March 2024 College News

will help employees at public and nonprofit mental health service agencies create dashboards to share compelling narratives about the state of mental health in Central Texas for grants and policy briefs. Stephanie also welcomed Elissa Fontenot, Digital Marketing Director at TXST, as a guest lecturer in her Social Media in Organizations class, sharing insights on her role and career advice to students. [1] Elizabeth K. Eger and her COMM M.A. research assistants Johnny Vasallo , Allister McNally , and Anca Tonciu , along with Rex Long and COMM alumnus Rowan Lampert presented a research poster, "A pilot study introducing how rural Texas librarians can convene community resiliency collaborations" at the Texas State University Health Scholar Showcase hosted by the Translational Health Research Center. [2] Nikki Saldivar Hodgson published an article in the Edible Rio Grande Valley magazine entitled, “One State at a Time.” The piece chronicles her culinary adventures to the Great Lakes and Midwest as she pursues her goal of visiting all 50 states. Marek Muller published “ Long live the liver king: Right-wing carnivorism and the digital dissemination of primal rhetoric” in Frontiers in Communication . Mark Paz received the Presidential Distinction Award for Teaching and will represent the College of Fine Arts and Communication as a nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. Manu Pokharel published “Exploring appropriateness as a topic avoidance motivation: The influence of familial and social norms” in the Journal of Family Communication . She also published “Political party collective norms, perceived norms, and mask-wearing behavior: A test of the theory of normative social behavior” in Health Communication . Manu also received the College Achievement Award for Scholarly/ Creative Activity. Braiden Touchette and Gabe Cortez served as Emcees for TedX 2024. Braiden is a junior at Texas State majoring in political science. She is involved in Move Texas, Model UN/OAS, and the Undergraduate Research Journal and is passionate about political advocacy, civic engagement, and international issues. Gabe is an alumnus and current graduate student in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas State. He has been performing stand-up since 2017 with the Texas State Comedy Association. He created a monthly showcase at the Fallout Theater and has hosted the Laughing Dead Comedy Open Mic at Wake the Dead Coffee House for the last two years. [3] The Department of Communication Studies would like to thank the following: THE TEDX LEADERSHIP TEAM: 1. Kristen Farris - Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies serves as the Event Director and TEDx License Holder. [4] 2. Mark Paz - Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies serves as the Creative Director. 3. Hannah Collazo - Lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies serves as the Director of Speaker Experience. 4. Prisca Ngondo - Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication serves as the Communications Director. 5. Youjeong Kim - Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication serves as the Director of Videography. Finally, we would like to thank HealthyCats, Students Against Violence, and the Counseling Center for setting up tables during registration and the break for the audience to learn more about how these organizations can help develop individual and community-level resolve. 2024 SPEAKERS FOR TEDX AT TEXAS STATE Nadmi Adi is an assistant professor at Texas State University. He completed his doctoral studies in the field of virtual reality and obtained a master’s in architecture from the UK. Combining these two fields, he developed a passion to understand and test new buildings and building materials using virtual reality. He studies how people respond to different types of built environments using various virtual platforms as a medium. He has worked in several universities College of Fine Arts and Communication | 7 FACULTY ACCOLADES Jasmine Austin received the Presidential Distinction Award for Teaching and will represent the College of Fine Arts and Communication as a nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. Tricia Burke received the Presidential Distinction Award for Scholarly/Creative Activity and will represent the College of Fine Arts and Communication as the nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity. Tricia also had “The rare life: Examining parents’ grief, barriers, and facilitators associated with caring for medically complex children” accepted for presentation to the upcoming International Association for Relationship Research as well as for publication in the journal Health Communication . The piece was co-authored with Kristen Farris and Abigail (Mellow) Rubidoux . Ann Burnette received the Presidential Distinction Award for Service and will represent the College of Fine Arts and Communication as the nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Service. Stephanie Dailey received the Presidential Distinction Award for Teaching and will represent the College of Fine Arts and Communication as a nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. Stephanie was part of Team Visualizing Mental Health, selected to participate in the Texas State Innovation Lab and Reception at SXSW 2024. The team showcased their training program to be offered on the Zeus Certifications platform later this semester, which will equip participants with the knowledge and skills to build and use a customized mental health dashboard for their organization. The data visualization training 1 2 3 Stephanie Dailey was part of Team Visualizing Mental Health, selected to participate at SXSW 2024 Elizabeth K. Eger and her research assistants presented at the Texas State University Health Scholar Showcase Braiden Touchette and Gabe Cortez served as Emcees at TedX 2024 COMMUNICATION STUDIES Communication Studies, Health Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Leadership Studies, Organizational Communication, Persuasive Communication, Political Communication, & Teacher Certif ication in Communication Studies 6 | March 2024 | College News