[081] MTSU debate coach Pat Richey to head Tennessee Communication Association

MURFREESBORO — An MTSU professor will assume the reins of the state’s top organization of communication professionals this month.

Pat Richey, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Organizational Communication and director of forensics, will become president of the Tennessee Communication Association following its annual convention Sept. 9-10 at the Renaissance Center at Freed-Hardeman University in Dickson, Tennessee.

TCA is an organization of scholars who share research and teaching trends in communication studies, organizational communication, public relations, mass communication and film studies.

“It’s a small but very friendly convention,” said Richey. “It puts a lot of emphasis also on student scholarship.”

Richey said he expects around 100 faculty and students to attend the academic conference for presentation of scholarly papers and panel discussions. He said the MTSU contingent should number around 15.

Succeeding current president Marci Sayler Nimick, an instructor of speech at Walters State Community College, Richey will serve a one-year term.

He took over the MTSU debate team in 2011. In 2012, the university hosted its first debate tournament in nearly a decade. Since then, the team has won numerous regional and national honors in both National Parliamentary Debate Association and International Public Debate Association formats.

Richey earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana College in 2005, his master’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2007 and his doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2012.

For more information about MTSU forensics or the TCA, contact Richey at 615-898-2273 or patrick.richey@mtsu.edu.