2026 Organizational Sciences and Communication Newsletter
Message from the Chair
Department Spotlights
Faculty Kudos
Alumni Class Notes
Message from the Chair
Happy spring!
It's been another busy year in the Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication (OSC) and it’s my pleasure to share some of what’s been going on here with you in this newsletter.
April at GW means the CCAS Research Showcase, and we had 11 individuals and teams present their work this year on a wide variety of cutting-edge topics. April also means the annual IO Psychology conference in New Orleans, with seven doctoral students and two faculty presenting 10 different projects, three of which won awards in their sections for being top-rated proposals. That conference will be in National Harbor, just outside D.C., next year, so put April 15-17 on your calendar. We'll be hosting another social get together and would love to have you join us!
We treasure our alumni and hope that you will continue to keep in touch with the department. We love to hear from our alums. kayli [dot] britos
gwu [dot] edu (Email us) if you prefer!
Best,
Lynn Offermann
Professor and Chair
Department Spotlights
CCAS 2026 Research Showcase: OSC Team
Eleven groups of our undergraduate students presented at this year’s CCAS Research Showcase in the Grand Ballrooms of the University Student Center! Nine of these were mentored by Gracie Schirle in our OS Senior Seminar, one by Meina Liu in communication and one by Yisheng Peng in the IO Doctoral Program. The event was covered in the CCAS Spotlight newsmagazine.
IO Psychology Hosts Alumni at 2026 SIOP Conference
IO doctoral students and faculty gathered in New Orleans on April 29-May 2 to host a well-attended social event for alumni with current students and faculty. It was great to see alums from different eras get together and become reacquainted! We plan to do this again next year when the conference is in National Harbor outside of D.C. Hope you can join us in mid April!
Communication News
Communication majors continue to excel in the classroom, with internships and in winning awards! Senior Hannah Burch was awarded the Isaac Davis Scholarship and junior Julia Roses won the Capital Speakers Scholarship this school year. This year’s Henigan-Stevens Communication Award was presented to graduating senior Hannah Lane for outstanding work in her Professional Communication class. The St. Johns County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller made a special video appearance at the comm senior sendoff lunch in May to announce that Hannah won the award for the public service announcement she created for class that was used in their property fraud prevention campaign. Hannah’s PSA was featured in six media publications, aired on Florida radio stations throughout summer 2025 and helped generate more than 5K property fraud prevention registrations. Way to go!
Graduation!
We gave 50 degrees this year at three different graduation ceremonies, including one doctoral degree at the hooding ceremony on May 14, five MA degrees on May 15 and 45 BA degrees on May 16. After Commencement on the May 16, we hosted a party for graduates and their families to celebrate student achievements.
Faculty Kudos
A huge shoutout to Dr. Nils Olsen for being awarded the prestigious and highly competitive Bender Teaching Award for his outstanding undergraduate teaching. We knew this all along, but university-wide recognition was long overdue. Well done, Nils!!
Dr. Wendy Riemann published an article in Health Communication titled, “Social Support Seeking, Appraisals of Work-Life Balance, and Their Associations with Depressive Symptoms During COVID-19.”
While we’re talking about health, Dr. YoungJu Shin published an article titled, “Community, family, peer, and personal factors associated with adolescent mental health in Nicaraguan post-crisis context” in the Journal of Research on Adolescence.
And…Dr. Yisheng Peng published a paper on “How can flexibility i-deals benefit employees with eldercare responsibilities” in Occupational Health Science.
Kudos to the following for presenting their research at SIOP 2026, with:
- *Bisbey, T., Linhardt, R. M., Woods-Herron, A., & Salas, E. (2026). Considering context: How novel perspectives in safety training forge new frontiers.
- Traylor, J. M. (Chair), & Bisbey, T. (Co-Chair) (2026). From silence to backlash: The costs of diversity resistance and how to move forward
- *Seo, C. M. L., Offermann, L. R., Lapp, G., Gyamfi, J. A. A. V., & Peng, Y. (2025). Menopausal symptom latent profiles: Subtypes of the menopausal workplace experience
- Chakrabarti, A., Offermann, L. R., Gyamfi, J., & Lapp, G. (2026). Moderators affecting diversity climate’s relationship with positive work outcomes.
- Schirle, G., Peng, Y., & Offermann, L. R. (2026). Boomers, work, and retirement: Navigating the process [Poster].
- *Schirle, G., Momcilovic, P., & Bisbey, T. (2026). The cost of being unheard: How leaders shape employee well-being over time.
- Lapp, G., Peng, Y., Taneva, S.K., Chakrabarti, A., Krissel, V., Fujisawa, R., & Li, Z. (2026). Leadership and aging uncertainty: The roles of uncertainty regulation strategies in leaders’ successful aging.
- Harris-Watson, A. M., Masser, J., Romero, M., & Bisbey, T. (2026). Moving beyond personality configurations to schemas with implicit teammate theories
- Schirle, G., Peng, Y., Zhan, J., & Zhang, W. (2026) Reframing eldercare: The role of challenge appraisals in supporting thriving at work.
- Momcilovic, P. H., Peng, Y., Taneva, S. K., & Fujisawa, R. (2026). Approach-avoidance job crafting and employee late-career development [Poster].
*top-rated proposals
Alumni Class Notes
- Ric Trimillos, MS ’02, completed a 25-year-career in the U.S. Air Force. In his last assignment he served as the director of international affairs for Europe and Africa. Today he has settled in Colorado Springs where he heads three local nonprofits while staying engaged with his four kids’ activities and supports his wife’s career.