{"id":27457,"date":"2019-02-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarletons-tsmri-rolling-out-social-innovation-efforts-to-help-rural-texans\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T08:57:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T13:57:27","slug":"tarletons-tsmri-rolling-out-social-innovation-efforts-to-help-rural-texans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarletons-tsmri-rolling-out-social-innovation-efforts-to-help-rural-texans\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton&#8217;s TSMRI rolling out social innovation efforts to help rural Texans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>\nMonday, February 11, 2019<\/p>\n<p>STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University\u2019s Texas Social Media Research Institute (TSMRI) is rolling out two new social innovation initiatives focused on basic needs and entrepreneurship in rural Texas. The initiatives will involve faculty, staff and students from multiple Texas higher education institutions in an attempt to connect individual Texans with national, state and city resources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany rural Texans are not aware of resources that can help them meet their basic needs and start a business,\u201d said TSMRI Executive Director Jennifer T. Edwards. \u201cAs a fifth-generation Texan raised in a rural environment and as a caregiver of a Texas veteran, I continue to observe the information and resource awareness disparity experienced by rural Texans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Planned are weekly \u201cRural Texas Outreach Office Hours\u201d through Twitter, \u201cResources for Rural Texans\u201d information sessions on Facebook Live, weekly rural Texas Twitter chats, rural Texas social media camps, and social media basic needs outreach campaigns in rural communities.<\/p>\n<p>Follow TSMRI on Twitter (@TSMRI) and Facebook (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TSMRI\">facebook.com\/TSMRI<\/a>). To join its social innovators rural emphasis team, apply by Feb. 15 at <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/TXInnovation\/\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/TXInnovation\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&amp;M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today\u2019s scholars into tomorrow\u2019s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 13,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership and service.<\/p>\n<p>#<\/p>\n<p>Contact: Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards, TSMRI Executive Director<br \/>\n254-968-9638<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:shao@tarleton.edu\">jtedwards@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tarleton State University&rsquo;s Texas Social Media Research Institute (TSMRI) is rolling out two new social innovation initiatives focused on basic needs and entrepreneurship in rural Texas. The initiatives will involve faculty, staff and students from multiple Texas higher education institutions in an attempt to connect individual Texans with national, state and city resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":423,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,424],"tags":[440,442],"class_list":["post-27457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research","category-arts-events","tag-college-of-liberal-fine-arts","tag-community-events"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-821-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/academics-research\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Academics &amp; Research<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/arts-events\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Arts &amp; Events<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Academics &amp; Research<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Arts &amp; Events<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/arts-events\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">College of Liberal &amp; Fine Arts<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/arts-events\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Community Events<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">College of Liberal &amp; Fine Arts<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Community Events<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 7 years ago","modified":"Updated 6 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on February 11, 2019","modified":"Updated on October 28, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on February 11, 2019 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on October 28, 2025 8:57 am"},"featured_img_caption":"\"TSMRI logo for Texas Social Media Research Institute.\"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54567,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27457\/revisions\/54567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}