Liberal Arts Fellows study, intern, travel abroad, and leap majors in a single bound!
Daniel Bishop | Brittany Bressler | Alexander Foss | Kelly Martin | Kerry Murchie
Kelly Martin ’12
When Kelly Martin, from Buxton, Maine, talks about her four years at UNH it’s about exploration. It helped that she found her niche when she took her first communication class. She changed majors, but was able to keep psychology as a minor.
As a communication major, she thought initially that she’d go into media and marketing and therefore added a business component to her degree. “I did two business internships and worked in an ad agency,” says Martin. “It was fun, but I didn’t see myself doing it for the rest of my life.”
As Martin continued her studies, Professor Sheila McNamee’s course, The Psychology of Communication, set her on a new path. “We talked a lot in that class about how meaning and knowledge is constructed through interaction between people,” says Martin. “The class itself focused on collaboration between students and how the narratives we develop help us to understand the material at hand. It was a great class.”
She also studied with Bobby Eckstein, a popular lecturer in psychology, who teaches using ideas similar to McNamee’s. “[Eckstein] has a way of creating dialogue in his classes,” says Martin. “Someone will ask a question, and the whole class will become engaged in a conversation.”
Her interest in dialogue and education led to her senior Honors thesis, “The Student-Consumer: Implications of a Metaphor on Higher Education.”
This year, Martin has been the editor-in-chief of Comm-entary, the Department of Communication’s undergraduate academic journal. The journal runs about 200 pages and contains eight regular articles in addition to a Forum section, which fields a topical question (it’s also available online). The question this time around was on cultural citizenship and engagement.
“I really enjoyed being editor,” says Martin. “Our editorial board was incredible. We clicked really fast, and I absolutely loved working with them.”
Students fund the journal through fundraisers and with critical support from the Student Activity Fee.
“There’s a lot of competition for monetary support from that fund,” notes Martin. “A lot depends on the presentation. We did well. I was very pleased.”
As part of completing a Leadership Certificate program, Martin co-facilitated a leadership workshop at an international conference and co-organized a road race for the UNH community that raised money for Japan disaster relief. Martin has also volunteered for Seacoast Reads, a literacy program in local schools. She has done all of this in addition to being a volunteer Admissions tour guide, a job she’s really enjoyed.
After graduation, Martin will work for City Year in Boston and then plans to go to graduate school in communication.
—Carrie Sherman
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