Dr. Jon Ashby, Visiting Professor of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, debuted a locally produced a DVD with Austin King, M.D. and Robert Laird, CNA at a conference in Mexico City. The DVD is entitled Anesthesia and the Larynx. He also recently represented HSU as a convention speaker on Pharyngoesophageal Reflux and Voice Disorders in Austin at the Texas Speech-Language and Hearing Association Annual Convention.

Dr. Jason King, Assistant Professor of English, recently joined the faculty of HSU’s Department of English after finishing his doctoral work at Texas Christian University. Dr. King, who directs HSU’s Basic Writing program, wrote his dissertation on the ways digital technologies and online spaces shape writing and public argument in the twenty-first century.  More specifically, he examined the ways in which the “autism epidemic” of recent years can be understood as a “rhetorical phenomenon” which has been enabled largely through the public’s increased access to new media writing technologies.   

Dr. Rich Traylor, Associate Professor of History, served as the distinguished lecturer at the HPU Lecture Series in American History. Rich’s lecture, “Hope, Change and the Revolution of 1800,” compared the presidential campaign of Thomas Jefferson to that of recently elected President Barack Obama, highlighting the political issues and bitter partisan differences that led to Jefferson’s election. The lecture will be published this coming year in the Texas Journal of Genealogy and History.

Dr. Jana Wesson-Martin, Assistant Professor of Composition and Director of HSU’s Writing Center, had the opportunity to spend two weeks journeying in Israel over the summer for what she considered “a lifetime highlight.” Dr. Wesson-Martin taught ESL classes at a children’s camp for Tents of Mercy, participated in Bible study, and toured the Holy Lands.