October 2016 College News

the Health Communication Division of the National Communication Association with its Distinguished Article of the Year for “Final conversations: Survivors’ memorable messages, concerning religious faith and spirituality” published in Health Communication in 2004. This award is given for an article that has demonstrated to have made a significant and innovative contribution to the field of Health Communication and has stood the test of time. Maureen and M.A. alum Mark Generous recently published, “Topics avoided and neglected with terminally ill loved ones at the end of life” in Death Studies . Maureen also published “End of life communication” in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication . Following the June 12th Orlando Massacre, Maureen gave several interviews on WBAP in Dallas/Fort Worth and KXAN News in Austin, and was quoted in the Washington Post . Maureen was also quoted in the Washington Post following the death of Gene Wilder. FORENSICS ACCOLADES The Elton Abernathy Forensics Society, Texas State’s competitive speech team, hosted the 28th Annual Hill Country Swing Speech Tournament. The team played host to 14 colleges from six different states. In attendance were two schools that finished in the top ten at last year’s AFA-NIET tournament and three of last year’s top 25 speakers, making this a high quality and very competitive tournament. Texas State placed third in their portion of the tournament behind Bradley University and Kansas State. Texas State had two first place finishes: Averie Bishop placed first in poetry interpretation and Micailah Nobles placed first in program oral interpretation with perfect scores in the finals. Also placing in finals were: Matthew Anderson , 6th in extemporaneous speaking and 4th in impromptu; Micailah Nobles , 5th in prose interpretation; Symone Holmes , 3rd in dramatic interpretation; Antonio Rivera , 6th in dramatic interpretation; and Emily Cumming , 3rd in persuasion. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Kelly Clancy (B.A. 2002 & M.A. 2004) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Her first book Cultural Politics of Genetically Modified Organisms in the United States and Europe [ 2 ] was published in September. She also co-published “Growing monstrous organisms: The construction of anti- GMO visual rhetoric through digital media” in Critical Studies in Media Communication with another Texas State alum, Ben Clancy (M.A. 2016). Elizabeth (Parker) Garcia (M.A. 2004) is currently a lecturer at University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. After earning her M.A. from Texas State, she completed an M.F.A. in Children’s Literature at Hollins University. She served as the Artist in Residence for July 2016 at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, focusing on her own creative writing and teaching poetry to Job Corps students. Maddie Rich (B.A. 2015) [ 3] is now the Stewardship Coordinator for Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin. College of Fine Arts and Communication | 7 Kuro Tawil (B.A. 2012) founded a non-profit company that produces various handmade products from around the world. For every “Kuros!” product sold, the organization gives a can of pepper spray to a woman in need. In addition to their presence on four subcontinents, the company recently partnered with SABRE, the leading pepper spray manufacturer in the world to be their international supplier for the free pepper spray, in addition to releasing a “Kuros!” branded SABRE can domestically that is available in retail outlets nationwide. Kuro Tawil was also recently nominated for a Forbes 30 Under 30 award. For more information on how you can support his nomination, click here. FORBES30UNDER30