Big Ideas TXST

Matthew McAllister, assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Texas State University, joins the Big Ideas TXST podcast to discuss the how intermittent fasting can contribute to weight loss and other surprising health benefits.

As director of the Metabolic and Applied Physiology Laboratory (MAP Lab) at Texas State, McAllister works with human subjects with a focus on dietary and exercise interventions aimed at improving aspects of cardiometabolic health and performance. McAllister earned his B.S. in health and human performance and M.S. in health and sport sciences from the University of Memphis and his Ph.D. in nutrition from Mississippi State University. His research interests include the impact of nutraceuticals and dietary modification on markers of health and performance; the impact of dietary or exercise interventions on metabolic/oxidative stress induced by caloric dense feedings; and methods to mitigate physiological effects of stressors in high stress occupations, such as firefighters, law enforcement etc.

Further reading:

Intermittent fasting shown to provide broad range of health benefits in new Texas State study

Research shows intermittent fasting provides health benefits

Emily K. Brunson, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University, joins the Big Ideas TXST podcast to discuss the how vaccination hesitancy is complicating the effort to immunize the U.S. population against the COVID-19 pandemic.

An applied anthropologist specializing in medical anthropology, Brunson received an M.P.H. in epidemiology and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her primary research focus is health care access and decision-making, and particularly how policies, social structures (including class and racial inequalities), social networks and personal experience combine to produce health outcomes for individuals. She is currently developing research plans and conducting policy outreach in relation to COVID-19 vaccination with colleagues from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and working on a study of COVID-19 vaccination knowledge, attitudes and behavior among college students.

Further reading:

Steve Ison, founder and CEO of Rebecca Creek Distillery, joins the Big Ideas TXST podcast to discuss how he made the leap from selling insurance to opening one of the first craft spirits distilleries in Texas.

Ison, a 1993 political science graduate of Texas State University, founded the San Antonio-based distillery in 2009, making Rebecca Creek one of the first commercial distilleries opened in Texas  since prohibition. Since then, Rebecca Creek has grown to become one of the larger craft spirits distilleries in the country, producing Rebecca Creek Whisky, Texas Ranger Whisky and Enchanted Rock Vodka. In spring 2020, with the COVID-19 rapidly spreading, the distillery switched over to full-time production of ethyl alcohol, which is the primary component in hand sanitizer. Ultimately, Ison and Rebecca Creek donated hundreds of gallons of sanitizer to Texas State and other public universities as well as San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston and Austin for use by those cities' first responders to help prevent them from contracting COVID-19.

Further reading:

Rebecca Creek Distillery shifts production from whiskey to hand sanitizer in fight against COVID-19

Hector Saldaña, curator of the Texas Music Collection at Texas State University's Wittliff Collections, joins the Big Ideas TXST podcast for a wide-ranging interview to discuss his more than 20 years working as a music journalist and how that prepared him for the dream job as music curator with The Wittliff, and the amazing materials that may be found in the collection.

Saldaña's articles have covered a wide range of subjects, from hard-hitting investigative reporting along the Texas-Mexico border, to celebrity interviews with Yoko Ono, George Carlin and Beyoncé. In his career, Saldaña has been a regular contributor to the Austin-American Statesman, Texas Monthly, Country Weekly, MTV and KUT-FM. He has won national journalism awards, including the Best of the West's 2017 award for Arts and Entertainment Writing and awards for Features Specialty Writing Portfolio and General Feature from the Society for Features Journalism in 2016.

The Texas Music Collection expands The Wittliff’s mission to collect, preserve and share the cultural legacy of the region. The collection showcases the full range of Texas music, from classic and progressive country to Tejano, conjunto, folk, rock and roll, blues, hip-hop, zydeco, Western Swing and more. The Texas Music Collection curates a broad range of materials, from handwritten song lyrics and historical documents to audio and video recordings, artifacts, memorabilia, photographs, posters and interviews from music journalists and biographers.

Further reading:

Hector Saldaña named Texas Music Collection curator at The Wittliff

Texas Music Collection at The Wittliff

Hector Saldaña, curator of the Texas Music Collection at Texas State University's Wittliff Collections, joins the Big Ideas TXST podcast for a wide-ranging interview to discuss his more than 20 years working as a music journalist and how that prepared him for the dream job as music curator with The Wittliff, and the amazing materials that may be found in the collection.

Saldaña's articles have covered a wide range of subjects, from hard-hitting investigative reporting along the Texas-Mexico border, to celebrity interviews with Yoko Ono, George Carlin and Beyoncé. In his career, Saldaña has been a regular contributor to the Austin-American Statesman, Texas Monthly, Country Weekly, MTV and KUT-FM. He has won national journalism awards, including the Best of the West's 2017 award for Arts and Entertainment Writing and awards for Features Specialty Writing Portfolio and General Feature from the Society for Features Journalism in 2016.

The Texas Music Collection expands The Wittliff’s mission to collect, preserve and share the cultural legacy of the region. The collection showcases the full range of Texas music, from classic and progressive country to Tejano, conjunto, folk, rock and roll, blues, hip-hop, zydeco, Western Swing and more. The Texas Music Collection curates a broad range of materials, from handwritten song lyrics and historical documents to audio and video recordings, artifacts, memorabilia, photographs, posters and interviews from music journalists and biographers.

Further reading:

Hector Saldaña named Texas Music Collection curator at The Wittliff

Texas Music Collection at The Wittliff 

Acclaimed poet Cyrus Cassells, a professor in the Department of English at Texas State and an instructor in the university's MFA in creative writing program, sits down with the Big Ideas TXST podcast for a wide-ranging interview examining his career, family and creative process. Keenly interested in history and world travel, Cassells talks about his hermitage time spent at a Catholic monastery and visit to a Hawaiian leper colony, and how those experiences impacted his writing.

Cassells is the author of six books of poetry: The Mud Actor, Soul Make a Path through Shouting, Beautiful Signor, More Than Peace and Cypresses, The Crossed-Out Swastika, and The Gospel according to Wild Indigo, which was a finalist for the Helen C. Smith Award for the Best Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters and a nominee for the NAACP's Image Award for Outstanding Literature in Poetry. In 2019, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.  Among his other honors are a Lannan Literary Award, a William Carlos Williams Award, a Pushcart Prize, two NEA grants, and a Lambda Literary Award.

Further reading:

A man of his words (Hillviews Magazine, 2019)

Department of English spotlight: Cyrus Cassells (Department of English spotlight, April 10, 2020)

Acclaimed poet Cyrus Cassells, a professor in the Department of English at Texas State and an instructor in the university's MFA in creative writing program, sits down with the Big Ideas TXST podcast for a wide-ranging interview examining his career, family and creative process. Keenly interested in history and world travel, Cassells talks about his hermitage time spent at a Catholic monastery and visit to a Hawaiian leper colony, and how those experiences impacted his writing.

Cassells is the author of six books of poetry: The Mud Actor, Soul Make a Path through Shouting, Beautiful Signor, More Than Peace and Cypresses, The Crossed-Out Swastika, and The Gospel according to Wild Indigo, which was a finalist for the Helen C. Smith Award for the Best Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters and a nominee for the NAACP's Image Award for Outstanding Literature in Poetry. In 2019, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.  Among his other honors are a Lannan Literary Award, a William Carlos Williams Award, a Pushcart Prize, two NEA grants, and a Lambda Literary Award.

Further reading:

A man of his words (Hillviews Magazine, 2019)

Department of English spotlight: Cyrus Cassells (Department of English spotlight, April 10, 2020)

In March of 2020, Dr. Rodney Rohde, a professor in the College of Health Professions and chair of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program, joined the Big Ideas TXST podcast to discuss the emerging novel coronavirus and the health threat it posed. Now, more than eight months later, Dr. Rohde returns to the podcast to discuss how much the world medical community didn't know back then, how much more is known about the virus now, the staggering death toll in the U.S. and the prospects of navigating the looming third spike of the virus this winter.

Dr. Rohde's previous Big Ideas TXST episodes may be listened to here and here.

For realtime updates on the coronavirus and other topics, follow Dr. Rohde on his various social media platforms.

Twitter: @RodneyRohde / @TXST_CLS /@TXST_THR

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010172941875 and https://www.facebook.com/txstate.cls/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodneyerohde/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/31389292/admin/ [CLS Program]

Personal website: https://rodneyerohde.wp.txstate.edu/

In March of 2020, Dr. Rodney Rohde, a professor in the College of Health Professions and chair of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program, joined the Big Ideas TXST podcast to discuss the emerging novel coronavirus and the health threat it posed. Now, more than eight months later, Dr. Rohde returns to the podcast to discuss how much the world medical community didn't know back then, how much more is known about the virus now, the staggering death toll in the U.S. and the prospects of navigating the looming third spike of the virus this winter.

Dr. Rohde's previous Big Ideas TXST episodes may be listened to here and here.

For realtime updates on the coronavirus and other topics, follow Dr. Rohde on his various social media platforms.

Twitter: @RodneyRohde / @TXST_CLS /@TXST_THR

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010172941875 and https://www.facebook.com/txstate.cls/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodneyerohde/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/31389292/admin/ [CLS Program]

Personal website: https://rodneyerohde.wp.txstate.edu/

Dr. Sarah Fritts, Dr. Ivan Castro-Arellano and Dr. Sara Weaver discusses the threat white-nose syndrome poses for native bats in Texas and the damaging environmental and ecological consequences that could unfold if the disease continues to spread unchecked.

Further reading:

Texas Parks & Wildlife taps Texas State team to research white-nose syndrome in bats

Study shows ultrasonic deterrents significantly reduce wind turbine bat fatalities 

Texas State researchers lead test of pioneering Bat Deterrent System