Department of Psychology and Communication

Colloquium: SOMOS VÍNCULOS, Social, Cultural, and Economic Life along the Texas-Mexico border. February - March 2024

The SOMOS VINCULOS: Social, Cultural, and Economic Life along the Texas-Mexico Border Colloquium will be hosted by the Department of Psychology and Communication, Texas A&M International University, on February 29 and March 1 of 2024. Scholars are coming from different universities from Northeast Mexico (Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila) and all over Texas. Co-organizers are the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social (CIESAS), Northeast Region, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), and the French consulates in Houston, Texas and Monterrey, Mexico. Main topics to be discussed in the panels are: a. Migration Flows and Human Rights along the U.S.-Mexico; b. Binational Issues in the Availability of Water Resources in the Texas-Mexico Border; and c. Culture and Identity in a Binational Space. 
Flyer - Spanish

International Seminar “Screen Culture in Latin America and Spain” 2023-2024

Every semester, starting in fall 2023, the TAMIU’s Department of Psychology and Communication, in partnership with scholars from Antwerp and Ghent universities (Belgium), organize a virtual international seminar with the participation of renowned Latin American, European, and American scholars working on the social history of cinema and cinemagoing. The Screen Culture network is an international group of film, media, and communication researchers from Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba) and Europe (Belgium and Spain) who collaborate on a historical project on urban film cultures. The network studies “New Film Histories” in Latin America and Europe with a focus on exhibition, programming, and audience experiences, connecting directly to broader dynamics in the field of film history. The teams in 13 different Mexican, Cuban, Colombian, and Spanish cities, use the same research questions and methodologies on the history of film distribution, exhibition, and cinemagoing. The network was developed from the Belgian research project “The Illuminated City,” on the history of film culture in Flanders and, more specifically, the interaction between exhibition, programming and public experiences.

Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Day 2023

The Department of Psychology and Communication hosted its first-ever Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Day on Friday, March 24, 2023. The BEA Day showcased the pathways into media production, journalism and communications for young professionals. Participants were joined by local and out of town media professionals and educators. Dr. Arthur Soto-Vasquez, TAMIU assistant professor of Communication, was the coordinator. BEA is a premier international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production, and career advancement for educators, students, and professionals. It is committed to diversifying the media industry and strengthening student pipelines of minority-serving institutions like TAMIU to help students and graduates secure careers in media and communications. BEA has granted TAMIU an institutional membership, providing our students with free membership and access to scholarship, internship, and professional opportunities. The BEA Day Agenda opened for TAMIU students with a Young Media Professionals Panel including local media and communication professionals Karol García, TAMIU alum and a journalist with Telemundo; Cecilia Treviño, multimedia journalist with KGNS-TV; David Kash Vasquez, TAMIU alum and director of communications and public affairs, Gateway Community Health Center, and Yanira Resendez, TAMIU career advisor. A second Media Direction and Trends Panel provided insight by Tony DeMars of Lamar University and a past BEA president, and George Daniels of the University of Alabama. The BEA Day Keynote Address was provided by Maegan Vazquez. Vazquez grew up in Laredo and is a graduate of New York University.

Sixth Biennial Conference "Walls, Bridges, and Borders in the Americas" International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS). 2021

The Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS) and TAMIU’s Department of Psychology and Communication hosted the Sixth Biannual Conference "Walls, Bridges and Borders in the Americas," November 11-13, 2021, with the participation of numerous academics and postgraduate students specialized in American or Latin American studies or themes from Latin America, Europe, and Canada. Papers and panel proposals in many disciplines in the social sciences and humanities (sociology, political science, political economy, anthropology, history, literature, linguistics, philosophy, geography, music, and media studies, among others) were presented in English or Spanish. The International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS/EIA) aims to foster research on inter-American topics as well as area studies and to provide a platform for coordinating individual and group projects. The association serves as a worldwide network for scholars and students as well as for initiatives and organizations devoted to the interdisciplinary study of Latin America, the Caribbean, the U.S.A. and/or Canada. It seeks to contribute to a de-centering of the geo-politics of knowledge by facilitating mutual recognition, discussions, and cooperation. The IAS/EIA also serves as an umbrella organization for other networks and associations, promoting dialogue between them—across academic disciplines as well as regional or national orientations. The IAS/EIA holds an international conference every other year. The association also publishes the electronic journal fiar: Forum for Inter-American Research.

Conferences: Latin American Communication Research in Transnational Settings I and II. March 2016 and 2017

The Graduate Program in Communication at Texas A&M International University organized two consecutive conferences on Latin American Communication Research in Transnational Settings, the first one in April 8-9, 2016, and the second one in March 24-25, 2017. Leveraging the university’s location on the US-Mexico border and faculty expertise in international and intercultural communication, the conference aimed to strengthen research on the cultural, political, and economic factors shaping the globalization of communication processes in Latin America. Faculty, scholars, and graduate students doing research on Latin America, or the US/Mexico border presented papers and participated in the discussions.

The conferences were introduced by keynote panels addressing major contemporary debates and new directions within contemporary Latin American media and communication studies with leading researchers in Mexico and in the US. Paper discussed topics like the relationship between consumption, neoliberalism, and citizenship in contemporary Latin America; the impact of media representations on cultural identity in the US-Mexico Border region; Portrayals and/or audience perceptions of Latina/os and/or Latin Americans in television, film, or news; New research on popular Latin American genres (e.g. telenovelas, series, reality shows, comedies, sports, news programs); The exportation of Latin American television formats and the importation of foreign formats to Latin America; The role of digital media in creating and expanding activist networks in Latin America; New directions in audience research and analysis

Keynote speakers in the 2016 Conference were: Guillermo Orozco (Universidad de Guadalajara, México). Philippe Meers (University of Antwerp, Belgium); Joseph Straubhaar (University of Texas at Austin); Antonio La Pastina (Texas A&M University).

Keynote speakers in the 2017 Conference were: Sallie Hughes (University of Miami), Carlos Muñiz (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México), Kenton Wilkinson (Texas Tech), Sandra Braman (Texas A&M University), Rodrigo Gómez (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, México).

Communication in the Americas Research Series

Due to its strategic geographical location on the U.S.-Mexico border, Texas A&M International University has embraced as its mission the establishment, consolidation, and growth of academic exchanges between its faculty and students and Ibero -American institutions, scholars and students.

Each semester, the Department of Psychology and Communication hosts the Communication and Media in the Americas Seminar Series. The Seminar Series consists of lectures, talks and/or academic discussions among TAMIU and a Ibero-American communication scholars and students, usually through videoconference, about the most relevant issues and topics in the discipline in the context of hemispheric relations and challenges. According to the topic at hand, one TAMIU communication class hosts the videoconference, but all communication faculty and students are invited to attend.

Past Guest Speakers

• March 18, 2015. Dr. Joseph D. Straubhaar, Amon G. Carter Centennial Professor of Communication in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. "Telenovelas and Transnational Media Flows." CAMPUS VISIT.
• Feb. 26, 2015. Dr. Wilfried Raussert, Chair and Professor of North American Literary and Cultural Studies and Director of Inter-American Studies at Bielefeld University, Germany. "Fandango sin Fronteras: Music Flows and Diaspora Community Building." CAMPUS VISIT.
• Nov. 3, 2014. Dr. Horst Tonn, Department of American Studies, Tubingen University, Germany. "The American culture seen from Europe." CAMPUS VISIT.
• Oct. 30, 2014. Dr. Salvador Alvidrez, Political Communication Lab, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon (UANL), Mexico. "Schematic representations of ethnic minorities in young university students." VIDEOCONFERENCE.
• April 28, 2014. Luis M. Contreras, Senior Story Artist for Animation, Columbia College, Chicago. "Animated expectations." VIDEOCONFERENCE.
• February 27, 2014. Dr. Juan Pinon, Department of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University (NYU). "Spanish-language media in the United States: production, Content, and reception." VIDEOCONFERENCE.