The Texas State University System Board of Regents approved the name change during its quarterly meeting Nov. 21-22 in Beaumont.

The Family of the Year award was given to the Peña family during this year’s Family Weekend, which drew more than 5,700 registrants for activities from Oct. 11-12.

The list is based on a school's use of renewable energy, their recycling and conservation programs, and the availability of environmental studies in academic offerings.

The endowment will provide scholarships to TXST Healthcare Administration graduate students.

The education services company profiles and recommends Texas State in the 2025 edition of its annual college guide, The Best 390 Colleges. The book does not rank the universities in numerical order. 

Texas State was included at No. 298 on the list—a 120-place leap from the previous year. Princeton University came in at No. 1, followed by Stanford University in second and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in third.

Moore, urban and regional planning junior, was one of 10 students selected to participate in the Socio-Ecological Role of Greenways in Urban Systems (SERGUS) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE).

McCarthy, considered one of the world’s greatest writers, died at age 89 in 2023. He won America’s top literary honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for The Road and the National Book Award for All the Pretty Horses. Several of his works were adapted intofilms, including No Country for Old Men, which won an Oscar for Best Picture.

An international research team—including Alexander Kornienko, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at TXST and holder of the Denise M. Trauth Endowed Presidential Research Professorship, and Sachin B. Wagh, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at TXST—conducted the study, resulting in two peer-reviewed papers.

Though few people will ever get to analyze the asteroid samples, scientists across the globe can study high-resolution images of those samples thanks to the work of Texas State University alum Joseph Aebersold, a 2016 geographic information science graduate.

The Bachelor of Applied Arts and Science with a Concentration in Aviation Science will provide a pathway to certifications and licensure required for professional pilots along with the critical thinking, teamwork and leadership skills valued by the commercial aviation industry.

More than 80 undergraduate students from across disciplines presented research at the conference, including poster and panel sessions.

Robichaux, a veteran screen actor, is featured in a small role in Linklater’s acclaimed new action-comedy film Hit Man.

Hale is the first TXST Fulbright Scholar to travel abroad since 2019.

These are a few of the adventures for participants in Texas State University’s study abroad program in Italy, which takes place for three weeks in June.

Brianna Mendez has already joined the University Advancement team. Mike Jaworski and Amy Willson will assume their new roles June 3.

Bats to Cats participants will benefit from targeted, personalized support and early efforts to support belonging across institutions, which will help them save money and complete their bachelor’s degrees in a timely manner.

A 2023 TXST Research Enhancement Program grant funded the recording of “Blu-Escape” at TXST’s Fire Station Recording Studio.

The Center for Professional Sales at TXST is the first program in the world to receive the award.

The Cold Case Team is a one-year internship program enabling TXST students in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology to work with the OAG Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit (CCMPU).

The endowment provides scholarships to undergraduates and graduate students enrolled at TXST in the College of Liberal Arts pursuing a degree in sociology who have documented financial need.

Participating faculty, staff, students, and alumni will demonstrate a variety of research projects, innovative technologies, and entrepreneurial endeavors during the event. This year’s showcase features 17 collaborative teams with over 20 projects from 12 departments across campus including the McCoy College of Business, Ingram School of Engineering, and the Translational Health Research Center. 

Thorne was among 26 emerging college and university leaders selected for the 2024-25 class of the ACE Fellows, the longest-running leadership development program in the United States. 

The awards were presented Feb. 23 at the TSUS Board of Regents meeting in Huntsville. 

Catherine Cherrstrom, an associate professor in the Department of Organization, Workforce and Leadership Studies; Charise Pimentel, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction; and Jon Zmikly, a senior lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, received the Regents’ Teacher Award. 

Since 2016, Texas State’s Department of English has administered the award in celebration of the Clarks’ lifelong contributions to, and love for, literature and the arts. 

Georgina Oluoch and Obinna Maduagwuna, both manufacturing engineering students, attended the Cargill Diversity Leadership Summit in Fall of 2023.

Overall, TXST reported total enrollment of 35,378 students for spring 2024, also a 3% increase over 2023. 

Texas State’s top program placements nationally came in the categories Online Master’s in Nursing Programs (tied for No. 28), Online Master’s in Education Programs (tied for No. 88) and Online Bachelor’s Programs (tied for No. 104). The new rankings mark an improvement of nine spots for nursing, and education enters the list after being unranked for 2023.

Kelly Damphousse, TXST president, along with Julie Lessiter, TXST Round Rock Campus vice president, accepted the award at the Feb. 7 event, which was held at Kalahari Resort and Conventions. 

Troxel has served as the university’s director of development and alumni engagement since January 2022. She assumes her new role immediately.

Narcan is a medication used to rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, including heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and morphine.

Texas State University System’s (TSUS) Public Art Program announced that four artists have been commissioned to create works for TXST in San Marcos.

Located on the fourth floor of the Roy F. Mitte science building on the San Marcos Campus, Space Lab is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary research and astronomy projects including the BobcatOrbiter satellite which is anticipated to launch to space as early as fall 2024.

The four-year, $1.25 million grant will support the project “Longitudinal Changes in Prescription Drug Misuse and Polysubstance Use in Adolescents and Young Adults.” Ty Schepis, Ph.D., will serve as the principal investigator.

The Stanford ranking is updated annually based on the number of times an individual’s work is cited by researchers across multiple disciplines. 

For the inaugural graduate school ranking, Money partnered with College Factual to find the country’s top-value programs. With a focus on annual costs, typical debt burdens, employment rates and recent graduate salaries, programs were graded on a five-star scale. The magazine’s rating system, which is designed to help families with their college search, awarded Texas State four stars for its value. 

Now, researchers from Texas State University (TXST) have led an international team from the U.S., Germany, Australia and Sweden in discovering the reason for this. They found that sharks have the lowest mutation rate between generations ever recorded in vertebrates.

Led by Dr. Keisuke Ikehata, assistant professor of civil engineering, the research team is on a mission to demonstrate that purified wastewater is clean and aesthetically pleasing for everyday use. 

In fall 2023, Texas State University students in GEO 4322/5322 engaged in two community-based, service-learning projects.

Students who complete the program will be offered apprenticeships and potential employment opportunities by Round Rock-based Saleen, which creates high-performance vehicles for both street and track along with a broad line of aftermarket performance parts. Saleen also provides design, engineering and certification services to the automotive industry.

Abbott honored Texas State and 20 other Texas public institutions of higher education on Oct. 11 as recipients of the 2023 Veteran Education Excellence Recognition Award by the Texas Veterans Commission (TVC)

The board approved the honors during its quarterly meeting Nov. 17 in Beaumont.

Medical laboratory professionals form the backbone of health care and the public health system. They conduct approximately 13 billion laboratory medicine tests annually in the U.S.

Sims comes to Texas State from the University of Houston, where she had served as executive director of donor engagement since 2021. Sims will start at Texas State May 1, 2023.

Gov. Greg Abbott launched the campaign last fall, citing statistics that show fentanyl caused 1,700 overdose deaths in Texas in 2021. The toll represented an 89% jump from the previous year. Across the country, fentanyl is the leading cause of death in Americans between ages 18 and 45.

Under the program, a team of trained student workers will provide fellow students with safe rides around campus and from campus to designated areas off-campus. Students can receive free rides on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m.

The 7:30 p.m. event is free and open to the public. The KAP Literary Center is located at 508 W. Center St. in Kyle.

The initiative more than doubles funding for fellowships currently available from The Graduate College and shows Texas State’s commitment to investing in graduate education.

Since 2016, Texas State’s Department of English has administered the award in celebration of the Clarks’ lifelong contributions to, and love for, literature and the arts. 

A survey of fourth-grade general and special education teachers indicated fewer than 20% of them felt adequately prepared to teach writing to students with and at risk for disabilities. Through that, Collins and Ciullo identified a need to provide special and general educators professional development in writing to help them be more prepared to address the needs of students with disabilities. Their program, “Turning the TIDE: Building Teacher Capacity to Accelerate Text-Based Writing Performance of Students With and At Risk for Disabilities,” will provide the necessary professional development for these teachers to collaboratively deliver intensive intervention in text-based writing to students with and at risk for disabilities.

Collins has nine years of teaching experience in Texas public schools and an extensive background in implementing Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS). Her research focuses on effective intervention and assessment for students with learning disabilities, specifically in the areas of reading and writing.

Ciullo’s research focuses on two topics. First, he studies the extent to which classroom writing instruction provided to students with disabilities aligns with research evidence, and how observed instruction relates to students’ writing performance. Second, he is interested in interventions that enhance teachers’ effectiveness in the area of writing and content-area knowledge.