CAL Currents : The Newsletter of the College of Arts and Letters
Vol 3 | Issue 3 | April 2020
A Message from the Dean
Well, this semester didn't turn out like any of us imagined. Undoubtedly the COVID-19 crisis has significantly disrupted our semester - and our lives. I think in the College of Arts and Letters the shift to remote learning and teaching was especially profound - we lost so many recitals, screenings, performances, lectures and gatherings that are at the heart of what we do in the college. Of course, creativity and the ability to engage productively with emerging technologies is also in our collective skillset.

In this issue of CAL Currents, you'll read about just some of the many truly inventive ways that faculty engaged with students online, the way our students continued to demonstrate their ability to collaborate and create even while physically isolated, and how we reminded ourselves and our friends that the arts and humanities are anything but marginal - they really do matter and they really do make our lives that much better (and the next time anyone tells you the arts are not practical, please refer them to the face masks produced in art studios on campus for Tampa Bay first responders).

I look forward to being back on campus and in community with the talented students, staff and faculty that make the College of Arts and Letters so special and I equally look forward to celebrating the CAL Class of 2020 in the weeks ahead. Stay safe and stay passionate.
David Gudelunas, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
CAL Responds to the COVID-19 Crisis
The Arts really do make a difference!
The Fab Lab creates masks and the Art and Design Department makes personal protective equipment available for first responders
Dr. Emma Quintana, coordinator of UT’s Fab Lab and a faculty member in the Department of Art and Design used the high tech equipment in UT's Digital Fabrication Lab to manufacture protective face shields for healthcare workers on the frontlines throughout Tampa Bay. To assist in her effort, several donors helped financially including Citi and a member of the College of Arts and Letters Advisory Board.


The rapid pivot of the Fab Lab from a space where Art and Design students have classes and create innovative projects to a manufacturing facility for essential healthcare items was widely covered by WTSP/ CBS, Florida Politics and the Tampa Bay Business Journal among other media outlets.


Prof. Michael Ingold, CAL Studio Safety Coordinator also coordinated the donation of unused masks that were used in some other Art and Design studios on campus for immediate healthcare needs. The effort was spearheaded by Dean Paul Greenwood, CNHS.
Broadcast Journalism students produce informative media packages about the impact of COVID-19
Students studying with Dr. Christopher Boulton, Department of Communication, produced informative media stories as part of the UT-TV Practicum course about how the COVID-19 crises was affecting University of Tampa students both close to and far from campus. Both of these clips were completed and submitted after UT transitioned to remote instruction.

In the first clip, UTTV Reporter Spencer Posse investigates what Tampa residents are doing during the COVID-19 pandemic . The second looks at how students at home across the country were adapting to safer-at-home requirements.
The Show Goes On(line) for Theatre Students and Audiences
Students slated to take to the Falk Theatre stage for the Spring production of "The Learned Ladies" had their costumes and blocking ready when the COVID-19 crises forced classes to move to remote instruction. Being creative and resourceful theatre majors, however, the show still went on as scheduled opening night - only online. Director Dr. Bob Gonzalez and CAL Technical Theatre Coordinator Alex Amyot, Department of Theatre and Dance, moved the show from the Falk to computer screens across the globe.
Student and Faculty Achievements Celebrated Remotely
The Annual College of Arts and Letters Student Awards Ceremony and the CAL Faculty Awards presentation were dislocated from campus to various kitchens and living rooms, but thanks to post-production help from CAL Media Production Coordinator Warren Cockerham and Film, Animation and New Media majors Brett Weiner and Quinn Agnew, the College was still able to gather virtually to celebrate the best among the best. Watch for a special cameo from UT Trustee and CAL Advisory Chair Charlene Gordon presenting her annual awards at the CAL Student Awards ceremony (above).

Below you can see the presentation of the 2019-2020 faculty awards to the following outstanding faculty:
Outstanding Faculty Achievement in Scholarship or Creative Work: Dr. Kacy Tillman
Outstanding Faculty Achievement in Service: Prof. Corey George  
Outstanding Faculty Achievement in Teaching: Dr. Chris Gurrie
Outstanding Faculty Achievement in Mentorship: Prof. Aaron Walker
Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Member: Prof. Tara Swartzbaugh
"Writers at the University" Brings Distinguished Authors to the (virtual) Campus
Chelsea Catherine (UT MFA '15), winner of the Mary C. Mohr Award from Southern Indiana Review and author of the Quill Press Award winning forthcoming book "Summer of the Cicadas" and Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn, an editor of The Rumpus and author of "A Fish with Lungs" read from their respective works and participated with engaged students as part of the annual Writers at the University.

The event is presented by Prof. Shane Hinton and the Department of English and Writing.
Photography Students Document the Pandemic
Photography students in Prof. Jaime Aelavanthara's Digital Photography and Experimental Photography participated amongst hundreds of photographers worldwide in the Lenscratch “Self Quarantine” exhibition, making photographs to respond to COVID-19 during the transition to online classes. See their work compiled here , and the full exhibit on Lenscratch .
Finding Success with Remote Instruction
CAL students and faculty use technology and creativity to ensure that quality UT instruction continues remotely.
Andrew Hauser, postproduction supervisor at Netflix, visited with students in the Film, Animation and New Media Department as part of Prof. Aaron Walker's class. Hauser has worked on a great number of films including "Brittany Runs a Marathon" and "The Miseducation of Cameron Post," winner of the Sundance 2018 Grand Jury Prize. Future filmmakers were able to ask questions and hear from Hauser's vast experiences in the industry.
Dr. Alyssia Miller, Professor of Instruction in Languages and Linguistics, designed an Escape Room online. The project was  La Casa de Papel  themed (a Netflix series in Spanish), so the objective is to rob the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre and escape with the money. Students have to complete a series of tasks to successfully break into the Fábrica, steal the money, and escape. It has the added difficulty of being completely in Spanish. It requires both critical and creative thinking and taps into many different areas of study like art, geography, history, math, and Spanish culture.
Prof. Chris Valle, Chair of the Department of Art and Design, wasn't sure he could teach painting online after the semester transitioned to remote instruction for the second half of the semester. Using new technologies to teach classic techniques has worked out, however, and students have continued to receive critiques and feedback of their projects online.
Jenna Laine, on-air reporter at ESPN, virtually visited part-time faculty member Prof. Chris Giandola's communication course to discuss her experiences in the sports journalism field.
Dr. Vanessa Rukholm, Associate Professor of Languages and Linguistics, used the Talk Abroad online platform so her students of Italian could speak with native Italian speakers in Italy in real time. Many of the conversations focused on the impacts of corona virus in Italy and the United States.
Prof. Tim Arnold , Part-time Professor of Public Relations , in concert with the Evoke agency, engaged one of their clients – the American Cancer Society – and five class partnerships presented full PR campaigns to promote Minority Cancer Awareness Month for Tampa Bay. 
Justin Long Directed Film Shoots on Campus with Student Help on Both Sides of Camera
The film brought stars Justin Long along with Ryan Phillippe, Judy Greer, Patrick Duffy, Luis Guzman and Melanie Lynskey to campus.
Prior to the campus closing this semester, students from the Film, Animation and New Media and Communication Departments had the experience of working on a Hollywood set...on campus. Students studying film and media worked in many capacities behind the scenes from production assistants to art assistants under the watchful eye of Prof. Aaron Walker, Associate Professor FMX, who coordinated the production on campus.

Fletcher Lounge transformed into a dining room and the Registrar's Office served as a hall of records. Students from across the College of Arts and Letters took advantage of having Hollywood right on their doorstep. Students from the Department of Theatre and Dance got to be on set as extras and had plenty of opportunity to interact with the A-list talent on campus.

Tyler Martinolich ’05, executive director of the Tampa Hillsborough Film and Digital Media Commission, and a part-time professor at UT, helped bring the production to campus and arranged numerous internships for UT students that took place throughout Tampa Bay this Winter.
CAL Faculty and Student Excellence
CAL faculty and students are productive scholars and creative leaders. This is just a small sampling of their recent achievements (many pre-pandemic!).
Students from the Department of Music won several top prizes at the 2020 Tampa Bay National Association of Teachers of Singing competition in February. They attended the competition with Dr. Hein Jung, Associate Professor of Music and Vocal Director.

Below are the winners (and pictured above with Dr. Jung).

Katherine Knippel -First Place in Third Year College Classical Division
Kelly Collins -Second Place in Third Year College Classical Division
Nina Venucci -Third Place in Third Year College Classical Division

(UT swept the Third Year College Classical Division!)

Alexis Ault -Second Place in First Year College Classical Division
Brilea Harre -Third Place in First Year College Classical Division
 




Dr. Kacy Tillman, Associate Professor of English and Writing and co-director of the Honors Program, is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Research grant to support her work on black loyalists. Her research will take her to London to explore archives and writings.








Students in Prof. Warren Cockerham's Film Animation and New Media cinematography course shot the latest music video from Chicago based indie rock band Fran. You can see the final product, produced entirely by students as part of Prof. Cockerham's class, here.
A group of 14 students studying in the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Department of Music who form the TampaTones won big at the International Competition of Collegiate Acapella in February. The TampaTones won first place to become the Southern Quarterfinal Champions, placing them among the top 50 acapella groups in the nation.

The group was founded by junior Musical Theatre major Robert Debellis who wrote and arranged the music for the winning set. The group also won best choreography ( Emily Shurr) and best lead vocalists Robert DeBellis and Sarah Joyce.

The group is student run and you can see their winning performance here.
Senior Art Major Nneka Jones recieved the Roddy Brownlee Reed Award of Artistic Excellence for “Shooting Range Target" at the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

Nneka won the third biggest prize of the festival competing with over 900 established artists. 



Dr. Amanda Firestone, Department of Communication, was cited as an expert in fan fiction in Forbes magazine recently.

Tampa Mayor and UT Alumna Jane Castor was in attendance at a special event organized by two art loving professional women of Tampa, Jacqueline R. A. Root and Stacy Yates '02. They partnered with Scarfone/Hartley Gallery Director Prof. Jocelyn Boigenzahn to craft a special event for a small group of Tampa women professionals at the gallery for a first of its kind “Art Lovin’ Ladies Event.” The women explored the Meridian Scholar and Friends of the Gallery patron print collection vaults and purchased some of these treasures for their art collections to support future gallery programming.



Spanish major Lauren Wilenski, presented her research on language acquisition, conducted under the guidance of Dr. Andrew DeMil, Associate Professor of Languages and Linguistics, at the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference.
Junior Graphic Design major Brooke Rogers participated as part of a team of students that won first place in a statewide advertising and marketing competition. The Mobilize Student Ad Competition gives students just 48 hours to design a campaign for a non-profit organization.
Graduation Traditions with New Technologies
Ceremonies and Rites of Passages Move Online for CAL Seniors
Commencement Set for May 9th
The College of Arts and Letters will have its own virtual commencement on May 9 at 11 AM. You can find out more information here. Students graduating this May will also be able to walk in-person at the December 2020 commencement. You can see a list of graduates from the College of Arts and Letters here.
Departmental Send-Offs
Several academic departments around the College of Arts and Letters are planning their own special events at the end of the semester to honor graduates - safely from home.

The Department of Communication is having a special ceremony with three different student speakers and the Department of Art and Design will host its annual BFA in Art show and its BFA in Graphic Design shows online - showcasing the best student works.

The Department of Music is busy creating one final virtual performance by mixing together recordings completed by students remotely and the Film, Animation and New Media Department will be holding their annual BFA shows online as well for graduating seniors, their families and friends.

The Department of Theatre and Dance will be posting final student performance pieces online and many other departments are planning special send-offs for their majors.