Events
For more than a decade, the Communication Leadership Lab has hosted various events encouraging dialogue and civil discord.
- Choose Civility Events
2020 Day of Civility
FSU's Department of Communication hosted a Facebook and Zoom event titled “Social Distancing Civility: Strategies for Civil Communication at a Distance” on Thursday, April 23, 2020, which was an event designed to help participants explore changing public understandings and expectations of mediated and human communication and how they intersect. Participants were invited to share approaches to communicating during this global social distancing effort, including with digital devices and social media, in socially and professionally appropriate, cooperative, and respectful ways. Participants were also invited to share their general expectations, policies, and strategies for creating civil and professional interactions in educational, workplace and social contexts. To highlight various experiences and views on how to navigate social distancing communication, students in MCOM 205 Mobile Media Production, a class designed to help students create intentional strategic media messages using accessible technology, were invited to create short videos about these topics to share online. Discussion facilitation assistance will be supported by FSU's Communication Leadership Lab assistants who were interning with the Communication Studies program. Other Day of Civility event information for the Allegany County Choose Civility chapter is available online.
Resilience and Resistance: Family Memories of the Holocaust and Their Relevance Today
Dr. Judy Stone, author of “Resilience: One Family's Story of Hope and Triumph Over Evil” (2019), was featured as a speaker for an interactive online event titled “Resilience and Resistance: Family Memories of the Holocaust and Their Relevance Today” on April 28, 2020. Stone, a local author and infectious disease specialist who is a senior contributor for Forbes, shared the story of her family's experience in Hungary during World War II from the perspective of a daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Audience members were invited to discuss cross-generational traumatic challenges, as well as strategies for resilience and resistance. Info about Stone's work and book is available online. This event was open to the campus and community.
- Rural and Urban Values Dialogue
We would like to thank all of the Frostburg State and Allegany College students and staff and the residents of Frostburg and Cumberland for attending the campus and community dialogue on urban and rural values. This event was part of the 2017 Leaders-in-Residence program of the Leadership Studies program at FSU.
Dr. Elesha Ruminski, coordinator of Leadership Studies and the Communication Leadership Lab, and Patrick Broussoul, Communication Leadership Lab assistant, welcome participants.
Leaders-in-Residence, Lawrence Grandpre and Dayvon Love of Baltimore’s Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, say a few words before the session.
Professor Christine Willingham of the FSU Communication Studies program helps out with writing notes during dialogue. NAACP local branch 7007 president, Carmen Jackson, is in the lower left.
Campus and community members engage each other at the session.
Frostburg State and Allegany College students engage in dialogue.
Comm Lead Lab assistant, Dana Gordon, introduces herself to the audience.
Allegany College students and staff express their ideas of rural and urban values.
Dean Joseph Hoffman and LBS leader, Dayvon Love
Dr. Hank Bullimore of the FSU Geography department joins the conversation.
Tara Taylor of the Maryland Civil Rights Commission helps lead discussion.
Comm Lead Lab assistant, Trevor Jones, speaks to the audience.
- FSU/ACM Peace Dialogues
In 2016, students from area colleges were invited to the FSU campus to discuss the meaning of peace in celebration of the International Day of Peace. Participants explored the nature of peace both globally and in terms of campus relations.
Current events remained a theme throughout the evening as each table of peacemakers discussed issues relating to recent political and societal discourse that hinders continuous daily peace. Dr. Elesha Ruminski, Leadership Studies Coordinator and organizer of the evening, emphasized the importance of grassroots peace, stressing the importance of citizens being engaged in democratic endeavors.
Student facilitators and recorders guided participants throughout the evening, steering conversations and encouraging engagement from each student.
Many groups discussed peace in the context of current national conversations including effective law enforcement. National issues were discussed in terms of the local region, with special attention paid to the unique issues Appalachia faces in achieving peace. Dr. Ruminski, when discussing the importance of youth involvement in peacemaking, stated, “History repeats itself so we need to be equipped.”
James Byers, The Bottom Line
- Leaders-in-Residence Program
The Leaders-in-Residence program invites local, state and national leaders who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in their field to play an active role in the Frostburg State university community. The annual residency program offers opportunities to learn about the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of leadership.
Past Guests
- Heather Mizeur, former Maryland legislator and candidate for governor
- Father Dr. Godswill Agbagwa, Catholic priest chaplain and adjunct professor in FSU's Department of Philosophy
- Dr. Marsha Bell, retired Lutheran pastor
- Rabbi Mark Perman, assisted with part of a refugee resettlement group
- Nayano Taylor-Neumann, director of an Afghanistan refugee settlement for a Lutheran agency
- Joy Kroeger-Mappes of the Allegany County Women's Action Coalition
- Carmen Jackson of the Allegany County NAACP
- Nina Forsythe of Frack-Free Frostburg
- Lady Brion, grassroots public policy think tank Leadership of a Beautiful Struggle
- Tara Taylor, director of Education and Outreach at the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, "Rural and Urban Values Dialogue"
- Blaine Siegel, Eat. Learn. Shift. Discussion Series