Student Spotlight: Kolten Parker

Journalism senior gains experience at university newspaper, reports at State Capitol

By Andrew Osegi

Kolten Parker, senior at Texas State University, has worked hard to get where he is today.

Kolten Parker came to Texas State in 2010 ready for opportunity.

Parker, 23, was born and raised in Stephenville, Texas, a city where dairy rules yet high school football is king. After graduating high school, Parker decided to stay close to home and pursue his first two years of higher education at Tarleton State University; however, he soon discovered a change of scenery was overdue.

Students: Kendra Marsteller

Criminal justice major explores her passion in classroom and beyond

By Audrey Webb

Kendra Marsteller outside Jowers Center, where she has worked part-time as an administrative assistant while completing her degree

Some students come to Texas State to explore a range of subject areas before settling on one that interests them enough to pursue as a career. Kendra Marsteller came here to immerse herself in an interest she began displaying at an early age.

“My mom said that when I was a kid, I would always play with toy cop cars,” she laughs.

Marsteller graduated on December 15 with a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice.

Study Tips: Get Out

Get Up! Get Out! Do Something!

By Texas State SLAC

Get out there and get involved with the Texas State community.

College is all about balance! Just like you can’t have all play and no work, you can’t have all work and no play. So get involved. As a Texas State Bobcat, this is your Lair—and you have to make it your home.

Around Campus: Essential Tips

Being a Bobcat: Essential Tips for a GREAT Texas State Experience

The Rising Star of Texas

By Andrew Osegi

To the incoming freshman, the transfer student, the misinformed undergrad or the curious prospect, Texas State University can be a maze of hills, stairs, majors and student orgs. To help you navigate that maze, you need some essential insider knowledge.

With input from a few fellow students, I’ve compiled the following tips to help you make the most of your Texas State experience. These secrets can greatly impact your time at Texas State. Remember them, and you’ll do just fine.

Around Campus: Fall Sports Preview

Eat ’em up! Bobcats ready for final
fall season in Southland Conference

Texas State’s final fall sports season in the Southland Conference will give Bobcats fans a taste of what’s in store for 2012, when the university joins the Western Athletic Conference.

On the football field, Texas State will launch home-and-home series with Football Bowl Subdivision teams Texas Tech and Wyoming in 2011. The volleyball team will play in four major tournaments against opponents from coast to coast. And the soccer team has matches scheduled against programs from the Big 12, Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference.

Rising Stars: Michael Collins

Texas State archaeology professor
brings ancient culture to life

Michael Collins came of age during a period Texas author Elmer Kelton referred to as “the time it never rained.”

One of the worst droughts on record gripped much of the United States, including Collins’ hometown of Midland, in the 1950s. Lakes dried up. Unceasing heat desiccated the soil. Agricultural activity slowed to a crawl.

The West Texas winds did not slow down. They stole the dirt, carrying it by the ton for hundreds of miles in swirling, choking clouds. Collins remembers a horseman riding under a barbed-wire fence — and not being able to touch the bottom strand.

But while the drought and the winds were stealing topsoil from West Texas, they were giving Mike Collins a gift: archaeology.

Alumni: Distinguished Alumni 2011

Texas State Alumni Association
selects honorees for 2011

The Texas State Alumni Association has announced five recipients of the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award, ranging from the university’s longest-tenured coach to an advocate for the state’s growing research industry.

The 2011 awards will be presented Oct. 28 at the Distinguished Alumni Awards Gala during Homecoming Weekend. This year’s honorees are:

Connie “C.R.” Arnold (BS, Biology, ’62, MA, Biology, ’63): He is the former director and now Perry R. Bass Chair Emeritus in Fisheries and Mariculture at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, which is in Port Aransas. He joined the institute in 1977.

Karen Chisum

Michael Bowman (BAAS, Occupational Education, ’78): He is president of Hunt and Hunt, a Houston-based company that does precision machine work.

Karen Chisum (BS, Physical Education, ’72, MEd, Physical Education, ’78): She is the volleyball coach at Texas State. She has 716 career victories and is the longest-tenured head coach at the university.

Jeff Foster

Jeff Foster (BAAS, Technology, ’09): Foster is a 12-year veteran of the National Basketball Association, all with the Indiana Pacers. He returned to Texas State to finish his degree mid-career.

Tom Kowalski (BA, Political Science, ’78): He is president and CEO of Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute, which is a statewide public policy research organization that promotes medical research, development and manufacturing in Texas.

The Distinguished Alumni Award dates to 1959, when it was presented to then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson. The award acknowledges outstanding accomplishments and leadership in the individual’s chosen business, profession or life work, on a national or international level.

Texas State Updates: Tony Award Winner

Former Texas State student
Hickey earns Tony Award

John Benjamin Hickey, with his Tony Award, from Broadway.com.

One of the big winners at the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards on Sunday was former Texas State student John Benjamin Hickey.

The native of Plano won in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play category for his performance as Felix Turner in The Normal Heart, a revival described as “outrageous, unflinching, and totally unforgettable look at the sexual politics of New York during the AIDS crisis.” It was his first Tony Award.

“Being a member of the ensemble of The Normal Heart has been the greatest privilege (and) the proudest moment of my career,” Harris said in his acceptance speech, which can be seen online. “We love this play and we loved doing this play.”

Texas State Updates: Jessica Salazar

Texas State student claims
prize in national competition

Jessica Salazar

Jessica Salazar, a spring graduate from the Texas State fashion merchandising program, finished second in a contest sponsored by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists for student poster presentations.

Her entry, “Zar Golf … When Technology Meets Fashion,” detailed  embedding a system of sensors in golf clothes. Feedback from the sensors would be analyzed by a software app for a mobile device, allowing for instant feedback from a coach on a golfer’s swing.

Salazar, a native of Edinburg, played on the golf team and designed a line of women’s golf clothes while at Texas State.

Click here to see her presentation.

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.