Participation Opportunities

Each year the department and our student organizations host a number of events and meetings that you might be interested in either attending or participating. The list below includes the titles of organizations with regularly scheduled activities and events as well as contact information for the individual(s) who can provide times, dates, and additional information.

Communication Organization of Graduate Students (COGS)

Fall 2008 Officers:

Keturi DeLong, President
Ashley Thomas-Seltzer, Vice President
Kelly Reghr, Treasurer
Andrea Baldwin, Social Coordinator

To contact COGs, visit their Facebook Page.

Lambda Pi Eta (Communication Honors Society) Kelly Taylor

NCA Future Pros (Pre-professional student social organization) Brian Richardson

Performance Interest Group (PIGs) Kelly Taylor

Giving to Communication Studies

Since Dr. Gretchen Bataille became President of the University of North Texas, we have experienced numerous positive changes. On a visit to the campus you could see some changes; many others are less visible but much more influential on the daily operations of the university. The new leadership team for the university includes Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Wendy Wilkins, and Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Dr. Vishwanath Prasad. These and other administrators are transforming the university into a student-centered national research institution. New initiatives have been set in place to hire additional faculty, foster a vital research culture, and to promote teaching excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

With a young, dynamic, and collegial faculty, the undergraduate and master’s programs in Communication Studies are growing and changing dramatically. The faculty has been formidably enhanced in recent years, and we continue to build on our strong traditions in interpersonal and organizational, performance, and rhetorical studies. We have committed to our ongoing programmatic expansion by supporting a Student Learning Center, a dedicated Performance Space, a Communication and Social Influence Research Office, and a Computer-Mediated Communication Research Laboratory. The faculty and graduate students, working independently, collaboratively, and as members of interdisciplinary research teams, have dramatically improved our publication rates as well as our presence at regional, national, and international conferences.

We are proud of our accomplishments and are constantly striving to improve our standing in the College, the University, and the larger Communication Studies discipline. Our goal is to build on this momentum and to cement our position as a premier undergraduate program in communication studies and as one of the outstanding terminal master’s programs in the nation.

Donors play a key role in these efforts and can participate through a variety of giving opportunities. You can make an important difference in the life of the department by supporting scholarships for undergraduates and/or funding of department initiatives.

UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS

Debate Scholarships

Debate Alumni/William DeMougeot Scholarship Fund.
Created by a group of Dr. DeMougeot’s former debaters after his death in the mid-1980s, this scholarship is awarded on a competitive basis to outstanding students who participate in the activities of the North Texas Debate Team.

Olive M. Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Olive Johnson served as the first chair of the department from 1931 until the early 1950s. She established the UNT Debate team in 1933. This fund was established by her son and daughter-in-law in 1986. Recipients must be U.S. citizens who compete as undergraduates on the UNT Debate Team and major in Communication Studies. Freshmen applicants should be in the top quarter of their high school graduating class and should have an SAT score of at least 1000.

Curtis M. Loveless Scholarship Fund (UNT Foundation).
This scholarship was created by Curtis M. Loveless, a Denton attorney who debated for Dr. William DeMougeot in the 1960s. The scholarship, established in 1997, is awarded on a competitive basis to outstanding students who maintain full-time enrollment in the university, major in Communication Studies, meet the academic standards of the academic major, and participate in the activities of the North Texas Debate Team.

Louis Stricklin Scholarship (UNT Foundation).
Cathy Krendl, an attorney in Denver and former debater for Dr. William DeMougeot in the 1960s, created this scholarship in her father’s memory. Recipients must maintain full-time enrollment at the university, major in Communication Studies, meet the academic standards of the academic major, and participate in the activities of the UNT Debate Team.

Performance Studies Scholarship

Lesa Woody Memorial Scholarship in Oral Interpretation and Performance Studies.
Lesa Woody, an undergraduate oral interpretation studies student of Dr. Ted Colson, passed away in the late 1970s. Ms. Woody’s mother and stepfather created and funded this scholarship, which is awarded on a competitive basis to undergraduate students who participate in curricular performance studies classes and the co-curricular activities of the Performance Interest Group, and intercollegiate performance festivals.

DEPARTMENT INITIATIVES

Graduate Student Conference Travel Fund.
Established by Judith P. Burns (M.A., 1996), this fund helps defray the cost of conference travel by graduate students whose work has been accepted for presentation at regional, national, and international communication conferences.

Unrestricted Gifts Fund.
Donations to this account are used to support the ongoing activities of the department, such as the New Perspectives, New Voices Student Research Conference, the Communication Studies Awards Ceremony, as well as receptions for alumni, honorees, special guests, and graduate student and faculty of the department. Because of its flexibility, this fund is an extremely important fund for the department.

Performance Studies Development Fund.
Established by Karen Gossett (M.A., 1985) in memory of her father, this fund supports the on-going activities of the UNT Performance Studies program. Funds are used to purchase furnishings and technical accessories (e.g., lighting and sound equipment) for the black box (GAB 321), for mounting individual faculty productions, and to provide financial support for students representing UNT at festivals and conventions.

To make a gift to the Department of Communication Studies, please print the Gift Form, complete it, and return it to the following address:

Department of Communication Studies
P. O. Box 305268
University of North Texas
Denton, TX 76203

For additional information on giving to the University of North Texas or the Department of Communication Studies, including gifts via credit cards or electronic funds transfers, please visit the UNT Office of Development. Please remember to designate the department and the particular fund you wish to support!