Bobcat Faces: April Hahn

For Hahn, making connections
has been best part of college

By Billi London-Gray

Life is a story, and we always hope the best chapters are yet to be written. For many soon-to-be graduates, a wonderful chapter is coming to a close, promising even better adventures just a page turn away.

April Hahn is penning the last few paragraphs of her college education this week. The Texas State University senior, who will graduate Saturday with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in journalism, says, “Conclusions are the hardest parts to write” — which aptly sums up the bittersweet experience of graduation.

Bobcat Faces: Danny Lopez

Poli sci major, classic car enthusiast
revs up for career shaping the law

By Audrey Webb

Danny Lopez likes to make things run smoothly. When he’s not on campus or at his full-time job at an Austin pawn shop, he can be found tinkering under the hood of one of his classic automobiles.

He got into his hobby at age 20 with the purchase of his first car — a 1978 El Camino he bought from his brother. “It didn’t run. It didn’t do anything. I started taking it apart until I figured out what was wrong. I was driving that car in a month,” Lopez says. He had no prior mechanical knowledge, learning as he went by reading engine repair manuals, unafraid of the challenge. “It’s just nuts and bolts, I figured,” Lopez says with a shrug.

Lopez approaches life and academic challenges with the same easygoing attitude, always ready to roll up his sleeves and get things done. Quick with a smile and a warm laugh, Lopez makes hard work look easy. Assuming he maintains his prior academic performance until the end of his final semester — and there’s no reason to suspect he won’t — he’ll graduate from Texas State University this week with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Happenings: Brown Bag Research Seminar

Noon event to explore the impact
of pregnancy and parenthood

By Mary Kincy

Teen pregnancy and its impact on relationships as observed by a Texas State researcher is the topic of an upcoming Brown Bag Research Seminar.

Chelsea Houska dropped out of her South Dakota high school during her senior year to give birth to a daughter. Thanks to popular MTV reality show “16 and Pregnant” and its spinoff “Teen Mom 2,” she has done so before an audience of millions.

Not every teen who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child does so in the spotlight,  however — and it is with these young women, who begin their journey as mothers in relative anonymity, that Dr. Michelle Toews, an associate professor in the Texas State University’s School of Family and Consumer Sciences, works.

Toews will share observations and information gleaned from five years of working with local teen parents during a Center for Multicultural and Gender Studies Brown Bag Research Seminar that will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, in the Family and Consumer Sciences building, room 177. The event is open to the public.

Happenings: Texas State Commencement

Graduation ceremonies
to take place Friday, Saturday

By Mary Kincy

A onetime Bobcat decorated her mortar board with the year of her graduation.

More than the fall 2011 semester is drawing to a close for a select group of Texas State students participating in commencement exercises this weekend.

Beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, Texas State will host the first of four commencement ceremonies in Strahan Coliseum for the colleges of Education and Health Professions. At 2 p.m., the College of Liberal Arts and University College will participate in exercises, followed by the colleges of Fine Arts and Communication and Applied Arts at 6 p.m. A final ceremony, at 10 a.m. Saturday, is for students in the McCoy College of Business Administration and the College of Science and Engineering.

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.

Around Campus: Writing Center

Bobcats offered chance to better writing skills through free tutoring

The Writing Center has a diverse staff who can help with a variety of writing tasks.

By Mary Kincy

For those who feel writing is less than a strong suit, the Texas State University Writing Center offers a valuable resource: confidential, one-on-one help with any writing tasks — including those not assigned by a class.

Keri Fitzgerald, coordinator, detailed the services offered at the Writing Center, located on the ground floor of Flowers Hall.

“It depends on where they’re at,” she says of the help certified tutors can provide student writers. “We’ll help anybody at any point in the assignment.”

Around Campus: Sociology Club

Sociology Club raises student
awareness with social science

Sociology Club member Gabriel Walker showcases the club's 2011 T-shirts.

By Catherine Harper

The Sociology Club at Texas State University prides itself on being a “different kind of club,” according to former president Chris Jordan. Centered around all facets of sociology, the study of societies, the Sociology Club provides its members with a broader insight into their daily lives and the world in which they live.

The Sociology Club is an active student-run organization in the College of Liberal Arts that is open to all students with an interest in sociology. With guidance by student officers and faculty advisor Bob Price, a professor of sociology at Texas State, the Sociology Club provides students with opportunities to learn and gain experience through sociology on campus.

Holidays: Bastille Day

Around the world, French National Day fires off in celebration

Bastille Day in Paris, France

By Catherine Harper

In France, July 14 is French National Day, known here as Bastille Day. With fireworks, dancing and parades, Bastille Day is very similar to the Fourth of July in the United States.

According to Dr. Moira DiMauro-Jackson, a modern languages professor and sponsor of Le Cercle Français at Texas State, the holiday is a day of celebration full of “pomp and pageantry.” However, it does get a  bit rowdy.

Spotlight: 2011 Distinguished Professors

President Trauth Announces
2011 Distinguished Professors

Dr. Frank de la Teja

Denise Trauth, president of Texas State University, announced the recipients of the 2011 University Distinguished Professor award on July 12.

Dr. Frank de la Teja, a professor in the Department of History, and Dr. Robert Gorman, a professor in the Department of Political Science, were selected for the award.

Texas State Updates: Medical Care

New study proposes strategy
for improving medical care

Dr. Kelly Haskard-Zolnierek

Research done by a team that included Kelly Haskard-Zolnierek, an assistant professor in the Texas State Department of Psychology, has developed a strategy that can help patients stick to their prescribed medicines, achieving better long-term results.

Haskard-Zolnierek worked with researchers from the University of California, Riverside, and La Sierra University in Riverside on the Information-Motivation-Strategy model. The three-pronged approach was developed after analysis of findings from more than 100 large-scale studies and meta-analyses conducted between 1948 and 2009.

A report on the model appears in the journal Health Psychology Review.