News & Updates

Communication Studies Welcomes New Faculty

Dr. Marek Muller will join the Department of Communication Studies in the fall. Dr. Muller is a graduate of the University of Utah where they earned a Ph.D. in Communication and a graduate certificate in Gender Studies. They are currently an Assistant Professor of Rhetorical Studies and an affiliate faculty member in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Florida Atlantic University. Marek has also taught at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and the Institute for Engineering & Technology in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Dr. Muller is a rhetorician interested in human rights, nonhuman animal rights and the humanity/animality dialectic. Specifically, they research the rhetoric of speciesism as it is used by (1) rhetors looking to exploit nonhuman animals by "animalizing" them; (2) rhetors looking to exploit humans by "dehumanizing" them; and (3) rhetors fighting for social/environmental justice by articulating the intersections of human and nonhuman animal exploitation. With an orientation toward interdisciplinary, intersectional, and anti-oppressive pedagogy in rhetorics of civic engagement, Marek encourages students to grapple with their identities, privileges, individual goals, and systemic obligations in a manner conducive to pragmatic social change. 

Marek’s first book, Impersonating Animals: Rhetoric, Ecofeminism, and Animal Rights Law, assesses competing rhetorics of animal law through an ecofeminist lens and highlights how animal studies scholars and activists can and should use ideological rhetorical criticism to investigate the implications of their tactics and strategies, emphasizing a critical vegan rhetoric as the best means of achieving liberation for human and nonhuman animals alike. Their research has also been published in journals such as Environmental Communication, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Frontiers in Communication, Communication Studies, American Studies, and the Journal of Multicultural Discourses.

Outside of the academy, Marek is an avid kickboxer and is (slowly) working toward a black belt in karate. They enjoy taking walks with their chihuahua Boots, watching professional wrestling, and cooking any vegan recipe they can find. If anyone knows where to sing karaoke or complete a particularly corny escape room, they are open to suggestions.

Bobcats Shine at Spring Tournaments

Front Row (L-R) Halle Divalentone, Hanna Prince. Middle Row (L-R) Callum Ritter, Theo Januski, Samantha Nava, Haley Bass. Back Row (L-R) Jacob Everett, Jacob Graybill, Adeline Hutson.

The LBJ Debate Society and Elton Abernathy Forensics Society, Texas State’s competitive speech and forensics team, competed in several tournaments during the spring semester.

Jacob Everett and Taylor Tate, members of Texas State's LBJ Debate Society and Elton Abernathy Forensics Society, competed in the National Forensic Association's Championship Tournament hosted by Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. Both qualified for elimination rounds and finished the tournament ranked as two of the top 32 NFA Lincoln Douglas debaters in the country. Everett was also named the overall third best NFA LD speaker - the highest student placement in that event in team history.

Texas State finished second in the nation in the four-year college sweepstakes at the National Online Forensics Championships.

Highlights:

• Haley Bass was crowned National Champion (Gold Medal) in Informative Speaking.
• Callum Ritter and Hanna Prince won a national championship (Gold Medal) in Duo Dramatic Interpretation.
• Callum Ritter also won the Bronze Medal in Program Oral Interpretation and in Poetry Interpretation.
• Ashton Rios placed second in the nation in Impromptu Speaking and received the Silver Medal.

The Texas State Speech and Debate Team competed in the American Forensics Association National Speech Tournament hosted by Santa Ana Community College.

Highlights:

• The team finished third in the nation in the Limited Sweepstakes Division for teams with fifteen entries or less.
• The Bobcats also placed 23rd overall in the tournament out of the 57 schools entered.
• Ashton Rios, Haley Bass, Hanna Prince, and Callum Ritter represented the Bobcats in the tournament with Callum Ritter placing as a national quarterfinalist in Program Oral Interpretation.
• Wayne Kraemer, Director of Forensics at Texas State, was presented with the Carrol and Barbara Hickey Award for Distinguished Service.
• Ashton Rios also represented Texas State as one of two national student representatives to the National Council.

The team also competed in the Pi Kappa Delta National Championships hosted by West Chester University.

Highlights:

• The team finished 16th in the nation out of the 51 colleges and universities attending the tournament.
• Callum Ritter finished second in the nation in Poetry Interpretation. Ritter also was a national semi-finalist in Program Oral Interpretation and a national quarterfinalist in Dramatic Interpretation.
• Haley Bass was a national quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking.

The Bobcats made an impressive showing at the Texas Intercollegiate Forensics Association (TIFA) Championships hosted by Texas State University.

Highlights:

• The team won the top overall school sweepstakes award.
• The team won the second-place debate sweepstakes award.
• The team won the second-place individual events award.
• Haley Bass took first place in Informative Speaking.
• Callum Ritter won first place in Dramatic Interpretation and second place in Poetry Interpretation.
• Hanna Prince placed fourth in Dramatic Interpretation.
• Halle Divalentone, Jacob Everett, Jacob Graybill, and Samantha Nava qualified for quarterfinals in International Public Debate.

Career Readiness Connects Students and Professionals

The Career Readiness Program, led by Dr. Michael Burns, hosted its final events of the semester featuring Texas State Alumni. For additional information about the program, please visit the website for the Career Readiness Program.

Alumna Maria Garrett spoke about her experiences as a leadership consultant. Maria is principal owner of MG Leadership, a boutique executive coaching and consulting firm. She delivers customized, one-on-one coaching services to top leaders in the tech sector and works with leadership teams to increase their impact and effectiveness.

Students in the Career Readiness program visited Memorial Hermann Hospital in Katy, TX. They met with the Chief Nursing Officer, attended a presentation entitled “Project Management 101”, and heard a panel of six professionals sharing experiences. Alumni Natalie Cavazos and Maddie Banks, both employees of the hospital, hosted the group. The two-day trip also included a networking event featuring 16 Houston-area alumni that met with students.

Faculty Accolades

Jasmine Austin gave an invited lecture for Baruch College as part of the SUNY system. Her lecture centered on critical qualitative data analysis strategies. Jasmine presented a training entitled “Say it with your chest: Having difficult conversations in a respectful, collaborative, and considerate manner” at the 2023 TXST Stem Conference. The training was co-facilitated with M.A. students Gavin Thomson and Cesar Mejia Aguilar. She also presented “Finding Common Ground for Difficult Conversations” to the 2023 Student Academic Support Programs Conference. Attendees identified 8 contributors to conflict, learned 5 strategies for approaching difficult conversations, and practiced the 3 D’s for handling difficult conversations that may be unmanageable.

Tricia Burke had "Employee culture of health perceptions and the development of a training intervention" accepted to the International Journal of Workplace Health Management. The piece was co-authored with Michael Burns and Kristen Farris.

Ann Burnette served as Vice President and Planner for the 2023 Annual Convention of the Southern States Communication Association in St. Petersburg, FL. She issued the call for scholarly papers, oversaw the review of over 400 submissions, and scheduled the papers, speakers, business meetings, and other events. At the conclusion of the 2023 convention, she became the President of SSCA. She also presented "Kamala Harris and the 2024 Presidential Election" to the Southern States Communication Association Convention.

Michael Burns had "Employee culture of health perceptions and the development of a training intervention" accepted to the International Journal of Workplace Health Management. The piece was co-authored with Tricia Burke and Kristen Farris. Michael also received the 2023 “Friend of Student Success Award” from the Division of Student Success at Texas State.

Casey Chilton appeared on the podcast “Storytelling Movement” created and hosted by M.A. alum Ryan McPherson to discuss essential facilitation skills in small group discussion. He also provided presentation coaching to the Texas Youth Preparedness Council as they prepared to give presentations on their projects to the Texas Emergency Management Conference in San Antonio this summer.

Stephanie Dailey published “Being creative within (or outside) the box: Bridging occupational identity gaps” in Management Communication Quarterly. 

Kristen Farris had "Employee culture of health perceptions and the development of a training intervention" accepted to the International Journal of Workplace Health Management. The piece was co-authored with Tricia Burke and Michael Burns. She presented a paper co-authored with M.A. alum, Maya Blitch, entitled, "Re-conceptualization of support (in)adequacy: An exploration of message feature and relational outcome differences for support gap messages" at the Southern States Communication Association Conference in St. Petersburg, FL. Kristen also chaired and presented on a panel entitled, "The Future of Family Turbulence: Exploring Relational Turbulence in Family Contexts" at the SSCA conference.

Rebekah Fox was named Editor of the Southern Communication Journal at the Southern States Communication Association Convention in St. Petersburg, FL.

Wayne Kraemer was presented with the Carrol and Barbara Hickey Award for Distinguished Service at the American Forensics Association National Speech Tournament.

Roseann Mandziuk presented “Where Femininity Meets Hate: Exposing the Rhetoric of Women and White Supremacy” as the Dean’s Seminar Distinguished Achievement. This presentation focused on archival research projects that examine the rhetoric of two significant women’s organizations, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Women of the Ku Klux Klan. Roseann attended the Eastern States Communication Association convention in Baltimore, Maryland. As Immediate Past President, she represented the National Communication Association on the panel "Enacting Transformational Change". She received the Top Paper Award from the Rhetoric and Public Address Division of the Southern States Communication Association for her essay, "'Where a fair white stone has been cast': The perverse feminism of the women of the Ku Klux Klan.” The paper was presented at the SSCA Convention in St. Petersburg, FL.

Josh Miller presented “Happy talk and diverse representation in 9-1-1: Lone Star,” to the Southern States Communication Association Conference. The paper was co-authored with M.A. alums Claire Stevenson and Tyshee Sonnier. While at SSCA, he also participated on a panel entitled “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t: Articulating a Manifesto for Future Discourses of Allyship” and on a panel where he presented work on “The Future(s) of Hope(lessness): Queer Rhetorical Pedagogy and Academic Drag Amidst Toxicity.” He also responded to an Undergraduate Honors Conference panel on rhetorics across form.

Manu Pokharel welcomed the students of COMM 5333 (Health Communication) to the BioCOMM Research Lab at Texas State to discuss the use of psychophysiological measures in Health Communication. The students were also able to see how psychophysiological data are collected using eye-tracking, GSR, and facial expression analysis system.

Student Accolades

M. A. student Abigail Mellow successfully defended her thesis, “’You’re worthless’: Exploring memorable messages of parental rejection and communication’s role in providing a sense of strength among emerging adults.”

M. A. student Rupinder Kaur presented “Ankhila Punjab: Messages to influence, advocate, and move” to the 2023 NAAAS & Affiliates Joint National Conference.

M. A. student Cassidy Trim presented “#QueerStoriesareRealStories: Countering harmful LGBTQIA+ narratives in the media through fanfiction” to the 2023 Popular Culture Association conference in San Antonio.

M.A. students Gavin Thomson and Cesar Mejia Aguilar presented a training entitled “Say it with your chest: Having difficult conversations in a respectful, collaborative, and considerate manner” at the 2023 TXST Stem Conference. The training was co-facilitated with Dr. Jasmine Austin.

M. A. students Amber Alston, Victoria Diaz, Kirara Natsuka, Luis Ortiz, Heather Poulson, Mya Taylor, Gavin Thomson, Mike Thompson, Cassidy Trim, Sarah Wood, and Elizabeth Yanas successfully completed their Master's Academic/Professional Portfolio (MAPP) as the culminating experience of the Master’s program.

Undergraduate student Larry Adisa presented his research entitled "Fallacies in the conversations of men and women: A deep dive into TikTok social conversations" to the Texas State Undergraduate Research Conference. The paper explores how discourse on TikTok shapes masculinity in fallacious ways.

Undergraduate student Haley Bass presented "Justice justifies all: How the Capitol Hill organized protest created a vision of social justice" to the Theodore Clevenger Jr. Undergraduate Honors Conference, held during Southern States Communication Association Convention in St. Petersburg, FL. 

Undergraduate student Ashton Rios presented "Neo-Colonialism and the fight for Native sovereignty in the NoDAPL Movement" to the Theodore Clevenger Jr. Undergraduate Honors Conference, held during Southern States Communication Association Convention in St. Petersburg, FL.

M. A. student Lauren Green was sworn as one of the new Graduate House Representatives for the College of Fine Arts and Communication. She will act as the liaison between graduate students and faculty, serving anyone who has concerns regarding grad life at TXST.

Lambda Pi Eta, the honor society of the National Communication Association, offers students an opportunity to meet and socialize with other Communication Studies majors and faculty, explore employment options, expand knowledge of current issues in the discipline, and provide service to the department and the Texas State community. On April 1st, Lambda Pi Eta participated in Bobcat Build to give back to the community of San Marcos. along with Faculty Advisor Mark Paz, the members of LPE  dug holes, planted bushes, shoveled rocks, and had a great time! 

Listed from front to back: Abrianna Licitra, Laura Tanner, Mark Paz II (Advisor), Tessa Thurlkill, Bailey Thrasher, Larry Adisa, and Daniel Montano.