Central States Communication Association (CSCA) Annual Conferences, International Communication Association (ICA) Conferences, and the Kentucky Health Communication Conference (KCHC). She has received Top Paper awards in the Family Communication Division of NCA and the Interpersonal and Family Interest Group at CSCA. She has also served as a conference submission reviewer for NCA in Applied Communication.