Category Archives: Education

Red River Innovation Lab for the Humanities

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In college, one of the most rewarding accomplishments as a student is acquiring the ability to conduct and exhibit our own works. Doing so means that we are in some way progressing intellectually and broadening both our skill sets and minds by practicing what we learn.  Admittedly, though, it’s hard to do this alone. Guidance, even the slightest thereof, can help individuals in dramatic ways. For this reason, Texas A&M – Texarkana is proud to present a new way for students, faculty, and staff members to collaborate, innovate, and communicate ideas and research agenda’s that will contribute to a better understanding of the humanities The Red River Innovation Lab for the Humanities!

The innovation lab intends on taking a student lead approach to education and scholarship by utilizing not only services and teachings of value to students, but also allowing them to produce their own research and experiments. The lab wants to offer Texas A&M – Texarkana school members a place of encouragement in which they can gather resources cooperatively and produce research-based developments that aid in the progression of their own understandings of the humanities. From the beginning, we want to emphasize student involvement and construct the lab in a way that benefits the wants and needs of student academics.

The Red River Innovation Lab, though not officially open, will be located in room 120 in the STEM building. We’ve just begun receiving our equipment to get up and running! Prior to our grand opening, Director Drew Morton will be hosting our first meeting on November 28th, from 12:15 to 1 pm, in the lab. The meeting is of a participatory nature meant as an opportunity for you to disclose what sort of projects and materials you’re interested in the innovation lab to offer. Dr. Morton will also provide further insight regarding what we will be able to provide for you! It’s an opportunity for voices to be heard. Finally, you get to tell everyone what you want to learn and gain experience in within the field of humanities. Some examples of possible discussion topics may be podcasts, broadcasting, PLACE work, and whatever else you bring to the table. A link to the Innovation Lab’s Facebook page is included below where you can let us know if you are interested in attending. If you plan on joining us, please RSVP by November 26! There will be a light lunch and refreshments offered, so feel free to come by and check out your school’s new research facilities! We hope to see you there.

https://www.facebook.com/RRILH/

‘Remediation’ is Everywhere

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November 16th, 2017 – Squeezed between two Mass Communication courses Dr. Morton was teaching, he found the time to hold a PLACE Lecture in UC 210 – the subject, Bolter & Grusin’s Remediation, a subject dear to his heart (or as close as he can get with a subject so often covered in his courses) and one that I, a Mass Communication Major myself, find fun food for thought when it counts.

While the lecture got described as a 40 minute crash course, the topic of Remediation thankfully is one that’s simple to understand but difficult to master. Remediation, in the case of Bolter & Grusin meaning representing one medium in another, is something we don’t spot enough in everyday life for how prevalent the concept is – it’s essentially the ‘borrowing’ of ideas from one medium (Film, TV, Video Games) to enhance or otherwise detail another – consider Film and TV in the 90’s, two very distinct mediums that aren’t so different in modern terms.

The paradox of Remediation, however, is that often media need to borrow from each other to feel real – they must be less like themselves to be themselves. Think long enough about your favorite property and you might find that you can make a stronger argument for it being a medium other than one it actually is.

Dr. Morton was by the day’s end more than a bit exhausted but he did want to comment that if the lecture (or what’s being described by me after the fact) was of interest to anyone they should consider stopping by the Red River Innovation Lab in the Science and Technology Building on campus, Room 120. As of now, they’re shooting for a full launch of the lab before the beginning of Spring but there’ll be events to get a game plan going in the coming weeks.

‘Ethics in Science’

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November 14th, 2017 – After an hour of frank discussion, the low lighting in UC 217 did well to capture the mood of the audience as Dr. Walter Casey’s PowerPoint ended on a slide with the phrase ‘I AM BECOME DEATH, DESTROYER OF WORLDS’. They, myself included, had just reached the end of an open lecture on Ethics in Science as part of the Science and Technology theme of this year’s PLACE lectures/events. Where the ethics of the subject lay, none could say.

The two main elements of the lecture – Ethics and Science – got covered in sequence. Ethics, the enforcement of a moral standard or system, are something we know a lot about, even if we don’t think of them as such. You can think of them – broadly – as actions taken because they serve a greater purpose – they are what’s ‘right’. This isn’t to say that this line of logic is wrong – only that Ethics and the morals they stand for are muddy at times. Is a bribe, for example, always unethical to accept?

It’s even muddier in the realm of Science. More specifically, Engineering. Consider whether or not a building code is enforced, or safety rules are met at a chemical plant. Do you think it’s unethical not to keep things up to code? There are those that don’t – catastrophe after catastrophe can me attributed to a lack of ethical standard. Just look into the Bhopal Disaster, for example.

Dr. Casey argues we’re guilty of this in our own lives, too, even if we’re not given great and obvious responsibilities like the upkeep of a chemical plant. We worship technology as a people and give it far more power than we realize. Ethics can quickly turn into a matter of security and we are not safe. As Dr. Casey says, “Read your End User License Agreement.”

Career Services at TAMUT

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Are you worried about having a job upon graduation? Does your resume lack confidence? Do you have interview anxiety? If so the best help you can get it’s from Career Development. Career Development is located on the third floor, and it is there to help students succeed in life. My time with Career Development has been pleasant and helpful.
Career Development is there for students who need a job now and for those who are looking for jobs in their field upon graduation. What career Development does is it networks and communicates with local and not so local businesses and determines what jobs they need to be filled.

All a student has to do is set up an appointment and see Mrs. Tina Boitnott in UC 329. It helps if you bring your resume so she can review it and help you make your resume more solid and attractive to future employers. When I first had an appointment, I was kind of nervous, but as I sat down and began conversing with her assistant, I realized that they are just there to help. At the appointment, you will discuss what your degree is and what you want to do in the future. Mrs. Boitnott will probably ask a few follow-up questions, but all the questions allow her to help find a job that you would do well in. By the end of my first appointment with Career Development, I realized they didn’t have any jobs available for me. However, it put me on their radar so; then they could keep an ear out for jobs that would match my skill set.

Now as I am in my last semester I have created a solid resume that allows me to put my best foot forward, and I have several different directions I can take for my future career path. I am planning to apply to all these options because I know not all will give me an interview. I have been going to Career Development for about a year now, and as this year progress, they have had a couple of jobs come across their desk that I have shown interest in. One I looked into and another I knew was not right for me, but now that I am graduating I am looking at jobs more seriously. If everything goes well with the help from Mrs. Boitnott, then I will have a job by the time graduation gets here.

I encourage everyone to go check out and make an appointment with career development so they can help you with your resume, give mock interviews, and be put on their radar so they can help find you a job. So, whether you need a job now or in the future, Career Development is there to help you, and they cannot help you if they are not aware that you need help. For new college graduates, any help is appreciated when you are fighting to get your foot in the door.

CommNEXT 2017

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On Saturday, October 21st, Mass Communication Majors from our campus had an opportunity to attend the CommNEXT Conference in Shreveport. With Innovative Communications on the rise, it is important that young professionals stay up to date with the latest trends in the Communications Field. Successful individuals with skills in Public Relations, Social Media, Journalism, and film attended to speak and share their stories. This included Key Note Speaker Tracey Altman, one of the founders of “Holy Guacamole.”

The conference started out with lunch and “Guacamole Taught Me Everything I Know About Marketing.” Attendees were given Tracey Altman’s top ten list of tips and lessons she learned while building her brand “Holy Guacamole,” and how to apply them to their future careers. These included:

  1. Agencies are Partners, Not Vendors
  2. Think Outside the Box
  3. Consumer Counts – If you target everyone, you target no one.
  4. Social Media is About Quality, Not Quantity
  5. Business Marketing v.s. Marketing Business
  6. Know Your Brand Voice – Mandates Consistency
  7. Read
  8. MISTAKES ARE GOOD
  9. Be an Intentional Consumer – Shop like you target.
  10. Love What You Do – Intrigue=Love=Energy=Passion

She emphasized that mistakes are inevitable and everyone in these fields will make them. Attendees were left not only with yummy samples, but with the question, “What is a mistake you have made and how have you learned from it?”

After the Key Note Speaker, there were 3 different breakout session times for students to attend, and learn about topics and fields they were interested in. The sessions A&M Students attended were “Tear Down that Wall,” “How Social Media Has Changed Journalism/The Impact of Social Media on P.R.,” and “Break the Creative Bank.”

“Tear Down That Wall” was led by Scott Anderson, Executive Editor of the Bossier Press Tribune. Due to social media, the job market for journalism in the news room has dropped significantly. He emphasized that the industry now sees everyone as storytellers, and that  Journalists need P.R. Professionals just as badly as P.R. Professionals need the journalists. A worker from “The Times” was in the room and she said “We used to have 35 on staff, and now we have 10. Where we used to have 7 photographers, we now have one.” This shows how much of a need there is for the bridge between P.R. and Journalism.

“How Social Media Has Changed Journalism” and “The Impact of Social Media on P.R.” was a session split with two speakers. Dr. Pickens, the Chair of Communications and General Studies for SUSLA was the first speaker. She focused on Citizen Journalism and how we now live in a “see it, snap it, send it world.” With social media becoming more and more popular, everyone has the opportunity to be their own journalist at the touch of a button. She encouraged the idea that not all information is necessarily news and you need to fact check the sources you view. Dr. Joa, Assistant Professor of Mass Communication at LSUS talked about social media and P.R. She talked about why it is important for business professionals to know the importance of what is trending on social media, and the particular important of hashtags. She also talked about how use network analysis and ethnography to build campaign effectiveness.

“Breaking the Creative Bank” was the personal favorite breakout session of our students. It was hosted by Jazmin Jernigan, a former communications student who is now a successful freelancer and owns Aesthetic Innovations, LLC. She spoke about the pros and cons of not only starting out as a freelancer, but what it takes to be successful with your career. Her 6 Successful habits included:

  1. Creative Value
  2. Honor Your Time and Talent
  3. Educate Your Clients
  4. Find Balance
  5. Partner and Collaborate with Competition on Bigger Projects
  6. Break the Starving Stereotype

She stressed that as a freelancer, more often than not, your home becomes you workspace, and the biggest challenge is learning how to be productive but also find balance. Aspiring freelancers should “Find their niche.” What is it about your services that will make you stand out? She said “You want to bring a unique presence in a saturated market.” Jazmin also warned that starting out is hard, but in the long run, it can be worth it if you stay committed to what you are pursuing.

The conference closed with speaker Gregory Kallemburg, founder of the Film Prize Foundation. He talked about how important it is to invest in and build your local community.

The day was long, but very productive. With opportunity  to meet professionals from all over the country, it is something all Mass Communication students should consider attending on a yearly basis.

 

JFK In Pop Culture

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John F. Kennedy was the 35th president from January 31st, 1961 until his assassination on November 22, 1963. It is common knowledge that Kennedy was in Dallas Texas as he traveled in a motorcade when Lee Harvey Oswald killed him. He was the sole perpetrator of the assassination and Oswald was also assassinated two days later on November 24. Lyndon B Johnson the current vice president then became president just minutes after J.F.K was pronounced dead.

J.F.K has become a pop culture icon because of all the conspiracies that surround him even including the “Happy Birthday Mr. President” that was sung by the glamorous Marilyn Monroe. This song had affair rumors flying back in the day.  I enjoy conspiracies theories! I am not saying I believe in them, but it is interesting how different people can take a set of information and interpret it in their own way. So who killed J.F.K and what is up with the newly released files?

The Mafia took him out. This conspiracy implies that a Chicago mobster had the money power and influence to have J.F.K killed because of Robert Kennedy push to stop the mobster’s drug activity. What makes this theory appealing to others is because Lee Harvey Oswald is killed by Jack Ruby who had connections with the Chicago Mobster.

Lyndon Johnson was behind it.  A theory suggests that Richard Nixon and Jackie Kennedy believe this theory because Johnson had the most to gain from J.F.K’s death. Most of the evidence to back this claim up is based on rumors.

The Oswald Conspiracies. One theory suggests that the KGB hired Oswald to assassinate Kennedy because he was an undercover Soviet agent. However, this theory did not hold up as later released documents suggested that Russia actively avoided recruiting Oswald as they deemed him mentally unstable.

Another theory involving Oswald linked him to the New Orleans Conspiracy where a right-wing businessman got Oswald to be the patsy since the businessman did not want peace negotiations to begin with Russia. The plan was to hire Oswald, arrange the shooting, and get back to New Orleans that night. The businessman was later arrested and went to trial over these allegations, but the jury found the case groundless and dismissed it.

The third conspiracy directly involving Oswald proposes that he couldn’t have fired the shot that killed Kennedy. The conspiracy states that Oswald was shooting from a 60-year-old rifle that was hard to aim let alone almost impossible to shoot three shots in eight seconds. It also stated that Oswald was not that great of a marksman. Later investigation proved this theory false because his wife said he always was practicing with this gun and Oswald did have a marine background. When the shooting of J.F.K occurred, he was only 90 meters away from Oswald and J.F.K. was moving slowly. In the marines, they practiced shooting at 200 meters, so J.F.K wasn’t even half the distance Oswald was used to shooting. Also, the Warren Commission and even CBS news organization duplicated the shot several years later with the same model weapon and overall conditions and proved that it was possible to take the shots within 8 seconds with most marksmen hitting the target 2 out of 3 times.

Some of the files revealed that;

  • The FBI knew there was a threat to Oswald life before he died.
  • Oswald contacted the Soviet Embassy inquiring about a visa.
  • The documents stated that the CIA looked into whether Hitler was alive in Venezuela
  • Several memos revealed plots to kill Castro from poisoning his swimsuits, to putting a bounty on his head, although the price of his head has been debated.
  • A CIA document notes they were looking into Martin Luther King’s companions thinking most of them had communist ties.

For more information visit http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/26/politics/jfk-file-release-highlights/index.html

Colonizing Mars

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Before humans can touch the ground on Mars, NASA has a three threshold plan using robotics and starting with the Earth Reliant, an “orbiting microgravity laboratory serving as a world-class test bed for technologies and communications systems needed for human missions.”  The earth reliant is helping develop deep space systems like human health and life support while astronauts are now “learning about what it takes to live and work in space for long periods of time, increasing our understand of how the body changes in space and how to protect astronaut health.”

The second threshold has a series of missions near the moon. This robotic phase called the Proving Ground will test and decide what we will need to work and live on Mars. The Proving Ground phase will take effect in 2018 until 2030.  Astronauts are now hours away from earth yet days away from the proving ground area, and sometime in 2020, NASA will send several astronauts for a year-long mission into this area to test our readiness for Mars. Another part of this phase is the Asteroid Redirect Mission which will capture asteroid boulders and move it into a safe orbit around the moon. Being able to successfully do this will prove crucial when we send cargo as part of human missions to Mars.

In the last phase, Earth Independent, beginning in 2030, NASA will test the entry, descent, and landing techniques into low-level Mars. From there, NASA what is needed to thrive and survive off the land. NASA is already studying exploration zones, and the next land rover is due on Mars in 2020. “There are challenges to pioneering Mars, but we know they are solvable. We are well on our way to getting there, landing there, and living there.”

Too Many Distractions

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I know I am not the only person in the world who finds studying to be boring. After spending an hour at my desk with an open textbook and notebook, I reward myself with a break to keep from getting a headache. I usually pull out my phone and scroll through my social media feeds just to see what my friends have posted recently and make a comment or two. Before I know it, I have turned a quick study break into 40 minutes of watching videos on Youtube or Facebook. At that point, I become irritated that I wasted time I needed to study or complete a project or paper. I had this problem a couple of times this weekend as I tried to study for midterms and thought back to the other days this semester when I had wasted my precious time and found myself too sleepy to get back to work. For this reason, I have decided to log out of social media for a week regain focus on my priorities.

It can be difficult for me to focus on a task and that is made worse when I have many distractions in front of me. Social media is not my only distraction. I get bored and eat chips, watch movies or music videos, or sometimes carry on long conversations with friends and family to keep from getting back to the books. If you also struggle to focus while studying, I have found a few tips that can help you.

1. Find a space

Studying at home is comfortable, but I prefer to study in the library during the week. When I’m at home, I get distracted with the TV or get too comfortable in bed and decide to take extra-long naps that last for two hours and leave me with little time to work. The library is perfect for me because it is quiet and it puts me in a mental study mode. I have room to lay out all of my materials and I am not comfortable enough there to take a nap. If you find yourself unable to focus where you are currently trying to study, find a space that has fewer distractions. It might also be helpful for you to study with friends that encourage you to stay on task.

2. Limit your gadgets

If you do not need your laptop out to take notes, put it away. If you do not need your phone on your desk to study, put it away. Having unnecessary gadgets out while you are trying to concentrate can break your concentration. When I have my laptop on my desk while I’m reading chapters form my textbook, I have a habit of randomly browsing the internet and looking up questions that have nothing to do with what I’m reading. For this reason, I will shut my laptop and push it away from me or place it in my backpack to force myself to pay attention to the book. If you use your laptop or phone for notes or flashcards, practice restraint.

3. Time yourself

I got into the habit of timing myself while studying when I was freshman in college. I only had morning classes and would give myself and hour or so for each subject that day to complete the readings or assignments. Between subjects, I timed 10 or 15-minute breaks to give my brain a chance to rest before diving back in. When I had a visual reminder of how much time I had to work on an assignment, it made me work harder to finish or accomplish as much as possible within that span of time. I was less likely to get distracted because I could see that I only had to stay focused for a few more minutes before I could take a break. When I didn’t time myself, it felt like I had hours to work on one assignment and I would drag it out instead of just getting it done.

4. Split your tasks

If I know I am going to spend more than one hour on homework for one class, I prefer to split the work. It can be tiring to force yourself to sit and read one textbook or write one essay for two or three hours straight. Take a break somewhere in the middle to rest or work on something else before you get too distracted to finish.

One important rule about study breaks is to keep them short. Anything more than 20 minutes can lead to you spending an hour or two binge-watching that new TV show you found out about on Netflix and having to cram for the big test tomorrow. Use your break time to eat a meal or do some stretches to keep you awake and alert. I like to read a book or listen to music during my breaks.

Staying focused while studying can be difficult when it is not a subject you are interested in or you just do not feel like studying. However, I hope these tips above can help you make it through you course work this semester. Remember, if you set good study habits for yourself now, you can reduce the stress of final exams at the end of the semester!

‘The Parable of the Madman’

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October 11th, 2017 – Students and Faculty alike packed into UC 217 to attend a PLACE lecture held by Dr. Doug Julien on Friedrich Nietzsche’s ‘The Parable of the Madman‘. As was written on the whiteboard and as Dr. Julien affirmed, “It’s a lot for 50 minutes.”

He wasn’t wrong. In that short timeframe, Dr. Julien guided the audience through this segment of Nietzsche’s The Gay Science, wherein a raving madman claims that ‘God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.’. Dr. Julien spoke of the piece as a thought experiment, centered around two questions: Did we kill God and, if so, how did we do it?

As this piece is considered a thought experiment, a large part of the lecture focused on a thought experiment all its own – Time, illustrated best by a simple question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Dr. Julien points out that on the one hand, at a point in our history when Religion was the driving force of society and not Science, this question would be simple to answer. In the mind of Religion, God created the chicken and thus the chicken created the egg. In more modern times, however, there is the scientific concept of mutation and the proto-chicken. In the mind of Science, then, the egg was created first through some mutation in the ‘proto-chicken’, creating the chicken.

This age-old question, which of the two came first, illustrates how Time is a subjective concept. Think of Past, Present and Future. The Present is the ‘now’, the Past is everything before ‘now’ and the Future is everything to come. The point being, our perception of the world around us is constantly changing – in particular, to Religion or Science. “We believe Science but we do not trust Science.” Dr. Julien argued. “When everyone both believes and trusts Science, change occurs.”

Back to those two questions: Did we kill God? How did we kill him? The truth, much like whether you believe the chicken or the egg came first, is largely up to the observer – the individual. Do you believe God is dead? If so, how do you believe we killed him?

It bears repeating – “It’s a lot for 50 minutes.” Every member of the audience, myself included, very well got something different out of Dr. Julien’s lecture. In talking to him afterward, I believe this was the point. “Everyone will arrive to their own, individual Truth – and this Truth will, by nature, be flawed. Only by talking with one another can we arrive at the same conclusion.”, he told me.

It’s a dialectic – an integral process of any proper discourse – that answers these questions. Perhaps whatever time Dr. Julien didn’t have for this discussion, we now have in spades.

Help for Harms of Hazing

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Blake Novacek has sued the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and two fraternity members over an alleged hazing incident in October of 2015 that reportedly left him with a traumatic brain injury.

Courtesy of Christopher Cooke

Blake Novacek, son of former NFL tight end Jay Novacek, is suing a University of Oklahoma fraternity for brain injuries he sustained from hazing in 2015.

He was pledging to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity on October 11,2015 when he was taken into Shane Musselman’s room and asked to state facts about the fraternity’s history. When he could not give the answers, he was hit in the stomach with a baseball bat. He fell after being hit and struck his head on a hard object which left him unconscious for around 10 hours. Novacek alleges that Gavin Martindale approached him after he woke up and told him to keep his mouth shut about the incident.

Novacek’s attorney, Christopher Cooke, said the plaintiff has been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, postconcussive syndrome, and bipolar disorder. Novacek is also under the care of many doctors.

Both Martindale and Musselman have retained attorneys to “aggressively defend” them in the suit, and the fraternity denies the allegations. The Gamma Phi chapter said there were no fraternity activities on October 11 because nearly all of the fraternity members were in Dallas for a football game that weekend. Novacek also posted a photo of himself at the Dallas Cowboys football game on October 11.

Cooke says Novacek is unable to recall dates after sustaining head injuries and says the date given is the closest he can recall to the date of the events outlined in the lawsuit.

The most recent fraternity hazing death occurred on September 14 at Louisiana State University. Max Gruver, 18, was laid on a couch by members of Phi Delta Theta that morning. When they came back, his pulse was weak. Gruver died at a nearby hospital later that day. The coroner reported Gruver having a “highly elevated” blood-alcohol level. His BAC was .495, significantly higher than the 0.08 that would be considered legally drunk in Louisiana.

Max Gruver

Arrest warrants were issued for the people involved in Gruver’s death. They were charged with hazing, and Alexander Naquin has an added charge of negligent homicide.

According to the University of Dayton, alcohol consumption is one of the most common activities involved in hazing and contributes to 82% of hazing deaths. Nine out of ten college students who have experienced hazing in college do not believe they have been hazed. While alcohol is a common hazing activity, there are also many others including:
• Morally degrading or humiliating activities, games or stunts
• Physical abuse
• Requiring of nudity
• Having a person run personal errands

Hazing cases that result in death occur each year. However, most students who experience hazing do not come forward and report it to their campus officials. This is partially out of fear of the consequences of their actions and because they do not realize they have been hazed. These activities occur more frequently in clubs, teams, and student organizations. Sometimes hazing occurs with a faculty member who is present or is actually engaging in the activities. TAMUT students can report hazing to the Office of Student Life at (903) 223-3116 or the Vice President of Student Affairs at (903) 223-3602.

For more information about hazing, visit the following links:
http://www.tamut.edu/Campus-Life/Student-Conduct/Hazing.html
http://www.uncw.edu/fsl/hazing/whatis.html