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NEWS FROM CLASS | CLASS EVENT CALENDAR | CLASS IN THE MEDIA

News from CLASS

CLASS Event Calendar

November 6: Asian American Hip Hop Culture lecture by Oliver S. Wang
Oliver S. Wang maintains the research repository, “Unlimited Creations: Mobile Sounds, Sights and Sites,” which documents the history of Filipino American mobile DJ crews in the San Francisco Bay Area. He got his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and is an assistant professor of sociology at California State University – Long Beach. Dr. Wang’s talk at UH is sponsored by the Department of History as part of the El Paso Lecture Series and is free and open to the public. His lecture begins at 5 p.m. in Room 108 of the Moores School of Music Building. The closest parking is via Entrance 16 on Cullen or the Stadium Garage on Holman.

Nov. 16: Center for Mexican American Studies Scholarship Banquet with keynote speaker Eva Longoria
Actress, activist and philanthropist Eva Longoria completed her master’s degree in Chicana/Chicano Studies from California State University, Northridge earlier this year. The banquet will be from 7 – 9 p.m. at the UH Hilton Hotel. To purchase tables or individual tickets, contact Holly Laurenzana at 713-743-3139 or hlauren@central.uh.edu.

Nov. 15: Moores School of Music Jazz Orchestra featuring Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard is a Blue Note recording artist and a world renowned trumpeter, composer and band leader. The concert event will be held at the Moores Opera House and starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 for students and $12 general public. Call 713-743-3009 for more information.

Nov. 15 – 16: World premiere of Brick Wall by Vic Shuttee and directed by Robert Shimko
Written by Vic Shuttee, a junior in the Bachelor of Fine Arts playwriting program, Brick Wall revolves around the lives of three stand-up comedians in various stages of their careers. There will be 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday and 7 p.m. performances on Friday and Saturday. All performances in the Quintero Theatre in the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts building, Entrance 16 or 18.

November 18: Barbara Karkabi Living Archives Series: Women in Theater: A panel discussion.
Writer and Editor Nancy Wozny will moderate a panel discussion between Houston–area theatre professionals Tamarie Cooper, Eileen Morris, and Rebecca Udden. The event begins at 11:30 a.m. in the Rockwell Pavilion of the M.D. Anderson Library is free to students and members of the Friends of Women’s Studies and $10 for general public admission. RSVP to wgss@uh.edu.

November 20: How Things Really Work in Policy and Politics
A discussion about Texas state politics past and present with former lieutenant governor Bill Hobby and his chief of staff Saralee Tiede, as well as State Representative Garnet Coleman, former Governor Mark White, former state Senator and County Judge Jon Lindsay & former State Senator Don Adams. Hosted by the Hobby Center for Public Policy, the conversation will be from 5 – 6:30 p.m. in the UH Athletics & Alumni Center. RSVP: cpp@uh.edu or 713-743-3970.

Nov. 21 – 23: Napoleon and the Battle of Nations Symposium and Concert
The symposium commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Nations, the first decisive defeat of Napoleon and the French Army and a critical turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. The concert recreates historical performances of that era. Mercury – The Orchestra Redefined will perform on historically accurate period instruments with the Moores School of Music Concert Chorale. The symposium and concert preview are free. Concert tickets range from $25 ‐ $65. To purchase, call the Mercury box office at 713‐533‐0080, or buy online at mercuryhouston.org.

For more events, check the CLASS calendar.

CLASS Students in the Media

Research conducted by CLASS undergraduate students Christopher Rivera and Megan Truax is featured in the article, UH students help ‘un-edit’ the Iliad in the Houston Chronicle. The article details their role in The Homer Multitext, a project co-edited by Casey Dué Hackney, Director of CLASS’s Classical Studies program.

Moores School of Music senior Princeton Miles is featured in The Daily Cougar’s New artist spotlight: Princeton Miles. The business and music student recently released his first EP, “Hear Me.”

James Lee and Guillermo Lopez, Student Government Association Senators representing CLASS, recently introduced two separate bills aimed at reforming campus election protocol and SGA members’ dress codes. The bills were in response to election controversy during the February elections. Their efforts are detailed in The Daily Cougar article, Election controversies lead to reform.

According to BroadwayWorld.com, CLASS student Russell Haehl recently performed a brief Musiqa-commissioned composition by Adam Beard, a student composer from Moores School of Music. The event, detailed in Musiqa to Bring Brass Concerts to Market Square, Beg. 10/25, launches a 6-month process in which each month another student composer will be added to the program with a new brass premiere. Each time the number of instruments will increase until the final performance in March will be approximately 45 minutes long and include a total of 6 new compositions and 6 performers.

CLASS Faculty in the Media

Nancy Young, history department chair, authored an editorial for The Houston Chronicle titled History shows politics has room for moderates.

Modern & Classical Languages professor and Director of Italian Studies, Alessandro Carrera, is cited in the article, The world isn’t sure what to make of Ted Cruz: the ‘Man who blocked America’ in Foreign Policy.

KUHF's Houston Matters program featured assistant professor of political science Justin Kirkland and Christine LeVeaux Haley on a recent radio broadcast about how lawmakers serve their constituents in Texas. The discussion examined which type of legislator serves Texans better: a lawmaker who stands his ground, regardless of the consequences, or one who compromises in the face of them, giving up ground in the interest of stability.

Professor David Mikics penned a column for The Daily Dot titled, The rise of Wikipedia, the decline of student writing. He writes his thoughts about how the internet has affected scholarship, both positively and negatively.

James Conyers, director of African American Studies, participated in an event where he discussed a book he edited titled “Charles H. Houston: An Interdisciplinary Study of Civil Rights Leadership” according to the article Gregory School schedules book review and signing for Oct. 26 in the Houston Chronicle.

Timothy Hester, Associate Professor of Piano and Director of Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the Moores School of Music, was listed in the Houston Chronicle’s Weekend Must List for his performance on a fortepiano, an ancestor of the modern day piano.

CLASS department of Economics lecturer Ed Hirs made comments about the oil and gas industry in several media outlets:

Hirs gave commentary about the country’s deteriorating oil pipelines in SBS’s documentary, Oil Shock

He also commented in a New York Times article about transporting oil and gas, Unplugging Bottlenecks in Oil and Gas Deliveries.

The San Antonio Express News included Hirs’ comments about the price of gas in Falling gas prices in S.A. now below $3.

Blaffer Art Museum’s director, Claudia Schmuckli, is credited for organizing an exhibition by artist Tony Feher in the New York Daily News article, Bronx artist Tony Feher turns trash into art and in the New York Times article, Throwaways, Put Together Just So.

The Daily Cougar also highlighted Schmuckli and the Blaffer Art Museum in the article, Behind the canvases of Blaffer.

Blaffer was also mentioned in A giant Bigfoot, a mini laundromat and a crazy rooftop: A hipper Texas Contemporary Art Fair has it all in CultureMap Houston.
Lois Zamora, Chair of the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies, is credited in Indo American News for her role in arranging for a member of the Indian Parliament to visit Houston. The article, Distinguished Member of Parliament and Lawyer Ram Jethmalani Visits Houston, also mentions Anjali Kanojia, Assistant Director of India Studies, and Kim Howard, Director of Development.

The Houston Chronicle recently ran an article about Texas leading the nation in the number requested background checks for gun purchases. CLASS sociology lecturer Luis Salinas provided comments in the article, Texas leads in federal background checks for gun purchases.

Associate professor of political science, Brandon Rottinghaus, appeared in numerous media outlets last month:
He commented on the shelf-life of a conservative member of the Senate in the article, US government shutdown: Ted Cruz, a maverick who keeps his heartlands happy which appeared in The Guardian.

Rottinghaus was a commentator on the radio program Houston Matters, during which he discussed the 2014 Texas Gubernatorial election.

KUHF included comments by Rottinghaus in the story, Republican Party Reaches Out To Hispanics With New Initiative In Texas, Other States.

Rottinghaus discussed the Houston mayoral race in the Houston Chronicle’s articles, Parker, Hall trade criticisms in sole mayoral debate, Parker continues to outpace Hall in fundraising, and Hall may be pulling back on TV ads leading up to election.

Rottinghaus also was quoted about the Houston mayoral debate in an article on the KUHF website, Recap of the 2013 Houston Mayoral Debate.

KTRH featured comments by Rottinghaus in Many Unhappy With Where U.S. Is Going.
The Daily Cougar ran a feature article about Professor of Hispanic Studies Nicolas Kanellos titled, UH professor awarded for recovered literature. Kanellos is the director of Arte Publico Press and received the honor for his work to make American Latinos’ literature available to the world.

The CLASS School of Theatre and Dance’s production of The Beaux’ Stratagem was featured in the Houston Press article, Capsule Stage Reviews: The Beaux' Stratagem, La Traviata, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The production, directed by Associate Professor Adam Noble, received a positive review.

Tony Hoagland, Associate Professor of English, steps outside of his area of expertise and offers his comments on a new art exposition at The Menil Collection. The CultureMap article, Crazy talk: The Menil's new irreverent conversation series promises to be something wild explains the series of events.

BAD, an art and design pop-up store curated by the Blaffer Art Museum, is mentioned in the article, Third annual Texas Contemporary Arts Fair grows in galleries, collectors and enthusiasts in the Memorial Examiner.

CCTV ran a story about Chinese researchers who were banned from attending an upcoming planetary conference due to national security concerns. Jack J. Valenti School of Communication professor Lan Ni offered comments about the public relations ramifications of that decision in the story, NASA’s Chinese boffin ban sparks boycott.

Robert Zaretsky, Professor of French History, authored an article titled, Albert Camus on Algeria, for the Times Literary Supplement.

According to The Daily Cougar, The Honors College is introducing a new minor, Energy and Sustainability, which will include courses in political science, English, and history. History professor Joseph Pratt was quoted in the article, Minor energizes students of all disciplines.

CLASS professor emeritus of economics Barton Smith discusses the impact the government shut down could have on interest rates in the Houston Chronicle’s Real estate frenzy continues in Houston area.

“Women and Judaism” was the topic of event co-sponsored by Rice University and UH. In Woman driven to boost access to Jewish adult education, Debbie Harwell, Managing Editor of Houston History, discusses the interfaith, interracial teams of Northern middle- and upper-class women who traveled to Mississippi during the civil rights movement. The article appeared in The Houston Chronicle.

Professor of Political Science, Richard Murray, wrote a commentary for KTRK’s website titled Revisiting Houston mayoral race with 3 weeks to go.

Donald Foss, professor of psychology, details the hurdles that often prevent student retention in the Minneapolis Star Tribune article Professor Foss' cure for college dropouts.

CLASS Alums in the Media

Paulo Gomez
The Houston Chronicle featured Paulo Gomes, a 2012 Moores School of Music graduate who completed his doctorate in conducting. The article, Groups honor two with special performances, spotlights a benefit concert performed to help and encourage him as he battles brain cancer. Gomes is a founder of the choral group Houston Camerata.
   
Lotus Bermudez
The artwork of alumna Lotus Bermudez was highlighted in the Houston Chronicle article, Matter of life and death at art festival. Bermudez earned both her BFA and her MFA in the School of Art and works as an instructor in the school’s ceramics studio.
   
Nandita V. Berry
Case Keenum, an alumnus of the Department of Health and Human Performance and third-string quarterback for the Houston Texans, made his first career start as a quarterback in the National Football League in the Texans’ sixth game of the year. He completed 15 of 25 passes for 271 yards and a touchdown – and ended the Texans’ five-game-long “pick six” streak by not throwing an interception converted into a touchdown. The Texans lost the game to the Kansas City Chiefs 17 -16.