Volume 14 | December 19, 2019

COLLEGE HONORS FALL 2019 GRADUATES On Dec. 13, the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences celebrated the achievements of its graduating students. Of the 815 students eligible to graduate, a record 143 did so with distinction, special merit or a 4.0 GPA. The College appreciates the enthusiasm of all who attended our convocation event at Lloyd Noble Center to joyfully acknowledge the work of our students. We also appreciate the time and efforts of our faculty and staff who were dedicated to creating a monumental event.     To view photos from the event, click here to visit the college Facebook page. The College congratulates our December 2019 graduates on reaching this milestone in their lives.

LEANNE HO AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS RHODES SCHOLARSHIP Leanne K.M. Ho (pronouns: they/them/theirs), a senior English literary and cultural studies major at the University of Oklahoma, has been named a 2020 Rhodes Scholar . They are OU’s 30th Rhodes Scholar. Ho’s academic research focuses on the impact of storytelling on social distancing from LGBTQ people. Ho is a campus leader in incorporating transgender, intersex and non-binary people into conversations about reproductive health and has advocated for increased resources and opportunities for transgender and gender non-conforming students. Ho led a successful effort to address gendered campus awards at OU and was recently named the first-ever Big Non-Binary Person on Campus. Rhodes Scholars are given a scholarship to Oxford University in England. At Oxford, Ho will pursue graduate degrees in medical anthropology and evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AND SERVICE AWARD WINNERS TO BE HONORED For their contributions on the local, state, national and international levels, W. Clark Gilpin, Holland Ford and Diane Willis will be recognized as the 2020 Distinguished Alumni of the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences. Clifford and Leslie Hudson will be recognized with the Distinguished Service Award for their leadership and generosity in support of areas that reflect the values of the College. In addition, Daniel Pae will be honored as the 2020 Young Alumni Award recipient for his exemplary leadership, service and character.   Distinguished alumni award recipients will present public lectures on Thursday, March 5, 2020. Awards will be presented to all recipients at the Kaleidoscope Evening event on Friday, March 6. Information about the events will be released at a later date.   For complete information on our award winners  click here   and for ticket information for Kaleidoscope Evening  click here .

W. Clark Gilpin

Holland Ford

Diane Willis

Daniel Pae

Clifford and Leslie Hudson

COLLEGE SPOTLIGHT

OU PROFESSOR MAKES STRIDES IN IRON DEFICIENCY RESEARCH Michael Wenger , an experimental and mathematical psychologist at the University of Oklahoma, began working in neuroscience 15 years ago. He was studying the basic aspects of visual perception and memory at Pennsylvania State University when a colleague approached him with a proposal.  In August of 2010 Wenger joined OU, where he was awarded a grant to study behavior and brain measurements, as well as metabolic measurements. Today, Wenger’s research continues, and recently two undergraduate students who have been assisting him were able to attend the 2019 Neuroscience Conference in Chicago. While there, Ayesha Sajid and Trace Lawson had the opportunity to network with other people in their field and present their research in poster form.    Currently, Wenger and his team are focused on multiple projects, including research on iron deficiency tests in the eye and two projects with the OU Health Sciences Center – the first of which examines the role of iron deficiency in smoking cessation, and the other which explores the hypotheses that accumulation of iron on the brain is one of the bases for neurodegenerative disease.  CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY ON MICHAEL WENGER'S RESEARCH

Michael Wenger Ayesha Sajid

GETTING TO KNOW SCOTT JOHNSON Scott Johnson , associate professor of classics and letters, is a historian of late antique literature and culture. He recently discussed his career and research in the following q and a: Why did you choose your field?  “I wish I could say my parents took me to the Pyramids in Egypt or the Acropolis in Greece and I decided then and there I would be a Classicist, but that didn’t happen. It was much simpler. I was an eager Latin student in high school and then my senior year I started taking Greek. From there I decided that I wanted to go on and do a full classics degree in college. It was sort of a natural progression; I became very interested in the ancient world and classical languages. I was hooked, like many of our Latin students, from a young age. I attended Vanderbilt University and I had great professors there and, leaning on their guidance, I was able to work out some more specific interests. My specialty is late classics, including the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the church. I went straight from Vanderbilt to Oxford, a romantic student experience if there ever was one. Oxford still today is a world center for Late Antiquity and Byzantium.” What are your research interests?  “ One of the great things about OU’s classics and letters degree is that it allows for a little bit more breadth in my area of study. Late Antiquity is on the border of classics both chronologically and geographically. Chronologically I work on a period around 200 to 800 A.D., and geographically I work mostly on the Eastern Mediterranean and, increasingly, the ancient Middle East." What have been some of your favorite memories at OU?  “ This is my fifth year at OU, and last year I was very fortunate to be awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. The congratulations from the University has been really heartwarming. It reinforced what I already knew -- that OU is a university that champions excellence in research and teaching. That challenge makes us all work harder." TO READ THE FULL Q AND A WITH SCOTT JOHNSON CLICK HERE

FACULTY AND STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

COLLEGE FACULTY AWARD WINNERS NAMED Each year, the College of Arts and Sciences honors faculty who show commitment, skill, effectiveness, impact and leadership in teaching and scholarship. Several award winners for this year have been named:

RYAN BISEL Professor, Organizational Communication Kinney-Sugg Outstanding Professor Award Established by Sandy Kinney and Mike Sugg, this award is given to an outstanding faculty member who is a model teacher and an outstanding scholar. Bisel teaches a number of courses to undergraduates and graduates, including Business and Professional Communication, Small Group Communication, Organizational Communication for Leaders and Advanced Qualitative Methods in Communication. In his 2018 book, Organizational Moral Learning: A Communication Approach , he developed his own original theory and extended his own original concept on the subject of why people are reluctant to speak up when they observe unethical behaviors. Bisel has also provided outstanding service to the department, the university, the discipline and the community. Indicative of his interest in teaching and service, he worked with the math department to develop a program to help students with low self-efficacy to develop a mindset that they can achieve in their courses.

LARA MAYEUX Associate Professor, Social and Developmental Psychology Longmire Prize for Teaching This prize is supported through an estate gift from William and Jane Longmire and is given to a faculty member who holds the rank of assistant professor or higher and exhibits a scholarly and thoughtful approach to innovative thinking. Mayeux has been an outstanding member of our college since 2004. Her contributions in the classroom are impressive, given that she teaches a large undergraduate class, smaller capstone classes and a variety of graduate-level classes, and she has consistently earned high overall effectiveness ratings on course evaluations. Mayeux has done a tremendous job developing an online version of Life Span Development, which has been key to keeping up with the enormous demand for the course. Her primary research focus is on the development of peer relationships and friendships in childhood and adolescence. She has published countless publications, co-authored a book and received more than $300,000 in research funding.

APARNA NAIR Assistant Professor, History of Science John H. and Jane M. Patten Teaching Award Established by John and Jane Patten, this award is given to a faculty member in the humanities or social sciences who has made an outstanding contribution as a classroom instructor. Nair joined the OU faculty in 2015 as an assistant professor in the History of Science Department. She holds a joint appointment in the history department, where she teaches History of Indigenous and Non-Western Medicine and the History of India. Her research interests focus on History of Health and Disease, Disability Studies, Disability History, Colonial Science and Medicine, War and Disability, and Disability and Education. She has transformed the History of Science Department’s course offerings in a short period of time. Since coming to OU, she has created the following courses: Health, Medicine, and Society (HMS 1113); Race and Science (HSCI 3253); History of Public Health (HSCI 3263); Indigenous and Non-Western Medicine (HSCI 3273); Introduction to Disability Studies (HSCI 3283); History of South Asia (HIST 2723); and History of India (HIST 4563). Every one of these has been brand-new to OU, bringing a new level of diversity to offerings at the university, and every one has been a great success, as gauged by enrollments, student evaluations and peer evaluations by faculty. Nair also created and offers a workshop on “Unlearning Ableism,” which is part of the four-workshop “Unlearning” series. The original workshop was developed by Nair in conjunction with staff from the Oklahoma Developmental Disability Council, though Nair is now solely responsible for that workshop, which she offers multiple times each semester.

CYRUS SCHLEIFER Assistant Professor, Sociology Irene Rothbaum Award Established by Julian Rothbaum in his wife’s memory, this award a nnually recognizes an outstanding teacher and researcher in the College of Arts and Sciences at the assistant professor level. Schleifer's research and teaching interests include sociology of religion, quantitative methods, longitudinal statistics and occupational inequality. Currently, his research focuses on gender inequality in religious institutions, the clergy labor market, religion and higher education, and religion and family. His Introduction to Sociology course fulfills a general education requirement, and Social Statistics is a core course for the undergraduate sociology degree. On the graduate level, he teaches the Categorical, Panel, and Advanced Statistics Analysis course, which is the highest level statistics course offered in the department. Before he arrived, this graduate course did not exist, and students stopped their formal statistical training short. In his time at OU, he has published nearly double the number of peer-reviewed journal articles needed for tenure on the subjects of religion, sexuality, criminology and labor market marginalization. Of his articles published in 2019, one appears in the American Sociological Review , the top journal in sociology, and his other work is placed in high-impact specialty journals. Adding to this, he co-founded the Sociology AdQuant workshop series and has mentored graduate students in creating the Dialogue of Contemporary Sociology group.

MISHA KLEIN HONORED WITH OKLAHOMA UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD Misha Klein , associate professor of anthropology and Women's and Gender Studies core affiliate faculty member , was awarded the 2019 Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Award by the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance at the State Capitol on Dec. 7 . The College is incredibly proud of Klein’s achievement, and for her work in social justice to be recognized.    The Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance carries on the tradition of the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission. Klein was recognized for her efforts supporting human rights in Oklahoma. Since 2013, Klein has been the chair of the Clyde Snow Social Justice Award Committee at the Center for Social Justice at OU. This award honors the legacy of Dr. Clyde Snow’s human rights work and supports the efforts of human rights activists around the world. As chair, Klein has overseen the nomination and selection process for the award, and coordinated and hosted the visits of the awardees, who so far have come from Chile, Bosnia and Myanmar. While in Oklahoma, awardees meet with students, give public presentations about their work and receive the award at a banquet in their honor. This year, Klein spearheaded a new lecture series, bringing the director of UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center to give the inaugural Clyde Snow Memorial Lecture. The committee is now working with local social justice and human rights groups to extend these efforts beyond the OU campus and include the larger Oklahoma community. Alongside Klein’s work as chair, through her research and her active role in the Center for Social Justice, which is an initiative of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, she is increasingly called upon to speak at events related to human rights and social justice in Oklahoma.

JILL HICKS-KEETON HONORED FOR THEOLOGICAL PROMISE Jill Hicks-Keeton , assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies, has been honored by the Forschungszentrum Internationale und Interdisziplinaere Theologie at the University of Heidelberg , Germany, as a winner of the 2020 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise . The award recognizes her contribution with the publication of her first book,  Arguing with Aseneth . The award ceremony will take place May 15 in the “Alte Aula,” the Old Hall of the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

DAVE HAMBRIGHT RECOGNIZED FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE Dave Hambright , professor of biology, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, and editor-in-chief of ASLO’s Limnology and Oceanography , has been named a 2019 Sustaining Fellow of ASLO for having sustained excellence in his contributions to the society and the aquatic sciences. The 2019 class of ASLO Fellows will be honored at the 2020 ASLO summer meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. Hambright and his research team, the Plankton Ecology and Limnology Laboratory (PEL Lab), study ecological interactions in lakes and reservoirs among a broad range of organisms, from bacteria to fish. In particular, the PEL lab is currently focusing on causes, consequences and mitigation of blooms (rapid outgrowths) of algae (a well-known annual feature of Lake Thunderbird) that produce a variety of noxious and toxic chemicals that can pose significant problems for water quality, lake management, and human and wildlife health.

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT MEMBERS HONORED AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE Several faculty and alumni from the Department of Communication were honored at the National Communication Association Annual Conference, held in Baltimore in November. Department of Communication faculty were presenters, authors or co-authors on 27 different panels and chairs or respondents on six more at the annual conference. Graduate students were well represented as well, appearing on 17 different panels. Pictured are professor Young Yun Kim and graduate student Mizuki Wyant. Kim received the Outstanding Edited Book of the Year Award for 2018 from the International and Intercultural Division of NCA. She edited the three-volume International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication for Wiley Press. Wyant received a top paper award from the Training and Development Division of NCA at the conference. Her paper examined how organizational leaders can communicate to encourage and support upward dissent from employees.

OU award winners also included associate professors Elena Bessarabova and John Banas , who were honored with a top paper award in health communication, along with co-authors and recent alumni Daniel Bernard and TCU professor Adam Richards. Bessarabova and recent alumnus Zach Massey received the Distinguished Article award from the Communication and Social Cognition Division for their article published in Communication Monographs . In addition, students Maria Shpeer and William T. Howe were on at top paper panel in the Critical and Cultural Studies Division of NCA for their paper on Surviving as a Civilian: Military Members’ Learned and Enacted Methods of Facework.

RONALD SCHLEIFER REPRESENTS OU AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Ronald Schleifer was the keynote speaker for the inaugural international conference  The Nordic Networks for Narratives in Medicine .   This is a forum for the exchange and interaction of research, teaching and practices within the interdisciplinary field of literature, philosophy and medicine. Schleifer is George Lynn Cross Research Professor of English and adjunct professor in the College of Medicine.

COLLEGE GRADUATE ASSISTANTS HONORED BY PROVOST

Congratulations to all College of Arts and Sciences graduate assistants who were recently honored with the Provost's Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. The 2019 spring semester recipients of the award represent the top 10% of all graduate assistants across campus as determined by student evaluations. The following graduate assistants in the college earned the distinction:

Tiffany Legg (Biology) Mary Moon (Biology) Jonathan Pope (Biology) Ryan Bensen (Chemistry) Xingxiu Chen (Chemistry) Matthew Finneran (Chemistry) Eric Gardner (Chemistry) Jennifer Londono Salazar (Chemistry) Ebony Pope Birdine (Chemistry) Aditi Singh (Chemistry) David Stang (Chemistry) George Worley (Chemistry) Liwei Zhang (Chemistry) Doris Acheme (Communication) Tianna Cobb (Communication) Audrey Rutt (Communication) Hoang Van Michelle Nguyen (Communication) Mizuki Wyant (Communication) Anna Barritt (English)

Lisa Bell (English) Matthew Jacobson (English) Katy Krieger (English) Shane Reid (English) Joshua Carr (Health and Exercise Science) Ashley Dioguardi (Health and Exercise Science) Ashley Fox (Health and Exercise Science) Katherine White (Health and Exercise Science) John Baucom (History) Ryan Brumbelow (History) Curtis Foxley (History) Chelsea Frazier (History) Adam Krejci (History) Brian Bill (Microbiology) Elizabeth Ellithorpe (Physics) Matthew Holtfrerich (Physics) Jinhyo Cho (Psychology) Olga Diaz Potter (Spanish) Edwin Florez Palacios (Spanish)

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

OU AWARDED $2.5 MILLION RESEARCH GRANT TO UNDERSTAND AND PREDICT THE BIRD FLU OU is taking a key role in a new project that could help surveillance and pandemic preparedness for avian influenza viruses that infect humans, wild birds and poultry. The National Science Foundation awarded a $2.5 million grant to OU to investigate the diversity and transmission of avian influenza viruses . The grant that will be paid out over five years is in the area of disease ecology and public health. In the past two decades, the highly contagious bird flu has infected poultry in many countries, which has had tremendous economic implications, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars in poultry production. According to the World Health Organization, some of these viruses have also impacted thousands of people since 2003, resulting in illness and even death. As these viruses persist, evolve and spread, economic losses and health concerns grow. “This research will focus on the ecology and evolution of avian influenza viruses and grow the opportunity for international collaboration in tackling critical issues in pandemic preparedness,” said principal investigator Xiangming Xiao of the University of Oklahoma.

OU RESEARCH GROUP CONFIRMS PLANET-MASS OBJECT IN EXTRAGALACTIC SYSTEMS An OU research group is reporting the detection of extragalactic planet-mass objects in a second and third galaxy beyond the Milky Way after the first detection in 2018. With the existing observational resources, it is impossible to directly detect planet-mass objects beyond the Milky Way and to measure its rogue planetary population. Members of the group include Xinyu Dai , associate professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, with Ph.D. student Saloni Bhatiani and former postdoctoral researcher Eduardo Guerras. The research group has identified a novel technique that uses quasar microlensing to probe the planet population within distant extragalactic systems. They have been able to constrain the fraction of these planet-mass objects with respect to the galactic halo by studying their microlensing signatures in the spectrum of the lensed images of distant bright Active Galactic Nuclei.

YIHAN SHAO DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY $269,849 YEAR ONE (1,034,392 FOR THE FOUR-YEAR GRANT PERIOD - NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH MULTISCALE MODELING OF ENZYMATIC REACTIONS AND FIREFLY BIOLUMINESCENCE How do factors (such as amino acid sequence) affect the enzyme activity and bioluminescence output? Quantum-mechanics-based modeling can help. This R01 project revolves around the development of quantum-mechanics-based computational methodology for accurately and efficiently modeling enzymatic reactions and bioluminescence. Through providing an atomistic understanding of transient species (such as transition states, reaction intermediates and excited states), our new computational protocols will aid researchers with their studies of enzyme structure-function relationships and their engineering of enzymes and bioluminescence imaging agents.

BAYRAM SAPAROV DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY $ 637,500 - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS FOR RADIATION HARDNESS, LIFETIME AND EFFICIENCY The project focuses on a combined experimental and theoretical approach for characterization and in-depth study of solar cell materials for space applications. Radiation hardness is among the most desirable characteristics of solar cells for space missions. The proposed materials technologies are based on Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) and emerging lead halide perovskites that demonstrate a combination of remarkable radiation resistance, high efficiency, light weight, thin and flexible solar cell arrays for NASA’s CubeSat and SmallSat applications in which high-power, light, low payload systems are highly desirable. To achieve the goals of this project, a cross-disciplinary team of researchers across engineering, physics, chemistry and materials science, involving the largest research universities in Oklahoma (OU, Tulsa and Oklahoma State University) have been assembled. The team has been collaborating through the Oklahoma PV Institute, demonstrating the strong working relationship that already exists within this group. Suitable target materials will be prepared (Saparov Lab), and their optoelectronic properties, and crystal and electronic structures will be characterized (Mario Borunda, Parameswar Harikumar and Ian Sellers). Based on the measured properties and band structures, most promising members will be incorporated into thin film solar cell devices (Do-Young Kim). Performances of solar cells in space conditions will be tested at OU (Sellers) and at NASA Glenn Research Center.

JOHN WISNIEWSKI DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY $36,743 - NASA - HEADQUARTERS DISK DETECTIVE 2.0 Disk Detective was the first NASA-led and funded collaborative project with Zooniverse that used citizen scientists to help identify stars that were surrounded by dust-rich circumstellar disks. Such disks are where planets form and reside. Disk Detective 2.0 is a re-launch of this effort that focuses on finding such circumstellar disks around the lowest mass stars in the universe. The University of Oklahoma team, consisting of faculty member John Wisniewski and graduate student Maria Schutte, will help this relaunch. They will serve as the lead interface with citizen scientists, co-lead science analysis and lead efforts to create documentation for the relaunch.

STUDENT AND DEPARTMENT NEWS

The college congratulates our students who were honored at the Outstanding Senior Awards ceremony held Nov. 8. Each fall, Sooner Parents presents an award of merit to the Outstanding Senior of each undergraduate college as selected by the individual colleges. Sooner Parents also recognizes the all-around Outstanding Senior selected by a committee composed of faculty, staff and students.  Miles Francisco ( African and African-American Studies and Political Science) was awarded Overall Outstanding Senior for the University.  Leanne Ho was named Outstanding Senior for the College of Arts and Sciences. Ho is majoring in English literary and cultural studies with a minor in social justice. In addition, the following Outstanding Seniors also study in the college: Katy Felkner (Letters) was named Outstanding Senior for the Gallogly College of Engineering, Hannah Dillenbeck (Biology) for the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts and Lucy Kates (Letters) for the Honors College.

GENOMICS AND ETHICS FOR NATIVE STUDENTS PROGRAM VISITS HAWAII The Genomics and Ethics for Native Students Program attended the annual Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science Conference in Honolulu between Oct. 31-Nov. 2. Representing the GEN program were OU students Dalaki Livingston, Trinity Guido, Asher Stephens-Ticman and Kaleigh Edwards, along with GEN staff Jessica Blanchard, Justin Lund and Noah Collins. The Genomics and Ethics Program for Native Students is a fellowship program designed to grow the number of American Indian/Alaska Native students pursuing research related to genomics, ethics and society. SACNAS presented an ideal opportunity to expose GEN students to supportive academic environments that promote the inclusion of AIAN perspectives, but even organizations like SACNAS that are dedicated to the success of Native American students are impacted by low AIAN representation (i.e., only 6% of SACNAS attendees in 2018 identified as AIAN). Each of the GEN students saw firsthand the reality of being underrepresented, even at conferences like SACNAS, and noted the importance of representing their tribal perspectives and community voices in these kinds of academic venues.   A highlight of the conference was the panel Native Perspectives in Genomics: Personal Experiences and Professional Pathways into Genomics. Organized by GEN staff and composed of some leading Indigenous scholars shaping the field of genomics research, this panel presented the opportunity for all of the GEN students to participate in professional roundtable discussions and to network with other Indigenous students and professionals. GEN students and staff benefited from the collective participation in conference activities and community excursions, and each student exhibited tremendous individual growth in pursuing their own interests throughout the conference experience. Some students gathered information on medical schools, others established meaningful connections with specific graduate school programs and potential mentors, and others built upon mentor relationships already established through prior GEN trainings. Reflecting on their time at SACNAS, GEN fellows noted the importance of taking chances and pursuing opportunities and want to encourage other AIAN students to do the same. If you are interested in research and training opportunities related to ethical, social and legal implications of genomics, please contact GEN Director Jessica Blanchard and follow GEN on Facebook .

OU FINISHES FIRST IN VOTER REGISTRATION This fall, OU competed with OCCC, OSU, TCC and UCO in the Oklahoma Campus Compact’s Voter Registration Competition (sponsored by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education) to achieve the greatest percentage of student body registration for both in-state and out-of-state students. On Dec. 5, the team from OU accepted two first-prize awards from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education on behalf of the university for registering the most out-of-state students (125), and the most in-state students in our division (703). Carl Albert Center Civic Engagement Fellows Natalie Bayer and Destinee Dickson, along with their Oklahoma Votes team Taylor Crossley, Hannah Frome, Cricket Kaya and Kamryn Yanchick, coordinated voter registration efforts on campus from July 1 to Oct. 11. They coordinated the annual drive with various student organizations, colleges and departments.  Oklahoma Votes is sponsored by the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center. Pictured above are: Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Chair Joseph L. Parker, Jr. (left) and Chancellor Glen D. Johnson (second from right), presenting awards to  Lauren Schueler , director, NEW Leadership and Civic Engagement; Hannah Frome, Oklahoma Votes volunteer chair; Civic Engagement Fellow  Natalie Bayer ; and center director  Mike Crespin .

OU GRADUATE AND LEGENDARY CHICANO AUTHOR HONORED The Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics Department and World Literature Today co-hosted a commemorative day honoring the life and achievements of Tom á s Rivera, an OU graduate and legendary Chicano author, poet and educator. “Celebrating 50 Years of Achievement in Latinx Scholarship and Higher Education 1969–2019” was held Nov. 21 and honored Rivera's life and commemorated 50 years since Rivera graduated from OU with a doctorate in Spanish.  Rivera earned a doctorate in Spanish from the University of Oklahoma in 1969, and went on to become renowned author, best remembered for his Faulknerian stream-of-consciousness novella, y no se lo tragó la tierra (and the Earth Did Not Devour Him).  Rivera then became the first Mexican American chancellor at the University of California, Riverside, a position he held until his death in 1984.

DEADLINES AND FEATURED EVENTS

Jan. 15                    Deadline to request a NEW online course or to REDESIGN an existing online course for the upcoming Summer 2020 semester. Jan.16                    Deadline to submit new undergraduate minors and changes to existing minors   (using State Regent forms) to the Dean’s office. Jan. 17                    Deadline for academic units to submit to the Dean’s office recommendations for reappointment or non-reappointment to a second year for  tenure-track and ranked-renewable term faculty. Jan. 28                    Chairs and Directors meeting, 9 a.m., Dale Hall Tower 906 Jan. 29                  CASFAM Staff meeting, 9 a.m., Dale Hall Tower 906 Jan.31                   Sabbatical leave applications for fall 2020 only or fall 2020 and spring  2021 (two-semester sabbatical) are due to the Dean’s office.

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