Alumni: Mike Kickirillo

Director of Spurs Broadcasting visits Texas State, advises future graduates

By Andrew Osegi

Spurs Basketball

Excitement was buzzing all around the classroom. Students in Larry Carlson’s Sports As News class gathered their note-taking materials as the instructor and his anticipated guest chatted near the entrance.

In an effort to examine the challenges of media coverage in sports, Mike Kickirillo, director of broadcasting for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and a Texas State alumnus, visited his alma mater Tuesday, Jan. 29, to answer questions from aspiring mass communication professionals.

Faculty: Steven Furney

Long-time faculty member honored for excellence in teaching

Dr. Steven Furney is the 19th faculty member at Texas State to be named a Piper Professor.

By Audrey Webb

Steven Furney, university distinguished professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance, has an office tucked in a corner on the first floor of the Jowers Center. The walls of his workspace there are covered with frames displaying some of the highlights of his life. Pictures of family – he’s a father to three and grandfather to five – share space with his numerous awards and his multiple diplomas, one of which he says he got unintentionally.

Texas State Faces: Carolyn McCall

After 38 years, McCall embodies Texas State ethos with pride

Carolyn McCall

By Andrew Osegi

Texas State University is known for being a huge school with a small feel. The warm, welcoming atmosphere of the campus is cultivated by its faculty and staff, people who have dedicated their careers to serving Texas State students — people like Carolyn McCall.

“She is one of the most wonderful supervisors I have ever had the pleasure of working with,” said DeLara Julian, an administrative assistant who worked with McCall in the Office of Educator Preparation. “Her professionalism, courtesy and consideration for everyone with whom she comes in contact are legendary in the College of Education.”

Spotlight: Ani Yazedjian

Yazedjian joins 2012 Leadership Texas Class, inspires future leaders

Dr. Ani Yazedjian

By Catherine Harper

From the single mother who makes life-changing decisions each day to the military commander leading troops into battle, leadership comes in many forms. For Dr. Ani Yazedjian – faculty member of Texas State’s School of Family and Consumer Science and a member of the 2012 Leadership Texas Class – leadership is a learning process.

Yazedjian was selected to join the elite network of over 5,000 women as a member of the 2012 Leadership Texas Class in January 2012. The theme for this year’s class is “Texas Women Leaders: On the Highway to a Fast, Forward Future.” With a background in lifespan development and family relationships, Yazedjian is bringing her research to the forefront as an inspirational woman leader.

Read a Q&A with Ani Yazedjian about her Leadership Texas work and her take on leadership below.

Faculty: Samuel Mungo

From world honors to local harmony, Mungo makes music at Texas State

By Catherine Harper

Many people may think of Bugs Bunny’s interpretation of Richard Wagner when they envision the opera; however, according to Dr. Samuel Mungo — director of Opera Studies and Coordinator of Voice Area at Texas State — opera is quite attainable.

“We all have this concept of opera that it is this inaccessible, high and mighty, hoity-toity thing,” Mungo says. “I’m kind of the Joe Sixpack of opera. It’s musicals, only they sing more.”

So attainable is opera, in fact, that Mungo has dedicated his 20-year career to it. From the music halls of universities to premier stages around the world, Mungo has transformed a love of the opera to a standing ovation.

Faculty: Oleg Komogortsev

Computer science professor explores, explains possibilities
in eye-tracking technology

By Mary Kincy

Texas State's Dr. Oleg Komogortsev researches ways the gaze of the human eye, like the one above, can be tracked to navigate a computer.

In 2003, Dr. Oleg Komogortsev — then a graduate student at Kent State University — wanted very much to play the beta version of what would become one of the world’s most popular online role-playing games, World of Warcraft.

Access to the game was highly restricted, however, with invitations to the beta test site selling online for as much as $17,000. So Komogortsev put his computer science background and his interest in eye-tracking technology to work, sending an e-mail to the game’s developers in which he pledged to explore the possibility of applying eye-tracking to online role play.

Around Campus: Center for Public History

New Center for Texas Public History
helps with research, interpretation

Texas State professor Dan Utley, left, with public history graduate students in front of the "Texas White House" at the LBJ National Historical Park.

By Ann Friou

When the National Park Service needed help researching the history of a former Secret Service command outpost at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park at Stonewall, it turned to public history professors Lynn Denton and Dan Utley in the Department of History at Texas State University.

Under Denton and Utley’s guidance, graduate students in public history undertook the project, researching a wide variety of records to complete a detailed analysis of the nationally significant historic site. The students also recommended ways to interpret the building’s historic significance to park visitors.

“The students collected many stories from Secret Service agents and others who served at the LBJ Ranch during Johnson’s presidency,” said Utley. “The stories show LBJ’s personal side and his family’s interaction with the Secret Service. Now, the Park Service will be able to relate these stories to the public through that little Secret Service building near the ‘Texas White House.’”

Requests for help with historical research and interpretation come regularly to Texas State’s History Department, enough that Denton created a new research center, the Center for Texas Public History, to respond to the requests. Denton directs the Center and Utley serves as the Center’s chief historian.

Happenings: Homecoming Week

Bobcat spirit roars at Texas State Homecoming events

By Catherine Harper

Soap Box Derby

Year after year, Texas State University shines when its brightest alumni, faculty, staff, students and members of the public join in the tradition of Homecoming.

Starting the fourth week in October, Texas State will fire up a slate of Homecoming events including tailgating, Powderpuff Football, the annual Soap Box Derby and more, showcasing the ferocity of the Bobcats who keep the traditions alive. It all leads up to the Homecoming football game Oct. 29.

Check out some Homecoming history and upcoming events below:

Spotlight: Jaime Chahin

Texas State’s Chahin to be honored
as Texas A&M Distinguished Alum

By Texas A&M University-Kingsville Alumni Affairs

Dr. Jaime Chahin

KINGSVILLE — Three alumni of Texas A&M University-Kingsville, including Texas State dean Jaime Chahin, will be honored Oct. 22 when the Javelina Alumni Association hosts its annual Distinguished Alumni luncheon at the Grand Ballrooms in the Memorial Student Union Building.

The recipients of the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award are:

• Dr. Roger Campos, Class of 1981, of San Antonio
• Judge Theresa Chang, Class of 1981, of Houston
• Dr. Jaime Chahin, Class of 1974, of Austin

Faculty: Randall Reid

From flea market to fine art:
Professor gives new life to relics

By Billi London-Gray

Randall Reid is an alchemist. His ability to turn base metals into gold has been showcased in galleries, museums, offices and embassies stretching across the globe from San Marcos to Kuwait.

The Texas State University art professor specializes in deconstructing antique found objects — like oil cans, rulers, rakes and signs — to create new works of art. Collecting objects from flea markets, garage sales, antique stores and junk shops, Reid transforms them into minimalist masterpieces.

“My work reflects the process of aging, in that the chance and random circumstances involved in its creation are closely correlated with the physicality of growth and decay,” Reid says. “By combining raw and well-worn materials, I seek to give visual form to our relationships with the past.”

Currently on faculty development leave, Reid is working in his on-campus studio creating pieces for his upcoming solo exhibition, “Evidence of a Society,” which will be held on campus in the fall 2012 semester. In the more immediate future, his work will be on display in two upcoming events in San Marcos’ neighboring metropolises.