October 2017 College News

FACULTY ACCOLADES Steven A. Beebe taught two courses at Oxford University this past summer for the Texas State at Oxford program. [ 1 ] The two courses he presented were: “C. S. Lewis: Chronicles of a Master Communicator” and “The Quest for Meaning: How to Make Sense Out of the World and Share that Sense with Others.” Michael Burns presented at TEDxFargo to over 2000 people this summer. His talk focused on the CoSearch program and examined how unlikely interdisciplinary research collaborations can solve community problems. It is now available to view online. Michael was also the keynote speaker at the Student Academic Support Programs conference. His presentation was titled, “Connecting by Disconnecting: Conversation, Vulnerability, and the Learning Process.” He spoke at Leadership San Marcos, a community group made up of local business and nonprofit leaders, about relational leadership and motivating teams. Michael gave a presentation to all freshmen student athletes focusing on classroom behavior and communicating with professors. He also led the Marshmallow Challenge and gave a leadership talk during the Student Athlete Leadership series. Stephanie Dailey’s Qualitative Research Methods (COMM 5303) graduate class is collecting data for Special Olympics Texas to learn more about successful working athletes. Students attended a recent Special Olympics competition to recruit participants, and the project will conclude with a report of observational and interview findings to Special Olympics Texas and other groups that help intellectually disabled individuals. [ 2 ] Stephanie also recently published, “A new normal? Competing national cultural discourses and workers’ 1 2 3 Steven A. Beebe’s Oxford class Stephanie Dailey’s Qualitative Research Methods graduate class attending a recent Special Olympics competition Tyler Cole, Jaelyn Ashford, and Matthew Anderson 6 | October | College News COMMUNICATION STUDIES Communication Studies, Health Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Leadership Studies, Organizational Communication, Persuasive Communication, Political Communication, & Teacher Certif ication in Communication Studies constructions of identity and meaningful work in Norway” in Communication Monographs . Rebekah Fox spent a portion of September in Oregon and Northern California to offer safety support for the United States Forest Service as they were attempting to manage 38 active, large fires in the west. Based on the experience, she co-authored a safety report that can be found on the Wildland Lessons Learned website. She also co-authored “Post-Illegal Occupation After Action Learning Review” for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Rebekah served as the keynote speaker at the Spring 2017 Fire and Aviation Leadership Team meeting for the Oregon/Washington Bureau of Land Management. Her address was titled, “Building Credibility: Communicating Among Partners.” She also participated in the National Fire Protection Association/ Northeastern University Global Resilience Institute. STUDENT ACCOLADES The Elton Abernathy Forensics Society, Texas State’s competitive speech team, hosted the 29th Annual Hill Country Swing Speech Tournament, co-hosted with the University of Texas. The team from Texas State finished fourth overall. Jaelyn Ashford and Matthew Anderson were event champions, placing first in Program Oral Interpretation and first in Extemporaneous Speaking, respectively. Jaelyn also placed sixth in Poetry Interpretation and Matthew placed seventh in Impromptu Speaking. Tyler Cole placed sixth in Extemporaneous Speaking. [3] Four Texas State alums, Amanda Alexander , Carlos Ituarte , Lily Lowder , and Michael Hoover served as judges for the tournament, as well as numerous M.A. students. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Tianna Cobb (M.A. 2017) just began her Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma and accepted a teaching assistantship with full funding Cody Gould (M.A. 2017) accepted a position as a digital content manager at Dimensional Fund Advisors. Julia Guardione (M.A. 2017) accepted a position as a public relations content manager at rateGenius Inc. Seleste Mills (M.A. 2017) accepted a position as a marketing research manager at Hahn Public in Austin. TEDX TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY College of Fine Arts and Communication | 7 OCTOBER 21, 2017 This full-day event featured TED- style talks surrounding the theme of “Bridging Differences.” The speakers challenged the audience to think about how they can help to bridge the differences that so often divide us. The event was a combination of talks, dance, and music with the purpose of sharing ideas worth spreading. There were various opportunities to interact with other attendees and speakers from the event throughout the day and there were discussions about the ideas heard from the stage. Speakers included Austin Leone, Ian Smith, Jorrel Javier, Kuro Tawil, Michael Yates, Richard Morley, Sierra Holmes, Susie Bannon, Tafari Robertson, and Valerie Alvarez. Comunication Studies faculty, Seth Frei and Michael Burns made up the organizing team.