So, enough about me. Since I have been at Stanford, all I have done is talk about myself, my project and my temporary move out west. Today, I have some great news to share with you regarding Texas State graduates. We have another one of our recent alumni going to work at The New York Times! Jacqueline Baylon has accepted a position as Web Editor at NYT on the News Presentation staff, where she will be posting NYT content, photos, videos and interactives to the Web. Jackie is a 2010 BA Journalism graduate from our program. She took several of my digital media courses, including the Advanced graduate class, where she is one of only a few undergrads that I admitted. Because of that class, Jackie is also an alum of the SXTXState project. Most recently, Jackie was working in NYC at Digital First Media, which I announced last year. You might remember, at the same time, I was announcing our first alum to move to NYT, Maira Garcia. Jackie and Maira will be working on the same team. I can only assume that Maira has distinguished herself enough to cause NYT editors to take notice of other TXST grads. Jackie’s move to NYT is the culmination of much hard work that she has done at numerous internships and media positions.

We are extremely proud of the way all our students have taken the digital skills/perspectives they have acquired in our program and run with them in extremely creative and diverse ways, often distinguishing themselves at national and international levels. Last year, I gave a presentation on Hipster Learning (Preparing For Jobs That Don’t Exist Yet), and I included a few of our graduates working in digital media:

Hipster Learning II, AEJMC 2013 from cindyroyal

Here are some new additions and updates to our recent graduates moving into these “hipster” positions:

Josh Shepherd, 2011 Master’s graduate, is now Engagement Manager at Mass Relevance, leaving MOSAK Advertising and Insights, where he was Interactive Manager.

Dee Kapila, 2008 Master’s graduate, is now Technology Project Manager at The University of Texas and Instructor at Skillcrush.

Jason Dominguez, 2010 BA graduate in Public Relations, is now Public Affairs Specialist for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where he manages the medical center’s social media affairs and website.

Madison Lax, 2012 BA graduate in Public Relations, is an Associate Connector at Golin Harris, a sister agency of Weber Shandwick representing Texas Instruments, where she works in social media and traditional public relations.

Megan Kilgore, 2013 Master’s graduate, is now Digital Marketing Manager at Capital Area Food Bank in Austin.

Kiana Fitzgerald, 2013 Master’s graduate, is now Digital Intern, NPR Music in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Waldrup, 2010 BA Public Relations graduate, is now Product Manager at Spredfast in Austin, working with their social media management platform.

Jessie Spielvogel, 2010 Journalism graduate, is now Account Executive at Hill+Knowlton Strategies in NYC, working with clients on digital media strategies.

Anna Tauzin, 2008 BA graduate in Mass Communication (with a 2009 MA from American University), is now Manager of Digital Innovation at the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer Teeters, 2010 Master’s graduate, is development assistant at Opportunities, Inc., a non-profit in Texarkana, where she manages layout/design, social media and the organization’s website.

Kristina Kenney Lockridge, 2013 Master’s graduate, is Digital Marketing Specialist at Generations Federal Credit Union in San Antonio.

Brittany Black, 2013 Master’s graduate, is Business Planning Manager at Hewlett Packard in Austin.

Shawn Dullye, 2013 Master’s graduate and 2010 BA in Journalism, is Community Manager for SuccessFactors Careers and SAP in Austin.

We’ve even had a few graduates move into academic roles. Lewis Knight, a 2009 Master’s graduate from our program, now a doctoral candidate at UT, has moved to Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina as Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of Media Communication. And Dale Blasingame, a 2011 Master’s graduate, is now a lecturer at Texas State SJMC, joining Jon Zmikly (a 2009 Master’s graduate of our program), Jacie Yang and myself on our digital media faculty.

Just look at those titles from the presentation and the updates… Web editor, Interactive Designer, Front-end Web Developer, Digital Marketing Manager, Manager of Digital Innovation, Technology Project Manager, Engagement Manager… talk about jobs that didn’t exist when they were in our program! Yet time and again, our graduates have demonstrated qualifications and motivation to move into the unknown. All these placements further validate the digital media competency we continue to develop at TXST. I am extremely proud of the progress we have made in advancing our digital media program and the accomplishments of our graduates!

I know I’ve missed some. Please let me know if you have an employment update, if I haven’t represented your accomplishments yet.

I am happy to share these successes with all of you, and I know there will be more coming soon!