Congratulations to the following members of the College of Humanities and the Arts for their achievements!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE STUDENTS AND ALUMNI:
*ART AND ART HISTORY: ALUM RYAN CARRINGTON RECOGNIZED
MFA alum Ryan Carrington was recognized last month for his creative work when Silicon Valley Creates named him an Emerging Artist. Read more about Ryan’s extraordinary creative work.
*DESIGN DEPARTMENT: STUDENTS DESIGN TO IMPACT AND INSPIRE
Over the course of three weeks, from February 24 to March 6, BFA Graphic Design students worked to create and curate design exhibitions based upon their work and experiences in the SJSU BFA Graphic Design program. As a part of their Exhibition Design class, students worked in teams of nine to curate ART 214 into a space that showcased the design program’s unique work. Everything from branding to application design was carefully selected in order to show viewers the breadth of approaches and theories within the program. Taking no expense to provide viewers with richly designed content, ART 214 was meticulously shifted from bare walls into immersive experiences. BFA Graphic Design students translated design ideals through overarching themes, challenging viewers to explore the possibilities and approaches of contemporary design.
*ENGLISH AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: REED MAGAZINE AT AWP
SJSU’s Reed Magazine had an oft-visited table at the AWP annual Book Fair and Conference in Seattle, February 26 – March 1. The AWP boasts that its book fair is the largest exhibition in North America of independent literary presses and journals, creative writing programs, writing conferences and centers, and literary arts organizations. Professor Cathleen Miller and her crew of four intrepid editors took turns at the table in between schmoozing and attending panels and readings. The Reed students actively hawked the fabulous new Reed Magazine t-shirts and traded issues of the magazine with other college-based literary journals. Also attending were students and faculty involved in developing East Side Voices, the Center for Literary Arts’ outreach project at Mt. Pleasant High School. East Side Voices received some SSTEF funds and a technical assistance grant from Silicon Valley Creates/Applied Materials Excellence in the Arts program to subsidize several students and faculty members’ travel to the conference, and then to blog about panels they attended on topics related to community outreach and collaborations between universities and secondary schools to offer creative writing instruction to high school students on their own campuses. Visit East Side Voices AWP blog to learn more about our literary program outreach practices.
*ENGLISH AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: WORD TO WORD PROGRAM
Alumna Erica Goss, graduate of SJSU’s MFA program in creative writing and current Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, just started a cable TV show (KCAT 15) about poetry called Word to Word, viewable on YouTube. The first episode features a conversation with Jennifer Swanton Brown, Poet Laureate of Cupertino.
*HUMANITIES: NEW SJSU STUDIES HONORS SEQUENCE
Humanities Honors at SJSU will be growing. Advanced Honors, a two-semester upper division expansion for honors in the SJSU Studies areas R, S and V, HUM 177A & 177B, is scheduled to begin this fall 2014. The Advanced Honors sequence will be open to current students at SJSU or transfer students who qualify with an all-college GPA of 3.0 or better, and who have successfully completed the WST. The course will be team-taught by professors from the colleges of Science, Social Science, and Humanities and the Arts, with a lecture-seminar arrangement. A team of instructors from the three colleges has collaboratively created the curriculum and is looking forward to working with their first group of students next semester.
*HUMANITIES: HUMANITIES CLUB
The Humanities Club was officially recognized as a Student Involvement club in fall 2013. The purpose of the Humanities Club is to bring together all students interested in Humanities, both in and outside the major. The club strives to provide academic and pre-professional support as well as social opportunities to build valuable relationships within the community. The club meets every third Wednesday of the month, and the meetings are often themed. In April, the club will participate in the SJSU Cultural Showcase, run by SJSU Salzburg Scholars, in the Student Union Barrett Ballroom on Thursday, April 17. The club also will host a Career Panel for Humanities majors on Wednesday, April 23 from 12:00-1:30PM in Clark Fishbowl (first floor of Clark).
*MUSIC AND DANCE: “FIREWORKS” CHORAL CONCERT
The SJSU Choraliers and Concert Choir performed at Campbell United Methodist Church on Friday, March 14 at 7:30pm to a packed audience. Congratulations on a beautiful evening of music and song!
*MUSIC AND DANCE: SJSU SINGERS PERFORM FOR DIONNE WARWICK
Four members of the SJSU Choirs sang at a Press Conference for the Sister Cities International in March. Dionne Warwick was the featured guest, and the SJSU singers serenaded her as well as San José Mayor and members of the city council.
*MUSIC AND DANCE: UNIVERSITY DANCE THEATRE
The Dance Program of the School of Music and Dance is proud to announce that our advanced performing group, University Dance Theatre, directed by faculty member Gary Masters, was selected to be on the Gala Concert of the American College Dance Festival on March 14, 2014. The original group piece for the entire company of 18 dancers presented by SJSU was choreographed by faculty member, Heather Cooper, who also designed the lighting. This year there were 48 pieces presented for adjudication. Not only was the San José State piece among the 12 singled out, it was awarded the distinction of being the opening work on the concert. The annual festival was hosted this year by Arizona State University in Tempe. It was attended by faculty and students from many Colleges and Universities, representative of many of the most recognized Dance Programs in our five state region. A panel of nationally recognized professionals served as adjudicators to select the most outstanding performances and included Wendy Perron, the editor of Dance Magazine, which is the most prestigious and comprehensive monthly dance publication worldwide. This is the fifth consecutive year that our program has received this recognition.
*PHILOSOPHY: SJSU ETHICS BOWL TEAM WINS BIG
The SJSU Ethics Bowl team went undefeated (5 wins, 0 losses) and earned first place honors – out of 18 participating schools – in the 2013 Regional Ethics Bowl Competition. As a result, SJSU qualifies for the national competition in 2014. Modeled on television’s College Bowl, the Ethics Bowl requires students to analyze difficult ethical problems drawn from practical and professional contexts. The Philosophy Department at San José State has sponsored an Ethics Bowl team for the past sixteen years. Organized by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, the national competition hosts teams from colleges throughout the United States each year. SJSU’s success in this year’s competition builds upon other recent standout performances from 2010 (first place in regional competition) and 2012 (second place in regional competition). This year’s winning team members are: Conor Kusich, Industrial design major; Erika Villasenor, Philosophy major; Jason Farnsworth, Philosophy major; Priscilla Chung, Kinesiology major; KiWi Fan, Psychology major; and Vincent Iannielo, Philosophy major. They were coached by the Philosophy Department’s Lucian Pino, Kyle Yrigoyen, Dean Dominguez, and faculty advisor Karin Brown. For the national competition, they will be joined by Alyssa Cortez, Philosophy major.
*TV, RADIO, FILM, AND THEATRE: BEA AWARDS
SJSU took home high honors at the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts in February 2014. Spartan Film Studios film “Always Learning” by writer-director Robert Krakower took Best in Show. The film is a beautifully written, directed, and acted coming-of-age story about a home-schooled teenager.
*TV, RADIO, FILM, AND THEATRE: SPARTAN FILM STUDIOS
Congratulations to Spartan Films students and faculty for the acceptance and screening of “Park Arcadia” at the 2014 Cinequest Film Festival as well as at the Newbort Beach Film Festival. The film played at the San José Repertory Theatre two times during Cinequest to a packed house that included Dean Vollendorf cheering for the students!
*WORLD LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES: FOREIGN LANGUAGE WEEK
Foreign Language Week, a national event, was a great success this year at SJSU thanks to the students, faculty, and staff in WLL. Events included the first annual Kazuki Fukuda-Abe Endowed Lecture Series in Contemporary Japanese Arts. View a full list of events attended by hundred of our community members.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE FACULTY AND PROGRAMS:
*ART AND ART HISTORY: PRESIDENT’S SCHOLAR
Jo Farb Hernández, professor in the Department of Art and Art History, has been named SJSU President’s Scholar for 2014. Hernández directs the Natalie and James Thompson Gallery and teaches courses in museum studies and professional practices for artists. In her 13 years at SJSU, she has published 11 books and catalogs, as well as 46 articles in journals and encyclopedias in four countries. She was honored at the 15th Annual Faculty Service Recognition and Awards Luncheon in March. Learn more.
*ART AND ART HISTORY: CASSANDRA STRAUBING
Congratulations to glass instructor Cassandra Straubing for her election to the Vice Presidency of the International Glass Art Society.
*ART AND ART HISTORY: GAMES INITIATIVE ON FIRE
Professor Craig Hobbs and Instructor James Morgan organized and participated in the Global Game Jam in January 2014. Students from all majors collaborated to make games during the three-day event. Congratulations on a wonderful event that involved so many students in a collaborative initiative.
ART AND ART HISTORY: IMIN YEH
Art instructor Imin Yeh was awarded a Eureka Fellowship through the Fleishhacker Foundation. The Foundation offers an unrestricted fellowship program for visual artists. Artists must be nominated by a local nonprofit arts organization to qualify. Letters inviting nominations of visual artists are sent approximately six months prior to the selection of artists for an upcoming three-year grant cycle. Awards of $25,000 per artist are determined by a review panel of non-Bay Area arts experts. Imin Yeh also will be an Artist In Residence at Recology SF in fall 2014. The Artist in Residence Program is a one-of-a-kind initiative started in 1990 to support Bay Area artists while teaching children and adults about recycling and resource conservation. Artists work for four months in a studio space on site and use materials recovered from the Public Disposal and Recycling Area. Over 100 professional Bay Area artists have completed residencies.
*ENGLISH AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: CREATIVE WRITING
SJSU Creative Writing students and faculty were well represented at the annual AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) conference, February 26 – March 1, in Seattle. The AWP, a rollicking mosh-pit of a conference, took over Seattle’s massive Washington State Convention Center to celebrate the work of creative writing teachers, students, authors, literary translators, and publishers from over 450 colleges and universities across North America and the UK. The largest literary conference in North America, the 2014 AWP featured over 550 panels and readings with over 1,900 writers on site, as well as hundreds of other off-site readings, book signings, and other literary events. Professors Persis Karim and Alan Soldofsky each presented talks and did books signings in Seattle. Karim organized and moderated a panel called Beyond the “Axis of Evil”: Shattering the Stereotypes of Iran and Iranians Through Fiction and also read from Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers at Seattle’s University Bookstore. Soldofsky organized, moderated, and presented at a panel called Poetry Flash at 42: Four Decades of Chronicling and Reviewing the West’s Literary Scene. He also signed copies of his new poetry collection, In the Buddha Factory, at the Truman State University Press table in the AWP Book Fair. Published last September, In the Buddha Factory is going into its second printing.
*MUSIC AND DANCE: PROFESSOR GARY MASTERS
Professor Gary Masters and Raphael Boumaila received the Isadora Duncan Award for Restaging of José Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane. The Izzie is the most prestigious Dance Award in the Bay Area and we are all very proud of this accomplishment! Read more here.
*MUSIC AND DANCE: PROFESSOR LAYNA CHIANAKAS PERFORMS
Conducted by David Ramadanoff, mezzo-soprano Layna Chianakas performed with the Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra. She sang Gustav Mahler’s haunting Songs of a Wayfarer as well as four songs from Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs. This marks her ninth appearance with Maestro Ramadanoff and his orchestras. Performances were March 15 at 7:30pm at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Menlo Park, and March 16 at 2:30pm at Los Altos United Methodist Church. Future performances for Prof. Chianakas include appearances with the San José Chamber Orchestra on April 6 and the Dayton Opera in the role of Amneris in Verdi’s Aida on May 2 and 4.
*LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: STATE DEPARTMENT
Faculty involved in a State Department grant in Linguistics and Language Development were recognized in a national press release about the department’s numerous international initiatives. Learn more.
*MUSIC AND DANCE: PROFESSOR AARON LINGTON
Professor Aaron Lington’s recent album, The Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Three was nominated in the 2014 East Coast Music Association’s award for Jazz Record of the Year.
*MUSIC AND DANCE: PROFESSOR JANIE SCOTT DIRECTS
Professor Janie Scott has just completed auditions and casting for her upcoming production of the musical Altar Boyz at Cabrillo Stage. She will be directing and choreographing the Off-Broadway hit for the regional Musical Theatre Company. Her cast will consist of equity and non-equity performers and opens in late June.
*MUSIC AND DANCE: FACULTY COMPOSER BRIAN BELET
Professor Brian Belet‘s “Midnight Bass Stroll” (composition for contrabass and interactive Kyma computer processing), published on the 60×60 Pacific Rim Mix 2012 compilation, received its premiere performance as part of the full set at Cal State Long Beach on February 20, 2014. Along with his wife, Marianne Bickett, Dr. Belet presented a workshop for K-12 teachers for the Arts in Your Classroom conference at Montalvo Arts Center on March 3. Their topic was integrating visual arts and music into the regular STEM curriculum, with a focus on second- and sixth-grade math standards. Also, his “System of Shadows” (composition for trumpet & flugelhorn and interactive Kyma computer processing) was performed by Stephen Ruppenthal at the Society of Composers, Inc. (Region VIII) Conference, at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA on March 7. More details are posted on Dr. Belet’s website.
*PHILOSOPHY: WELCOME BACK, PROFESSOR KOESTENBAUM
On February 11, 2014, Professor Emeritus Peter Koestenbaum returned to SJSU. He was a popular Humanities Honors and Philosophy professor during the 60s, 70s, and 80s and winner of the SJSU and CSU-wide Outstanding Professor award. Now in his mid-80s, he serves as Chairman of PiB and the Koestenbaum Institute, bringing leadership philosophy to business executives globally. Two colleges supported his presentation, a College of Humanities and Arts Signature Event and a Richard and Sandra Conniff Leaders in Business Ethics Lecture, which was titled: “You Have the Will to Lead? Humanities for Leadership Preparation.” Peter Hadreas (Philosophy) and Chris Jochim (Humanities) were awarded College of H&A Signature Event funds for the event. Koestenbaum’s lecture was well received, with attendance of 200, including many former students and others who follow Koestenbaum’s work.
*TV, RADIO, FILM, AND THEATRE: PROFESSOR BABAK SARAFAN
SJSU took home high honors at the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts in February 2014. Professor Babak Sarrafan won the Educational or Instructional Video Award of Excellence for “The Green Ninja Episode 4: Styrofoam Man.” Learn more about the Green Ninja project.
*WORLD LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES: FOREIGN LANGUAGE WEEK
Foreign Language Week, a national event, was a great success this year at SJSU thanks to the students, faculty, and staff in WLL. Events included the first annual Kazuki Fukuda-Abe Endowed Lecture Series in Contemporary Japanese Arts. See a full list of events attended by hundreds of our community members.
