Faculty Profile for Twister Marquiss

profile photo for Twister Marquiss
Twister Marquiss
Mgr, Marketing & Communications — McCoy College of Business
McCoy Hall 322B
phone: (512) 245-2990

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Twister Marquiss joined the McCoy College of Business at Texas State University in 2021, becoming its first Manager of Marketing and Communications (MarCom). He oversees the MarCom Team with a focus on driving the college’s marketing, strategic communications, and public relations initiatives. His responsibilities include strengthening the McCoy College brand voice and reputation, promoting programs and research, and developing connected communications across the organization. He has extensive experience in finding and sharing the personal and organizational stories that support inclusion and build brand pride.

In his first year at McCoy College, the MarCom Team made tremendous impacts in establishing the college's brand and improving its visibility throughout Texas and nationally. The team drove a 73% increase in website page views, and by 2023, website users had doubled per academic year. Social media followers more than tripled, and engagement on the McCoy College LinkedIn account has been higher than any other business school in Texas. In 2023, the creative team’s overall strategic and tactical campaign efforts led to a 22-spot leap for McCoy College's part-time MBA in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Perhaps most importantly, the MarCom Team's advertising success has significantly increased graduate-program applications. In Fall 2023, McCoy College saw an 11% increase in combined enrollment, nearly four times that of Texas State's overall enrollment increase. With these results, Twister and teammate Nichole Black were presented with the college's Changemaker Award in 2023.

Twister previously served as Director of the Common Experience at Texas State University. During his four-plus years as director, the Common Experience was the nation's #1 initiative of its kind, setting numerous national benchmarks for student participation, event attendance, and social media engagement, providing an academic-experience model for several other institutions. He was a faculty member at Texas State for 18 years, teaching courses in the Department of English, Honors College, and University College. He has held editorial and design positions with numerous journals and magazines, and his fiction and photography have appeared in Narrative Magazine and other publications. He also hosted a one-time segment for CNN Headline News.

Twister earned a terminal M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Texas State, where he was a Mitte Foundation Scholar, and a B.A. in English from the Honors Program at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, where he was recruited to be Sports Information Director — his first position in university marketing and communications — when he was just 19 years old. ✯

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Co-designer (with graduate student Taylor Kirby), 2019-2020 Common Reading Faculty Guide: What the Eyes Don’t See by Mona Hanna- Attisha. 2019.
  • Video script writer and narrator, 2019-2020 Common Experience | Truth. 2019.
    Showings:
    • New Student Orientation. June 4, 2019 - August 20, 2019 LBJ Student Center Ballroom, San Marcos, TX.
  • Co-developer (with graduate student Taylor Kirby), content developer, content designer, webmaster, LBJ Distinguished Lecture Series website. 2019.
  • Co-developer (with graduate student Taylor Kirby), content developer, content designer, webmaster, Common Experience 2019-2020: Truth website. 2019.
  • Marquiss, T., & Nielson Vargas, E. K. (Eds.). (2018). Common Reading Faculty Guide 2018-19: The Runaway Species by David Eagleman and Anthony Brandt. San Marcos, TX: Common Experience.

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: Guest Coach, Texas State University Women's Basketball Team. December 4, 2019
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Service Pin, 15 Years, Texas State University. 2018
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Texas State University Quarterly Team Award, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. December 6, 2018
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Graduating Student Recognition of Campus Support Program at Texas State. May 2018
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Excellence in Diversity Awards, Team Award, Office of Equity and Access. 2017

Selected Grants

  • Nielson, Erika, Marquiss, Twister. Arts Respond Performance Support Grant for Big Bend film screening + live score performance, Texas Commission on the Arts, State, $1250. (Funded: April 8, 2019). Grant.
  • Marquiss, Christopher Scott. Computing Resources program and Associate V.P. for Instructional Technologies Support. (Funded: 2011). Grant.
  • Marquiss, Christopher Scott. Student Computing Resources program and Associate V.P. for Instructional Technologies Support. (Funded: 2010). Grant.
  • Marquiss, Christopher Scott. Professional Equity Project (PEP) Grant, National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE). (Funded: 2004). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Member
Campus Communicators
2019-Present
Co-Chair
LBJ Distinguished Lecture Series Committee
May 21, 2019-Present
Participant
160over90 Brand Research Strategy focus group, Office of University Marketing
2017-Present
Chair
Executive Advisors for the Common Experience
August 15, 2017-Present
Chair
Common Experience Committee
June 1, 2017-Present