{"id":1660,"date":"2025-11-18T10:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/?p=1660"},"modified":"2025-11-18T10:20:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:20:50","slug":"from-texan-to-hr-leader-aissa-simmons-inspires-students-in-pr-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/2025\/11\/18\/from-texan-to-hr-leader-aissa-simmons-inspires-students-in-pr-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"From Texan to HR Leader: Aissa Simmons Inspires Students in PR Courses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By: Cadence Auten<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 The Communication Studies Department in the College of Liberal and<br>Fine Arts at Tarleton State University welcomed a very special guest recently.<br>Students in Dr. Cessna Winslow\u2019s Comm 3320-Public Relations heard from Tarleton alumna Aissa<br>Simmons, now an HR Events Specialist at Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union (RBFCU), who<br>shared insights on communication, relationship-building, and leveraging a communication studies<br>degree to build career opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At RBFCU, Simmons oversees key initiatives such as the internship program, career and wellness<br>efforts, and partnerships that support transitioning veterans as they build civilian careers. She<br>discussed how her degree shaped her professional path and emphasized the opportunities available<br>in communications roles within the organization. \u201cI am passionate about helping students and veterans build confidence, take ownership of their story, and feel prepared to navigate any opportunity with clarity and self-assurance,\u201d said Simmons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students remained actively engaged throughout the presentation, raising questions and exploring<br>topics including crisis communication, insurance benefits provided through her company, continuing<br>education and additional career-development resources. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring to see someone who once sat in the same classroom, sharing the same ambitions, not only flourishing but also elevating her career using the same degree I am pursuing,\u201d said communication studies student, Cadence Auten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simmons holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in Communication Studies from Tarleton State University and a<br>master\u2019s degree in Mass Communication from Texas State University. At the end of the event, she shared her LinkedIn profile and invited students to converse with her after class. She also encouraged them to apply for RBFCU internship opportunities opening in January across the Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi regions. \u201cIt was a privilege to share information about our internship program and meet so many excited communications students sitting where I was eight years ago,\u201d said Simmons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through her presentation, Simmons not only shared valuable insights into career development and<br>communications roles but also motivated students to take the initiative and explore opportunities with<br>confidence. Her visit highlighted the connection between classroom learning at Tarleton and realworld experience, leaving students with an invitation to pursue their professional goals and engage<br>with organizations like RBFCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Cadence Auten STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 The Communication Studies Department in the College of Liberal andFine Arts at Tarleton State University welcomed a very special guest recently.Students in Dr. Cessna &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1006,"featured_media":1661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":31,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-of-communication-studies"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"fbarron","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/author\/fbarron\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2025\/11\/Campus-04.22.25-CW-6734-medium-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/category\/department-of-communication-studies\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Department of Communication Studies<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Department of Communication Studies<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 months ago","modified":"Updated 5 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 18, 2025","modified":"Updated on November 18, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 18, 2025 10:19 am","modified":"Updated on November 18, 2025 10:20 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1663,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions\/1663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}