UNT faculty available to discuss topics for first anniversary of Boston Marathon bombings

Monday, April 7, 2014 - 15:31

April 15 (Tuesday) will mark the first anniversary of the bombings at the Boston Marathon, which took place a short distance from the finish line and killed three and injured more than 260 people. The surviving suspect in the bombings is scheduled to stand trial beginning this November. 

The following University of North Texas faculty members are available to discuss topics related to the Boston Marathon bombings.

Samra Bufkins, lecturer of strategic communications in UNT's Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism, will discuss how Twitter and other social media were used to provide information about the bombing, and how social media has been used to provide information for similar breaking news stories since April 15, 2013.

Cell phone number: 214-708-5653
E-mail: samra.bufkins@unt.edu
Twitter: @samjb

Wendy Middlemiss, associate professor of educational psychology in the UNT College of Education, can discuss how parents can talk to their children about the Boston Marathon bombing anniversary, as the children see images from last year flashing on the screen again during the anniversary news coverage.

Middlemiss says anniversaries of tragic events "can often bring up stronger emotions than anticipated -- sometimes stronger emotions than an actual event."

"Often the emotions experienced are unexpected, making them harder to deal with," she says. She says that if parents know that their children have seen images of a past tragic event on television, parents should ask them what they are thinking about the tragedy, rather than presume what the children are thinking.

Cell phone number: 724-977-3067
E-mail: wendy.middlemiss@unt.edu.

Daniel Rodeheaver, chair of UNT's Department of Sociology and an associate professor, will discuss terrorism and possible motives for the bombing. He is the co-author of Modernity and Terrorism: From Anti-Modernity to Modern Global Terror, which analyzes the nature, types and causes of contemporary global terrorism.

Office phone number: 940-565-2296
E-mail: rodeheaver@unt.edu

UNT News Service
News_Service@unt.edu
(940) 565-2108