The UCA Department of History’s reputation for scholarship has brought two recent James Madison Memorial Fellowship scholars to our graduate history program.
Charles Williams, 2009 UCA graduate, received the Madison Fellowship in 2011, and is currently completing his BA history degree.
Charles teaches history at Conway Junior High, where he and his students participate in the National History Day program.
UCA Professor Dr. Jim Shelton had his article “Li Zehou and Moritz Schlick on the Roots of Beauty” accepted for publication in the journal “Frontiers of Philosophy in China.”
UCA Professor Dr. Jacob M. Held has worked at the intersection of philosophy and popular culture for over a decade. His recent publications, including Dr. Seuss and Philosophy: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! (Rowman and Littlefield, 2011) and Roald Dahl and Philosophy: A Little Nonsense Now and Then (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014), were recently spotlighted in The Guardian.
In her article, “Terry Pratchett Rethought As A Philosopher In New Study” Alison Flood discusses the philosophical themes underlying the work of British Fantasy author Terry Pratchett. She also interviews Dr. Held and his co-editor Dr. James B. South about their newest book, Philosophy and Terry Pratchett (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
The book is a collection of solicited essays focusing on philosophical aspects of Pratchett’s Discworld series. Essays deal with existential themes, metaphysics, ethics, gender, distributive justice, and rights. Longtime fans of Pratchett, Held and South were excited to finally find a venue to explore the work of Terry Pratchett. The book is slated to be released Dec. 3rd but has already been labeled as the #1 New Release in Philosophy on Amamzon.com.
Held and South are hopeful that the book will reach a wide audience and encourage interest in both Pratchett’s work and philosophy in general.
UCA Philosophy professor Dr. Jesse Butler received a National Endowment for the Humanities Enduring Questions grant for the development of a new cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural course on the perennial human pursuit of self-knowledge.
Stemming from the enduring question “Who Am I?”, the course will explore diverse conceptions of self-knowledge and identity across ancient texts from Eastern and Western culture, classic and contemporary works in American literature, and cutting-edge developments in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience.
The course will be taught for the first time in the upcoming Spring 2015 semester as a PHIL 3395 “Topics” course and is open to all interested students regardless of major.
Dr. Butler’s article “Knowledge and NOW: What Is the Epistemic Standing of the Present Moment?” was published in the online Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective.
Graduates of the UCA Department of History social studies education program are excellent representatives of the strength of the BSE social studies degree at UCA and the quality of the graduates of that program. Even in a tight job market for teachers, most of our graduates find jobs their first year out of school at public and private institutions across the state. Some of them jump right back into graduate programs at UCA, working toward either a MA in history or a MSE in teaching or education administration.
The UCA Department of History’s reputation for scholarship has brought two recent James Madison Memorial Fellowship scholars to our graduate history program. Charles Williams, 2009 UCA graduate, received the Madison Fellowship in 2011, and is currently completing his BA history degree. Charles teaches history at Conway Junior High, where he and his students participate in the National History Day program.
Ty Hendricks, 2012 BSE social studies graduate, is a James Madison Fellow, working toward his MA history degree at UCA. Hendricks teaches at AHLF Junior High in Searcy, Arkansas, where he also engages his students in the National History Day program.
The 2014-15 cohort of eleven BSE social studies candidates are almost ready for their semester of student teaching. They have attended a profession teaching conference this fall, and are learning to network through membership in the Arkansas Council for the social Studies.
Their internship assignments include schools in Little Rock, Conway, Maumelle and Morrilton. Next year they will be entering the great adventure of the secondary classroom.
