Murray State's Digital Commons

Presentation Title

Encouraging International Students to Embrace Research and Creative Activity

Presenter Information

Melony Shemberger, Murray State UniversityFollow

ORCID ID

orcid.org/0000-0001-8963-3389

Author Biography

Dr. Melony Shemberger is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communications.

Prior to teaching in 2013 at Murray State, she served eight years as the assistant director of communication in the public relations and marketing office at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. Her PR work was recognized consistently by the Tennessee College Public Relations Association and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, better known as CASE. She also was an adjunct faculty member in the APSU Department of Communication, APSU College of Business, and the Murray State Department of Educational Studies, Leadership and Counseling.

Shemberger has published in various peer-reviewed publications and industry guidebooks. Her research interests include journalism history, pedagogy, and freedom of information issues.

Shemberger was named a 2014 Business Journalism Professors Seminar Fellow. One of 14 faculty members from across the nation, she completed her fellowship at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in Phoenix. At Murray State, she is a Provost Faculty Teaching Fellow, presenting workshops and writing articles that focus on pedagogy and course redesign.

Before entering academia, Shemberger had successful, award-winning reporting careers, covering the education and court beats. She continues to write and work on special projects as a freelance writer and graphic designer for area newspapers, specializing in education reporting. Since 2000, she has received many reporting and page design awards from the Kentucky Press Association, with her most recent honor in 2015 for investigative reporting.

She is a lifetime member of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the top academic interdisciplinary honor society in the nation and on campus, where she serves as Murray State’s vice president. She also serves on a national advisory council for Phi Kappa Phi’s Forum magazine. She holds memberships in several other academic honor societies.

Shemberger has a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University, where she double majored in mass communication, and history and government; a master’s in mass communication from Murray State; a master’s in management from Austin Peay; and a doctorate in administration and supervision, with a concentration in higher education, from Tennessee State University.

Abstract

Research opportunities can provide quality student experiences. However, research often is a challenge that many international students face because the opportunities in their native countries to write papers or work on projects are not encouraged or reinforced. International students, like home students, should have a research portfolio representing a variety of scholarly and creative work. For those who wish to pursue graduate studies, research is imperative in graduate education. This presentation will discuss further this dilemma, offer ways to help international students improve their understanding of research, showcase best practices based on basic research project ideas, to encourage greater research participation, and guide faculty to develop research outcomes in their courses for international students to embrace as part of their research portfolio.

Session Type

Poster

Learning Objectives

1. Faculty participants will gain an understanding of the reasons why research might be uncomfortable territory for international students.

2. Faculty participants will learn ways they can help international students understand and apply research concepts and projects with ease.

3. Faculty participants will develop research outcomes in their courses for international students to embrace and include in their research portfolio.