Graduate Assistants

Joshua Colliluori is a graduate instructional assistant (GIA) with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at Texas State University.  In 2018 Joshua received his undergraduate degree in Communications with a concentration in Media Production and criticism at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia.

He proudly served as a member of the United States Air Force as an Avionics technician on the F-15 “Eagle” aircraft, based out of Okinawa, Japan. Through his efforts, he and his team worked to save the U.S. government roughly $200,000 in equipment repair and recovery, additionally he supported the mission to protect the diplomatic efforts of former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as she traveled through Asia. Additionally, he has private school teaching experience having been an educator at Manassas Christian School (MCS) in Virginia, and a 100% student approval rating as a tutor employed with Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC). With these experiences in mind, he hopes to draw on these tools to help Texas State students, from all backgrounds, to reach their full potential academically.

Joshua’s plan is to complete his graduate studies and teach at a collegiate level, and work professionally in PR.

Praise Adaeze Chiedozie is a Graduate Instructional Assistant in the School of Journalism ad Mass Communication at Texas State University (TXST).
Praise is a first-year graduate student in Mass Communication master’s program at Texas State University.

In 2019 Praise received her bachelor’s degree in English and literature at the University of Benin.
Praise has conducted different researches such as A Survey of Nigerian English and Nigerian Pidgin Neologisms in Nigerian Afrobeats, Exploring Rhetorical strategies in selected south eastern Pentecostal church sermons, A comparative analysis of the headlines of the punch Newspaper and Insta-blog in Nigeria, Inter-gender Relations in Public Relation: A case study of PR Firms in Abuja, Nigeria which was presented at the Centre for Communication and Social Impact in (C.C.S.I) 2022, Abuja, Nigeria.Praise worked as a teaching Assistant in the Department of English, University of Benin and volunteered several Youth sensitization campaigns.

Yelizaveta' Liza' Kalinina is a graduate instructional assistant with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University.

Liza is a second-year graduate student in the Mass Communication master's program at TXST. After leaving her position as a reporter for Russia's leading national media outlet due to a crackdown on independent journalists in 2022, she launched her own educational studio, where she taught English and transferred her experience as a journalist.

She decided that promoting media literacy in the new generation of Russians would allow her to continue her fight for democracy more strategically. The necessity to serve her students better prompted her to return to school.

Upon graduation from Texas State and a Ph.D., she plans to combine mentoring as a college professor (or a high-school teacher) and media research with the role of editor-in-chief at a regional digital media.

Her master's thesis compares the framing of Russian propaganda on the Russia-Ukraine war to coverage of the same events by Western media.

Liza devotes her free time to volunteering – locally and internationally (FIFA 2018 World Cup and Winter Universiade, 2019) and is keen on recycling. She loves matcha and interactive-movie games for PlayStation.

Mabel Mba is a graduate instructional assistant with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University. Mabel received her Bachelor’s degree in English Education and another in Business Education. She also received a Post Graduate degree in English Language.

She is currently a first-year graduate student in the MSc Mass Communication program at Texas State, and has been an educator for over 8 years. Mabel has taught over 4,136 international students within the classroom and on various virtual platforms, before she became the Head of the only Reggio Emilia bilingual school in Lagos, Nigeria.

She also volunteers to educate a group of educators, children, teenagers and youths in different workshops for both hard skills and soft skills training.

So far, Mabel has taught undergraduate students at Texas State University on topics such as Crisis communication, School Health, and has successfully planned a ‘Study in America’ trip to Seattle.

With her graduate degree, she plans to become a Public Relation manager or a Communication manager, whilst she simultaneously teach students and lead Educational Technology across the globe.

In her free time, Mabel enjoys singing, painting, traveling, hanging out and having meaningful conversations whilst networking.