NovDec2021_CollegeNews

Justin Garcia (B.A., 2010) giving his presentation, “Rapport Building at Work: What Executive Presence Really Means” Cara Gustafson (B.A., 2016) Pumpkin carving contest sponsored by the Communication Studies Graduate Association 8 | November & December | College News 4 5 6 College of Fine Arts and Communication | 9 Messages and Self-Disclosure in the Classroom” to the Instructional Communication Division of NCA. She also delivered a presentation entitled "The Transition is Difficult: Student-Veteran Academic Needs & Implications for Instructional Communication Training.” Marian presented “Renewing and Transforming the Student-Teacher Interpersonal Relationship in the Era of COVID-19” with Kristen Farris . Maureen Keeley presented “Communicating Health in Personal Relationships” to the annual conference of the National Communication Association. Manu Pokharel published “Death narratives, negative emotion, and counterarguing: Testing fear, anger, and sadness as mechanisms of effect” in Journal of Health Communication . She presented “Visual Tailoring and Skin Cancer Prevention: Comparing Personalized, Stock, and Non-Ultraviolet Images” to the annual conference of the National Communication Association with M.A. alum Sophia Taylor-Burton . C. Erik Timmerman presented “Restoring the Teacher- Student Relationship amidst Turbulence” with Marian Houser and Kristen Farris as a Top Paper in the Instructional Communication Division. ALUMNI ACCOLADES M.A. alum Luke Dye presented "Anchors Aweigh: Organizational Communication in the United States Navy" to the annual conference of the National Communication Association. M.A. alum Livia Hendrickson and M.A. student Carlissia Hamilton presented “Is the NBA Strictly for Profit, Progressive, or Both? An Applied Analysis of the NBA's Organizational Communication about Black Lives Matter" to the annual conference of the National Communication Association. The Career Readiness Program, led by Dr. Michael Burns , hosted several events this semester, all featuring Texas State Alumni: • Justin Garcia (B.A., 2010) presented “Rapport Building at Work: What Executive Presence Really Means.” [4] Justin works for Amazon Web Services as a Lead on their Latin America, Canada, and Caribbean development team. His presentation included walking the audience through parts of trainings he facilitates for AWS’ Sales University. • Cara Gustafson (B.A., 2016) [5] presented, “It’s Not Me, It’s You: Political Communication in the Legislature, Governmental Affairs, and Being a Spokesperson." Cara served as the Communications Director for State Representative Garnet Coleman in the Texas House of Representatives from 2017-2019 and is currently the Communications Specialist at Public Blueprint. • Rob Patterson (B.A., 1986) presented “An Ear to the Ground: What Top Companies Have Said to Me About the Value of Communication Skills in the Workplace," sharing what he has learned working with some of the nation’s top companies and business leaders. Dr. Patterson is an Associate Professor in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and his professional experiences include advertising and business development, executive management and leadership, and postsecondary accreditation/compliance in Washington, D.C. • Felipe Romero (B.A., 2013) presented “Leading Through Crisis” as part of a two-part event co- sponsored by the Career Services office at Texas State. Felipe serves as Director of Communications and Marketing for the City of Brownsville, and he shared his experiences in leading the City of Brownsville through crises including hurricanes, the pandemic, and the February 2021 winter storm. Crisis communication and planning are parts of many industries and an expectation for many career paths. Mr. Romero also talked about the value of soft skills, or what he calls “Power Skills,” when leading groups and teams. The second part of the event featured a preview of the Career & Coffee Expo that took place in the Rio Grande Valley on November 15th. This career expo featured more than 1,500 job opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley in many fields including: communication, healthcare, engineering, transportation, human resources, government, and skilled trades. Organizations such as SpaceX, the City of Brownsville, SteelCoast, Southwest Key, and many others were represented at the career expo. STUDENT ACCOLADES M.A. student Kirara Nagatsuka presented “Objects that Spark Joy in the U.S. and Japan” to the annual conference of the National Communication Association. M.A. student Tyshee Sonnier presented “Free Churros and Epideictic Rhetoric” to the annual conference of the National Communication Association. DEPARTMENT ACCOLADES The Communication Studies Graduate Association hosted the Communication 1310 Diversity Event in response to the many requests to have an event focused on discussing Comm 1310’s diversity activity over the past year. The workshop began with a presentation by Dr. Josh Miller highlighting some introductory rhetoric of diversity concepts then moved to a group discussion about how to best conduct the diversity activity and integrate diversity and inclusion in Comm 1310. CSGA also hosted a National Communication Association practice session, giving students and faculty members the opportunity to practice their presentations for the annual conference and receive supportive feedback. During the week of Halloween, CSGA sponsored a costume contest and a pumpkin carving contest with a panel of judges and prizes for the best costumes and pumpkins. [6] CSGA closed out the semester by sponsoring a clothing and canned food drive for the holidays. Josh Miller published "Bolstering Bayard Rustin: Collaborative apologia, heteronormativity, and the 1963 March on Washington" in the Southern Communication Journal . #FACULTYSPOTLIGHT