Communications professor gains national, international recognition

San Steven Bolkan may be one of a few professors on campus who encourages students to voice their grievances about their teachers.

Bolkan, who has been a member of Cal State Long Beach’s Department of Communication Studies since 2009, received recognition from the Eastern, National and International Communication associations for three papers he co-authored.

The papers examine the relationship between students and teachers, specifically in relation to communication.

Sharon Downey, interim chair of communications studies, said that although the communications department has always had highly productive researchers and scholars, in only three years Bolkan has managed to raise the bar much higher.

“It is exceedingly difficult to earn awards or top paper honors at our national and regional conventions,” she said. “The fact that Bolkan was recognized for three different articles at three different conventions in the same year is testimony to his credibility and the influence of his work in our discipline.”

Bolkan said that although it feels good to be recognized by one’s peers, it feels better to know that his work could have an effect on the campus community.

“What we are doing has the potential to help educators facilitate student learning in their classrooms,” he said.

In the papers, Bolkan affirms that by voicing their concerns, students facilitate progress by signaling potential areas of improvement to their professors.

“College instructors may believe they are doing a fine job in the classroom,” Bolkan said, “[but] complaining to instructors gives them the potential to fix individual student problems and to change global teaching practices.”

Bolkan said the first paper, which he co-authored with one other author, examines why students do not provide constructive feedback to their professors, even when this could potentially benefit their classroom experiences.

The paper was recognized in April at the Eastern Communication Association conference, which was established in 1910 and is the oldest professional association of communication studies scholars in the U.S., according to the ECA website.

Bolkan said they found through this study that there are two main reasons why students don’t voice their discontent: they often think complaining won’t amount to much, and they believe that their teachers are unapproachable.

“We hope that professors who read this study will come to appreciate student feedback, not [see it] as threatening communication,” Bolkan said.

The second paper, which Bolkan co-authored with two other authors, grapples with humor in the classroom and was recognized this month in London at the International Communication Association conference.

The third paper, which stemmed from Bolkan’s co-author and graduate student Jennifer Holmgren’s thesis, looks at students’ perceptions of how instructors respond to their dissatisfaction. It will be recognized at the National Communication Association conference in November, according to Bolkan.

Holmgren, who graduated in spring 2013 with a master’s degree in communication studies, said she and Bolkan found that students who voiced their concerns cared more about how they were treated than about the outcome of their complaints.

Bolkan said he hopes to inspire the student population through his papers to speak out if they are unhappy.

“Complaining to friends and family may help people build social support for their positions and make them feel better, but it will never fix students’ situations,” Bolkan said. “If students want their dissatisfaction to be fixed, they have to give professors a chance to address their issues.”

Bolkan also said that he laments the saying “no news is good news”; he instead encourages professors to see a lack of feedback as detrimental to academic progress.

“Ultimately, we want professors to welcome student feedback, and we want them to be able to handle their students’ concerns in an appropriate manner,” he said. “Doing these things is crucial to student success in a university setting.”