CLASS NEWS is brought to you by the Office of Communications for the University of Houston's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
Is this email not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser.
University of Houston
April 2015

Lifetime scholarly achievement
of Dr. Lois Parkinson Zamora recognized


The American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) hosted a special session to honor the lifetime scholarly achievement of Lois Parkinson Zamora at its annual conference this spring. read more

Faculty Accolades

Dr. Chinhui Juhn

Dr. Christy Ma Guidhir awarded outstanding monograph prize

The American Society of Aesthetics awarded its Outstanding Monograph Prize to Christy Mag Uidhir, assistant professor of philosophy, for his book, Art & Art-Attempt. read more

Dr. Arturo Hernandez

Dr. Leandra Zarnow granted NEH summer stipend

Leandra Zarnow, assistant professor of history, has been granted a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities. read more

More in the News

CLASS Students in the Media

simple

Emily Kusnerik, a 2015 Hobby Fellow, is currently working in the office of the House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee in the Texas House of Representatives. She wrote the article, An Equal Education Opportunity for Texas, which recently ran in the Houston Chronicle.



CLASS Faculty in the Media

WalletHub’s recent study examining 2015’s Best & Worst Run Cities in America featured comments by Steven Craig, Interim Dean of CLASS. The study was also featured in the Houston Chronicle article, Texas dominates Best Run Cities rankings. He was also featured on the Houston Matters program, Flush with Revenue, Should Texas Cut Property Taxes or Pay for Long-Overdue Projects?
   
Speech-Language pathology is a profession that is in high demand according to the Houston Chronicle article, Talk it up: Demand for speech-language pathologists is healthyLynn Maher, department chair of communication sciences and disorders, described the educational background required for this career in the story.
   
Director of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Elizabeth Gregory, was a featured commentator on the Houston Matters program titled, Bill Would Allow Women to Sue Their Employers Over Equal Pay.
   
Professor of Creative Writing Antonya Nelson recently gave a lecture and reading at the University of Montana. The Missoulian article,  Acclaimed fiction author Antonya Nelson to lecture, read at UM described the event.
   
To mark the 20th anniversary of the end publication of the Houston Post, Houston Matters aired the program, Remembering the Houston Post, 20 Years After its Demise. Garth Jowett, professor of communications, discussed the two newspaper town dynamic Houston once had on the program.
   
According to the Houston Matters program, Makeshift Border Towns: Improving Life in Texas ‘Colonias’, all along the Texas/Mexico border — and the border of neighboring states — are residential areas called “colonias.” During the program, Jeronimo Cortina, assistant professor of political science, discussed the impact of these housing areas on the community.
   
Susan Scarrow, chair of political science, wrote an article for the Oxford University Press Blog titled, Counting party members and why party members count.
   
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Playwriting, Theresa Rebeck, is directing the Alley Theatre’s production of “All My Sons.” The Houston Press highlighted her in their article, Playwright Theresa Rebeck Directs the Alley Production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons.
   
Robert Zaretsky, professor of modern and classical languages, wrote the following articles:
Houellebecq Skewers French Academe for The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Novel France Can't Put Down Depicts Muslim Future — Or Does It? in The Jewish Daily Forward
Dancing With the Le Pens for Foreign Policy
Nicolas Sarkozy Is Pulling a Netanyahu Ahead of the French Elections in New Republic
   
Jade Simmons, who teaches a graduate-level course on artist career development in the Program in Arts Leadership, recently performed at Elgin Community College near Chicago. The event was highlighted in the Chicago Tribune article, From the community: Classical pianist Jade Simmons to perform at ECC for Black History Month.


CLASS Alumni/ae Notes

simple
The Houston Chronicle recently ran the article, The former Cougars who made University of Houston great the past 88 years, which highlighted some successful UH alum as a way to mark the University’s 88th birthday.  Several CLASS alum were featured, including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren who earned a degree in speech pathology.
   
simple
Former theatre student, and current star of The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parsons, recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame according to The Cougar article, UH alumnus Jim Parsons earns star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
   
simple
Don Bacigalupi is now the founding director of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts planned for Chicago’s lakefront between Soldier Field stadium and the city’s convention center. Billionaire "Star Wars" creator George Lucas hired alumnus Bacigalupi away from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Bentonville, Ark. where he was executive director during the construction of that museum and president after its 2011 opening.
   
simple
Jim Nantz, who graduated in 1981 with a degree in radio/television from UH, currently works as CBS Sports Lead Play-by-Play Announcer. In the Culture Map Houston article, Jim Nantz defends Houston from vocal, clueless critics: Is CBS star now the University of Houston's No. 1 alum?, he vocalizes his support for Houston and UH sports.
   

Calendar

April 3 – 18: The 37th Annual Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
Presented by the School of Art and Blaffer Art Museum
The exhibition debut of 2015 graduates Daniela Antelo, Laura Fletcher, Daniel Haas, Seth Lapeyrouse, Melinda Laszczynski, Evan Lee, Margaret McMillan, Sebastian Montes, Eric Ockrassa, Caroline Roberts, Caroline Sharpless and Jason Wheeler.
Friday, April 3rd: 7 – 9 p.m. Opening Reception
Blaffer Art Museum
April 8: "This Is It"
Hosted by the School of Art
This is the annual fundraising event in support of graduate scholarships for the School of Art's Master of Fine Arts program.
Wednesday, April 8th: 6 – 8 p.m.
Blaffer Art Museum
April 9: Lecture – “Beyond the Legend: Cesar Chavez, Charismatic Leadership and the Relevance of Accountability”
Presented by the Center for Mexican American Studies
Matt Garcia, professor of history and transborder studies at Arizona State University and director of its Center for Comparative Border Studies, will discuss Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers Association and its failed efforts to attain a sustainable labor union.
Thursday, April 9th: 1 p.m.
UH Student Center South, Room 257 (Entrance 1 off of University Blvd)
April 10: Civic Engagement Boot Camp
Presented by the Hobby Center for Public Policy
Former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego will lead the non-partisan workshop with interactive sessions that require participants to think critically and commit to making a difference.  The free boot camp is open to students and community members, but is limited to 20 participants. To register, send an email to Isaiah Warner, inwarner@central.uh.edu with CEBC in the subject line. Include your name, phone number and email address.
Friday, April 10th: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. with lunch provided
McElhinney Hall
April 10 – 13: Rappaccini's Daughter opera by Daniel Catan
Presented by Moores School of Opera
Lose yourself in Dr. Rappaccini’s enticing garden, which is not only filled with his experimental poisonous plants, but also contains his equally lethal, yet seductive, daughter. Based on a Nathaniel Hawthorne story as retold by the Nobel Prize winning Octavio Paz, the opera explores a Garden of Eden gone awry with lush, sinfully sensuous music awash in orchestral color. This is the last in our series of all of the completed operas of Daniel Catán. Sung in the original Spanish with English surtitles.
    7:30 p.m., April 10, 11, 13
    2 p.m., April 12
Tickets are $20 and $12 for students and seniors. To purchase, call 713-743-3313 or visit the Moores online box office.

April 14 – 19: CounterCurrent
Presented by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
Countercurrent is a festival of bold experimental art that occupies a range of unexpected sites in the city of Houston. It includes audio and visual installation, live performance and participatory events by artists from around the world. Collaborations with dynamic organizations and artists in the Houston community are included as well as fresh new works by faculty and students. Click here to get free tickets.
At venues throughout Houston.
April 16: Ligatures: Authors & Artists in Conversations – The Future of the Book
Presented by the Gulf Coast Literary Journal
Join Roberto Tejada, Chitra Ganesh, Suzanne Bloom of M A N U A L, and the Guest Art Lies Editor, Raphael Rubinstein for a conversation about the art of the book: as idea, art object, its future, and much more.
Thursday, April 16th:  6 p.m.
The Printing Museum. 1324 West Clay Street, Houston, TX 77019

For more events, check the CLASS calendar.

Support CLASS, Give online at https://giving.uh.edu/class/

Give to the University of Houston    Find CLASS on Facebook    Follow CLASS on twitter