Dr. Chris Boulton, UT Professor of Communication, guided a discussion today about race and racial inequality in major advertising campaigns with a small group of Honors students (~20). Dr. Boulton introduced the topic by noting that three of the most popular SuperBowl ads in 2021 featured almost entirely Black cast members but were produced by almost entirely White crews (like this one). The students then discussed why this might be the case and what this ultimately tells us about racial equality. Below is another ad that featured a mostly Black cast but was produced by a mostly White crew.
Honors Thesis – Beck Lazansky, Thomas Krumpter, Noah McNair, Flavia Mandatori
Four graduating Honors students recently presented their Honors Theses as an Honors symposium. Beck Lazansky talked about her memoir project. Thomas Krumpter used his Honors thesis to analyze job postings for Systems Analysts and contrasted the stated requirements with the current curricular expectations of training programs. Noah McNair was involved in a Behind The Scenes film project that was quite revealing of how modern motion pictures are made. Flavia Mandatori looked at gender and criminal behavior. All four of the students have put in long hours to bring these theses to fruition.
Symposium – Ryan Welch – Police Militarization
Dr. Ryan Welch, from UT’s Political Science department, presented on his research related to police militarization to the UT Honors students. Dr. Welch explained that most police officers favor militarization, though support varies in some interesting ways. In particular, white police officers and police officers who hold more racist views, are more likely to favor police militarization than are non-white police officers and less racist officers. His research has been highlighted in various news outlets.
