Departmental News
Cai Lectures at Home and Abroad; Wins Top Paper Prize
Associate professor Deborah Cai has participated in conferences and lectured on risk communication internationally. And along with UM Ph.D. graduate Dan Cronin, she has received a Top Paper designation at the upcoming National Communication Association conference.
In late September, the Department of Defense sponsored a Roundtable on Cross-Cultural Communication in a Globalized World, which included about 60 people from branches of the government including branches of the DOD, State Department, and Peace Corps, to talk about the importance of training people in the government to know how to communicate across cultures. Topics covered included: What is cross-cultural communication? Why is cross-cultural communication important? and How to measure and assess cross-cultural communication training and ability. Speakers from the University of Maryland included Cai, Dr. Michele Gelfand from the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Robert Mislevy from the Department of Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) provided training on food safety risk communication for their developing members in Manila, Philippines, from June 23 to 27, 2008. Participants in the training event came from nations around the Pac-Rim, including Brunei, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, the People’s Republic of China, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Participants were trained in the theory and practice of risk management and risk communication to use in improving models of risk communication within their countries and home organizations. Cai delivered a lecture on elements and guiding principles of risk communication, case studies on effective risk communication management, and the application of theory to the practice of risk communication.
Cai is also the co-author of "Computer mediated communication and negotiation: Effects of media and power on relationship development" which will receive the top paper award from the Human Communication and Technology Research division at NCA.
