October 2015 College News

Faculty Accolades Tricia Burke and her co-authors currently have two articles in press. The first will appear in the journal Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice , and concerns the relationship between commitment types and felt constraint in married couples. The second article focuses on weight-related social control and relationship quality and will be published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships . Ann Burnette and Wayne Kraemer published “Meeting the Demands of a Changing Electorate: The Political Rhetoric of Julian Castro and Marco Rubio” in the Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation . Rebekah Fox and co-author published “The Rhetorical Construction of Food Waste in US Public Discourse” in Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal . Sean Horan and Father Peter Raposo published an article entitled “Priest as Teacher III: Parishioners’ Responsiveness and Priests’ Vocational Qualities” in Communication Quarterly . Maureen Keeley and co-authors published two articles concerning end-of-life communication. The first was entitled “When Talking is Difficult: Nonverbal Communication at the End of Life” and appears in the Journal of Family Communication . The second, “The Challenges of Final Conversations: Dialectical Tensions during End-of-Life Family Communication from Survivors Retrospective Accounts,” was published in the Southern Communication Journal . Maureen is considered a leader in the field of end-of-life communication and was invited to co-author two chapters to Communication at the End of Life , an edited book. Maureen also authored encyclopedia entries appearing in the International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication . COMMUNICATION STUDIES Dennis Payne delivered a presentation to the College Academic Support Programs (CASP) conference in Allen, Texas entitled, “Gauging the Professional Development Needs of Instructors: Gap Analysis & Needs Assessment.” The presentation addressed the analysis of knowledge gaps as part of a professional development needs assessment by establishing the level of expertise of instructors and determining what skills they need and how to deliver training to address those needs. Philip Salem’s recently published book, Human Communication Technology , will be available as an e-book for spring 2016. Philip also published a forthcoming encyclopedia entry entitled, “Communication Management” in the International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication. Melinda Villagran , Paul Villagran (SJMC) , and Marsha Burney were recently awarded a new grant worth $899,702 over three years from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Sexual Health Awareness and Risk Education (SHARE) program will deliver health communication programming and campaign messages aiming to reduce sexual health risk behaviors among LGBTQ and veteran students at Texas State. Student Accolades M.A. student Ben Clancy was honored with the Graduate School Thesis Award for his thesis proposal. The LBJ Debate Society and The Elton Abernathy Forensics Society hosted the 27th Annual Hill Country Swing Forensics Tournament in September. The team placed 5th overall at the second half of the tournament. Individual tournament honors went to Antonio Rivera , who placed first in Poetry Interpretation and 2nd in Duo Dramatic Interpretation with Jenna Brown . Jenna also placed 3rd in Informative Speaking and 3rd in Prose Interpretation. Micailah Nobles placed 3rd in Poetry Interpretation and 4th in Dramatic Interpretation. Alumni Accolades Shanna Schultz (M.A. 2015) was selected as one of two “Laureates” for the James L. Golden Award by the National Communication Association. She will present her paper, “Heroic Indians and Savage Pipelines: Symbolic Rituals, the Frontier Myth and Environmental Protest,” as part of a special program at the NCA Convention in Las Vegas this November. Kuro Tawil (B.A 2012) returned to Texas State University to speak to Rebekah Fox’s persuasion class. Mr. Tawil recounted the international journey that inspired him to found Kuros.org, a company that sells various products made in the United States and abroad. The proceeds from these sales are then donated to nongovernmental organizations around the world that supply women in need with pepper spray. C3 Michael Burns and Marian Houser planned and hosted the C3 Research Startup Weekend which had an excellent turnout. Twenty-five participants from all units of the College of Fine Arts and Communication worked on interdisciplinary research teams to solve problems. The teams developed a research proposal over 48 hours, worked with coaches, and presented to a panel of judges from academia and industry. The winning team featured both Rebekah Fox and Kristen LeBlanc from Communication Studies for their proposal, “From the Classroom to the Clinic,” which focused on creating experiential learning opportunities for nurses. The winning team of the C3 Research Startup: Dan Tamir (Computer Science), Rebekah Fox and Kristen Farris (Communication Studies), and Aimee Roundtree (English) Participants of the C3 Research Startup Weekend, planned and hosted by Marian Houser (front center) and Michael Burns (front far right)