Bryan Massey Sr. ,professor in the Art Department, has been commissioned by the University of Arkansas Public Art Oversight Committee to create a monument to honor Silas Hunt, the first black student to attend a major Southern public university when he was admitted to the University Of Arkansas School Of Law in 1948. Also, one of Massey’s African masks will be presented to Charles L. Blockson, author of over 10 books and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Underground Railroad. The mask will be presented to Blockson by actor and comedian Bill Cosby during a ceremony to be held at Temple University on May 5.
Stephanie Vanderslice, associate professor in the Department of Writing, has published two essays, “Grasping Ariadne’s Thread: Wendy Bishop and the Call of Stories,” in Composing Ourselves as Writer-Teacher-Writers, edited by Patrick Bizzaro and published by Hampton Press, and “The Library: It’s a Family Thing,” in the anthology Flashlight Memories published by SilverBoomer Books.
Garry Craig Powell, assistant professor in the Department of Writing, has had his short story “Titanic 2” accepted for publication by Kestrel. 
Tim Thornes, assistant professor of linguistics in the Department of Writing, has been awarded a six-month fellowship from the National Endowment of the Humanities to conduct work on a comprehensive grammatical description of the Northern Paiute language. The work involves intensive collaboration and oversight by language speakers, teachers, and activists from several indigenous communities where Northern Paiute is the heritage language. Currently, only around300 native speakers remain, and the goal of the grammar is to serve the needs of multiple audiences—community members and scholars alike.
David Bailin, instructor in the Department of Art, has an exhibition in the 2011 Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Legacy Art Exhibition scheduled for April 29- July 4 . His artwork was on the display in the 2011 Group Show, Museum School Faculty Exhibition: Past and Present, January-February at The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock and the 2011 Group Show, Previews of Things to Come, held December through February 2011 at the Prographica Gallery, Seattle.
Mark Spitzer, assistant professor of writing, recently had his Jean Genet translations “Rediscovered Poems” accepted for publication in the literary journal Gargoyle. Spitzer’s Celine translation “Secrets of the Isles” was solicited for republication in the literary journal Script. Spitzer had a featured book-signing for his memoir Writer in Residence (UNO Press) at the AWP Conference in Washington D.C.
John Vanderslice, associate professor of writing, presented a paper on “The Group Novel as Pedagogic Tool” at the recent AWP Conference in Washington DC.Dr. Paige Rose and Dr. Ryan Fisher, assistant professors of music education, recently presented their research poster, “Effects of Age, Experience, and Instruction on Elementary Music Teacher Movement Self-Efficacy: A Pilot Study,” at the Texas Music Educators Association annual conference in San Antonio, one of the largest music education conferences in the world.
Dr. Fisher also presented an interest session, “Implementing a SMART Choral Rehearsal: Enhancing Instruction Using SMART Technologies,” at the Arkansas All-State Music Conference in Hot Springs, as well as the American Choral Directors Association national conference in Chicago. His book review of Getting Started with Middle School Chorus, (2nd Ed.) by Patrick Freer, was also recently published in Music Educators Journal, music education’s most popular practitioner journal.
Dr. Rose hosted a series of workshops at the Arkansas All-State Convention, entitled “IMPROVing: Successful and Sequential Improvisation that Develops the Musician at Every Level.” She presented the opening session of the workshop, while Dr. Fisher presented another session in the workshop series, entitled, “Incorporating Improvisation into the Choral Rehearsal.”
Dr. Rose was recently elected as president-elect of the Arkansas Music Educators Association. She was also a spring recipient of the Faculty Development Grant at UCA. Both Fisher and Rose have also been serving as consultants for the Conway Public Schools, assisting the music specialists of the district in writing curriculum for K-12 music students.
UCA Theatre Major Wins Regional Competition
Tyler Gunther, a junior UCA Theatre major, was awarded first place in the Non-Realized Class Projects at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), Region VI festival held at Amarillo College in Amarillo, Texas.
This category included costume, lighting, and scenery designs from students within the Region VI area, which includes colleges and universities from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, and New Mexico. Students are encouraged to submit classroom work in these areas and have their work responded to by outside respondents.
Tyler, of Conway, submitted costume design projects from his work in Costume Design class for the Greek plays Medea and Lysistrata. The designs were fully illustrated renderings of various characters from the plays. His mentor during the process was Associate Professor of Theatre, Shauna C. Meador.
Tyler has been hired to work at the Texas Shakespeare Festival in Kilgore, Texas this summer. She plans to obtain an MFA in costume design upon graduation from UCA. This marks the second year in a row that a UCA Theatre design student has won the costume design competition. Last year, the first time this category was offered at the festival, Maho Nashida, a UCA Theatre alumnus, won the costume design category for her classroom work, also for Medea.