Schuck’s work with undergraduates garners 2019 Blinn Award

Dr. Raymond Schuck, associate professor in the Department of Communication at BGSU Firelands, received the 2019 Elliott L. Blinn Award for Faculty-Undergraduate Student Innovative Basic Research/Creative Work, presented at the Faculty Excellence Awards April 16.

The honor recognizes innovative basic research/creative work directed by individual faculty members in collaboration with undergraduate students and supports collaboration with additional students. The award is given in memory of Dr. Elliott Blinn, a professor of chemistry, who dedicated his career to sharing with his undergraduate students the excitement of the process of discovery by directly involving them in basic research/creative work. Schuck received a $2,500 award, which included $1,250 transferred to a department account for the continued collaborative research activities with BGSU undergraduate students, as well as a $1,250 cash prize.

During the 2017-2018 academic year, Schuck worked on a research project with Firelands undergraduate student Jessica Rodocker. The topic for Rodocker’s research work developed out of ideas from Schuck’s course on the CW television drama “Gilmore Girls.” Their project, “’Something That Doesn’t Require Talking’: Representations of Sport in ‘Gilmore Girls,’” focused on sport motifs and themes found on the show.

Schuck said they used the narrative paradigm method to analyze how the TV show was “not explicitly about sport use” and how it used sports as a rhetorical resource. He submitted their abstract to the Eleventh Summit in Communication and Sport in 2018, and following its acceptance he and Rodocker worked together to build a presentation. They presented at the conference, and since then Schuck continues to work closely with Rodocker to develop their research into an essay that could be published as an academic journal.

Rodocker said that Schuck made her believe that her research ideas were thoughtful and meaningful in a way that other professors weren't able to do for her. He has taught several of her communications courses and advised her research through four conferences between 2014 and 2016.

“It is because of him that I'm able to write with and speak to my superiors about my ideas with confidence,” Rodocker said. “It is because of him that I feel like I belong when I attend academic conferences, even though I have half the education of most in attendance.”

In addition to Rodocker, Schuck has supported other undergraduate students’ research studies, and is in the process of assisting students with three additional projects. For each of those, he intends to present their collaborative analysis at a conference and then refine that analysis and attempt to publish it as an academic journal article or book chapter.

“In both the past research I've completed and our current work, Dr. Schuck has taught me the value in understanding communication theory through example and application,” Rodocker said. “I think that the deeper theory application he's encouraged out of me has positioned me to succeed and distinguish my place as an undergraduate student.”