Faculty

Kanellos en Real Academia Hispanoamericana

Students

Student ropes Rodeo scholarship

Academics

Life in the big city

Alumni

Why are these people smiling? Because two established scholarship

Discovery

Tracking the Tuareg

You Can Help

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Around CLASS and Campus

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Feature

A grand night in grand style

Friends and patrons of the Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music made this year’s Moores School of Music Society annual shindig an outstanding and successful event. The 22nd dinner concert, In Grand Style, raised nearly $96,000 for the Moores School of Music Scholarship Fund and special projects at the Moores School!

President Renu Khator and Suresh Khator joined about 225 other guests for the Feb. 28 black-tie soiree that began with a reception in the stunningly beautiful Moores Opera House followed by a dinner catered by Tony’s.

Also on hand were Moores School of Music Society President Philamena Baird; Moores School of Music Director David Ashley White; and former CLASS Dean and new UH Veep for Academic Affairs and Provost John Antel.

Darryl Murchison’s decorating skills resulted in thirty white roses adorning each table. During dinner, Arthur Baird was an auctioneering phenom as, in less than six minutes, he coaxed out of the attendees seven $1,000 scholarships toward travel expenses for the Concert Chorale trip to Wales this summer, and three $5,000 and two $2,500 scholarships! After dinner, guests moved into the Moores Opera House where students and faculty of the Moores School put on a show (conceived and directed by Joseph Evans and Betsy Cook Weber) worth ten times the ticket price, with David Bertman and the Spirit of Houston Marching Band bringing down the house to end the concert with that Sousa staple Stars and Stripes Forever. Champagne and Tony’s magnificent dessert back in the foyer capped the evening.

Special thanks go out to event chairs, Cindi Rose, Lori Sorcic, and Pattie Dale Tye; auction chairs Chyra Blackaller, Amanda Mills and Erica Rose; underwriting chairs Gabriela and Daniel Dror; invitation chair Jeanne Simms; kick-off party chair Cindi Rose; publicity chair Ellie Francisco; catering chair Tony Vallone; decoration chair Darryl Murchison; and to the more than 130 members of the honorary committee for their tireless and unselfish efforts on behalf of our students and programs.

President Renu Khator and Suresh Khator

Philamena Baird

Susan and John Antel

Pattie Dale Tye, Cindi Rose, Lori Soric

Gabriela and Daniel Dror

Erica Rose

Honorees David Tomatz, Sally Reynolds, Steve Harbachick

Mary Ann and David McKeithan

Philip Berquist and Betty Jukes

Sharon Ley and Bob Lietzow

Harry and Diane Gendel

Helen Shaffer and Thom Guthrie

Barbara and Ulyesse Legrange

Betty and Jesse Tutor

Jeanne Sims and Bob Lietzow

Hugs all around for the fabulous individuals, foundations, and entities that contributed financially at the various sponsorship levels. We appreciate all you do on behalf of our amazingly talented students and faculty!

Congratulations go out to the evening’s honorees, former Moores Society presidents:

• Steve Harbachick
• Sally Reynolds
• Richard Morgan
• Mary Ann McKeithan
• Betty C. Jukes
• Philip Berquist
• Robert F. and Sharon Ley Lietzow
• Diane Gendel
• Philip A. Bahr
• Helen P. Shaffer

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Faculty

Nicolás Kanellos inducted

Nicolás Kanellos, Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Studies; former recipient of the Esther Farfel Award, UH’s highest faculty honor; and Publisher of Arte Público Press Books, has another honor. He’s now a member of Real Academia Hispanoamerica, aka the Spanish American Royal Academy for Literature, Arts and Sciences. Kanellos attended the induction ceremonies in Spain on Feb. 19.

Kanellos’ induction address outlined the geo-politics of the early nineteenth century and how the Spanish revolutionaries seeking independence of New Spain played England, France, and Spain, against each other.

Kanellos is the founder and director of the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage project and Arte Público Press, the nation’s oldest and largest Latino publishing house. He is the author of various books on literary and cultural history. He’s also a founding member of UH’s Ph.D. program in Hispanic Studies, which gives future professors the opportunity to work with the extensive archives and resources of the research program and Arte Público Press.

To see the Spanish newspaper clipping, click here.

And, to read his impressive curriculum vitae, click here.

Travesty is no travesty

Karen Stokes, Associate Professor and Head of Dance in the School of Theatre and Dance, and Director of the Travesty Dance Group, sent out this email the other day that we want to pass along to our Graffit-e readers who might be interested in the Framing Dance and Discovery Series. This also gives us another way to demonstrate the close ties in the arts between the University of Houston and the Houston community.

Dear Educators & Colleagues:

Travesty Dance Group is offering free in-school workshops this spring to the next FOUR schools that register for our Uniquely Houston Discovery Series program March 23-26.

The Framing Dance Discovery Series program actively incorporates TEKS principles. Each of the areas (perception, expression, historical, and evaluation) is integrated into the interactive performance event. Additionally, the program has strong cross-disciplinary ties to English (story-telling component), history (dances that present cultural or historical themes), and music/art. We encourage teachers from all disciplines to bring their classes.

Additional perks: Buses are FREE (all districts) and teachers are provided with FREE curriculum packets!

The Hobby Center has additional information about the program at their Discovery Series link. If you have any questions about the program content, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

To register, contact, Director of Special Events at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts at 713/315-2512, or by email at Denise.Wright@hcpa.com

Valenti faculty take on Slumdogs, Barthelme, and big fat liar liars

Joe Leydon, Adjunct Professor of Communication, award-winning film critic, all-around knowledgeable guy about films, and author of Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See: If You Read, Write About--or Make Movies (Michael Wiese Productions, 350 pages, illustrated, 2004), joined a panel discussion about Slumdog Millionaire and the controversies and debates surrounding the film. Click the image to watch. (Video will open in a popup window)

Michael Berryhill, Assistant Professor of Communication, wrote the lead review, for the February 15 Zest section of the Houston Chronicle, on Tracy Daugherty's (’85 English) biography of Donald Barthelme, Hiding Man. Barthelme, who died in 1989, held the Cullen chair in Creative Writing (see more in Alumni section).

Deborah Bridges, Instructional Professor, appeared last month on Great Day Houston on KHOU-TV as part of a program looking at lies and why people become big fat liar liars. Click on the image to watch some of the show. (Video will open in a popup window)

Youmei Lie, Professor of Communication, and Shawn McCombs, Communication Technology Center Manager, delivered the keynote address for Texas A & M’s Teaching with Technology Conference and highlighted the Valenti School’s ongoing podcasting research activities. “The Modern Learner: Meeting the Status Quo with Podcasting and Other eLearning Solutions” was streamed live and will be published on Texas A & M’s iTunes U site. Shawn will also serve on President Renu Khator’s Information Technology strategic planning committee.

Larry Kelley, Instructional Professor, and Don Jugenheimer wrote Cases in Advertising Management, published by M.E. Sharpe (192 pages, Feb. 2009)

Find out more about what’s going on at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication by visiting its Web site.

Preachers in print

Philip Sinitiere, a Ph.D. candidate in History co-authored Holy Mavericks (NYU Press, Paperback, 208 pages [April 1, 2009]), a look at five of the nation’s mega-evangelists, including Houston’s Joel Osteen, along with T.D. Jakes.

Writers read

This month’s Creative Writing’s Gulf Coast Magazine reading at Brazos Bookstore in Houston featured two master's and one doctoral student from CLASS who also participate in the Writers in The Schools program.

Kathy Elliott is a third-year MFA candidate in Poetry. She grew up in Richmond, Va., and graduated from the University of Virginia. She teaches composition and literature classes at UH.

Kasten Glover is a second-year MFA candidate in Poetry, who received his BA in Business from Drury University, and a BA in Literature from the University of Central Missouri.

David Stuart MacLean is in his final year of his Ph.D. He received his MFA from New Mexico State University. The former Fulbright Scholar is on the Artist Board at DiverseWorks!, and is a co-founder of the Poison Pen Reading Series.

Moores faculty, students, and alumni present at TMEA conference

Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music faculty and students, and even an alumnus, participated in last month’s Texas Music Educators Association conference.

John Benzer, music education instructor, “Don’t Desert the Fundamentals: Skill Development
Beyond Beginning Band”

Jennifer Mishra, Associate Professor of Music Education and Music Education Area Coordinator,
“Using Research to Advocate for Music Programs”; “Influence of Strategy on Memorization Efficiency”;
with Michael Alexander (DMA ’00 Music Education), “Teachers Helping Teachers: A Teaching
Master Class”; with students Dan Littles, Kiana Day, and Eddie Vandewalker, “A qualitative
investigation of introduction courses in music education at NASM colleges and universities”

Valarie Vidal, affiliate artist, saxophone, and Moores Saxophonists, “Musical Showcase:
University of Houston Saxophone Choir”

Cheryl Huddleston, affiliate artist, bassoon, and Moores Bassoonists, “Musical Showcase:
University of Houston Bassougar Bassoon”

Rhona Brink, Music Education, “Classroom Management for the Music Room”

Darlene Kretchmer, Assistant Professor of Music Education, Kenny Peake, Justin Butterfras, Jennifer
Hemmick, and Rena McCampbell, “Classroom Management: Itsy Bitsy Witty Ditty Gritty Ideas for
Student Teachers”

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Students

Chelsea Stanley tells her story

Rickey Trant, Chelsea Stanley, Carin Trant

We’re always telling you about the important role scholarships play in the lives our students, and why you should consider scholarship opportunities when thinking about ways to contribute to the continued success of students and programs at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Well, this month, we thought we’d let one of our students share her story with Graffit-e readers. Chelsea Stanley is a Theatre major studying Arts Administration. She’s also the recipient of a four-year scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Below is the letter she wrote this year to the rodeo folks, which we think conveys what a scholarship means to our students better than we could tell it.

Hello my name is Chelsea Stanley. I am a graduate of Waller High School. I am happy to say I am a part of a huge family. My family has taught me dedication, generosity, and that hard work pays off usually in a fun way. See my family was 20,000-volunteers strong last year and gave $5,000, four-year scholarships, and entertained millions of fans. I have been a part of The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo family since my freshmen year in high school. I dedicated my time through FFA judgings and showing. I was lucky to be fully accepted into this family when I caught a calf in the calf scramble. I will forever have a small scar under my chin from the night that I got trampled, kicked, and became a very happy girl after I got across a little white line with my calf. Thanks to a big slap from a man in a big hat who then tried to interview me.

But its not just memories that I will have from my family but, I will have something that can never be taken away from me. I will have an education. I am a student at the University of Houston (go coogs!) where I am a Theatre major. I am studying Arts Administration. It is kind of like the business side of theatre. I will be declaring my minor in hotel and restaurant management, because eventually I would like to open a dinner theatre in downtown Houston or work for a regional theatre company or even work for a company like Disney in their administrative offices.

But, I would not be speaking here today if I had simply gone to college and paid for my education with no worries. My father was a Houston fire fighter and was a long time member of a cook-off team. He tragically passed away in a car accident when I was fifteen and I was left to support myself. My father was my sole provider. He left no will. My father and step-mother were in the process of getting a divorce, but because legally on paper they were still married most of the insurance benefits went to my stepmother. I received a small percentage of money that was used for a continuous court battle against my stepmother.

So when it was time for me to think about college, I called on my family -- the family who had raised me when one of their members had fallen. They call it the opportunity scholarship, but for me it was more than opportunity it was the support that I needed to make my father’s and my dreams come true. I want all of you to know that in some way my life has been affected by each and every one of you. I am truly a child of the rodeo in every way.

I am what some people will call a fighter. I never give up on my goals. Your support has truly given me the chance to reach for my goals and dreams. This semester I received a 3.5 GPA. I have been employed by the U of H theatre, I am the school's Mascot Shasha, and am well on my way to giving the women in my family -- since I am the first to attend college -- something to be extremely proud of.

I am so grateful that I received a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarship. Thank you for my education, thank you for all the support through hard times, and yes I sent you my grades and no I’m not staying out late.

If you’d like to learn more about CLASS scholarship opportunities, gives us a call at 713- 743-2997.

Undergrad art students exhibit work

A Minute from Brazil Nº CX (2008) by Chuck Ivy

Each Spring, Photography/Digital Media undergraduate students put on a show to showcase their best work. The fourteen students this year work in a variety of media, including chemical and digital photography, Web art, video, generative computer art, multimedia installations, and multi-layered imagery.

This year’s exhibition, Relational Dialectics, takes its name from a concept in communication theory that describes the challenging and conflicted nature of relationships. The student works explore issues of femininity, environment, cultural heritage, family, fear, absence, and mediation.

The student/artists are Sarah J. Bircher, Lindsey Bryan, Rocio Carlon, Camilo, Gonzalez, Chuck Ivy, Shauna Martin, Victor Matsumura, Nathan Munier, Tu-Anh Pham, Christopher Pickett, Kelly Quarles, Nathalie Rodriguez, Maurice C. Saavedra, and Gregory Whittaker.

David Jacobs, Professor of Art History and Photography/Digital Media, is the show’s curator.

You can see examples of the work exhibited by going to the Relational Dialectics Web site. Better yet, head on down to Box13 Art Space at 6700 Harrisburg Blvd in Houston March 28-April 30. Gallery hours are from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment.

While you’re there, go upstairs and check out the Senior Painting Exhibition.

Student art on exhibition in M.D. Anderson Library

Self-Portrait,
Tina McPherson, MFA candidate
in Graphic Communication

If you’re out and about and have a hankering for some more student art, head on over to the M.D. Anderson Library on the UH campus and check out (well, look at) the Student Art Exhibition running through tax day. The work, selected by judges, comes from CLASS students and students from other colleges across campus.

Kelley gets Rockefeller

Stephanie Kelley, a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American history, received a $2,500 research grant from the Rockefeller Center. Ms. Kelley will use the grant to continue her research on the modernization projects of American philanthropic institutions in Latin America.

CLASS Coogs compete in baseball, track and field

Baseball

University of Houston head coach baseball Rayner Noble earned his 500th career win this month. Our congratulations to Coach Noble and to all of this year’s baseball Coogs, especially our CLASS Coogs.

Rayner Noble

Head Coach

Frank Corolla	Blake Kelso	Zachary Presley
Junior, Economics	Sophomore, Economics	Junior, Economics
Pinehurst, Texas	Pflugerville, Texas	Southlake, Texas

Track and Field

The UH men’s track and field team captured its third-straight team indoor Conference USA championship in February, and the program’s 10th indoor title since joining C-USA in 1997. Head coach Leroy Burrell (’91 Radio and Television) was named Men’s Coach of the Year. The Houston women placed second

Women

Laura Allred	Candyce Cross	Kalyn Floyd	Alaysha Ford
Sophomore, History	Sophomore, Psychology	Sophomore, Communication	Junior, Psychology
Cypress, Texas	Missouri City, Texas	Houston, Texas	Bay City, Texas

Christie Jones	Clarissa Peyton	Nadirah Shakir
Sophomore, Public Relations/Advertising	Freshman, Psychology (intended)	Freshman, Journalism
Katy, Texas	San Antonio, Texas	San Antonio, Texas

Men

Alex Bentley	Steven Craig	Morgan Floyd
Junior, Psychology	Junior, Psychology	Senior, Psychology
Tomball, Texas	Austin, Texas	Sherman, Texas

Antony Keller	Emmanuel Osadeybey	Leroy Burrell
Senior, Psychology	Junior, Psychology	(’91 Radio and Television)
Kingwood, Texas	Grapevine, Texas	Head Coach, ninth season
2008 Conference USA Academic Honor Roll

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Academics

The headline says it all. The Anthropology department held a symposium on March 6-7 on current practices in urban health and anthropology, and how anthropology may enhance our understanding of health, illness, and healing in the multicultural urban environment. Or more simply, how can anthropology help make lives better for folks living in the big city.

	Rebecca Storey, Associate Professor of Anthropology and symposium organizer, spoke on “Urban health in Prehistoric and Historic Populations."
	Janis Hutchinson, Professor of Anthropology and a symposium organizer, covered “Health Disparities and Clinical Trials.”
	Jerome Crowder, Assistant Research Professor and a symposium organizer, covered "Health and Technology in Underserved Urban Neighborhoods"

Norris Lang, Associate Professor of Anthropology, department Chair, and a symposium organizer, and Andrew Gordon, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and a symposium organizer took on “Chronic Illness.”

Susan Rasmussen, Professor of Anthropology, a symposium organizer, and this month’s featured faculty researcher in our Discovery section, concentrated on “Gender, Age, and the Urban Body.”

Center for Public Policy presenting community-based research workshop

The University of Houston Center for Public Policy, in collaboration with the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, and the Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, will hold the “Community-Based Participatory Research Workshop: Challenges and Solutions for Researchers and Community Leaders” on Friday, April 10.

Workshop topics include:

• Models of community engagement


• Challenges to community-based research (e.g., dealing with your IRB, mediating conflicts with the community, data ownership and sharing, participant access and recruitment)


• Models for creating effective research teams (e.g., focus groups, community advisory boards)


• Characteristics of effective community-based researcher teams (e.g., clinicians, applied statisticians, research assistants, data managers, patient advocates, media relations)


• Case studies: What works, what doesn’t work and why.


• Developing an effective Memorandum of Understanding between the stakeholders

Not sure if this is for you? Well, it is if:

You’re planning to work collaboratively in a research institution-community relationship;

You’re starting to plan a community project that calls for prior investigation of questions such as who would be helped by the program, or how the program should be organized for maximum effectiveness;

You’re a biomedical researcher engaged in translational research -- a bench-to-bedside approach to medical innovation;

You’re a community leader who needs to know how to forge a long-term relationship with a research institution that will truly satisfy the needs and modes of operation of your organization?

You’re a graduate student interested in community-based research?

You can find out more about the workshop, and register by clicking here.

R U a writer wannabe?

So you want to be a writer, huh? Well, come on in! There’s room in the pool if you don’t mind the occasional floating flotsam. Clear your calendars for June 22-27, 2009, for boldface, a conference for emerging writers sponsored by Glass Mountain, UH’s undergraduate literary journal.

You’ll get to work on your writing in small workshops; hear craft talks that address specific elements of creative writing; benefit from valuable professional advice; read your work to an audience of your peers; and network with other aspiring writers.

boldface invites your registration, regardless of whether you’re published or whether you have an undergraduate degree in creative writing. But, you’re outta luck if you’re enrolled in, or have graduated from, a graduate creative writing program. This workshop is for writers at the start of their careers. Sorry.

Click here to see what’s going on.

Click here to register. April 10 is the registration deadline (‘cause all writers need deadlines, duh!)

For more information, contact boldface at ekstrand.eric@gmail.com

A look back at bobrauschenbergamerica

The School of Theatre and Dance produced the Houston premier of bobrauschenbergamerica last month. The artwork of Robert Rauschenberg has long intrigued and challenged art aficionados. This imaginative production explores the American landscape through a creative lens that is inspired by the recently departed artist. Not unlike his unique “combine” paintings, the play melds a host of diverse characters, settings, music, dancing, and stories.

If you missed it, or even if you saw it, you can see some of it on YouTube by clicking on the image.

Melosi and Pratt and the Energy Metropolis

Melosi

Energy Metropolis: An Environmental History of Houston and the Gulf Coast (University of Pittsburgh Press, 352 pages, 2007) by University of Houston history professors Martin V. Melosi, Distinguished Professor of History, and Joseph A. Pratt, Interim CLASS Dean and Cullen Professor of History and Business, chronicles Houston’s meteoric rise from bayou trading post to energy capital of the world. The book analyzes the environmental impact of large-scale energy production and unchecked expansion.

The History department hosted a symposium and book signing on Feb. 26 in the Elizabeth Rockwell Pavilion on the second floor of the M.D. Anderson Library.

“Rich reserves of oil and natural gas and access to international shipping fueled the city’s exponential growth,” said Melosi, one of the world’s leading scholars of environmental and urban history. “This expansion came at a price. Hazardous pollution levels, frequent flooding, deforestation, hurricanes, the energy demands of an air-conditioned lifestyle, automobile traffic and urban sprawl all escalated the need for massive infrastructure improvements and environmental safeguards.”

Pratt

The symposium included a discussion with Melosi and Pratt, along with colleagues from Louisiana State University and Trinity University in San Antonio.

“While Houstonians recognize that energy production has driven the region’s economy, they remain concerned about how the changes in the local environment, as a consequence of that activity, have affected the quality of their lives,” noted Pratt, a leading historian of the petroleum industry.

Tenneco Lecture Series and the UH History Graduate Student Mentoring Association provided additional funding for the symposium. (Marisa Ramirez, ’00 English)

Graduate History Student Research Colloquium this month and next

The Department of History announces the Spring 2009 edition of its Graduate Student Research Colloquium, jointly sponsored by the local graduate chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the international history honor society. The Colloquium offers a forum in which some of the Department’s graduate and doctoral candidates can discuss their current research with fellow students and faculty. The Department also welcomes the participation of undergraduate history majors and the public.

Unless otherwise announced, sessions this semester will be held in Agnes Arnold Room 520 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 26 March: Identity and Femininity: Two Studies From Twentieth-Century America

Natalie Garza, “Through the ‘Crystal Frontier’: Perspectives on Mexican Identity in Literature”

Lauran Kerr (’06 Women’s Studies) “The Experience of African-American Female Physicians in Two Predominantly Black Medical Schools, 1945-1980”

Kellogg

Commentator: Susan Kellogg, Professor of History

30 April: Gender Relations: From Medieval Europe To Modern America

Holle Canatella (MA, ’05 History), “Gender Relations in the Middle Ages: A Case Study”

John Goins, “From the GLF to the GPC: The Shift in Gay and Lesbian Activism in 1970s Houston”

Commentator: Eduardo Contreras, Assistant Professor of History

Mark your calendar for the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication 2009 Annual Awards Luncheon, April 13, 2009. Each year, the Valenti School uses the event to recognize its students for their academic excellence and professional promise.

This year’s luncheon honors Lance Funston (’67 Political Science), who recently made an extraordinary matching contribution of $1.5 million to the school (see February’s Graffit-e). Also slated for recognition are Ted Dinerstein and Welcome Wilson, Jr., co-chairs of the Committee of Friends for the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

If you plan to attend, please contact Brian Michael Shaw at 713-743-8481 or at bmshaw@uh.edu by April 10.

Reception begins at 11:30 a.m. with lunch to follow at noon at the O’Quinn Great Hall in the Athletics/ Alumni Center.

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Alumni

Faber and Economon establish scholarships

Aris Economon; Bill Monroe, The Honors College Dean;
Hanneke Faber; and Stuart Long, The Honors College
former Interim Dean

Hanneke Faber (’90 Journalism, ’92 MBA) and her husband Aris Economon (’89 BS) appreciate the importance of international experience in a well-rounded university education, and that’s why they set up the Faber-Economon European Travel (FEET) Scholarship in The Honors College that gives two students a year a chance to visit Europe and expand their global perspectives. And dig this, students who receive this scholarship stay at their home during their first week in Europe. Cool, huh?

FEET recipients have trekked to Switzerland, France, Italy, and Holland so far.

On Nov. 6, 2008, The Honors College recognized Faber at its first Distinguished Graduate Dinner. Faber, 39, is the youngest Vice Presi¬dent at Proctor and Gamble. She’s responsible for product lines in Western Europe, the entire Proctor and Gamble cosmetics business through dis¬tributors in 65 countries, and a combined budget with more than $1.2 billion in revenues. Her current projects in Poland include building P&G’s greenest plant.

Miller performs at Carnegie Hall

You know you’ve hit the “big time” when you’re asked to perform at Carnegie Hall; and for three local performers and educators, the time to step out on that stage has come. On March 14, Todd Randall Miller (DMA, ’02 Performance), lyric tenor joined three other Houston-area performers on the stage of Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the Distinguished Concert Artist Series from Distinguished Concerts International.

Miller, a professor of music and interim department chair at Lone Star College-Kingwood, also is the artistic director for Kingwood Chorale and Chamber Orchestra.

Theofanidis in Florida

Christopher Theofanidis (’90 Music), who also holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Yale University, and considered by music aficionados around the world as the leading composers of his generation, wowed the audience in Fort Myers, Fla., this month at the Gulf Coast Symphony’s Classical Access Concerts.

Theofanidis, recipient of the Houston Alumni Association’s 2008 Distinguished Alumus Award, also received the 2004 Masterprize, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Barlow Prize, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowship, and a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His Rainbow Body (which received the Masterprize) is often cited as the most-performed orchestral work by a living American composer during the last ten years, having been performed by more than 70 orchestras.

Theofanidis served as a delegate to the US-Japan Foundation’s Leadership Program, and was a music faculty member at The Juilliard School. Today, he teaches at The Peabody Conservatory of Music at The Johns Hopkins University.

The July 2008 edition of Graffit-e highlighted Theofanidis as our Alumni section.

Hiding Man outta sight

Daughterty

Barthelme

Tracy Daugherty (’85 English), Director of MFA program in Creative Writing at Oregon State University, wrote Hiding Man (St. Martin’s Press, 592 pages, Feb. 3, 2009), a biography of former Creative Writing head Donald Barthelme, which is getting a lot of positive buzz. As of March 2, Hiding Man was #1 on Amazon’s list for postmodernism History and Criticism.

Says Ed Hirsch, former Professor of English and current President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation: Donald Barthelme was a restless spirit, a cunning innovator, an incisive thinker, a funny and heartbreaking ironist, and a splendid prose stylist. He was also a wonderfully quirky and complicated person. Now the gifted fiction writer Tracy Daugherty has brought him out of the shadows and into the light in this rich, intimate, and thoroughly illuminating chronicle of the life and works of an American original. It is a major achievement.

Michael Berryhill, Assistant Professor of Communication, wrote the lead review for the February 15 Zest section of the Houston Chronicle. The link to that review is here.

Save the date CLASS Coogs. The big 55th Awards Dinner for The University of Houston Alumni Association is Friday, April 17, 2009. That’s just a few weeks from now.

UH swells and friends will gather at the Omni Houston Hotel for 6:30 p.m. cocktails and the 7:30 p.m. dinner and program. Attire for the evening should be International Chic or Black Tie. And, as John Lennon might add, lots of rattling bling always appreciated.

Distinguished Alumni Award recipients
Karen W. Katz (M.B.A. ’82) Chief Executive Officer Neiman Marcus Group

Miguel R. San Juan (’74 Political Science) United States Executive Director Inter-American Development Bank

Alvin L. Zimmerman (’64, J.D. ’67) Chairman Zimmerman, Axelrad, Meyer, Stern, & Wise, P.C

Distinguished Service Award recipients
Stanley Binion (posthumously) (’60, J.D. ’62) and Linda Binion (’64 French)

Chair's Award recipient
Carey C. Shuart

Outstanding Volunteer Award
Perry Pace, III

You can find out more about the big shindig, even buy tickets by visiting The Houston Alumni Association Web site.

Judy Williams (’76 Journalism, English) is the new Communications Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

Coogs at the Capitols

The 111th Congress and the 81st Texas Legislature are under full steam in D.C. and Austin, respectively. Once again, UH (and CLASS) Cougars prowl the halls of power. We’ve put together a list of the Cougar Congressional and Legislative delegations, along with links to their Web pages, so you can keep track of what they’re doing on our and your behalf. Their Web pages also have contact information, just in case you need to set them straight on a thing or two.

We’re also including the March 6 State Legislative Update put out by the offices of the UH System Chancellor and Governmental Relations

STATE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
March 6, 2009

(This update is produced by the UH System Office of Governmental Relations and the Office of the Chancellor/President as a service to our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.)

GREATER HOUSTON PARTNERSHIP CHAIRMAN TO SPEAK ON BEHALF OF UH’S TIER ONE INITIATIVE

UH System Chancellor Renu Khator and UH-Downtown President Max Castillo appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on Monday, March 2, to discuss the biennial appropriations bill. Chancellor Khator will return to Austin next week to meet with legislators and to testify before the House Higher Education Committee on Tier One legislation. The committee has also invited Greater Houston Partnership Chairman Dan Bellows to speak. The Partnership has identified our Tier One initiative as their top legislative priority. The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 11.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) has filed legislation relating to Tier One. It amends the current distribution of the Texas Competitive Knowledge Fund, creates a new fund for doctoral, master’s and comprehensive universities, and creates the Texas Research Incentive Program (TRIP). You can read her bill at: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=SB9

Rep. Dan Branch’s approach to creating more nationally recognized universities is available at: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HB51

We expect there will be additional bills filed on this subject before next Friday’s filing deadline.

The House and the Senate are both still sorting out the federal economic stimulus plan and how it will complement the appropriations bill. A House committee has created a website on the issue at: http://www.txstimulusfund.com/

Earle Smith, Dean of the College of Optometry, also appeared before a House committee this week. He spoke on Rep. Roberto Alonzo’s (D-Dallas) bill regarding a UH optometry program. Dean Smith was recently named Optometrist of the Year.

Because the Senate will be embroiled on the voter identification bill next week, the Senate Higher Education Committee will not meet.

For additional information on the legislature, click here.

U.S. House of Representatives

Gene Green (’71 Business)	Ted Poe (’73 Law)
29th Congressional District	2nd Congressional District
Web page	Web page

Texas Senate

Royce West (’79 Law)	John Whitmire (’75 Political Science, ’76 Law)
District 23	District 15
Web page	Web page

Texas House of Representatives

Alma Allen (’92 Ed.D.)	Carol Alvarado (’92 Political Science)	Bill Callegari (’72 Civil Engineering)
District 131	District 145	District 131
Web page	Web page	Web page

Jessica Farrar (’95 Architecture)	Ana Hernandez (’99 Political Science)	Chuck Hopson (’65 Pharmacy)
District 148	District 143	District 11
Web page	Web page	Web page

Dora Olivo (’75 M.Ed., ’81 Law)	Larry Phillips (’90 Law)	Robert Talton (’71 Business)
District 127	District 62	District 144
Web page	Web page	Web page

Senfronia Thompson (’96 Law)	Sylvester Turner (’77 Political Science)	Armondo Walle (’04 Political Science)
District 141	District 139	District 140
Web page	Web page	Web page

Beverly Woolley (’93 Political Science)	John Zerwas (’76 Biology)
District 136	District 28
Web page	Web page

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Discovery

Susan Rasmussen is a professor of Anthropology and one of the organizers of the recent symposium on Urban Health and Anthropology.

Her areas of research include Religion and Symbolism; Gender; Aging and Life Course; Anthropology and Human Rights, Ethnographic Analysis, particularly in relation to memory and personal narrative; and she’s one of the world’s leading authorities on the Tuaregs of West Africa.

She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, her master's degree from the University of Chicago, and her doctorate from Indiana University.

She joined the University of Houston faculty in 1990.

She spoke with John David Powell, Interim Director of Communication for CLASS and Graffit-e editor at the television studios of the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

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Around CLASS and Campus

Systems of Sustainability: Art, Innovation, Action

March 27-29

Kick off party
March 26, 7:00 p.m.
Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre, and Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston

Part arts festival, part academic symposium, Systems of Sustainability: Art, Innovation, Action, looks at creative enterprise as an integral tool for cultural growth and social change. Experience a range of events that showcase innovative practices from local, national, and international participants including prominent artists, researchers, activists, and scholars. The program includes site-specific projects, participatory activities, lectures, scholarly panels, and many opportunities for dialogue.

The performing, visual, and literary arts can be highly effective in posing solutions to our biggest global challenges. S.O.S. invites you to join a list of renowned speakers and participants in the ever-more-pressing conversation about what it means to sustain our planet, our culture, and our creative enterprise.

S.O.S. is organized and presented by the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston. The program is developed in close consultation with Dr. Robert Harriss, President of the Houston Advanced Research Center and Liz Lerman, Founding Artistic Director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

You can find out more about S.O.S. by clicking here.

Hooper blogs ‘bout MFA student show at Blaffer

Rachel Hooper, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Curatorial Fellow at Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, has a blog where she posted a review of the 2009 School of Art Masters Thesis Exhibition running April 10-25 at Blaffer. We’ve lifted the blog and inserted the students’ art for your reading enjoyment and edification.

Well, I managed to get the MFA catalogue put together last week. Here’s my introductory essay as a preview of the show that will open April 10.

It is rare to find artists who are straightforward and sincere. Our culture often prizes skepticism and an ironic, detached attitude. Yet the 2009 graduating class of the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Houston School of Art has meaningfully engaged the university and Houston community in their practice, making art that truly speaks to their passions. As the School of Art moves toward a more interdisciplinary approach, these twelve artists are the first class able to take more courses outside of their major, including influential work with professor of critical studies Raphael Rubenstein. Some have discovered a fascination with everyday objects and how they evoke our memories and awaken our desire.

	Dennis Harper’s installation seduces us with its nostalgic, corrupted love story using familiar emblems of music and lust.		Zack Zwicky has created a digital Wunderkammer as a metaphor for our compartmentalized and subjective habits of thinking.
	Emily Sloan’s personal snow globes capture elusive dreamlike scenes, awakening a childlike wonder.		In contrast, Joel A. Bender Jr. attempts to break out of the confines of his past by destroying and compacting objects taken from spaces that have been significant to him such as his bedroom and his studio.
	Other artists reflect on the natural world as a site for self-discovery. Cheyenne Ramos’s landscapes and portraits are informed by historical painting tradition but speak to contemporary alienation and disjunction.		Kristen Cliburn looks to the sky as inspiration for her small airbrushed canvases, which succeed in conveying a contemplative vastness with their subtle shifts in color and tone.
	Norberto Gomez Jr.’s self-portraits exult in his own physicality and serve as an allegory for the struggles raging inside him.		Like nature and the quotidian, our culture and family bonds have a profound influence on our identity and how we communicate with others. Michael Brims’ videos meditate on self-definition using themes of nationalism and abstract Jungian symbols.
	Noora Alsalman has created a new set of emblems for her native country, Iraq, that reflect the population’s ethnic diversity.		Cody Ledvina takes a wry outsider’s perspective on the absurdities of the popular culture around him.
	Samantha Medellin hangs large links in the gallery as objects for her primary audience—her immediate family—to interact with.		The darker side of dysfunctional family life is a theme in Richard Wall’s photographs, which show disquieting images inspired by his childhood, his travels with his alcoholic father, and the suburban sprawl encroaching on the forest around his current family home.

It is an honor for Blaffer Gallery to present these talented graduates with what is for many their first museum exhibition. The entire Blaffer staff has worked hard to coordinate all aspects of the exhibition under the leadership of our director Claudia Schmuckli. Exhibition designer Kelly Bennett deserves special recognition as she has spearheaded the organization of the student exhibitions at Blaffer for years; she will be leaving us this summer to pursue graduate studies, making this her last MFA exhibition.

Rachel Hooper
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Curatorial Fellow

The 2009 School of Art Masters Thesis Exhibition is made possible through the generosity of the UH Student Fees Advisory Committee.

Oil and Mud at Blaffer

Courtesy of the CLUI Photographic Archive

Texas Oil: Landscape of an Industry
Through March 29

Zastudil

The Center for Land Use Interpretation is a research organization based in Culver City, Calif., involved in exploring, examining, and understanding land and landscape issues. Texas Oil: Landscape of an Industry, the culmination of CLUI’s study of Texas, shows how oil extraction and refining has sculpted the state’s terrain.

Blaffer Gallery hosted a Contemporary Salon on March 11 to give visitors an opportunity to participate in an informal discussion of themes found in this exhibition. Rachel Hooper, Blaffer’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Curatorial Fellow, moderated the salon. She and the panelists contributed to the exhibition's accompanying publication, On the Banks of Bayou City: The Center for Land Use Interpretation in Houston.

The panel included John Reed, Director of the School of Art; Nancy Zastudil, Program Manager of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts; Patrick Peters, director of the Graduate Design/Build Studio in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture.

You can learn more about the project by reading the feature story in the July 2008 edition of Graffit-e.

Brian Calvin
Guard (II), 2007
Acrylic on canvas
48 x 72 inches
Courtesy Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles

Texas Oil: Landscape of an Industry runs concurrently with Electric Mud.

Electric Mud
Through March 29

Electric Mud, guest-curated by David Pagel, art critic for the Los Angeles Times and Associate Professor of Art Theory and History at Claremont Graduate University, features the work of Californians Brian Calvin, Ron Nagle, Michael Reafsnyder, James Richards, Anna Sew Hoy, and Patrick Wilson. It explores visual art that confounds the boundaries between clay, traditionally used for its functionality, and paint, conventionally used for aesthetics.

Young Artists Apprentice Program

Blaffer Gallery presents Young Artist Apprenticeship Program: Alternating/Current, on view through March 29. The exhibition is the culmination of the six-week Young Artist Apprenticeship Program, a comprehensive art workshop held each fall and spring semester for a group of area high school students.

Artist mentors led the group of 12 students in individual and group projects inspired by Blaffer’s current exhibitions, Texas Oil: Landscape of an Industry and Electric Mud. Participating students came from from Austin High School, Chavez High School, Eastwood Academy, and Milby High School.

Blaffer established YAAP in 1998 as a free, after-school intensive art-making experience for 12 teens from partnering high school art programs. The goals of the comprehensive six-week workshop include building critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative skills; nurturing creativity and independent thinking; raising self-esteem; and helping students develop good work habits and improve artistic skills. In short, giving students the skills they need for college and the rest of their lives.

The Young Artist Apprenticeship Program’s scholarships are provided with an endowment from the Martha Meier Memorial Scholarship Fund, established in 2006. The Travelers Foundation sponsored the 2009 Young Artist Apprenticeship Program.

Masters Art

The School of Art Masters Thesis Exhibition runs from April 11 - April 25 with the Opening Reception on Friday, April 10, 6-8 p.m. at Blaffer Gallery.

This exhibition marks the crowning achievement of a new generation of emerging artists graduating from the University of Houston. Following three years of research and development, this exhibition offers many students the first opportunity to show their work in a museum context and challenge the public with new, fresh ideas. A catalogue, including selected reproductions of each artist’s work, will accompany the exhibition.

Deadline upon us for 2009 Gulf Coast Prizes in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction:

Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Art is accepting applications for the 2009 Gulf Coast Contests, awarding publication and $1,000 each in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction. This year's contest judged by:

Brigit Pegeen Kelly (Poetry), the 2008 recipient of the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, and Professor of English at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign;

Creative Writing faculty member Antonya Nelson (Fiction), named by The New Yorker as one of the “twenty young fiction writers for the new millennium”; and

Dinty W. Moore (Non-fiction), creative writing instructor at Ohio University and winner of the 2008 Grub Street National Book Prize in Non-Fiction.

Guidelines:

Submit one previously unpublished story or essay (25 double-spaced pages max) or up to five previously unpublished poems (10 pages max). Indicate your genre on the outer envelope. Your name and address should appear on the cover letter only. Include a SASE for results. Manuscripts will not be returned.

Your $20 reading fee, payable to Gulf Coast, will include a one-year subscription.

Postmark deadline: March 31, 2009.

Send Entries to:
Gulf Coast Prize in [Genre]
Department of English
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3013

Can’t beat this deal with a stick, or a bat

The CampusCougars Alumni Association and University of Houston Athletics teamed up to pitch free tickets to all UH faculty and staff and their immediate family members for all 2009 home baseball and softball games. Free tickets available only on game day and if any are left after the paying public plucks down coin of the realm.

Gates open an hour before game time. You can pick up the softball tickets at the booth outside the main gate; baseball tickets at the will-call trailer across from the main gate.

We love you, but we believe in “trust and verify”, so you’ll have to show your UH ID when you pick up the tickets. We did just that for the home basketball game against the University of Central Florida. Great seats, great game, great price!

Oh, yeah, this deal’s only good for home games and not for post-season events.

Check out the Baseball schedule and softball schedule.

Coming productions

Still ahead for the rest of the season are local debuts and world premieres of works by rising playwrights and esteemed masters of the craft.

For additional details, call 713-743-2929 or visit the School’s box office.

• April 3 - April 19, 2009
Buy 1 Get 5 Free by Amy Lanasa; Guest Director, Houston Premiere

What do you do when your sister is a convict, your momma can’t kick her bingo habit, and your husband is still missing from your honeymoon skydiving trip two years ago? Lock yourself in your trailer, of course. This comedy farce, by up-and-coming playwright Amy Lanasa, won the Best Short Play Award at the 2001 Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival.

The school will continue to develop new work for dance and theatre with these annual offerings:

• April 24 - 26, 2009
Spring Dance Concert

Dance aficionados look forward to this annual show featuring contemporary works by faculty and guest artists that is set on the pre-professional dance company, the UH Dance Ensemble.

• April 30 - May 3, 2009
New Play Festival

The New Play Festival offers Houstonians a chance to enjoy the city’s freshest theater. Tomorrow’s star scribes develop scripts under the supervision of Tony winner and Mark Medoff, Distinguished Lecturer, and present them during intimate readings.

Operas and International Piano Festival headline Moores dates

Spring at the Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music brings a spectacular line up for our enjoyment.

The Edythe Bates Old/Moores Opera Center becomes the first university company to produce Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (April 3-6). Other memorable Houston premieres included Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, Weber’s Der Freischütz, Barber’s Vanessa, Massenet’s Chérubin, Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, and Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. See calendar below for dates and other information.

Moores closes its spectacular season with our Symphony and combined Choruses performing Verdi’s Requiem under the direction of distinguished conductor Murray Sidlin.  In addition to these events, our ensembles, faculty and guest performances, and master classes round out a vibrant and dynamic 2009!

Tickets and Information: 713-743-3313

Box Office hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 4 pm
Box Office personnel will confirm phone orders for tickets during business hours only.
                         
Click here for updated information

For all concert information and box office rules, please visit the MSM website!

DATE CHANGE!! Sunday March 22, 5:30 pm
(Originally Saturday, March 14, 4 pm)
An 18th-century Musical Pleasure Garden
COLLEGIUM MUSICUM
with members of Ars Lyrica Houston*
Matthew Dirst, director
Bayou Bend 1 Westcott Street,
Houston, TX
Free!
For Info: 713-639-7750

Saturday, March 28, 2 pm and 7:30 pm
Bach-Vivaldi Festival
CHORAL ARTISTS
HOUSTON SYMPHONY CHORUS*
HOUSTON SYMPHONY*
Hans Graf,* conductor
Charles Hausmann, choral direction
Works by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi
Houston Baptist University
For info: 713-224-7575

NEW! Sunday, March 29, 6 pm
A.I. LACK GUEST MASTER SERIES
Karl Vilcins,* bassoon
MSM Room 175
Free

Tuesday, March 31, 7:30 pm  $10/5
Franz Anton Krager, conductor
Andrzej Grabiec, violin
Sophia Silivos,* violin 
Rita Porfiris, viola
Steve Estes,* cello
Dennis Whittaker, bass
Melissa Suhr,* flute
Robin Hough, oboe
Randall Griffin, clarinet
Blake Wilkins, percussion
Nancy Weems, piano
Timothy Hester, harmonium
Timothy Jones, bass-baritone
Reger: Clarinet Quintet
Arrangements for chamber orchestra:
Debussy: Prélude à  l’après-midi d’un faune
Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Dudley Recital Hall

April

Thursday, April 2, 2 pm Free
A.I. LACK SERIES MASTER CLASS
Ricky Ian Gordon,* composer
Melanie Helton, ** soprano
(Faculty, Michigan State University)
Composer Ricky Ian Gordon and longtime collaborator Melanie Helton coach Gordon’s art songs and discuss his approach to writing for the voice.
Moores School of Music Room 129

Friday, April 2, 8 pm $10/5
Lawrence Wheeler, viola
Judy Kang,* violin
Lynn Harrell, cello
Mozart: Divertimento in E-flat
Beethoven: Eyeglasses Duo
Belin Chapel, Morris Cultural Arts Center,
Houston Baptist University
For info: (281) 649-3338

EDYTHE BATES OLD/MOORES OPERA CENTER:
Buck Ross, producer/director
Lucy Arner, music director

Friday, April 3, 7:30 pm
Saturday, April 4, 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 5, 2 pm
Monday, April 6, 7:30 pm RS  $15/10

The Grapes of Wrath
by Ricky Ian Gordon
A Houston premiere!
Set off with the Joad family down Route 66 to find work in the golden land of California.  This American epic just premiered in 2007 to ecstatic reviews and audience accolades.  The Grapes of Wrath is a moving, heart-wrenching saga that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit. We are honored to be the first university production of this great work, and it will be an experience you will talk about for years to come. Sung in English. 

Thursday, April 9, 7 pm  Free
A.I. LACK SERIES MASTER CLASS
William Preucil,* violin
(Concertmaster, Cleveland Orchestra)
Dudley Recital Hall

Monday, April 13, 7:30 pm  $10/5
Remembrance
PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
Blake Wilkins, director
Works by Engelman, Xenakis, Hartke

Wednesday, April 15, 7:30 pm  $10/5
AURA CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
Rob Smith, director
Jaemi Loeb, assistant director
Works by award-winning student composers Hugh Lobel and Tyler Ruberg, more

Friday, April 17, 7:30 pm RS $15/10
BALLET ORCHESTRA
with HOUSTON BALLET BEN STEVENSON ACADEMY*
Franz Anton Krager, conductor
Stanton Welch,* artistic director

NEW! Sunday, April 19, 6 pm Free
A.I. LACK GUEST MASTER SERIES
Rian Craypo,* bassoon
MSM Room 175

Monday, April 20, 7:30 pm  $10/5
Muses and the Mythic
TRIO ANGELICO
Jennifer Keeney, flute
Sonja Bruzauskas,* mezzo-soprano 
Anita Kruse,* piano 
Works by Mozart, Debussy, Gluck, and the premiere of Musaic by Paul English
Dudley Recital Hall

Wednesday, April 22, 7:30 pm  $10/5
JAZZ ORCHESTRA
JAZZ ENSEMBLE
Jon Faddis,* trumpet
Noe Marmoleo, director
Ryan Gabbart, assistant director

Friday, April 24, 7:30 pm $10/5
WIND ENSEMBLE
David Bertman, director
Kenneth Goldsmith,* violin
Works by Gottschalk, Villa-Lobos, Persichetti, Berlioz, Barber, Sousa, Hindemith, Strauss

Sunday, April 26, 3 pm  $10/5
SYMPHONIC BAND
SYMPHONIC WINDS
David Bertman, John Alstrin, directors
Works by Graham, Welcher, King, Wilson, Reed, Gillingham,
Camphouse, Bernstein, Chance, Grundman, Ellerby, Grainger, Sousa, Sparke

Thursday, April 30, 8 pm
Sunday, May 2, 8 pm
Monday, May 3, 8 pm
CHORAL ARTISTS
HOUSTON SYMPHONY CHORUS*
HOUSTON SYMPHONY*
Leonard Slatkin,* conductor
Charles Hausmann, choral direction
Roberto Sierra: Missa Latina
Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana
For info: 713-224-7575

May

Friday, May 1, 7:30 pm RS $15/10
Verdi’s Requiem: a Defiant Requiem
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
and combined MOORES SCHOOL CHORUSES
Murray Sidlin,* conductor
Franz Anton Krager, orchestral direction
Betsy Cook Weber, Richard Robbins, Justin Smith, choral direction
Cynthia Clayton, soprano
Melanie Sonnenberg, mezzo-soprano
Joseph Evans, tenor
Hector Vasquez, bass-baritone
Distinguished guest conductor Murray Sidlin leads the school’s combined forces in a moving version of the Verdi Requiem inspired by prisoners of Nazi concentration camp Terezin who gave 16 performances, singing libera me and salva me boldly and directly to their captors. Illuminated by video footage and narration by prisoners, this is, indeed, a “Defiant Requiem.”

June

20th Anniversary Season
Immanuel & Helen Olshan
2009 TEXAS MUSIC FESTIVAL

ORCHESTRA SERIES CONCERTS

Saturday, June 13, 7:30 pm
TMFORCHESTRA
Franz Anton Krager, conductor
Richard Dowling, piano    
Mozart: Piano Concerto in E-flat, K. 482
Strauss: Alpine Symphony

Friday, June 19, 7:30 pm
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Stephen Threlfall, conductor
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
Britten: Suite on English Folk Songs
Stravinsky: Pulcinella (complete)

Saturday, June 20, 7:30 pm
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Lavard Skou-Larsen, conductor
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat, K. 543
Sibelius: Pelléas and Mélisande (excerpts)
Ibert: Divertissement

Saturday, June 27, 7:30 pm
TMF ORCHESTRA
Josep Caballé-Domenech, conductor
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist
Competition Winner, soloist
Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3 in A minor

Saturday, July 3, 7:30 p.m.
TMF ORCHESTRA
Barry Jekowsky, conductor
Elmar Oliveira, violin
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14
Theofanidis: Symphony (commission premiere)

DISTINGUISHED ARTIST SERIES CONCERTS

Tuesdays, June 9, 16, 23 and 30, 7:30 pm
Chamber music at its best with TMF faculty artists, guests, and the TMF Jazz Project.

Transcript of Dean's Message

Hello. I’m Joe Pratt, the Interim Dean of your College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Houston.

Over the past month, I’ve met with many of our alumni and community partners, listened to their success stories, and shared some of ours.

And this month, in Graffit-e, we have several great stories to share with you.

Professor Nick Kannellos adds to his long list of honors with his induction into the Spanish American Royal Academy for Literature, Arts, and Sciences.

Theatre major Chelsea Stanley, also known to Cougar fans as our mascot Shasta, tells us how a scholarship is helping her achieve her dream of a college education.

You’ll also meet Hanneke Faber, a CLASS alumna and youngest vice president for Proctor & Gamble, who, along with her husband, Aris Economon, also a UH alumnus, established a travel scholarship in The Honors College.

And, you’ll meet Anthropology professor Susan Rasmussen who helped organize the recent symposium on Urban Health and Anthropology.

We’ll also bring you some great pictures from the annual Moores School of Music Society’s 22nd Annual Dinner Concert.

We love to share the great things we’re doing in CLASS, and, of course, we’d love to hear from you. Stop by for a visit, or drop us note.

More at CLASS

For more information about what’s going on at CLASS, please visit our News & Events page.

Make sure you visit the CLASS homepage 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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