TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
An honored Texas State professor is in a dire battle with cancer, and the staff are making sure her legacy will live on in a meaningful way that will take care of the students studying the subject she was so passionate about throughout her prestigious career. Kym Fox serves TXST in several important roles: Professor of Practice at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, co-director of Texas Community Health News, graduate assistant coordinator and, for more than 20 years, has led the journalism major and served as program coordinator, according to the Texas State website.
Her journalistic accomplishments at the university are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her career. The scholarship webpage states that before she began teaching, she was a daily journalist for 23 years with her most recent position as the deputy metro editor for the San Antonio Express-News. During her earlier years as a reporter for the Mesa Tribune, she received awards for her coverage of child abuse and juvenile justice in addition to state honors for news and feature writing.
Judy Oskam, TXST School of Journalism and Mass Communication director, said Fox is a “legend” in journalism and has been an important leader in journalism education at TXST and also across the nation.
“The faculty are really having a hard time with this,” Oskam said. “She touched the lives of so many students and made an impact in the journalism world, but she also helped teach future educators, journalism educators, and for all of us, it’s such a great loss. So we really hope that this scholarship can be part of her long legacy.”
Oskam said the TXST faculty wanted to create this scholarship in Fox’ name to honor her “dedication and contributions to journalism education.”
According to the TXST website, the scholarship will provide funding for graduate students attending Texas State University that are pursuing a degree in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The university has been taking donations toward the scholarship and plans to make it endowed. An endowment involves funds held in perpetuity — forever — “whereby the gift amount or principal is invested and a portion of the income earned on the principal is spent as directed by the endowment agreement,” according to the Brigham Young University website.
“We are taking donations, and, right now, we have over $9,000 in donations,” Oskam said. “At Texas State, we need to hit $25,000 to make it an endowed scholarship. I feel certain we will hit that number, so it will be endowed, which means it is a legacy that lasts forever. And it will annually accrue funding. Then, every year, we will name a scholarship in her name, and award it to a graduate student in our program.”
They must meet the $25,000 minimum to issue the first scholarship, which Oskam said she is sure will occur, at the latest, by next fall.
Learn more about Fox and donate at this link sjmc.txst.edu/kym-fox-scholarship.html.
