April May 2022 College News

1 Kirara Nagatsuka and Manu Pokharel at Texas State’s Translational Health Scholar Showcase 2 Alexandria Blott, Roseann Mandziuk, and Rasika Gasti at the the Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention 3 Faculty with students Rasika Gasti and Alexandria Blott at the the Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention 8 | April & May | College News COMMUNICATION STUDIES Communication Studies, Health Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Leadership Studies, Organizational Communication, Persuasive Communication, Political Communication, & Teacher Certif ication in Communication Studies FACULTY ACCOLADES Ann Burnette became Vice President of the Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) during its Annual Convention in Greenville, S.C. She will plan next year’s Annual Convention in St. Petersburg, FL. She and Rebekah Fox received a Top Paper award from the SSCA Freedom of Speech Division for their paper "Te Politicization of Protests and Protection: Te Major Free Speech Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic." Ann was also interviewed for the Podcast, "Te Medium is the Message," about the Southern States Communication Association Conference in Greenville, South Carolina. Michael Burns delivered a three-day training program on executive presence and public speaking for London-based engineering frm Smiths, working with the organization's emerging leaders. He also delivered a two-part training on organizational change and value setting for the Campus Recreation staf at Texas State. Elizabeth Eger was invited for a virtual presentation for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on ethnographic research, positionality, and reimagining "failures" in feldwork. Her graduate organizational communication seminar welcomed four visiting scholars who shared fndings from their research and discussed graduate students' questions about theories, methods, and praxis. Kristen Farris received the Top Paper award from the Instructional Development Division of the Southern States Communication Association for "Faculty Resilience and Uncertainty Management Amidst Pandemic Pedagogy." She also presented on a panel entitled, "Building College Students' Resilience through Family Communication" through the Interpersonal Communication Division of SSCA. Marian Houser received the Top Paper award from the Instructional Development Division of the Southern States Communication Association for "Faculty Resilience and Uncertainty Management Amidst Pandemic Pedagogy." Josh Miller’s Rhetoric, Race, and Memory class visited and toured the Calaboose African American History Museum in March. Te students learned about local San Marcos history and how people communicate about the past in ways that inform our present and collective future. Manu Pokharel presented “Stories of Regret and Death: A Social Media Experiment” at Texas State’s Translational Health Scholar Showcase. [1] Manu also published “Death Narratives, Negative Emotion, and Counterarguing: Testing Fear, Anger, and Sadness as Mechanisms of Efect” in the Journal of Health Communication . Lindsay Timmerman published “Stigmatized Disclosure in Close Relationships," a chapter in the Handbook of Research on Communication Strategies for Taboo Topics . STUDENT ACCOLADES Many students presented their paper's at the Undergraduate Honors Conference during the Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention in Greenville, S.C. Alexandria Blott presented the paper “Shame Switches Sides: Te Resurgence of the #MeToo Movement in France to Combat Incestual Abuse.” Undergraduate student Rasika Gasti presented “Te Women's Temperance Crusade: A Persuasive Evaluation of Its Functions, Strategies, and Tactics.” M.A. student Mary Katie Tigert presented the “Dudley's Dixie Night: A Rhetorical Analysis of Anne Dudley's Speech at the National American Woman Sufrage Convention.” M.A. Student Elizabeth Yanas presented “Altering Public Memory: Contemporary Eforts to Transform the Aesthetics of Concentration Camps.” [2 - 3] Tree students presented their paper's at the 13th annual International Research Conference for graduate students sponsored by Texas State. M.A. student Kyle Chitwood presented “Magic Mushrooms and Magical Arguments: Exploring the Claims of "Fantastic Fungi." M.A. student Madeleine Field presented “Taking the bi out of Invisibility: Advocating for the Bisexual Community through Consciousness-Raising.” M.A. student Gabby Garza presented “Handle with Scare: Re-defning the Final Girl in Horror: A Training for Horror Writers.” M.A. student Kirara Nagatsuka presented “Stories of Regret and Death: A Social Media Experiment” to the Translational Health Scholar Showcase at Texas State. [1] Te Communication Studies Graduate Association (CSGA) held an event about local advocacy and activism. Te organization invited Bobcat Alum, Sam Benavides , to talk about how she uses what she learned in her Communication Studies classes at her job, which centers on local advocacy. Community organizing and local activism rely on a wide array of communication skills, including much of what students have been learning about in their courses. ALUMNI ACCOLADES M.A. alum Luke Dye received the Top Paper award from the Instructional Development Division of the Southern States Communication Association for "Faculty Resilience and Uncertainty Management Amidst Pandemic Pedagogy." M.A. alum Nancy Heise presented “Nora Ephron and Hope for Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Was 2021 the New 1996?” at the Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention in Greenville, S.C. M. A. alum Ifeoluwatobi Odunsi received the Top Paper award from the Instructional Development Division of the Southern States Communication Association for "Faculty Resilience and Uncertainty Management Amidst Pandemic Pedagogy." Te LBJ Debate Society and Elton Abernathy Forensics Society, Texas State’s competitive speech and forensics team, competed in two virtual tournaments over Spring Break: Te International Forensics Association (IFA) Championship Tournament, and the National Online Championships (NOC). Te LBJ Debate Society and Elton Abernathy Forensics Society are coached by College of Fine Arts and Communication | 9