From Game Shows to Open Mic Night, WTAMU Communication Week Puts the COMM in Comedy
Contact:
Dr. Trudy Hanson
(806) 651-2800
COMM-e-dy Week, the theme for this year’s WTAMU Communication Week, takes place Feb. 17- 20 and includes a keynote speech, two game shows, WTAMU Alumni Table Talk, a service project in support of Amarillo Angels, an open-mic comedy night, and breakfast for dinner.
On Monday, Feb. 17, Planning Committee members Jakob Roop and Dailyn Wells will host a game show in the Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall from 12:15-1:15 p.m. The event is patterned after the game show, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
The WTAMU Department of Communication and Distinguished Lecture Series welcome Zenobia Harris Bivens to the JBK Legacy Hall at 6 p.m., Monday, February 17 to serve as keynote speaker for Communication Week 2020. As an attorney with Frost, Brown and Todd, Bivens’ practice focuses on business litigation and government contracts, including white collar criminal defense and compliance. Zenobia is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer and is recognized as a Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star. She was named a Top Woman Lawyer in Texas Monthly. Zenobia also serves as an adjunct professor for the University of Houston Law Center Trial Advocacy Program and frequently writes and speaks on the procedural issues that arise in parallel proceedings—cases involving both civil and criminal allegations. An alumna of the WTAMU Broadcasting program, Harris has served as president of the WTAMU Alumni Association and was inducted into the 2019 Communication Hall of Fame.
A group of WT alumni will gather to meet informally with students at the Alumni Table Talk event held at JBK Legacy Hall, at 7 p.m. on Monday with appetizers provided by the Department of Communication. Students will have the opportunity to visit with Callie Shipley, high school English teacher at Randall High School; Seth Gillitzer, associate producer, NFL; Guy Brown, podcaster and sales associate with Raffkinds; Andy Justus, KAMR news anchor; Blake Cartrite, visual content coordinator and teacher of filmmaking for the Amarillo Independent School District and owner of Simple & Historic production company; Charlie Keys, associate minister at First United Methodist Church, Canyon, and Saúl Rodriguez, marketing coordinator for Exceptional Emergency Center and a stand-up comic.
At 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18, faculty members will compete in a version of Ellen’s Game of Games Competition, hosted by Dr. Mary Liz Brooks (as Ellen). Contestants include Professor Connie McKee, Professor Carolyn Baum, Dr. Mike McFarland, Dane Glenn, and Dr. Jessica Mallard, dean of the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities. Faculty members will compete in the Branding Iron Theatre, and students will vote to determine who gets the coveted crystal pumpkin prize.
At 12:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, students are invited to participate in a donation drive to benefit Amarillo Angels, a local non-profit devoted to assisting foster families. Items that may be donated include jump ropes, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and Frisbees. A hula hoop contest and an Easter Egg filling contest will pit student organizations against one another.
The final event of the week is a COMM-e-dy meal where students can have breakfast for dinner at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20 in the Live Lounge. Students can enjoy a breakfast burrito bar prior to the Open Mic Night, which begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall. Hosted by WTAMU alumnus Saúl Rodriguez, the event features students sharing 5-minute comedy sets.
Throughout the week, students should keep an eye out for squishy buffalo toys placed around campus. The student who finds the buffalo first and brings it to FAC 103 will receive a cuddly soft buffalo. Clues will be posted on the COMM Week Facebook page by 8 a.m. each morning.
The 2020 Communication Week Planning committee:
Sarah Mercer – Communication Studies
Hannah Frick – Communication Studies
Hannah Burks – Communication Studies
Favour Uwode – Communication Master’s Program
Makayla Barrientos – Communication Master’s Program
Halle Reid – Broadcast Journalism
Katelyn Donais – Advertising/Public Relations
Dailyn Wells – Advertising/Public Relations
Agol Aloak – Advertising/Public Relations
Hannah Franklin – Digital Communication
Jakob Roop – Digital Comm and Media
Dr. Mary Liz Brooks, Assistant Professor of Media Communication
Prof. Randy Ray, Associate Lecturer of Media Communication and Director of Broadcast Engineering
About the WTAMU Department of Communication
The Department of Communication has undergraduate programs in media communication and communication studies, as well as a master’s program in communication. For more information, please visit https://www.wtamu.edu/academics/communication.aspx
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