ENGLISH – David Blakesley presented at two Rhetoric Society of America Remote events on Zoom, both focused on publishing: Navigating Publication Series: “From Dissertation to Book” and “Making Contact: Working with Book Editors, Reviewers, and Readers.”
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY – Vernon Burton had been scheduled to keynote the annual Kenelm Conference at Campbell University, but that was changed to a virtual lecture. Through Webex from Clemson, Burton spoke on his forthcoming book, “Justice Denied: Race and the Supreme Court” on Oct. 20. On that evening he “virtually” interacted with and answered questions from the honors students at Campbell University. On Oct. 21, Burton presented a lecture to the Proquest All Team Meeting via Webex and answered questions about the digital revolution and the history profession. Burton was invited to be a member of the ProQuest History Advisory Board. On Oct. 22, Burton, who teaches the creative inquiry Veterans Project, hosted Andrew Huber from the Library of Congress to do a virtual workshop and demonstration on Conducting Oral History for Burton’s class and for students in the College. In addition, Burton was also part of a team of physicians and computer scientists who presented their research “Discerning Patient Perspectives and Attitudes Towards Treatment of Dermatological Diseases Using Artificial Intelligence” and “Capturing Patient-Centered Perspectives via Social Media Data Sentiment Mining of Acne, Alopecia Areata, and Melanoma.” Those virtual presentations took place at the 2020 International Dermatology Outcome Measures Conference, Washington, D.C., Oct. 23-24.
PERFORMING ARTS — Paul Buyer’s new book, “Drumline Gold: Innovative Systems for Marching Percussion Excellence,” was released by Meredith Music Publications, a division of GIA Publications, Inc. Written for drumline instructors, arrangers, and performers at all levels, “Drumline Gold” reveals the philosophies, lessons, and mindsets of more than 20 of the most brilliant, creative, and successful game-changers in the marching percussion activity. Top educators in Drum Corps International, Winter Guard International, the Percussive Arts Society, college, and high school share their systems on leading, practicing, rehearsing, listening, cleaning, performing, arranging, competing, auditioning, reading, marching, tuning, recruiting, staffing, and building an excellent culture. There is even a system on self-care and the importance of wearing earplugs, preventing injury, and managing stress.
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY — Elizabeth Carney has co-edited “The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean” with Sabine Müller of the University of Marburg, Germany, published by Routledge, Nov. 9. The collection, the work of 42 international scholars, is the first comprehensive look at the role of women in ancient monarchies.
ARCHITECTURE — Joseph Choma recently completed his third book, “The Philosophy of Dumbness” (ORO Editions, 2020). This is the dumbest smart book on contemporary architecture. What really is this “technology” that we speak of? How do we define “intelligence”? These are just two of the questions that this book attempts to answer through the unconventional (and seemingly ironic) lens of “dumbness.” Historical examples in science, art, and architecture ground “dumbness” as a means to convey a trajectory to practice “smarter.” Instead of a singular authoritative vision, over 50 contributors answer the question, “What is the dumbest, but smartest, thing you’ve done?” These unique responses provide a vivid lens into the culture of contemporary architecture and the rigor behind it.
LANGUAGES — William “Bo” Clements chaired a virtual professional development workshop for teachers of American Sign Language on Oct. 24. He recruited three nationally known presenters who discussed such topics as literature and social justice. Among the presenters was Jody Cripps, who spoke on “Service Learning in the Deaf Community.” Clements is a professional development director for South Carolina-American Sign Language Teachers Association.
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY and WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP — Joshua Catalano (History) and Briana L. Pocratsky (Women’s Leadership) published an article, “What’s on History?: Tuning In to Conspiracies, Capitalism, and Masculinity,” in Current Research in Digital History. Using topic modeling and close textual analysis, this article explores the discursive means by which History (formerly The History Channel) assigns value to and legitimizes certain methodologies, ideas, and identities.
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY — H. Roger Grant’s 36th academic book was published on Oct. 9. Indiana University Press released “A Mighty Fine Road: A History of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company.”
PERFORMING ARTS – Eric Lapin and Rick Goodstein, along with Ron McCurdy of the University of Southern California, led a roundtable discussion on arts entrepreneurship for the International Council of Fine Arts Deans via Zoom on Oct. 2. Lapin and Goodstein also presented “Preparing Artist Entrepreneurs for a New Arts Economy” via Zoom to the College Music Society National Conference on Oct. 11.
ARCHITECTURE — Anjali Joseph, director of the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing, delivered an online presentation, “What will the OR of the future look like?” for the Virtual OR Excellence Conference . This presentation was delivered jointly with Dr. Alexander Langerman of Vanderbilt University and focused on future trends that might impact the design of human-centered operating rooms.
ENGLISH — Melissa Edmundson Makala published the anthology “Women’s Weird 2: More Strange Stories by Women, 1891-1937” with Handheld Press. She was also interviewed about her two “Women’s Weird” anthologies for a feature in the Guardian, published on Oct. 22.
ENGLISH — Angela Naimou participated in a livestreamed reading of Toni Morrison’s first novel, “The Bluest Eye.” Naimou joined U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Angela Davis, Ta Nehisi-Coates, Edwidge Danticat, Tayari Jones, as well as other Morrison scholars, poets, and members of the Ithaca and Cornell communities. The event, which drew over 800 listeners, was the first in a yearlong series organized by Cornell University to celebrate Morrison’s life and writing, as part of Cornell’s Arts Unplugged series: https://as.cornell.edu/arts-unplugged.
COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, ARTS AND HUMANITIES – Winifred Elysse Newman was the conference co-chair, with Nathan Newsome, of CAAVCon 2020, Campus Alliance for Advanced Visualization, 5th Annual International Conference online at Clemson University, Oct. 14-17. The virtual conference was held on Mozilla Hubs, Zoom and Slack.
LANGUAGES — Salvador Oropesa published “The Cozy Mystery in the María Oruña Series” in “Spanish Women Authors of Serial Crime Fiction. Repeat Offenders,” edited by Inmaculada Pertusa-Seva and Melissa Stewart (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020).
LANGUAGES — Arelis Moore de Peralta and co-authors Shaniece Criss, Melissa Fair and Rut Rivera, facilitated the panel “Build Trust, Build Health: Community-Based Participatory Research to Combating Childhood Obesity in the Latinx Community” at the 2020 Coming Together for Action Virtual Conference.
CITY PLANNING AND REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT – L. Enrique Ramos led an international research team with colleagues from Universidade A ‘Coruña in Spain: Margarita Novales Ordax (Profesora Titular, Grupo de Ferrocarriles y Transportes) and Francisco Alberto Varela-García (Profesor del Grupo de Visualización Avanzada y Cartografía). Their first paper, “An International Assessment of Small Light-Rail Systems Transit Performance: Spain – United States,” has been accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (November 2020) and the Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting in Washington (January 2021). This is the first research product of a projected longer-term team effort focused on sustainable mass transit performance and the role of city structure, urban design and built-environment on patronage.
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY — Rebecca Shimoni-Stoil published an analysis about U.S. engagement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on NBC.com and also appeared live to discuss the topic on MSNBC’s MSNBC Live with Ayman Mohyeldin. Shimoni-Stoil, who has previously published in fivethirtyeight.com and the Washington Monthly, was the Washington D.C. correspondent for the Times of Israel while in grad school. Although she repeatedly vowed to leave journalism entirely after completing her Ph.D., her promise “was evidently empty” as Shimoni-Stoil explains that she enjoys taking history to the public arena by publishing in popular media outlets and offering on-screen analysis.
PERFORMING ARTS – Mark Spede, as president of the College Band Directors National Association, initiated a project to bring marching band members from across the country together for a virtual performance to be premiered at the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 11, 2021. During the pandemic, many college marching bands have not been allowed to meet in person, perform at football games on the field, or even be in the stadium. More information on this initiative can be found here: www.cbdna-imb.com.
LANGUAGES — Eric Touya published the following articles: “Claudel dans/pour l’avenir: Diplomatie, Économie, Éco-critique” in Claudel aujourd’hui, Paris: Classiques Garnier ; and “Entretien avec Hédi Bouraoui: altérité, nomanitude, interstice” in The French Review. He also read a paper, “Voix politiques, transcendantes, et transgressives dans l’œuvre de Véronique Tadjo et d’Isabelle Eberhardt” at the Colloque International et Interdisciplinaire, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland.
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION – Benjamin White presented a paper, “The Pauline Tradition,” at the Atlanta New Testament Colloquium on Oct. 5, with respondents from the University of Edinburgh and Australian Catholic University.
ENGLISH — Jillian Weise appeared on Al Jazeera’s program “The Stream” to discuss barriers to voting. Weise was interviewed by Inside Higher Ed for an article on “manterrupting.” Since the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities Conference was inaccessible to the disabled and Deaf public, Weise declined to be on her panel “Cyborg Bioethics.” Her statement appears on Biopolitical Philosophy. Weise presented at the Dodge Poetry Festival. Her reading is on “crip time,” available here. The access copy for the reading is here.
VISUAL ART – Valerie Zimany was a featured demonstrating artist for FireFest 2020 at STARworks N.C., livestreamed Oct. 30-31. FireFest is a two-day festival celebrating the role of fire in the creation of glass and ceramic art at STARworks, where Zimany was a resident artist in 2019. Lectures and demonstrations were broadcast over the two-day event, and may viewed at https://www.starworksnc.org/firefest. STARworks is an arts-centered work community that promotes cultural and economic development by providing outstanding artistic educational programs and business ventures.