Congratulations to Dr. Patricia Loughlin on her grant award of $500 from the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Loughlin received the Scholar Research Grant to conduct research for her article titled, “Collaborative Storytelling: Alice Marriott, Maria Martinez, Margaret Lefranc and the Making of Maria: The Potter of San Ildefonso (1948)”.
The Institute of Hope is a faculty-directed and student-led institute within the University of Central Oklahoma's College of Liberal Arts. Keeping with the educational philosophy of transformative learning and exemplifying the "Central Six" the institute give the opportunity for students to plan and partake in progressive societal change.
The institute's goals are fighting prejudice poverty, abuse and other social injustices. This is achieved through educational programing, student financial aid and civic engagement. In addition to partnering with other local and national organizations, the institute sponsors book reviews, lecturers, films and discussion panels as well as other annual student events and activities.
This year the students focus is "Children in Peril." Students collected 1,300 pounds of food for UCO's newly opened food pantry. The director is Dr. Brenda Chappell and the students currently in the program are: April Payne, Selena Elzy, Telana McCullough, Amir Shams, Sarah Murphy, Ann-Marie Imperto and Samantha Wayland.
The College of Liberal Arts welcomed Professor Marija Knesevic, University of Montenegro, who provide an insightful look into the life of D.H. Lawrence, an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter. D.H. Lawrence's collection of works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialization. While visiting UCO, Dr. Knezevic met with representatives from UCO's academic community, including Dr. Pamela Washington, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Dr. Mickey Hepner, dean of the College of Business.
Rilla Askew - Artist In Residence, English, was recently honored with the College of Liberal Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for her work with students, faculty, and guest writers. And for acting as a liaison between campus creative and community working writers. She is also the author of three novels and a collection of stories.
Recently, Dr. Myungsook Jung, Assistant Professor Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Busan South Korea visited UCO. As a renowned professor in the field of Korean Phonology & Phonetics and Korean Language Education, she helped the Modern Language faculty in designing the Korean culture and language curriculum, construct syllabi, and the instruct on the best pedagogies for teaching the Korean language.
Congratulations to Dr. Constance Squires, Assistant English Professor and Director of the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing, on the of Along the Watchtower. Dr. Squires was featured in both the Oklahoman and Oklahoma Gazette. A book launch reading and book signing was held at Full Circle Books in Oklahoma City on July 7 with interviews on local TV stations. The book details the life of an Army family stationed on an American Army base in Germany and at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Information is available at http://constancesquires.com and on Facebook. Reading group guides will be available at riverheadbooks.com after the publication recent publication of the book. Dr. Pamela Washington, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Rilla Askew, artist-in-residence, recently presented Dr. Squires with a poster based on the cover of her novel.
On March 22, 2012, Dr. Catherine Webster will receive the 2012 Community Leadership Award from the Oklahoma Humanities Council (OHC). The OHC will recognize Dr. Webster, an associate professor of French, for the development and coordination of French cultural and education programming for children and adults through the nonprofit organization L'Alliance Francaise d'Oklahoma City.
Recently, the President and CEO of the Institute of International Education and the Fulbright Program's sponsor, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, notified President Don Betz that the University of Central Oklahoma was recognized as one of this year's Fulbright Scholarship "top producers". Both Dr. Amy Carrell and Dr. Siegfried Heit, Fulbright Student Program Advisers, were recognized for their strong contributions to the program's success at the University of Central Oklahoma.
Dr. James Mock is the current president of the Rocky Mountain Division of the American Society of Aesthetics, and thus far this semester has presented two papers and a comment at three different national conferences.
Dr. Sarah Kyle was awarded the Best Paper from a Junior Scholar prize at the Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, University of the South, Sewanee, TN (April 2011) for her paper entitled: "Petrarch's Remedies and Ancestral Memory in Carrara Padua"
Thus far in 2011, Dr. Eva Dadlez has published three articles, had another accepted for publication, and has presented five conference papers. The papers include: Comment on Duncan Purves '"Still in Hot Water: Doing, Allowing, and Rachels' Bathtub Cases", Southwest Philosophy Review 27: 2 (July 2011); "Ideal Presence: How Kames Solved the Problem of Fiction and Emotion," Journal of Scottish; Philosophy 9:1 (March 2011): 115-133; "The Ethics of Humor: Irony and Satire as Moral Criticism," Journal of Aesthetic Education, 45:1 (Spring 2011). With the forthcoming paper a collaborative work entitled "Not Separate but not Equal: How Fetal Rights Deprive Women of Civil Rights," with William L. Andrews, Public Affairs Quarterly. Forthcoming, her recent book, Mirrors to One Another has been reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Hume Studies; Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, and Philosophical Quarterly.
Dr. Tom Kirk (Adjunct Professor) has published three book reviews this year, in addition to one article and one book chapter including the following: "La crisi del 1654 come indicatore del nuovo equilibrio nel Mediterraneo," in Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria, nuova serie, vol. li (cxxv), fasc. i (2011). "Giovanni Andrea Doria (1539-1606); citizen and subject," in Double Agents. Cultural and Political Brokerage in Early Modern Europe (H. Cools, M. Keblusek and B. Noldus, eds.), Leiden (Netherlands), Brill 2011.
Dr. Kole Kleeman is lecturing at the Hodge School de Amsterdam on topics such as the new targets of hate in American and international media, images of men and women in print advertising, and teaching about trauma and victims including interviewing victims involving professional actors and scenarios relevant to Dutch culture.
Dr. David Nelson is presenting a paper November 11 at the 2011 Southwest Education Council of Mass Communication and Journalism symposium in Dallas, Texas. The paper, A Case Study of Radio Programming in Tamil Nadu, India and its Role in Community Development, was developed and researched while as a visiting scholar at SRM University in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Jesse Miller will be visiting universities in Italy and Germany for faculty exchange possibilities.
Mary Carver will attend the National Communication Association (NCA) in New Orleans, LA
Dr. Terry Clark, Sandra Martin, and Yvette Walker attended the Creativity Forum recently held in Norman, Oklahoma.