RESEARCHING

BY WALLACE CALEB BATES

Academic research is a serious thing, but it is a lot like a good mystery story: you follow a trail of clues, ask questions no one else thought to ask, and chase answers that surprise you.

Finding connections between ideas, testing one's hunches, and learning something new that could help real people is a thrill. It keeps the work exciting and meaningful for me, serving as a reminder that my curiosity has the power to make a real difference in the world.

Whether it is digging through interviews or exploring old archives, research turns curiosity into discovery. When everything starts to come together, that is when the fun begins.

Right now, I am working on a project that looks at crisis communication from the perspective of schools. The project focuses on how schools prepare for the unexpected and keep people informed when things go wrong. 

Whether it is a weather delay, a safety concern, or a technology problem, schools must respond quickly, clearly, and calmly. The goal is to understand what works and what does not, and how schools can build trust through their communication during a crisis.

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A NEW START - AN ENTRY FROM MY HEART

BY WALLACE CALEB BATES As I sit here drinking my coffee this Saturday afternoon, looking out the window at the snow-blanketed ground and my dog frolicking through the yard (I love the word frolicking!), I am reminded of how the world outside our homes can fill with joy and pain, happiness and sadness, and other contrasting emotions.  At the start of this new year, I set a few small goals that were aligned with James Clear's framework in Atomic Habits : incremental, small changes that will lead toward steady progress. Among these goals are making my bed each day, listening to or reading scripture each day, and journaling each day.  This blog site is part of the last effort mentioned above. I plan to use it as a public-facing journal in which I share my thoughts regarding topics of varying natures. Some of them will discuss my faith, my profession as a higher education public relations professional, my academic pursuits as a scholar, and my perspective as an Appalachian living i...
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FREE SPEECH IN THE DIGITAL AGE — A STRUGGLE FOR TRUTH

BY WALLACE CALEB BATES It is hard to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic's onset is now five years in the past. I will never forget the painstaking experience we endured as a collective people during that time. We faced a public health challenge and an issue involving disinformation unparalleled to any other era in American history.  I try not to compare our modern days to bygone eras. The world has always been dysfunctional, and people have always lied and perpetuated harm against others with whom they disagree. However, social media platforms have only existed for a relatively short time. Social media, serving in its often-watchdog capacity, could have prevented some of our most widespread stains against humanity.  Perhaps world leaders would not have turned their backs on the horrible occurrences in Hitler's Germany during the late 1930s; possibly, the slave trade would have never unjustly brought oppression to generations of African people and their descendants in the Ameri...
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PROTECT AND DEFEND

 BY WALLACE CALEB BATES On the eve of another inauguration, I am pondering what it means to be an American. The peaceful transfer of power is a hallmark of American democracy, an event we can anticipate every four years that ensures our voice leads a government created by the people, for the people, and of the people. At noon tomorrow, a new president and vice president will swear in to begin their terms, taking an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, a breathing, living document that has enshrined the rights of the people into America's foundation. This moment, while steeped in ceremony, reminds us of the enduring strength of our republic and our responsibility to safeguard it. As President Joseph R. Biden recently said, "Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead." A po...
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