COMS News | June 2026
June Newsletter
COMS Announcements
Special Note to Our Graduates
Congratulations Class of 2026! After all the presentations, papers, and endless group projects, you've made it! The Communication Studies faculty and staff are incredibly proud of you and all that you have accomplished in your time at Cal Poly. What a privilege it has been to get to know you, learn alongside you, and support you in pursuing your dreams. As you anticipate the next stage of your adventure, I know it can feel a bit bittersweet to say goodbye. Please know you will always be a part of our COMS community, and you will be missed - so please come back to visit or send us an update once in a while :). Wishing you all the best for whatever comes next! We hope to see you at the CLA Commencement on Sunday, June 14 at 4:30 in Spanos Stadium.
Graduating Senior Exit Survey
Are you a senior set to graduate soon? No matter which quarter you are graduating, before your time at Cal Poly wraps up, remember to fill out the COMS Senior Exit Survey. This will help the COMS department stay in touch with our graduates and to know what your plans might be after graduation. Best of luck in your future endeavors and know that we would love to stay connected to you!
COMS Awards & Spring Social Recap
We had so much fun celebrating the end of the academic year with our students, faculty, and staff at both our COMS "Awards & Recognition Ceremony" and also the annual "Spring Social!" Be sure to check out our Instagram account to see some special pictures from the awards ceremony!
COMS Summer Classes
Summer COMS class enrollment is open! Summer can be a great time to pick up a class or two and take care of a few more requirements or explore a subject that has been of interest to you, but you weren't able to fit into your schedule during the academic year. For a list of class offerings, visit the following summary page and check out the Cal Poly class registration page to see what spaces are still available!
Events & Opportunities
Media & Comm Research Initiative
Want to receive travel funding to present the results of a class project at a destination conference? The Media & Communication Research Initiative (MC-Cal Poly) is now accepting applications for the 2026-2027 cohort! In this program, you can apply to receive funding and support to present original research from a class project at an academic conference. For application materials and more information, visit the MC-Cal Poly website. Early bird applications are due by June 30th.
Student Awards & Recognitions
The COMS Department celebrated the accomplishments of our amazing students at our Awards & Recognitions Ceremony, Thursday, May 29, 2025. At this event, we announced student achievements in areas such as academic excellence, research, service, and DEI efforts. Congratulations to our awesome students!
Department Awards
Recognition for COMS Club
- President – Gabbie Acquisto
- Vice President – Ava Jimmerson
- Treasurer – Camille Tucker
- Secretary – Keira Taksa
- Public Relations & Marketing Co-Chair – Julia Isaacs
- Public Relations & Marketing Co-Chair – Lily Kamen
- Program Director & Editor – Lauren Rosenberg
- Alumni Relations Officer – Dannika Witt
- Event Co-Planner - Sunny Wakeman
- Event Co-Planner - Emma Chung
- DEI Chair – Ashika Balakumaran
- Faculty Advisor – Dr. Leslie Nelson
Recognition for Lambda Pi Eta (LPH)
President – Lauren Rosenberg- Vice President – Kaylie Marrs
- Treasurer – Marshall Piros
- Secretary – Katelyn Nightengale
- Planning & Events Co-Chair – Kristen Conliffe
- Planning & Events Co-Chair – Kate McLaughlin
- Member at Large – Liat Weinstein
- Faculty Advisor – Dr. Darrian Carroll
New Lambda Pi Eta (LPH) Inductees (2025-2026)
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Debate Team Awards
- Debaters of the Year: Ethan Organista (English Division), Nico Julia (Spanish Division)
- The Winebrenner Team Service and Spirit Award: Sonia Ferria
- The Christopher Skiles Research Beast Award: Sophie Angiulo
- The Gwendolyn Stewart Community Engagement Award: Nathan Buehner
Recognition for Involvement with Undergraduate Research
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Outstanding Research Award
- Marshall Piros
- Hanna Lee
Recognition for Service
- Abby Samovitz
- Angus Shen
- Cassandra Chin
- Dede Onuwaje
- Elise Farr
- Hunter Larson
- Lauren Rosenberg
- Marshall Piros
Outstanding Service Awards
- To the COMS Department: Angus Shen & Lauren Rosenberg
- To the College of Liberal Arts: Abby Samovitz
- To the University: Dede Onuwaje
Recognition for Visionary Student Contributions
- Andrea Valle
- Dede Onuwaje
- Emily Ip
- Hanna Lee
- Hunter Larson
- Liana Hanz
Visionary Student Award
- Dede Onuwaje
Academic Excellence Award
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Outstanding Senior Award
- Lauren Rosenberg
University/Leadership Awards
In addition to our COMS Department awards, we're also enormously proud of our students who have won recent college, university, leadership, and event awards! Another round of congratulations goes to the following students:
CSU Social Science Student Symposium (S4)
- Marshal Piros - Best Use of Qualitative Data
- Kaylie Marrs - Best Use of Qualitative Data
Achievements in the College of Liberal Arts, University, and Beyond
- Dede Onuwaje - Outstanding Student Diversity Award, recognized by the College of Liberal Arts
Faculty & Staff News
Faculty Research & Service
Dr. Leslie Nelson has been selected as a recipient of Cal Poly’s 2025–2026 Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA), a university-wide honor recognizing excellence in teaching. Established by the Academic Senate in consultation with the Office of the President, the award is based on nominations submitted exclusively by students and alumni. Recipients are chosen through a rigorous evaluation process that includes written documentation and classroom visitations by a committee of previous DTA awardees. Please join the COMS Department in congratulating Dr. Nelson on this outstanding and well-deserved recognition!
Dr. John Patrick recently published an article in Studies in Debate & Oratory. His piece, “A Set of Best Practices for Administering Zoom Debate Competitions,” Studies in Debate and Oratory: Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 1, examines effective strategies for organizing and managing debate competitions in virtual environments.
Dr. Martin Mehl presented at the recent Cal Poly's AI Symposium 2026. He also appeared on the AI Whisperer podcast, where he discussed the growing importance of digital literacy and the role of human judgment in working effectively with AI-generated content. In addition, he published The Missing AI Manual on May 10, 2026, the seventh installment in his award-winning Digital Academic Revolution (DAR) research series. The whitepaper serves as a practical guide to AI literacy, providing educators, professionals, and lifelong learners with curated resources and actionable strategies for engaging with AI technologies.
Dr. Sasha Sanders recently published collaborative article, "Homing Performance: A Black Feminism Roundtable," in Text and Performance Quarterly featuring Drs. Anjuliet Woodruffe, Laura D. Oliver, Marquese McFerguson, and Aisha Durham. The article provides an introduction for the forthcoming issue that will include individual pieces by each of the contributors. She will have two solo articles in the issue which includes, “The Future is in the Gutters: Performing Diary Comics as Home/Work” and “Swamp Tales: The Curse of Black Feminist Performance”. Recently she participated in Houston's Comicpalooza, as part of the Comicpalooza University track. She presented on a panel titled “Comics Scholarship Beyond the Page: Education, Outreach, and Community Support.” Going forward, she will be presenting at the Comics Arts Conference sponsored by Comic-Con International: San Diego. Her roundtable panel is titled, "Capes, Curls, & Culture: Black Women in Comics.” She plans to teach a "Fandom and Performance" course soon and will be documenting Comic-Con activations for a future class assignment!
Sharing is Caring
Do you have an announcement to share with COMS majors, minors, faculty, and staff? Email the Communication Studies Department to find out how to share it! Follow COMS on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn