2017 CMM Learning Exchange Fellows

This year, AC4 awarded the following 3 graduate student fellowships to participate in the 6th Annual Learning Exchange focused on the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM). This Learning Exchange focuses on “Minding the Gap”: Creating New Space for Coherence, taking place in London, England on October 23-24, 2017.

Photo of Laura E.R. Peters

Laura E. R. Peters
Oregon State University 
Post-conflict transformations

Laura E. R. Peters conducts research on post-conflict peacebuilding and post-disaster recovery in Nepal, and she plans to incorporate CMM Models into understanding disparate visions of transformation. Laura previously conducted fieldwork in Nepal working with the reintegration of former female child soldiers into civilian life as well as in the Dominican Republic where she designed a peace education curriculum and community dialogues in conflict transformation. Laura is a Ph.D. student of Geography and holds two Master’s Degrees in International Peace and Conflict Resolution and International Development and Cooperation from American University and Korea University, respectively.

Photo of Julianne Parayo

Julianne Parayo
Teachers College | Columbia University
Choral Music and Political Reflections

Julianne Parayo is a Master’s student in the International Educational Development program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Music, and prior to her studies at Teachers College, was a 2014-2016 Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship grantee to Poland. In July 2017, she will conduct ethnographic research on choral music as a dialogical and peacebuilding medium addressing political violence in the Philippines. Through the CMM Learning Exchange, she hopes to investigate choral music education and practices as socially responsive literacy within the CMM theoretical framework, and will examine the semiotic parameters of collective singing as tools for conciliatory and reflexive communication in formal educational spheres in conflict-rife spaces.

Photo of Tahleen Wright

Tahleen Wright
University at Buffalo
Bridging Language Barriers between Interpreter, Patient, and Physician at End-of-Life

Tahleen Wright is currently working on her Master’s degree in Communication at the University at Buffalo, and has previously studied Communication and Linguistics with a focus on language and cognition. Having been involved in the Palliative Care Institute at Hospice Buffalo and studying American Sign Language, her research interests involve looking at Deaf patients at end-of-life, interpersonal conflict in healthcare interactions, and how language barriers can impact the achievement of a “good death”. While the goal of having a dignified or peaceful death is an idealistic wish of many, sometimes due to barriers such as language, this goal can be impeded. Therefore, her project focuses on the creation of more meaningful, purposeful interactions between Deaf patients, physicians, and interpreters, and how CMM can aid in the treatment of patients as well as in the construction of better narratives to give patients and their families the care they need and deserve at end-of-life.