Each year, CSU celebrates the teaching, research, and service achievements of our students, alumni and friends, faculty, and staff as part of the Celebrate! Colorado State Awards. See all award recipients here.

The Department of Communication Studies is pleased to be home to two Celebrate! Colorado State award recipients this year. Professor Hye Seung Chung has received the prestigious Scholarship Impact Award, and Academic Success Coordinator Neely Santeramo has received the Jack E. Cermak Outstanding Advisor Award.

Hye Seung Chung

Chung is Professor of Film and Media Studies and an internationally renowned scholar of Hollywood history, Asian American identity, and South Korean media. Her work has encompassed and put into conversation such diverse fields as film studies, global media studies, history, Asian studies, ethnic studies, performance studies, feminist studies, and postcolonial studies.

Chung is one of two recipients of this year’s Scholarship Impact Award: Recent Achievement, which recognizes CSU faculty whose scholarship has had a major impact nationally and/or internationally. Since at least 2003, she is the first humanities faculty member and the first woman of color to win this award.

Chung’s scholarship has had a major impact on the field of film studies. She has authored or co-authored five books—with a sixth under contract—and over forty peer-reviewed journal articles or book chapters. In 2021-2022, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and spent the academic year in her native South Korea conducting research. With the meteoric rise in popularity of Korean film and TV—think Squid Game and Parasite—Chung has been interviewed by the likes of CNN and CBS.

“I feel extremely grateful and appreciative for what the OVPR did in terms of not simply recognizing my individual scholarship but also announcing to the whole campus that this university truly values DEI scholarship/teaching/service,” Chung says.

Much of Chung’s teaching and writing reframes American film historiography from a DEI perspective. This fall, she will once again teach her Asians in the U.S. Media course (SPCM 356). Her classes enable students to not only view media through a DEI lens, but to think critically about their own role in the cultures in which they live and participate.

The Scholarship Impact Award is evidence of Chung’s lauded and prolific career. We look forward to her future accomplishments, including her next book project on Netflix Korea.

Neely Santeramo

Santeramo is an Academic Success Coordinator working with students in the Communication Studies and Journalism and Media Communication majors.

Santeramo is one of three recipients of this year’s Jack E. Cermak Outstanding Advisor Award at CSU, which serves to highlight and reward the extraordinary efforts of outstanding advisors. She is also celebrating her tenth year of service at CSU this year.

“I’m honored to be a recipient of the Jack E. Cermak Outstanding Advisor Award for 2023 in recognition of my work as an Academic Success Coordinator at CSU for the past eight years,” Santeramo says. “I look forward to continuing to co-create valuable and fun college experiences with my students by leading with encouragement, humor, and empathy.”

A graduate of CSU, Santeramo earned her MA in English with an emphasis in creative nonfiction writing here after studying English at the University of Northern Colorado. She is passionate about students broadening their horizons and creating a community of tolerance, acceptance, and love.