April News Update

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the April issue of CLASS, the college’s monthly update of news and events.

This newsletter and other CLASS communication initiatives highlight the ways a liberal arts education enables students to successfully work in the world.

Public skepticism about the value of liberal arts often arises from the lack of an obvious connection between the fields that our students study and job and career possibilities for someone with a liberal arts degree.

Most individuals accept that the study of liberal arts prepares students to appreciate art, literature, drama and music. But what many don’t realize is that the study of liberal arts also equips students to become tomorrow’s most effective information managers, purveyors of ideas and demystifiers of the ideologies born in and of the age of technology.

As scholars and teachers in the liberal arts, we educate students who will have the skills and orientation necessary to pose critical questions and the zeal to pursue creative solutions. The liberal arts provide our students with the power to become independent thinkers and develop intellectual habits that will make them lifelong learners. But that is the traditional argument for liberal arts.

We in CLASS also emphasize how their educations enable our students to negotiate a future in which ever-changing technologies, advanced scientific understandings, unprecedented globalizing forces, as well as environmental change and social reorientation, are the norm.

Our students graduate from CLASS with a strong sense of what constitutes the best in humanity: empathy with diverse others, passion to serve just causes, acumen to discern between the worthwhile and the ephemeral, concern for social justice in a world of escalating inequalities, and the courage to promote tolerance, compassion and understanding in the world.

TOP STORY

Concert Chorale going to France

The Moores School of Music caps off an academic year studded with successes –including the production of its first 3D opera and Grammy nods to two faculty members – with another major recognition.

The award-winning Concert Chorale has been selected to represent the United States at the Floriège Vocal de Tours vocal competition in France.

Under the direction of Betsy Cook Weber, the chorale is among nine international choirs selected for this exclusive festival, which is part of the Grand Prix of chorale competition. This year’s festival event runs May 27 - 29 in Tours, France.

In 2009, the Moores Concert Chorale took top honors in the chamber choir division at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales. That performance helped to enhance the group's international reputation. Read more.

Related links:

• Florilege de Tours International Choral Song Competition
• Choir of the World – UH Concert Chorale – Llangollen 2009 video
• High Notes from Across the Pond blog about the Chorale’s Wales trip

HIGHLIGHTS & HEADLINES

	Houston gets preview of art historian's book on abstract expressionist Lee Krasner School of Art
	All you need to know about Oil in Houston Center for Public History
	Student Spotlight: Carlos Valenzuela Jack J. Valenti School of Communication
	Alum Spotlight: Erin Toolan Departments of Political Science and Modern and Classical Languages
	Daniel Catán Project brings composer's work to CLASS every two years Moores School of Music

RESEARCH & COLLABORATION

	WorkingShop Exhibit: Third Ward’s history embodied in school building on Elgin Street School of Art
	Newsroom becomes classroom for journalism students Jack J. Valenti School of Communication
	Between the Lines of dance and music Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
	Alum Spotlight: Melissa Scott-Pandorf Department of Health and Human Performance

EXPERTS & COMMENTATORS

	Distinguished professor continues to accumulate awards and teach students School of Theatre & Dance
	Poetry That Will Get You Through a Hard Time Department of English
	In 'Pym,' A Comic Glimpse Into Poe's Racial Politics Department of English

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