January February 2021 College News

TEDx Texas State University 2021 speaker, Melodie Graves TEDx Texas State University 2021 speaker, Marcus Peoples TEDx Texas State University 2021 speaker, Shailen Singh 8 | January & February | College News 4 5 6 students to stand up and defend what it means to be a communication studies major, discuss their goals, highlight some of their plans to reach these goals, and talk about what they learned from the alumni mentors this semester.Students Presenting were Harrison Webster , Cameron Escalante , Alyssa Milo , Isabella Connell , Chloe Achille , Mackenzie de la Garza , Dylan Baker , Neva Sjule , Princess Hall Audrey Lopez , Nisha McDonald , and Ashley Mann . The Department of Communication Studies thanks the TEDx Committee for their hard work in putting together the first virtual TEDx event at Texas State. The committee members were: Michael Burns , Kristen Farris , Cassandra LeClair , Mark Paz and Ann Burnette . Student interns are Riki Van Meter (graduate), Justin Murphy (graduate), Claudia Rodriguez (undergraduate), and Isi Imoisi (undergraduate). TEDX 2021 SPEAKERS Melodie Graves [4] is the 2nd Vice President of the Amarillo Branch NAACP, also serving as the ACT- SO and Youth Chairwoman, Scholarship Committee Chair, and plans community engagement events for the branch. Melodie also serves as the Vice-President of Solidarity isn't Silent. In her spare time, Melodie serves as a community advocate helping children and their parents find important resources and working to eradicate poverty through educational programs and community unity building events. Sean Huiet took over as head coach for the Bobcat volleyball program during 2020 season after spending 14 seasons as the assistant coach/associate head. Since joining the staff in 2006, Huiet has helped guide Texas State to 10 total championship titles, half with the Southland Conference and the other half with the Sun Belt Conference. Huiet is spoke at TEDx about his journey as an openly gay father of an adopted black son and how he is navigating those roles as a Division I head coach. Jennifer Johnson is a content creator for the IT Assistance Center at Texas State University. Online, Jennifer openly shares her experiences of what it is like to be an Autistic BIPOC, and how her late diagnosis helped her to truly understand herself. She spends her free time teaching yoga, furthering her martial arts studies, playing drums and singing in various bands, and acting as a fierce neurodiversity advocate. Qy’Darrius McEachern is a DEI speaker, consultant, and content creator who has committed himself to researching and educating people on the systemic oppressions impacting us every single day through an antiracist lens. He is the founder of McEachernSpeaks, which specializes in providing an impactful experience through consultations, workshops, and conversations aimed at leading organizations to analyze unjust systems and create equitable spaces. Marcus Peoples [ 5 ] published a children’s book called Proud to Be In Between , which helps children embrace their cultural identity and empowers parents to normalize the difficult conversations of race and ethnicity. He has been an advocate for his community rooted in humble beginnings and strives to become a vessel of opportunity for all those he encounters. Shailen Singh [6] is an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational, Workforce & Leadership Studies at Texas State University with a research focus on issues affecting parents of children with disabilities. Dr. Singh has spent several years working with faculty, staff, and outside constituents to create thoughtful structures designed to provide underrepresented students with the best opportunities for success. Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez is the founder of two of Texas' largest voting and civil rights organizations: Jolt and Workers Defense Project. Cristina is a leading civil rights leader and former 2020 U.S. Senate candidate. She is an author on issues of race, gender and immigration, and she is the co-author of Presente! Latino Immigrant Voices in the Struggle for Racial Justice . She was named “Hero of the New South” by Southern Living Magazine and her work has been featured on NPR, Vogue , and The New York Times , among others. The Department of Communication Studies proudly hosted its 5th TEDx event in February, focusing on the theme: Amplify. The last year has been filled with noise. Unfortunately, through all the noise, some ideas and voices are not heard. The purpose of this year’s TEDx was to amplify these voices. This virtual event featured innovative ideas from a variety of speakers who’s talks embrace and amplify underrepresented voices, under-served communities, or ideas that we now take for granted. The 2021 speakers came from diverse backgrounds who are driven to create change, solve problems, and question current standards. Their talks represented a variety of fields and perspectives including technology, health, the arts, media, social science, the humanities, and the hard sciences. TED X TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY College of Fine Arts and Communication | 9