Image Alternative Text: Theatre MSU Poster advertising Fahrenheit 451

Theatre MSU brings the heat, razor-sharp wit to 2026 season

Mississippi State University’s Theatre MSU continues its 2025-2026 season this month with adaptations of “Fahrenheit 451” and “Sweeney Todd.” Spring shows begin Feb. 18-22 with the production of Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.”

Image Alternative Text: Karyn Brown Headshot

Brown earns PRSA outstanding educator award

Mississippi State’s Karyn Brown is the recipient of the Alabama Public Relations Society of America’s Outstanding Educator Award, one of the organization’s highest honors recognizing excellence and influence in public relations education.

Image Alternative Text: Aubrey Carter Headshot

Communication student earns top 10 national placement in Hearst awards

A student in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre has earned national recognition in the prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards, often described as the “NCAA tournament of college journalism,” held this past fall. Aubrey Carter, a 2025 MSU graduate and current CMT graduate student, placed ninth nationally in the Hearst TV Feature Competition, one of the program’s most competitive categories.

Image Alternative Text: Photo of PR competition winners, left to right, Caroline Flint, Parker Acosta, Alice Ann Haab, and Maggie Heath

Pursuing PR Perfection: CMT students capture first place at regional competition

Mississippi State public relations students are proving their skills on a regional stage, earning first place in a competitive challenge and several top awards at the recent Southern Public Relations Federation, or SPRF, Annual Conference in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Image Alternative Text: Karyn Brown Headshot

Brown reelected to arts and sciences national board

Karyn Brown, a longtime Mississippi State educator and assistant dean for communication and media in the College of Arts and Sciences, now is serving a prestigious second term on the Board of Directors for the national Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. CCAS board members are elected by the full membership during their annual meeting held this fall in St. Louis, Missouri.

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CMT major among three MSU Rhodes Scholarship finalists

Three Mississippi State students are finalists for the prestigious international Rhodes Scholarship. The finalists are advancing to the last round of interviews Nov. 12-15 in consideration for one of the world’s highest academic honors. Tafada Wright, a senior communication major concentrating in broadcast and digital journalism from Spanish Town, Jamaica, interviews in Kingston, Jamaica.

Image Alternative Text: Jack and the Beanstalk Poster

Theatre MSU’s ‘Unified Theatre’ project showcases ACCESS student talent

Mississippi State’s Theatre MSU is partnering with the university’s ACCESS Program to launch a “Unified Theatre” project celebrating student creativity in a collaborative performance of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Unified Theatre is a nationwide program that unites students from all backgrounds and learning styles to create and perform productions together.

Image Alternative Text: Holli Seitz speaks with a potential communication graduate student

MSU’s Seitz to headline renewed Grisham Lecture Series

Mississippi State is bringing back the Grisham Lecture Series, a signature event showcasing its most distinguished faculty, next month after a five-year hiatus. Holli Seitz, associate professor of communication, is headlining the series’ first event on Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. in Mitchell Memorial Library’s John Grisham Room.

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Carter publishes narrative analysis

Gil Carter, an assistant professor in Communication & Media Studies, recently published an article in the Journal of the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri titled "Who was Robin Bush? A Narrative Analysis of How a Presidential Family Experienced Her Death." Carter examines how three versions of Bush’s story form a cohesive narrative that shaped the Bush family’s public and private communication as they rose in American politics.

Image Alternative Text: Holli Seitz Receiving Grisham Master Teacher Award

Communication Kudos: September 2025
Image Alternative Text: Ribbon Cutting Photo for CMT

Communication Kudos: May 2025
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Fisher presents at AEJMC conference

Melody Fisher, an associate professor in Public Relations, participated in the panel Essential Change: Adding Diverse Role Models to Public Relations History at the annual AEJMC conference in San Francisco in August. Alongside co-authors Jeffrey Morosoff, of Hofstra,, David Brown, of Temple, and Shelley Spector of the Museum of Public Relations, Dr. Fisher discusses uncredited pioneers of public relations history.

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Choi presents on partisanship, political satire and emotions

Heesook Choi, an assistant professor of Print & Digital Journalism, presented “Partisanship, Political Satire and Emotions: Applying Social Identity Theory to the Study of Political Satire and Affect Toward Presidential Candidates” at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in August. This study examines the role of partisanship in political TV satire viewing and its association with affect toward presidential candidates.

Image Alternative Text: Gil Carter headshot

Carter presents on teaching rhetoric of public memory through music

Gil Carter, an assistant professor in Communication & Media Studies, recently presented "It's Not Just a Song: It's a Way to Teach Rhetoric of Public Memory" at the Alabama Communication Association conference held at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Carter demonstrated how private memories expressed in popular music connect to broader understandings of public memory, citing examples from his new course, Words That Changed the World.

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Theatre MSU raises curtain on Halloween hijinks with ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ holds Haunted Theatre fundraiser

Theatre MSU is bringing a double dose of Halloween entertainment to Mississippi State this fall with a spooky fundraiser and a cult-classic performance of “Night of the Living Dead.”