Fall 2010 Newsletter
2010-11 edition Published Fall, Winter, & Spring Volume II, Issue II
Michael Call, Brigham Young University, Provo
Dear HERA members,
I am honored to begin my term as president of this organization. I have always enjoyed the associations I have had with you at our conferences and deeply appreciate the spirit of camaraderie and open-mindedness that characterizes the exchange of ideas whenever we meet together. HERA represents all that is best about interdisciplinary studies: the courage to explore new avenues of research by refusing to be limited by traditional disciplinary boundaries and the creativity such thinking fosters.
I look forward to seeing you once again at our next annual conference to be held in Salt Lake City, March 8-10, 2012. The conference theme will be “Crossroads,” a fitting title, I believe, for a conference held in a city that has often been called “The Crossroads of the West.” As the French are fond of saying, “De la discussion jaillit la lumière!” (“From discussion springs forth light!”). I invite you to come ready to showcase your latest illuminating interdisciplinary work. HERA exists to encourage mutual enlightenment among its members and I hope you will see your own contribution as a vital component in the achievement of that end.
Thank you.
Michael Call
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From HERA Past-President Therese Tomaszek
In my final message as past-president, I want to express my appreciation to the many people whose contributions were essential as we took our first steps as a new association. Words cannot convey my gratitude for your commitment to HERA. I am deeply indebted to our board of directors and executive director/chief financial officer Marcia Green. Theodore Roethke wrote, “I learn by going where I have to go.” You were in all ways a collaborative team whose advice and counsel made the journey a pleasure.
Past-president
Therese Tomaszek. Photo by Marcia Green.
I gratefully recognize the co-editors of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Lee Ann Westman and Stephen Husarik, for the consistent, scholarly quality of our journal and Ron Weber for giving IH a home at the University of Texas – El Paso. IH is a source of pride for HERA.
Many thanks go to our Newsletter editor Jim Bell, who developed the online format for the Newsletter. Through Jim’s updates on positions and promotions, publications and presentations, research and artistic expressions, we are able to connect with each other’s lives between conferences.
My heartfelt thanks also go to Dore’ Ripley, our website maestro and Facebook administrator, who presents HERA to the world formally and informally. I hope that you will make HERA a regular stop whenever you communicate with your Facebook friends.
I want to acknowledge all of you members who have supported and participated in HERA since its beginning in 2009. We are better because of your effort to make HERA’s value known.
At HERA, we have long traditions but a brief heritage. Yet, in the few years of HERA’s existence, we have moved forward in several areas that I have discussed with you and our board at our conferences and in our Newsletters. Last year, I expressed a hope that you would encourage your colleagues and students to become members. Our future depends on them. I am pleased to report that we are expanding in this area. Our membership is becoming more diverse in age, ethnicity, and race; and it is growing in numbers.
An increasing population of international scholars is also represented at our conferences; and, for those who are unable to be present physically, Interdisciplinary Humanities is read and contributions are solicited around the world through library EBSCO subscriptions. Through our conference and IH, we are internationalizing HERA; and we are supporting our mission to “Promote the worldwide study, teaching and understanding of the humanities.” I hope that next year’s conference will see an even greater international presence and that, someday, we will be able to join with our international members and hold a conference outside the United States.
Growth like this doesn’t happen by coincidence. It is the result of intentionality and sharing HERA’s story with like-minded people. I hope that you will continue to spread the word to all who would benefit from membership in HERA including K-12 and college educators, museum directors, those who work with public Humanities programs, independent scholars, and anyone with an interest in interdisciplinary studies.
While HERA will grow, some things will stay the same. First and foremost, people will always be valued, scholarship supported, and a multiplicity of thought and perspectives celebrated. We are fortunate to have the leadership of Michael Call, our president, and Sarita Cannon, our vice president, to carry the association forward. This is an exciting time, and HERA could be in no better hands.
Thanks to all of you HERA members for giving me one of the truly great experiences of my life. I’ll continue to serve on the board till 2013 as past-president and hope to be with you many more years thereafter as a member. Next year, we’ll meet in Salt Lake City, the Crossroads of the West.
Best,
Terri
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Interdisciplinary Humanities
The Humanities Education and Research Association's Scholarly Journal: Interdisciplinary Humanities is a refereed scholarly journal, published twice a year.
Interdisciplinary Humanities defines “interdisciplinary humanities education” as any learning activities with content that draws upon the human cultural heritage, methods that derive from the humanistic disciplines, and a purpose that is concerned with human values. The journal welcomes manuscripts from university colleagues, but also ones that examine interdisciplinary scholarship and education in elementary grades, teacher education, adult public programs, graduate seminars, educational radio and television, museums, and historic parks.
Subscriptions are included as a benefit of membership in the Humanities Education and Research Association. Libraries and institutions may subscribe for $100.00 per year.
Submit articles and Creative Works to co-editors, Stephen Husarik shusarik@uafortsmith.edu and Lee Ann Westman, lewestman@utep.edu. Don't forget to include your e-mail address. Check HERA's website under JOURNAL to obtain information on upcoming editions.
Fall
2011 - (mis)Representing Difference in Media and Everyday Items.
EXTENDED DEATLINE - submit by June 30, 2011.
Guest editor Susan Booker Morris, Director of Jim Crow Museum, Ferris State
University. This special issue on the representation of the 'other' invites
analysis of race, ethnicity, nationality, queerness, or gender as found in
representations in television, ads, films, photographs, video games, computer
images, etc. Any theoretical bases are welcome. Use of the Jim Crow Museum
at www.ferris.edu/jimcrow
is particularly encouraged but not required. Send inquiries and papers to
Susan Booker Morris at morrisus@ferris.edu.
Submission Deadline is May 1, 2011.
Spring
2012 - Children's Media.
Wynn Yarbrough, guest editor. This issue will offer up articles, essays, interviews,
and creative works by authors who write or produce works for children. Video
games, picture books, fantasy, hi-hop children's poetry: the various media
that are relevant to children and have become part of twenty first century
humanities warrants study and exploration for teachers and scholars in the
humanities. Send inquiries and submissions to Dr. Wynn Yarbrough at wynnyarbrough@hotmail.com.
Submission Deadline is Nov. 1, 2011.
Fall
2012 - Service Learning in the Humanities,
Isabel Baca, UTEP, guest editor. This issue will include articles, essays,
and reflective pieces on service-learning from various points of view: students,
faculty, agency mentors, and higher-education and non-profit community administration
and staff. Documents may focus on studies, theory, and reflection. Send inquiries
and submissions to Isabel Baca at ibaca@utep.edu.
Submission Deadline May 1, 2012.
Upcoming
Issue TBA Pride and Humility. From the rage of Achilles to Priam's subservient
pleadings for Hector's body, from the conceit of King Lear to the meekness
of Cordelia, from the terribilità of Michelangelo's Moses to
the earthy nobility of Van Gogh's Potato Eaters, from the detachment
of Lao Tzu to the powerful assertions of Nietzsche, and from the pride punished
in Dante's Inferno and Purgatory to the pride celebrated by
Michael Eric Dyson; writers, thinkers, and artists through the ages have addressed
fundamental questions about pride and humility.
This
issue of Interdisciplinary Humanities draws upon the widest variety
of insights from the humanities to addresses the difficult and even paradoxical
questions around pride and humility. Topics related to this theme include,
but are not limited to, hubris, victory disease, groupthink, narcissism, esteem,
identity pride, anatta, egolessness, openness, epoché, bracketing, indeterminacy,
and cognitive conflict. For more information contact: Shawn Tucker at stucker@elon.edu.
Calling all Book Reviewers!
IH editors are looking for well written book reviews of new publications that educators might use in interdisciplinary classrooms or scholarship. These can be scholarly works as well as textbooks that examine themes and ideas across disciplines. This is an excellent opportunity for young scholars and graduate students to publish! Please submit reviews to Wynn Yarbrough, wynnyarbrough@hotmail.com.
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Michael Call at the 2011 HERA Conference in San Francisco. Photo
by Marcia Green
Plenary
speaker Henry M. Sayre at the 2011 HERA Conference in San Francisco. Photo
by Marcia Green.
10
Minute Play Session at the 2011 HERA Conference in San Francisco. Photo
by Marcia Green.
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2012 Conference
Crossroads
This
Is the Place Monument. Photo
Credit: Eric Schramm. Used by permission of Visitsaltlake.com
In
Salt Lake City, Utah,
March 8-10, 2011
Sunset
Skyline. Photo
Credit: Eric Schramm. Used by permission of Visitsaltlake.com.
Watch
the website for the call for papers
For questions about the conference, contact Michael Call michael_call@byu.edu
or Marcia Green at mgreen@sfsu.edu.
Conference
Host Hotel
Salt Lake City Marriott
Downtown
Located
within walking distance to fine restaurants, cultural centers, shopping, and
Historic Temple Square, the Marriot Downtown Hotel is a AAA four diamond full-featured
luxury hotel. Rates for conference attendees are $99 per night plus taxes.
Depending on availability, these rates would be in effect 3 days prior and
3 days after the conference for anyone wishing to experience more of the area
or even hit the slopes for wonderful spring skiing. For hotel reservations,
call 801-531-0800 or toll free at 888-236-2427, or reserve for this rate online
by following this link: Salt
Lake City Marriott Downtown>> (click to follow the link rather than
pasting it in your browser).
The hotel is located 15 miles from Salt Lake City International Airport. The hotel does not provide an airport shuttle. There is bus service from the airport or taxi service available. For more information about Salt Lake City, visit Salt Lake City Convention and Visitor Bureau website at http://www.visitsaltlake.com.
Salt
Lake Temple. Photo
Credit: Jason Mathis. Used by permission of Visitsaltlake.com.
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Member Updates
Colleen
Coughlin and four Davenport University students in April presented a panel
of papers at the National Popular Culture/American Culture Conference in San
Antonio, Texas. Their panel, entitled "What? Popular Culture in a GenED class?”
blended faculty strategies and student perspectives. The students shared their
findings from successfully completed projects integrating popular culture
into their projects on Skateboarding Culture, Gendered Media Analysis, Tunnel
of Oppression presentations, and Motorcycle Culture.
Left to right: Seth Besteman, Charity Dischon-Fisher, Carrie
Bockheim, Cindy Roberts, Colleen Coughlin. Photo
taken by Charity Dischon-Fisher.
John Lawson has been promoted to full professor of English Studies at Robert Morris University. Also, Palisade Press has published a volume he co-edited (with Craig Smith and Todd Davis) entitled Precisely There: A Festschrift in Honor of Ronald H. Bayes. The volume includes his essay, "The Fine Art of Resistance."
Karin McKie, MFA Creative Nonfiction candidate at San Jose State University presented "Bearing a Charmed Life: The Necessity of the Weird Sisters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth" at 19th Annual Shakespeare Symposium at California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA in May. She will also be presenting "Bearing a Charmed Life: The Necessity of the Weird Sisters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth" at the Shakespeare: Sources and Adaptation conference in Cambridge, England in September.
Linda Moser, Associate Professor and Graduate Director, English Department
at Missouri State University, has been selected as an Outstanding Advising
Award Winner in the Faculty Academic Advising category from the National Academic
Advising Association as part of the 2011 Annual Awards Program for Academic
Advising.
This award is
presented to individuals who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding
academic advising of students or outstanding academic advising administration.
The Faculty Academic Advising category includes those individuals whose primary
responsibility is teaching and who spend a portion of their time providing
academic advising services to students.
Doré Ripley published the following article "Happy Birthday, Wonder-Con: A Review of the Show" in Graphic Novel Reporter: http://graphicnovelreporter.com.
Stephen
Husarik was to present his paper entitled “‘You could make it four feet
and thirty-three inches if you want’: John Cage’s Time-Space Relationships
in 4'33" and HPSCHD” in Osaka just days before the Pacific tsunami hit Japan.
However, the federal government canceled all non-essential travel to Japan
and the travel was interrupted. Husarik planned to talk about the expansion
of musical time-space relationships in Cage’s works using his own unpublished
personal correspondence with Cage along with his own recent production of
“HPSCHD-3D” at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. Using the composer’s
own words, the paper explains why Cage’s spatially-conceived collages were
far more effective when produced in the USA than they were in Europe and explains
the numerical link between Asia and the West in HPSCHD. Husarik created a
DVD mix-down of his HPSCHD-3D performance and a video of Cage’s 4’33” as a
spatial performance, rather than a purely time-bound performance. One of the
photos from HPSCHD-3D is shown here, and a link is provided to a fuller description
of the performance along with more photos. http://www.uafortsmith.edu/News.
UAFS
Student performs in front of 3D image during HPSCHD-3D, January 30, 2011. Photo
by Kat Wilson.
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HERA Newsletter Items
The HERA newsletter is published three times a year and features conference and journal updates, information about HERA members, web sites about interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship, reports on effective teaching strategies, travelogues, and other brief information that would be relevant to humanities educators. Send your newsletter items to: Jim Bell, HERA Newsletter Editor, via email at: bellja@gvsu.edu.
The production of this newsletter is made possible by the support of the School of Communications and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Grand Valley.
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HERA Mission Statement
The Humanities Education and Research Association is organized as a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization, exclusively for charitable, research and education purposes.
The
mission of the organization is to:
• Promote the
worldwide study, teaching and understanding of the humanities across a range
of disciplines.
• Support the
interchange of research and the scholarships of knowledge, teaching and service
in the humanities through conferences, publications, and related activities
in a worldwide context
• Provide additional
forums for the exchange of ideas regarding humanities education in schools,
colleges and universities, libraries and museums, and other contexts For more
information go to www.h-e-r-a.org.
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Donate
Your donation is tax deductible and will help promote the worldwide study, teaching and understanding of the humanities across a range of disciplines. We need your help to keep the Humanities strong and thriving.
Send your donation to: HERA, P.O. Box 777, Pacifica, CA 94044-4206.
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Other Items of Interest
Learn more about HERA, click on the ABOUT link at the top of this page, where you'll also find links to JOIN, DONATE, learn about Board Members, CALLS for Papers and, of course, upcoming CONFERENCES.
