Raymond-Jean Frontain
Raymond-Jean Frontain, professor of English, delivered the John Donne Society presidential address at the organization’s annual meeting in Baton Rouge, LA. His address, titled “Donne, Salvation, and the Biblical Basis of Poetic Action,” is forthcoming in the John Donne Journal. In March, he presented a paper titled “Since that I may know: Donne, the Biblical Action of yada” at the international Renaissance Society meeting in Montreal; a revised version of that paper is also forthcoming in the John Donne Journal. In May, Frontain was an invited speaker at the Ohio State University symposium on The King James Bible and Its Cultural Aftermath. His paper, titled “Passing the Love of Women: Anglo-American Sexual Codes and the King James Translation,” is forthcoming in The King James Bible, Across Centuries, Across Borders, ed. Angelica Duran (Purdue University Press). In August he read a paper titled “Emily Dickinson and the Delay of Ecstasy” at an international symposium on Poetic Closure at the sponsored by the University of Tuebingen. Frontain delivered an address titled “Maybe Now the Parade: The Exigencies of Sexual Survival in Something Cloudy, Something Clear” at the Tennessee Williams Centennial Celebration at the playwright’s birthplace in Columbus, Ms., in September. And in October he delivered the Cash Endowed Lecture in Literature and Culture, titled “Biblical David and the Homoerotic Ekphrastic Tradition,” at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La.
Among Frontain’s recent publications (all in 2011) are A Talent for the Particular: Critical Essays on R. K. Narayan (coedited with an introduction, Delhi and Kolkata); “Marianne Moore, the Psalmist David, and the Moral Basis of Poetry” in Philological Review; “Ginsberg, India and the Holiness of Dirt” in East-West Connections; “Donne, Tagore, and Love’s Passing Moment” in Papers on Language and Literature; “Mutual Admiration: Sondheim and Playwright Terrence McNally” in Sondheim Review; “The Irreverence of the Comparison: Narayan’s Rewriting of Sacred Narrative in The Man-eater of Malgudi” in Journal of the Southwest Conference on Asian Studies; “Supper, Song, and Salvation: Terrence McNally’s Nights at the Opera” in CEA Critic ; “Protesting Normalcy: Norman Podhoretz, A. L. Rowse, and the Conservative Refashioning of Homosexual Friendships” in Intertexts; and “Allow, Accept, Be: Terrence McNally’s Engagement with Hindu Spirituality” in Comparative Drama.
Faculty Present Research at ASAA Conference
Five UCA sociology faculty presented papers at the 41st Annual Arkansas Sociological and Anthropological Association Con-ference at Heifer Ranch in Perryville on November 11, 2011. Dr. Lynne Rich, assistant professor of sociology, presented “The Correlates of Marital Well-Being in South Korea and Taiwan.” Dr. Alison Hall, lecturer I of anthropology, presented “Provisioning the Collective Good in the Italian Countryside.” Dr. Brian Campbell, assistant professor of anthropology, presented “Ozark Bioregionalism: Growing an Oak (OACC).” Dr. Gordon Shepherd, professor of sociology, presented “Does an Honors College Education Affect Students’ Civic Tolerance?”. Husband and wife presentation team, Dr. Edward Powers, associate professor of sociology, and Kathy A. Powers, 2011 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, presented “Blaming the Teacher: Teachers as Victims in the Struggle over Public Education.”
The Arkansas Sociological and Anthropological Association is one of the oldest state sociological/anthropological associations in the United States. Three UCA sociology faculty members currently hold association executive positions: Dr. Doug George is the president, Dr. Brian Campbell is vice-president, and Dr. Lynne Rich is the secretary. Many ASAA documents may be accessed through the UCA Archives located on the first floor of Torreyson Library.
“The Natural State of America” Makes Louisiana Premiere at the 7th Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival
Brian campbell
“The Natural State of America,” a film directed by UCA alumni, made its Louisiana Premiere at the 7th Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival on Jan. 26. Brian Campbell, assistant professor of anthropology, wrote and produced the film. The film highlights a four decade effort to prevent herbicide use in the Arkansas Ozarks. It follows residents that are concerned about the protection of the region’s organic farms, wells, springs and the Buffalo River from being contaminated by herbicides.
The film was a part of the 2011 Little Rock Film Festival and won the Society for Applied Anthropology’s 2011 film competition. The film has been featured in five film festivals with Cinema on the Bayou being the sixth. The film won the festival award for best film at the 2012 Society for Applied Anthropology Film Festival in Seattle, Wash. For more information on the film, visit www.naturalstateofamerica.com.
Denton Named Outstanding Sociology Intern
Alexandra Denton, senior sociology major, received The Dr. Carl Redden Outstanding Sociology Intern Award for Fall 2011. Denton was selected for her outstanding and energetic performance of her duties with the Faulkner County Juvenile Drug Court program.
Going above and beyond her assigned duties, she created a library of more than 10,000 pieces of re-source materials for juvenile offenders. The materials covered topics that included LGBTQP issues, eating disorders, suicide, depression, domestic violence, self harm, smoking cessation, male and female body image, sexual education and STD awareness. She also collected resource information for parental use and drug education /paraphernalia information for other interns and volunteer probation officers to refer to in their casework.
Denton graduated in December with a bachelor of arts in sociology with a criminology concentration and a minor in addiction studies.
Schwader Named Outstanding Sociology Student
Cathrine Schwader received the Fall 2011 Katherine Hinson Outstanding Sociology Student Award. She was chosen for her outstanding academic record and her work with the UCA Sociology Club. Ms. Schwader will graduate in May 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and double minor in anthropology and interdisciplinary studies from the UCA Honors College. After graduation she would like to attend graduate school at the Clinton School or Arizona State University to pursue a degree in non-profit management.