Department of Communication Media Journalism and Film Archives

Theatre students to read Declaration of Independence on Carrington lawn Nov. 10

October 29, 2026 by Lynn Lansdown

Students in the Fall 2026 Advanced Voice and Movement class (THE 326) will give a public reading of the Declaration of Independence at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 10 on the lawn west of Carrington Hall.

Assistant Professor Karen Sabo teaches the class.

The event is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by Missouri State’s Department of Theatre and Dance, Public Affairs Office and the Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities.

Mark your calendar

History is “someone else’s now”

Sabo is a self-confessed history junkie, especially early American history. “As a theater person, I realize all that history was just someone else’s now,” she said.

She included the Declaration of Independence assignment to commemorate the document’s 250th anniversary.

“I love being able to vote, and I never miss an election,” Sabo said. “And I want to teach my students to have the same excitement and interest in democracy.”

Because she is only the second generation in her family to be born in the United States, Sabo said she was raised to appreciate living in a democracy.

“I grew up in Albany, New York, [and] both my parents at some point worked for the state government,” she explained. “So that was most of what we talked about at dinner every night. It was government, legislation, politicians, how things worked. And it’s just always been on my radar.”

Woman standing in front of classroom smiling — Assistant Professor Karen Sabo takes roll in her Advanced Voice and Movement class.

Declaration a “high stakes moment”

Consequently, Sabo is as fascinated by the Signers’ courage as she is their vision. Both are qualities student actors must understand and embody in their performances.

“Something we deal with as actors is finding the highest stakes possible in a situation,” Sabo said. “One of the most famous things Benjamin Franklin ever said was, ‘we must now all hang together or we will hang separately.’ This was a life and death situation. They could have all been tried for treason and hanged, and that would have been the end of their lives.”

A public reading of the Declaration, such as what the students will perform, captures the sensory experience of that high stakes moment.

“We hope to make it accessible to those passing by, like the town criers that would have read out the document in their communities when it was first written,” said junior BFA Acting for the Stage and Screen major Kathryn Williams. “Our performance, in a way, is a display of how common citizens back then would have received the Declaration.” [Read more…] about Theatre students to read Declaration of Independence on Carrington lawn Nov. 10

Heather Walters wins outstanding achievement honors in writing and teaching

October 21, 2026 by Lynn Lansdown

Missouri State University’s Heather Walters recently received two outstanding achievement awards from the National Communication Association.

A senior instructor in the Department of Communication, Media, Journalism and Film, Walters won the association’s Outstanding Teaching Award. She has taught at Missouri State for 27 years.

Moreover, her book, “Understanding the Ethical Concerns of Generative AI: A Practical Guide,” won the Communication Ethics Division’s Book of the Year Award.

“It is always so rewarding to know that the long hours you put into typing ideas, editing and revising had some notable impact on others,” Walters said.

Teaching style uses current events and case studies

Walters developed and currently teaches the department’s AI and Human Communication (COM 310) course. She also teaches Ethical Issues in Communication (COM 313), Media Law & Ethics (MED 581) and Public Relations Theory and Research Methods (COM 219). In addition, she teaches ethical communication and coaches the speech and debate team at Greenwood Laboratory School.

Her teaching style, she said, is “current event and case study intensive.”

“Integrating current event discussion in the classroom helps students translate theory into practice,” she said. “[It helps them] understand why what they are learning in the classroom matters for their everyday life.”

To facilitate learning, Walters created a set of online activities that complement her textbook.

“There are not many of those resources available in this specific discipline,” she said. “I think [the Association] found my teaching style innovative and reflective of sincere effort to bring a discipline like ethics—which is often stereotyped as ‘ancient’—to life for students.”

Paws to the Polls wins MSEED grant

July 20, 2026 by Lynn Lansdown

Missouri State University’s Paws to the Polls (PAWS) student organization has been awarded an Experiential Education for Student Development (MSEED) grant from the university’s strategic planning funding.

PAWS will use the MSEED grant during the Fall 2026 semester to conduct research on civic engagement and community involvement at Missouri State. Although the project will occur mostly on the university’s Springfield campus, other off-campus sites include the Greene County Election Center and area high schools. The group also plans to work with Leadership Springfield and the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC). NAC oversees all neighborhood associations in Springfield.

With the grant, PAWS will coordinate focus groups, surveys, workshops, a voting fair, voter education materials distribution and voter registration events. Later this fall, the students will compile and analyze the data they collect from these efforts.

Between 15-25 PAWS members and other students will participate in the program, according to Dr. Suzanne Walker-Pacheco, faculty advisor to the group. Additionally, another 120-150 student volunteers will eventually participate in the broader program. In all, Walker-Pacheco estimates, the project will reach anywhere from 3,000-6,000 students.

Communication alumnus Luke Thomas enjoys growing San Antonio Spurs brand

June 2, 2026 by Lynn Lansdown

To hear Missouri State University alumnus Luke Thomas describe it, his job with the San Antonio Spurs professional basketball franchise isn’t just a marketing job. It is “storytelling in a physical space.”

“Every detail, from the environment to the messaging to the way a fan interacts with a moment, is communicating something,” Thomas said. “My job is to make sure that message is intentional, cohesive and something people actually want to be a part of.”

Thomas’ job title is Experiential Marketing Manager, Strategic Growth for Spurs Sports and Entertainment. He joined the organization in early 2026. His responsibilities include planning large-scale fan activations, community events and other activities that “connect the Spurs to new and existing audiences,” he said.

“In Austin, this work comes to life across a series of tentpole moments throughout the year,” Thomas said. These include Spurs Week Austin, SXSW, Austin City Limits, Formula 1, and the Spurs International Half Marathon. The activities are designed to grow the Spurs’ brand in Austin and expand its presence globally, especially in Europe and Mexico.

“We just did an event in Paris for the playoffs,” Thomas cited as an example of the Spurs’ global marketing campaigns. “We will be back in July, and then we are playing games in Paris and Manchester, England, in January.”

Before his current position with the Spurs, Thomas worked at Walt Disney World in Park Planning and Integration. In that role, he managed large-scale operational and event logistics at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Environmental Communication class highlights university’s public affairs mission

May 18, 2026 by Lynn Lansdown

When communication majors began enrolling for Spring 2026 classes, they encountered a new offering: Environmental Communication. Structured as a second block online class, this was the first time Environmental Communication had been offered as part of the communication studies curricula.

The course is another choice within the fully online option of the communication studies program, according to Senior Instructor Jay Howard. Its purpose is to help students understand the role of communication in negotiating the relationship between people and the environment.

Howard, who teaches in the Department of Communication, Media, Journalism and Film, created the class as a special topics course. He was thrilled when 29 students enrolled, a number just a bit over the class limit.

Most of the students were upper level communications majors, Howard said. “But we did have people from other majors as well find their way into the class, which I was happy to see. And if I get to teach the class again, I’d love to continue to expand and have people enrolled from all across the university.”

Consumers of environmental messaging

Throughout the course, Howard stressed to students how all members of a society are “consumers” of environmental communication. While not everyone will become a public official or climate activist, he noted, people engage in and consume environmental communication daily.

“We need to be able to critically evaluate [this communication] and have some tools for knowing whether the messaging coming at us is accurate or not,” Howard said. “See what they’re trying to get us to do, and why, and whose agenda is being served.”

Because environmental issues tend to affect entire communities and societies, not just individuals, the topic itself can have a wide reach and impact.

“It’s big, it crosses boundaries, has all kinds of stakeholders that all have to cooperate,” Howard said. “There’s a collective action problem. And when you’re trying to coordinate action, you have to use communication.”