| 1998-99 marks the fourth year of existence for the Center for Environmental Communication Studies. As you will find in the stories that follow, CECS researchers and students are examining a wide variety of issues and problems related to environmental communication, including risk communication, communication in environmental organizations, and public involvement in environmental decision-making.Once again this year, CECS efforts have resulted in a number of research publications and presentations, as well as over $100,000 in research grants awarded by government and industry sponsors. | 
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An increasing amount of CECS activity is devoted to local and regional environmental concerns. CECS faculty and staff are getting involved with a growing number of community organizations that focus on the environment, including the Hamilton County Environmental Action Commission, the Greater Cincinnati Environmental Educators, and the Ohio Environmental Council. We are devoting a great deal of energy to local grassroots initiatives to improve community access to environmental information and decision-making tools. An example of such an initiative is the effort underway to establish a regional Environmental Resource Center. We are also following an emerging environmental controversy in the city of Marion, Ohio, located 150 miles north of Cincinnati. These activities not only contribute to the teaching and research capabilities of CECS faculty, staff, and students, but they also fulfill a community service dimension that is vital to the CECS mission.
CECS faculty and staff continue to conduct research related to the Department of Energy's environmental remediation actitivies at nuclear weapons production facilities in Ohio and elsewhere. Featured in this newsletter are the current organizational communication research efforts of Professor Gail Fairhurst. Fairhurst is examining issues related to workforce restructuring at environmental remediation sites. We are also pleased to have played a role in the formation of a Communication and Nuclear Weapons Research Group. The group has established a listserv and intends to develop collaborative research efforts related to environmental and other dimensions of America's nuclear weapons complex.
CECS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of UC Communication Professor Emeritus Rudolph Verderber, whose gift to the department made it possible to bring J. Robert Cox, well-known environmental communication scholar and national leader of the Sierra Club, to our campus in April. We also want to welcome a new faculty member, John Delicath, to the University of Cincinnati and to CECS. Starting this Fall, John will add his interest in environmental justice issues to our team of scholars and teachers. In all, 1998-99 has been a busy and satisfying year. We are hopeful that next year, the fifth for CECS, will be even more exciting.
Last modified on May 24, 1999
