TAMIU Hosts First-Ever Broadcast Ed Association Day Friday, Welcomes CNN Reporter and Laredoan Maegan Vazquez
Texas A&M International University’s (TAMIU) College of Arts and Sciences, department of Psychology and Communication will host its first-ever Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Day Friday, March 24, 2023 in Student Center Auditorium 236.
BEA Day intends to showcase the pathways into media production, journalism and communications for young professionals. Participants will be joined by local and out of town media professionals and educators. The event’s keynote address will be provided by Maegan Vazquez, a Laredo native and current CNN White House Reporter.
Dr. Arthur Soto-Vasquez, TAMIU assistant professor of Communication, said the College has partnered with BEA to provide students with expanded experiences and opportunities.
“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,” Dr. Soto-Vasquez said.
The BEA Day Agenda opens for TAMIU students with a Young Media Professionals Panel from 10 to 11:30 a.m. to include 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 will be from 12 - 1:30 p.m. and provide 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, open to the public, will be provided by Maegan Vazquez from 2 - 3:30 p.m. Vazquez grew up in Laredo and is a graduate of New York University, where she majored in journalism and social and cultural analysis. She is a White House reporter for CNN Politics based in Washington, D.C., and first began covering the White House for CNN in 2018.
Vazquez has interviewed Cabinet secretaries, administration officials and members of Congress for CNN.com, writing a wide range of stories delving deep into issues facing the federal government.
She served as a researcher for "FREE, MELANIA: The Unauthorized Biography," CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett's book about former first lady Melania Trump. Before CNN, Vazquez held several roles at the Independent Journal Review, where she was most recently the website’s White House reporter. In 2018, she was a recipient of the National Press Foundation’s prestigious Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship.
For more about the BEA Day event, contact Dr. Soto-Vasquez at arthur.soto-vasquez@tamiu.edu.
TAMIU offers a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Spanish, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a Concentration in Digital and Strategic Communication, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a major in Media Production, and a minor in Communication. Study Abroad and internship experiences are encouraged. For more, email psychology-communication@tamiu.edu. The Communication program recently received funding support for a New Media Innovation Lab to help accelerate the career trajectories of Communication students.
At the Graduate level, TAMIU offers a Master of Arts in Communication with specializations in Border and Latin American Media Studies, or Organizational Communication in Transnational Settings. For more, contact the Graduate School at 956.326.3020.
University news and information are available online at tamiu.edu and on its social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
