PAN AFRICAN STUDIES – On Feb. 11 Abel Bartley was reelected to a second term as president of the Southern Conference on African American Studies Inc. Bartley is the first person to serve two consecutive terms. On Feb. 2, Bartley was also reelected chair of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. He has served as chair for the past three years.
ENGLISH – Chris Benson and Abbie Fourspring (undergraduate English major) are serving as the dramaturgical team for “A Streetcar Named Desire,” directed by Kerrie Seymour (performing arts) and being produced at the Brooks Center, Feb. 23-26.
HISTORY – Vernon Burton was one of 90 historians asked by C-span to participate in their 2017 Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership and evaluate all 44 presidents of the United States from George Washington to Barack Obama on ten different qualities of leadership. Results of the third annual survey were released to the public on Presidents’ Day 2017. Burton also received recognition in Dr. Catherine Clinton’s presidential address to the Southern Historical Association published in the Feb. 2017 Journal of Southern History (Vol LXXXIII, no.10). On page 27, Clinton mentions Burton: “perhaps we can tap the expertise of former SHA presidents like Vernon Burton, whose testimony in voting rights’ cases shapes current electoral landscapes.” Burton’s book, “Penn Center: A History Preserved” (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2014; paperback edition, 2017) has been released in a paperback edition. For Black History Month and for Lincoln’s birthday, Burton has appeared in several rerun SCETV and public TV broadcasts from programs produced previously.
PERFORMING ARTS – Paul Buyer was a guest leadership speaker at the University of North Alabama Department of Music in Florence, Ala. His new book with co-author Josh Gottry, “The Art of Vibraphone Playing: An Essential Method for Study and Performance,” is being published by Meredith Music Publications. Buyer recently received a $20,000 capital improvement grant with percussion students and performing arts majors Dillon Holzheimer and Greg Freeman, for a new 5-octave Marimba One marimba and “One Vibe” vibraphone for the Clemson percussion program.
LANGUAGES – Kim Misener Dunn and her collaborators from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and Lamar University in Midland, Texas had the opportunity recently to discuss the challenges they encountered in educational research. Typically, Deaf individuals are seen through the lens of the dominant hearing society’s perception. Unearned vs. earned privilege in higher education were analyzed, and the benefits determined. Dunn and her colleagues used the grounded theory to generate components necessary for successful Deaf and hearing research partnerships. As a result of this collaboration, “Deaf and Hearing Research Partnerships” has been published in the winter issue of the educational research journal, American Annals of the Deaf.
LANGUAGES – Kim Misener Dunn and Stephen Fitzmaurice presented “An Eye on ASL Standards” on Jan. 28 as hosts of the first annual Clemson American Sign Language Pedagogy Conference in Greenville, S.C. This conference welcomed ASL educators from the Southeastern United States and will become an annual event.
LANGUAGES – Feb. 10-11, Stephen Fitzmaurice presented a ten-hour workshop for working educational interpreters related to “Knowledge Competencies for Educational Interpreters.” This workshop was the inaugural professional development session for interpreters working in public schools across the state as part of the South Carolina Educational Interpreting Center grant awarded to Clemson from the South Carolina Department of Education.
ENGLISH – Lucian Ghita was a keynote speaker at the “Shakespeare and the African American Experience” conference organized by the South Carolina State University English and Modern Languages Department on Feb. 17, 2017. The topic of his talk was “Intercultural Shakespeare: The Politics of Cultural Adaptation.”
CAAH – Dean Richard Goodstein was recently appointed to the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) 2017 Standing Committee on Research Institutions by CCAS President David Manderscheid. Founded in 1965, CCAS is the national association of colleges of arts and sciences. Its purpose is to provide professional-development programming to its member deans and to sustain the arts and sciences as a leading influence in American higher education.
HISTORY – Steven Marks gave a talk in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 24 at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, in connection with their commemoration of the centennial of the Russian Revolution. The title of his talk was “Russian Avant-Garde Art in War and Revolution.”
LANGUAGES – The “Herder Yearbook XIII” (2016) is the second yearbook that Johannes Schmidt co-edited (with Reiner Godel, Halle, Germany). This trilingual academic journal — published every two years on behalf of the International Herder Society — advances scholarly inquiries into the German thinker Johann Gottfried Herder, his reception and influence. The journal presents contributions from multiple and interdisciplinary fields, such as, but not limited to German studies, philosophy, history, linguistics, cultural and colonial studies, as well the humanities in general. At last year’s conference, Schmidt presented on “Herder and the Opera: Plurality of the Senses.” He also moderated a panel on Herder and the srts.
LANGUAGES – On Feb. 11, Daniel J. Smith presented “Spanish L1 (1st language) and L2 (2nd language) ‘Errors’ due to Interference or the Natural Order of Acquisition” at the 20th Annual Conference on the Americas. The conference was sponsored by the Americas Council of the University System of Georgia at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Ga. Smith presented an analysis of ‘non-target’ Spanish L2 utterances by English L1 speakers and Spanish utterances made by Spanish L1 speakers who are exposed to large amounts of English as their L2, differentiating between ‘errors’ in ‘non-target’ utterances which are due to interference from either L1 or L2 and ‘errors’ due to the natural order of acquisition. The analysis also made implications for the role of interference errors in language shift and for instruction strategies in second language classes.
ENGLISH – Jillian Weise continues her autoschediastic performance art as Tipsy Tullivan. She created two videos to coincide with the 50th Annual Conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). The videos are titled “AWP Confidential” and “How Was the Gala.” By performing the character of Tipsy, Weise hopes to satirize and derange literary ableism. Weise appeared, as herself, on two panels at the conference. Her poetry was solicited and published in a new anthology of manifestos.
ART – Valerie Zimany’s ceramic artworks are currently on view in “Recent Work,” a solo exhibition at the Sheffield Wood Gallery of the Fine Arts Center of Greenville through March 24. An artist lecture and reception will be held on Thursday, March 9 at 6 p.m. More information at the website. Zimany is also included in the exhibition “Possibilities: GCCA Ceramic Invitational” at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts from through March 29. A “Meet the Artists” event will be held on Tuesday, March 7 at 6 p.m. For more information, visit the website. Seventeen contemporary ceramic artists from the Southeast including; Alice Ballard, William Baker, Daniel Bare, Sharon Campbell, Bob Chance, Diana Farfan, Darin Gehrke, Glenda Guión, Leslie Hinton, Betsy Kaemmerlen, Jay Owens, Elaine Quave, Mike Vatalaro, Frank Vickery, Mallory Wetherell, David Zacharias and Valerie Zimany highlight the conceptual and formal range of possibilities with the elemental medium of clay.
ARCHITECTURE – The Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing (CHFDT) at Clemson University is midway through phase two of the multi-phase RIPCHD.OR project. The RIPCHD.OR project (Realizing Improved Patient Care through Human-Centered Design in the OR) is a collaborative effort involving Clemson University (CAAH, industrial engineering and College of Business), the Medical University of South Carolina, and Health Sciences South Carolina. RIPCHD.OR researchers are working to design and develop a safer, more ergonomic hospital operating room. The team is developing innovative design ideas, systems and technology that will be tested and evaluated in a high-fidelity mockup later this year. Lower fidelity mockups were built at the Clemson Design Center in Charleston last semester. Preliminary testing and evaluation occurred at that time. RIPCHD.OR researchers are evaluating numerous elements (e.g., operating room size and layout, sightlines and visibility, lighting, design and positioning of the surgical table, location of doors, ceiling mounted booms, equipment storage, location of supplies, work flows, innovative displays and technology) by engaging clinicians and other medical personnel in various OR scenarios. The high-fidelity mock up, that will be constructed in Charleston this fall, will permit the iterative testing and evaluation of innovative designs, components, technology and systems.