June News Update

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the June issue of CLASS, the college’s monthly update of news and events.

Last month we introduced some of the talented CLASS students who graduated on May 13.  As we focus this month’s edition on more varied fare, I focus my remarks on faculty, without whom our graduates would not enjoy the success that most find after graduation.  Faculty deserve our attention for the influential role that they play not only in educating students in particular fields but also in preparing them for productive and fulfilling lives as global citizens.

One of the ironies of being a professor in the liberal arts and social sciences, however, is that we seldom know the impact that we have on students. Our greatest impact is most often realized at a remove from us. It is true that many of us remain in contact with former graduate advisees who become colleagues that we encounter occasionally at conferences and other professional gatherings. With few exceptions, however, we are seldom able to follow the careers of the many bright and energetic undergraduate students with whom we have the pleasure of teaching in our classes. These students most often find professional success in fields that we rarely follow such as business, law, medicine, or public service.

The fact that we do not know the fate of the vast majority of the students that we teach each year is probably not a bad thing. It allows us to sustain a belief that what we teach remains forever a positive influence in their lives and that they all go on to become better human beings for having had access to our wisdom. Perhaps, more importantly, it frees us to focus on the present generation of students who enter our classes to secure the foundational knowledge that the liberal arts provide for professional achievement and successful lives. We know that there is no more likely place to find answers to some of life's most enduring questions than in a liberal arts classroom where transformative truths are revealed in every lecture. And this is the role that our faculty play so well.

TOP STORY

Bold and beautiful word play at emerging writers’ conference

How does an unpublished writer get better at the craft so she can get published if just about every writing conference is for established writers?

That’s the dilemma creative writing undergraduate students put to their English Department advisers and got back an unexpected answer: fix the problem.

So the student staff of Glass Mountain magazine, the undergraduate literary journal, created and organized Boldface, a writing conference for emerging writers. Read more.

Related links:

• Glass Mountain, the Undergraduate Literary Journal at the University of Houston
• Department of English
• Creative Writing Program

HIGHLIGHTS & HEADLINES

	CLASS’ new professors emeriti College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
	Moores Concert Chorale wins awards in France Moores School of Music
	What do parents do with older kids in the summer? CLASS Fine Arts

RESEARCH & COLLABORATION

	Expert on traumatic and job-related stress tackles middle school Department of Psychology
	Blaffer heads to the Venice Biennale Blaffer Art Museum
	Cougar Concepts Valenti School of Communication

EXPERTS & COMMENTATORS

	Light of India Award for Chitra Divakaruni (Indo American News) Department of English
	Mark Bly on a Healing Monster with a Grotesque Killer Arm (Houston Press) School of Theatre and Dance
	Oprah Winfrey: The greatest existential philosopher ever? (Christian Science Monitor) Department of Sociology
	College Smart: The Gift of Tolerance (CNN iReport) Jack J. Valenti School of Communication

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