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College of Fine Arts & Communication School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Texas State College of Fine Arts & Communication School of Journalism and Mass Communication Contacts Faculty Cindy Royal

Cindy Royal

Cindy Royal

Email: croyal@txstate.edu
Office: Old Main 106D in the Media Innovation Lab
Phone: 512-245-3481

Courses:
Web Design and Publishing
Fundamentals of Digital/Online Media
Digital Media Technology Issues
SXTXState Project
Coding and Data Skills for Communicators


Cindy Royal is a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the founding director of the Media Innovation Lab. She specializes in teaching the practical and theoretical concepts of digital media. Dr. Royal completed Ph.D. studies in Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Texas at Austin in May 2005. At UT, she focused on the effects of the Internet on communication and culture. Her dissertation, entitled Gendered Spaces and Digital Discourse: Framing Women's Relationship with the Internet, dealt with the ways women's media and Web sites represent women's usage of the Internet. Dr. Royal teaches Web development and other courses dealing with communication and technology.

Dr. Royal is the 2013 Charles E. Scripps Journalism and Mass Communication Teacher of the Year, presented by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the Scripps Howard Foundation. She received the 2013 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching from Texas State. During the 2013-2014 academic year, Royal was selected for the prestigious Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University, the first full-time academic to be accepted in the program in its 50-year history. She developed a platform to teach programming skills to journalists and journalism students called CodeActually.
 
Prior to doctoral studies, Dr. Royal had a career in Marketing at Compaq Computer (now part of Hewlett Packard) in Houston, TX and NCR Corporation in Dayton, OH. She has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Richmond and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additional detail regarding her research, education and experience can be found at www.cindyroyal.com.