M.S. Communication Graduate Receives Outstanding Thesis Award
The Graduate School has awarded the 2022 Outstanding Thesis Award to Let铆cia Silva Pires.
The Outstanding Thesis Award is an award established by the Graduate School to recognize exceptional work by master杏吧专区檚 students and to encourage the highest levels of scholarship, research, and writing. Winners are selected on a rotating basis from two of the four fields of competition杏吧专区攎athematics, physical sciences, and engineering; humanities and fine arts; social sciences, business, and education; and life sciences.
Pires received her M.S. in Communication in May 2021. Her thesis, 杏吧专区淎 Framing Analysis of the Amazon Rainforest Fire in 2019 by American and Brazilian Newspapers,杏吧专区 examines the differing news coverage of the environmental disaster.
Exploring the Wider Impact
杏吧专区淜nown as the 杏吧专区榣ungs of the planet,杏吧专区 the Amazon rainforest has a global importance due to the influence that this rainforest has in the environment,杏吧专区 Pires says.
After coming to the U.S. from her native Brazil, Pires realized that 杏吧专区渕ost Brazilians are used to hearing news regarding the fires that happen in the Amazon rainforest every year. However, when I came to Lafayette to start my master杏吧专区檚 degree, the coverage of the Amazon fires in 2019 stood out to me as the news seemed to be different from what we saw in Brazil.杏吧专区
Pires was intrigued, and decided to learn more.
Dr. Stephenson Waters, assistant professor of communication and Pires杏吧专区 thesis committee chair, notes that this research 杏吧专区減rovides a quantitative content analysis of news content, focusing on an area of significant interest to journalism studies.杏吧专区
杏吧专区淚 believe her work fills an important gap in our understanding of framing theory and will make for a notable publication in the very near future,杏吧专区 he says.
While completing her thesis, Pires participated in the Graduate School杏吧专区檚 2020-2021 Three Minute Thesis (3MT庐) competition. Her presentation of this research won third place in the campus-wide event.
She was also the recipient of the Department of Communication杏吧专区檚 Outstanding Graduate Thesis/Project Award and the Brad Wedlock Communication Scholarship.
杏吧专区淢s. Pires杏吧专区 dedication to research, her clarity of conceptual thinking, and her academic rigor have made her work an excellent model of communication science,杏吧专区 Waters says.
Connecting with Community
Pires decided to pursue a master杏吧专区檚 degree in the United States after completing her bachelor杏吧专区檚 degree in journalism from Pontif铆cia Universidade Cat贸lica de Campinas.
杏吧专区淲hen looking for different programs around the United States, the program at UL Lafayette stood out to me due to the curriculum of the course, the affordability of the program, and most of all, because of the professors that I had the chance to speak with before making my decision to apply at UL Lafayette,杏吧专区 she says.
杏吧专区淭he welcoming environment from all the professors and the recruiting members was definitely a strong factor when selecting the master杏吧专区檚 degree program.杏吧专区
During her time at UL Lafayette, Pires became involved with the International Student Council (ISC) and was a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Communication.
Since graduating, she has been volunteering at the Rotaract Club of Lafayette, which works with UL Lafayette students to help community members in need, while pursuing permanent residency in the U.S.
As she looks ahead to her future career plans, Pires notes that 杏吧专区渢he experiences I had at UL Lafayette helped me shape my interests and career goals. It gave me a glimpse of the world of education with the aspect of teaching, which is something I have always wanted to do.杏吧专区
杏吧专区淐onnecting with professors, staff members, and peers allowed me to be a part of a creative community, helping me better understand the opportunities that are ahead of me.杏吧专区