November 14th, 2025
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication is proud to celebrate graduate student Liza Kalinina, who has earned a spot as a finalist in Texas State’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition and received the Bess Whitehead Scott Scribes Scholarship from the Headliners Foundation of Texas. Both of these achievements highlight her hard work and the research she’s carried out during her time at Texas State.
The 3MT competition is where graduate students explain their research in an engaging way to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes. After participants submitted their presentations, the Graduate College divided them into three groups for the preliminary round. Kalinina finished first in the Blue Group and was one of 12 finalists selected from Texas State who advanced to the finals. She was the only Master of Arts student in the finals this year, and one of the very few SJMC students to reach the finals in several years.
For the presentation, she condensed her 150+ pages of thesis research on the framing of the Russia-Ukraine War by Tucker Carlson and Russia’s Vladimir Solovyov into a three-minute presentation suitable for non-specialized audiences. She used a cooking analogy to explain Entman’s framing theory.
Reflecting on the experience, Kalinina shared:
“I was excited to face engineering students in a friendly competition as a 3MT finalist, advance social sciences, represent our college, and SJMC. I’ve received so much support and have become a better version of myself throughout my master’s journey at Texas State, so 3MT was the perfect last event before my graduation in December to pay tribute to everyone at SJMC.”
She acknowledges the support and encouragement she received from her thesis chair, Dr. Kaufhold, and Dr. Higgins Joyce, who supported her throughout the process.
Recognized by the Headliners Foundation
Another achievement Kalinina received was the Bess Whitehead Scott Scribes Scholarship, an award from the Headliners Foundation for communicators with 10+ years of experience in the field. Even though much of her work has been freelance and completed in intervals, she applied last semester and became the only graduate student to receive the scholarship this year.