Two KTRM managers have been named outstanding national broadcasters by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System.

General Manager Geoffrey Woehlk was named Best College Station Manager in the U.S., and Brooke Giddens received the Best Program Director honor. These two Truman State students competed for honors against radio stations and personnel at larger universities. IBS is a national educational organization founded to further the art and practice of radio and television broadcasting. KTRM is a member of IBS.

Dr. Mark Smith, KTRM adviser, was named a finalist for national adviser of the year. Several KTRM personnel had reached the finalist stage in multiple media categories. Congratulations!

The Truman State University Debate and Individual Events team travelled to St. Louis University to participate in Webster University’s Gorlock Tournament.

The team returned with several awards in both categories.

Junior Myra Milam (Elkland, MO) ranked the top speaker overall at the Gorlock tournament, a mere one point from receiving a perfect score. Teammates junior Nick Gorman (Kansas City, MO), and sophomore Maddie Ebert (Omaha, NE) also ranked during the tournament at the varsity level. Gorman made it to the quarterfinals of Lincoln-Douglas debate, ranking 2^nd speaker overall while Ebert took 9^th speaker in varsity. Freshman Alex Gregory (Columbia, MO) ranked 3^rd overall in the novice division in the semi-finals of novice Lincoln-Douglas debate.

In Individual Events Competition, Junior Arielle Long-Seabra (Blue Springs, MO) took multiple awards in three events. Long-Seabra ranked fourth in Prose, 3^rd in Dramatic Interpretation, and 6^th with duo partner sophomore Cody Caton (Lee’s Summit, MO). Freshman Dillon Laaker was a semi-finalist in impromptu speaking, and also paired with Alex Bisges for 5^th place overall in duo interpretation.

The team travels to Bolivar, Missouri to compete in the 2013 Missouri Association of Forensic Activities  state competition on February 15^th. Goodluck Bulldogs!

Seventeen members of the Truman State University Forensics team travelled to the University of Central Missouri on October 19-20th and retuned with a second place trophy overall in speech and debate combined sweepstakes points, a first place trophy in debate team sweepstakes, as well as several individual awards.

The tournament was split into two halves, with debaters and individual events competitors from fifteen schools represented, including Michigan’s Hillsdale College and Truman rivals Western Kentucky University.

In Lincoln-Douglas debate, junior Myra Milam (Elkland, MO), who led the debate team to a national championship last year, made it to semi-finals as well as placed third speaker overall. Maddie Ebert (Omaha, NE), a sophomore who was equally competitive last season also made it to semi-finals in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Junior Kirsten Wright (Liberty, MO) who joined the team as a sophomore, pulled out an impressive championship in Lincoln-Douglas debate out of forty-two competitors, qualifying her for nationals.

Also qualifying for nationals in individual events is sophomore Codi Caton (Lee’s Summit, MO) who placed fifth in Prose Interpretation, and freshman Sarah Muir (Lee’s Summit, MO) who took sixth place in impromptu. Junior Arielle Long-Seabra (Blue Springs, MO) continued to excel by being the only individual events competitor on the team to break into two final rounds. She placed fourth place in Dramatic Interpretation, and put her all into the final round for a first place trophy in Prose. Long-Seabra also qualified these events for nationals.

For more information about the team, contact Director of Forensics, Kristi Scholten at kscholten@truman.edu.

Leaving the Kirksville rain, the Truman State University individual events team travelled to Normal, IL to compete at Bradley/ISU Swing Tournament. The first part of the tournament took place in Peoria, Illinois at the Dan Smith Invitational tournament, where the bulldogs competed with some of their strongest contenders this season. Freshmen David Cook (Poplar Blufff, MO) and Sarah Stark (Kansas City, MO) took the top novice award for their performance in duo interpretation. Cook additionally placed fifth in novice prose. In extemporaneous speaking, freshman Dillion Laaker (Omaha, NE) placed second in his event, along with teammate Blake Bixler, who took fourth, both qualifying this event for nationals.

At Illinois State University junior Arielle Long-Seabra (Blue Springs, MO) placed seventh in prose interpretation after competing in a stacked final round with some of the best in the country. Long-Seabra reflected, “I was really excited to make it to final round, especially since I had some pretty tough rounds. From here on out my goal is to keep practicing and improving to qualify for nationals because the competition will only get tougher.” To keep the momentum of the season rolling, the Truman State University forensics team travels together for the first time this season to the University of Central Michigan to compete in both debate and individual events.

For more information about the team, contact coach Scholten at kscholten@truman.edu

The Truman State University Debate team has begun their season at Western Kentucky University where they competed in their first tournament of the 2012-2013 school year.

The debaters returned with third place in overall sweepstakes points. Sophomore Maddie Ebert (Omaha, NE) and freshman David Cook (Poplar Bluff, MO) were octofinalists in Lincoln Douglas debate, and junior Nick Gorman (Kansas City, MO) was a quarterfinalist.

“The team did very well overall,” adds Coach Russell Luce, “Winning a team sweepstakes award was amazing considering that for half of the team, it was their first collegiate tournament.  With a young team, it is always more difficult to win team awards, although they rose to the occasion.” After winning the national debate competition last year, Truman State University’s debate team is determined to defend its championship this year. Coach Luce additionally adds that the toughest level of competition Truman’s debate team will face this year is likely to be Western Kentucky and Hillsdale College.

Truman IE Swings into Normal

The TSU individual events team travelled to Normal, IL, to compete at Bradley/ISU Swing Tournament. The first part of the tournament took place in Peoria, Illinois at the Dan Smith Invitational tournament, where the bulldogs competed with some of their strongest contenders this season. Freshmen David Cook (Poplar Blufff, MO) and Sarah Stark (Kansas City, MO) took the top novice award for their performance in duo interpretation. Cook additionally placed fifth in novice prose. In extemporaneous speaking, freshman Dillion Laaker (Omaha, NE) placed second in his event, along with teammate Blake Bixler, who took fourth, both qualifying this event for nationals.

At Illinois State University junior Arielle Long-Seabra (Blue Springs, MO) placed seventh in prose interpretation after competing in a stacked final round with some of the best in the country.

For additional information about the team, contact the director, Dr. Kristi Scholten.  kscholten@truman.edu

A critical paper that examines the role of the radio engineer in a time of crisis is the focus of research by an Associate Professor of Communication at Truman State. Dr. Mark Smith presented the paper, “Radio Silence: WJAG and the Transmitter Fire of Easter Weekend, 1965″ during the Kansas State Radio History Symposium on October 12 in Manhattan. The paper closely examines how an engineer and radio station staff confronted a devasting fire that destroyed the transmission facilities of WJAG, Norfolk, Nebraska. Within 48-hours a new transmitter was delivered, installed and in operation inside a makeshift facility. Smith recounts the story of that event impacted station operations for years afterward.

Dr. Barry Poyner, professor of Communication, and undergraduate student Beroy Shimotani, presented research on “Midwestern Public Address” at the Speech & Theatre Association of Missouri on Sat. Sept. 29 at the Lake of the Ozarks.  Additionally Dr. Poyner, Dr. Andrei Klyukovski, and Amanda Medlock-Klyukovski presented their research on hybrid communication courses at STAM:  “A Pilot Study at Truman with the Basic Speech Course.”  The researchers were awarded $500.00 grants from Pearson Publishing and edited a customized text book being used in select sections of COMM 170. Royalties from the book benefit the university and provide students with both electronic and hard copies of the text at a reasonable price.

The Missouri Broadcasters Association has awarded a Certificate of Merit in the 2012 MBA media contest to a Truman State student.  Sam Spencer, a Communication major, earned the second-place honor in Radio Feature Reporting.  The award was presented Saturday, June 2 at the annual MBA awards banquet at Lake of the Ozarks.  Spencer’s audio feature, ”Drag Racing and the American Way,” examined the strong tie of a local family to the national drag racing circuit.  Spencer’s entry, which originated in a Media Writing course (COMM 251), was mentored by Dr. Mark Smith and Professor Don Krause.  Spencer competed against commercial radio news organizations statewide.

The Truman State University speech and debate team returned from the National Forensic Association Championship Tournament in late April with a national championship title in Lincoln-Douglas debate team sweepstakes. The team also earned sixth place in individual events team sweepstakes in Division II.

To win the debate title, Truman State University brought down the reigning champion Western Kentucky University who has won the last eight championships. This year marks the first time Truman has won the National Championship at the National Forensic Association tournament.

Sophomore Myra Milam (Elkland, MO) and freshman Maddie Ebert (Omaha, NE) both advanced to the semifinal round of Lincoln-Douglas debate, out of a pool of 75 debaters. This puts each competitor in the top four in the nation.

Additionally, Milam earned the fourth place speaker award, while Ebert took home the eighth place speaker award. These awards are given to debaters who show talent in public speaking and argumentation skills and are separate from win/loss records. 

Sophomore Kristen Wright (Liberty, MO) also took home a speaker award, earning fifth place. Both Wright and sophomore John Carney (Overland Park, KS) broke into the first round of single elimination—but did not advance past the double-octofinal round. This puts them both in the top 32 in the field of debaters.

The individual events team earned sixth place overall in Division II. The nine individual events competitors from Truman filled 22 event slots at the tournament. Junior Jessica Petrie (Millstadt, IL) advanced to the semifinal round of impromptu speaking. There were a total of 168 competitors in this event, and a semifinal round finish puts Petrie in the top 12 in the nation.

Student newspaper, The Index, was named Best in State by the Missouri College Media Association.  …more