Faculty

Gregory talks about new later motherhood

Students

Lady Cougar SLAMmed in national magazine

Academics

India Studies adds course

Alumni

CLASS Class Plus Oscar calling

Discovery

Pettit probes causes of teen suicides

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Around CLASS and Campus

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Abiola Initiative in Music Education: Sharing the joy of music

This semester, the Preparatory and Continuing Studies Department in the Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music begins a pilot program that offers private piano lessons to 40 children at Yellowstone Academy who, otherwise, might not have this experience.

The program is part of the Abiola Initiative in Music Education, the result of a generous donation from Lisa and Agbo Abiola of Houston.

In Fall 2007, the program reached out to 150 preschoolers in the Gulf Coast Community Services Association Third Ward Head Start program and kids in the University of Houston Child Care Center.  We hope you watch our video below about the Abiola Initiative in Music Education, produced by students from the School of Communication.

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Faculty

Gregory talks about new later motherhood

“New later motherhood,” as it’s called, or older new moms.  Whatever, the number of women who waited until they were between the ages of 35 and 39 to start having babies increased 1,000 percent between the years 1975 and 2005.   And thirteen times as many women during those three decades chose to wait until they were between the ages of 40 and 44.

This phenomenon is the subject of Prof. Elizabeth Gregory’s book Ready: Why Women Are Embracing the New Later Motherhood (Basic Books, 2008), which was #24 in Amazon’s Motherhood category and #67 in the Child Care section the second week of January. Gregory, the director of the Women’s Studies Program at UH, spent two-and-a-half years interviewing 113 new later moms from various backgrounds and professions, who had their first child, by birth or by adoption, between the ages 35 and 56.  The moms were married, divorced, single, straight, gay, or moms of one or more kids.  Most of the moms live in Houston, with the rest living in other parts of the country.

Find out what she found out by watching her interview on Campbell Live, on TV3 in New Zealand.  And, be sure to read the UH news release.

Stack Art

This next item could be called Stack, Gaps, Sinkholes, and Chasms.  But we won’t. We’ll just say that Gael Stack , the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Art, has another show.  This one’s at the Holly Johnson Gallery up in Dallas. This is her second one-person show at Holly Johnson Gallery, and is one of more than 40 one-person shows she’s had in her illustrious career.

It’s called Gael Stack:  Gaps, Sinkholes, and other Chasms.  The Pegasus News Wire has more on Stack and her show.

Also, check out the new home page for the School of Art.

Letter from China

In last month’s Graffit-e we told you about Jack Young’s trip to China.  He’s the head of Graduate Programs at the School of Theatre and Dance, and Coordinator of Graduate Acting and Directing.

He sent us an email the other day, complimenting the look of the Graffit-e, and giving us an update on what’s happening in China:

My show here at Peking University is going well.  10 million Chinese high school students take the same national exam every year, and the 3,000 top scorers come to PKU (Institute of World Theatre and Film in Beijing).  When I ask my students about the classes they had before they came to rehearsal, I'm hearing about Hans Morgenthau, the difference between US and Chinese tax law, the economic philosophy of Deng Xiaoping, and medical trials they're conducting.  They are the leading edge of this burgeoning country. The hope is that I'm planting seeds here that will bear fruit when they become the new leadership, and they'll see the value of making art & culture a greater part of education throughout the country.

Some More o' Zamora

Also last month, we told you about Lois Parkinson Zamora, a John and Rebecca Moores Distinguished Professor, receiving honorable mention from the Modern Language Association of America for her book The Inordinate Eye: New World Baroque and Latin American Fiction. 

Well, come to find out, the Modern Language Association of America is a bit late to the party. Other awards and recognitions include:  The (London) Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year (December 2006); The Harry Levin Prize for the best book in Comparative Literature published in 2005-2006, awarded by the American Comparative Literature Association; and The Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship, awarded by the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M University.

Zamora is a professor in the departments of English and History, and the School of Art.  Her area of specialization is comparative literature and, more particularly, contemporary fiction in the Americas.  She served as Dean of the former College of Humanities, Fine Arts, and Communication from 1996 to 1999.

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Students

Tye Jackson Featured In SLAM Magazine

University of Houston Lady Cougar Tye Jackson is featured in the March 2008 issue of SLAM Magazine, available on newsstands nationwide.

Jackson, a 5-10 senior guard, is featured in the magazine's 'In Your Face' section on page 25.

Tye is a Pre-Psychology major in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

She ranks second on the team averaging 12.4 ppg and leads the squad with 57 assists, 22 of which came in three games in recent weeks.

Lady Cougars fans can listen to a free Internet radio broadcast of all UH games this year by clicking on the Stretch Internet Broadcast link at UHCougars.com. Streaming video for all home games will also be made available through the All-Access package at UHCougars.com.

(story courtesy UH Sports Information)

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Academics

India Studies adds course

Our India Studies program has a new offering as we continue efforts to establish core courses in this program. The anthropology course gives students the opportunity to move beyond traditional anthropological courses that focus on religion, the caste system, and gender relations.  Instead, students get a broader perspective that includes medicine and India’s participation in the global marketplace.

You can find out more about the course in the Daily Cougar.

Alley Collaboration

Our Theatre and Dance graduate students will have the opportunity to learn stage crafts alongside Houston’s top professionals, thanks to a collaboration with the Alley Theatre that starts in the fall. Our graduate student actors, directors, designers and dramaturges will work and study alongside some of the best in the business.  

“The alliance will be the most comprehensive affiliation between a member company of the League of Resident Theatres and a state higher education institution,” said Steven Wallace, School of Theatre and Dance director.

“This is a Texas-sized partnership. It’s a win-win situation for both UH and the Alley, but ultimately, the city of Houston and its arts patrons will benefit from this collaborative effort.”

Learn more about this affiliation in the UH news release.

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Alumni

CLASS Class

CLASS held our Fall Commencement on Dec. 14, 2007, for nearly 800 recipients of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. We know that watching your new graduate walk across the stage is the big thrill of the day for family and friends.  That’s why we’ve given you another chance (or maybe a first opportunity) to see the big moment. 

We couldn’t provide an individual video clip for each graduate, so we came up with the next best thing, thanks to our friends in UH’s Streaming Media and Video Production Services. Phil Booth and Greg Johnson divided the video into four segments based on majors, which was the order used at Commencement.

Congratulations to our graduates and to their families on this great achievement!

• Anthropology, Art, Communication
• Communication Sciences and Disorders, Economics, English
• History, Modern and Classical Languages, Music, Philosophy
• Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Theatre and Dance
  

Oscar calling

Julian Schnabel (’73), artist, screenwriter, recipient of the Best Director Award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, and featured alumnus in the December 2007 edition of Graffit-e, has another honor for his resumé: nominee for the award for Achievement in Directing (aka Best Director) by the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Sunday, Feb. 24 is the big day.  Good luck, Julian!

Visit our CLASS alumni page for more news and information about your CLASSmates.

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Discovery

Pettit Probes Causes of Teen Suicides

Prof. Jeremy Pettit, director of the UH Mood Disorder and Suicide Research Program, wants to know why teenagers try to kill themselves. Understanding suicide predictors will help family members, friends, and counselors come up with better methods of intervention.

Pettit and a team of research students are working with the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center, interviewing patients between 13 and 17 years of age, to determine whether predictors can help parents, peers, and counselors develop clinical interventions or prevention strategies for teenagers who exhibit suicidal behavior.

Pettit recently received a $6,000, two-year grant from UH to complete the project. This effort complements Pettit’s other research including a current study on teen depression funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Pettit says the goal of the study is to determine whether predictors are the same for those who have made one, unsuccessful attempt and others who have made consistent, repeated efforts.

“In terms of clinical interventions, there is a one-approach method that is applied to all adolescents who have attempted suicide, no matter if it’s once or several times,” Pettit said. “If we learn that the predictors are dissimilar in different suicide cases, we can tailor interventions specifically to address both the repeat and first-time attempters.”

The UH Mood Disorder and Suicide Research Program investigates depression disorders and the interpersonal behaviors that promote and maintain depression. The program also identifies risk factors for suicidal behavior, and conducts free and anonymous depression screenings each fall during National Depression Screening Day.

Read more about Pettit’s research in the UH news release.

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Around CLASS and Campus

Houston’s Newest Cougar

Renu Khator has arrived and taken over the dual roles of Chancellor of the University of Houston System and President of the University of Houston, the third person to hold the combined offices.

Read more about her on the President’s Web page and watch her message to the UH community to the right.

Opera Season Underway

Two tales, one of terror and the other of faith.  That’s the offering this month as the University of Houston Edythe Bates Old Moores Opera Center at the Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music kicks off its 2008 season.

The Turn of the Screw runs Jan. 24, 26, and 27 at 7:30 each evening.  It’s the story of an unnamed evil that lurks in an English manor house, based on the Henry James novel.

The Saint of Bleecker Street (produced with support, in part, from The Humphreys Foundation) runs Jan. 25, 27, and 28, also at 7:30 each evening.  This is the Houston premier of the opera set in New York City’s Little Italy.  It tells of a young woman who miraculously develops stigmata every Good Friday.  Or does she?

Ticket information is available online or by calling 713-743-3313.

Moving Through Time and Space

Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, in collaboration with the MIT List Visual Arts Center, the Miami Art Museum (a MAC @ MAM presentation), and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, is pleased to present Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space, now through March 29.  The exhibition features five of Akerman’s major works: From the East: Bordering on Fiction (D’est: Au bord de la fiction), 1995; South (Sud), 1999; From the Other Side (De l’autre côté), 2002; Down There (Là-bas), 2006; and Women from Antwerp in November (Les Femmes d’Anvers en Novembre), 2007, which is a new project filmed especially for the exhibition.

Make sure you visit the CLASS home page for more information about our programs, students, faculty, and staff.  Missed an issue of Graffit-e?  Catch up by visiting the online archive.

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Transcript of Dean Antel's Video Message

Most of us see January as a month of change and renewal.

For the students, faculty, and staff in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, January is the start of the new calendar year and the beginning of the Spring semester.

Our students have returned to their classes, many of them preparing for graduation in May.

Last month, we held Commencement ceremonies for nearly 800  Fall graduates.  I invite you to take a look at the videos of that program, which we’ve included in this month’s Graffit-e.

This semester, we begin a pilot program that offers private piano lessons to children at Yellowstone Academy who, otherwise, might not have this experience.

The program is part of the Abiola Initiative in Music Education, the result of a generous donation from Lisa and Agbo Abiola of Houston to our Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music.

In addition to the Yellowstone Academy program, the Abiola Initiative provides music lessons at the UH Child Care Center, the Third Ward Head Start Program, and Houston’s Challenge Early College High School.

The Abiola Initiative is the feature story in this month’s Graffit-e.  I hope you watch the video, produced by students from the School of Communication.  And I hope you will join me in thanking Abioloas for their support.

Also this month, our new president, Renu Khator, takes office.  We’ve included a short message from her.  Please join me in welcoming President Khator and her family to our University of Houston and College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Family.

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