FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Art faculty member Brady Robinson will be exhibiting her current photography work at Zones Contemporary Art Fair Miami 2007 during the week of Art Basel. ZONES will feature a selection of outstanding American, European and Latin American galleries fused with special curated programs, screenings and installations showcasing internationally established and cutting-edge artists whose work includes video, painting, photography, drawing, sculpture and performance. For more information, please visit www.gobrady.com/zones.html.

Art faculty member Kevin Haran's recent success was covered in the Orlando Sentinel by Terry Hummel:
"Oviedo artist Kevin Haran was selected for five merit awards from among nearly 400 other entrants in the '9th Annual Painting, Drawing, Photography & Print Juried Online International Art Exhibition.' Several other local artists have also won top prizes in such contests. These online competitions are becoming more common and more accepted and recognized in the art community. Usually, the work is juried by a panel of university art professors, curators, and/or museum directors, so the awards do have a certain 'pedigree' and legitimacy. I've seen Haran's pen-and-ink works over the years, and they are excellent. His pieces always have lots of movement, plots and subplots, perfect for an ADHD art-aholic such as myself! The pen-and-ink drawings that won this award were part of his "War Memorial Drawings" series, where war machinery is personified to express the agony of conflict. Excellent."

Art faculty member Hadi Abbas has received the Best in Show award in the Red Clay Survey, the prestigious Southern contemporary art competition. The Survey is an annual event currently in its twentieth year at the Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama. Only one in eight entries was selected for inclusion in the show.

Juried by Margaret Lazzari of Los Angeles, this year's exhibition includes works of art in virtually every two- and three-dimensional medium. In her exhibition catalog remarks, Lazzari writes, "From the very beginning I have looked for conceptually engaging work, with formal interest and a distinct point of view. However, I was also interested in solid technical ability, because it is necessary to create expression in material form." Lazzari's remarks continue, "There seems to be particular focus on traditional media in contemporary Southern art." Abbas' prize-winning entry is a ceramic piece titled "Covered Jar".

Much of Abbas' work is fired in an anagama kiln. An anagama kiln is a semi-subterranean, high temperature tunnel kiln. A standard firing takes several days and involves the burning of wood, which is thrown into the firebox at the front of an enclosed kiln. As the wood burns, ash fills the kiln, settling on the tempering wares. Over time, as the temperature increases, chemical reactions occur, fusing the ash with the surface of the clay to create a natural glass or glazed surface. The patina or color of this glaze ranges from browns to yellows to blues to purples.

An assistant professor in the Art Department, Abbas teaches several popular clay courses for art majors. An Iraq native, Abbas received his MFA in Ceramics from Wichita State University in 1990 and his BFA from Georgia Southern University. He has taught at UCF since 1990.

The gallery at Flashpoint in Washington, D.C. kicks off the fall exhibition season with Shift, an installation of color photographs by E. Brady Robinson. Robinson is a photographer who exploits the tradition of the "snapshot" to examine social and cultural environments. Her work is informed by the technology of instant mobile image capture, as well as travel and landscape photography. She offers viewers multiple points of view and cross-cultural references while evoking the split second of time during which one experiences fleeting frames of existence from the window seat of a car, train or airplane. Read the Washington Post's review of the installation here. More information on E. Brady Robinson can be found at www.gobrady.com.

Assistant Professor Hadi Abbas has won a purchase award in the highly regarded Red Clay Survey, an annual competitive art exhibition at the Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama. The show is known as an important survey of contemporary Southern Art of the highest quality in a wide range of mediums. Professor Abbas' prize-winning piece is in the medium of ceramics, which he teaches at UCF.

The work of Keith Kovach, Assistant Professor of Art, will be featured in an exhibition entitled Pixel Perfect at the Agora Gallery in New York from October 26 to November 15, 2007. Pixel Perfect is a fascinating exhibition of digital artwork by artists who push the boundaries into unexplored realms of expression. Keith Kovach creates digital prints that peel away and tear apart social convention and delineated artistic genres alike. He creates images of nature and the human body which mirror the decomposition of form. A senior Fulbright Scholar in Media Studies, Kovach has taught at the University of Central Florida, the National University of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania, and at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

The Flying Horse Editions limited edition book Lonely Tylenol was added to Permanent Collection of Special Collections at New York University at Buffalo, Lockwood Library.

35 Limited Edition Collaborations with Larry Cooper and Ryan Burkhart of Flying Horse Editions will be exhibited at Orange County Administrative Building. The prints are being exhibited as part of the Art in Chambers program and focus on the last 5 years of publications, which have earned FHE national recognition in the Arts and Humanities. The prints will be in chambers where county Mayor Richard Crotty and the Orange County Commissioners meet, as well as in the main gallery viewing area of the Administration Building. The works were featured on Orange TV's Community Cafe along with an interview with Ryan Burkhart about the nature of collaborative printmaking. More information can be found online here.

Ryan Burkhart has been recommended as the 2006 CAH Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) award recipient. The TIP program rewards faculty for teaching productivity and excellence. Selection criteria include teaching quality and effectiveness, commitment to instruction, innovation, creativity, and productivity based on a portfolio of assignments and evaluations collected over the previous 4 academic years.

Art Professor Ryan Burkhart is one of 13 artists accepted into a nationally competitive exhibition at the Brian Marki Gallery in Portland Oregon. The show will run from June 1-30. More information is available at http://www.bossworks.org.

An exhibition of recent Flying Horse Editions publications curated by Ryan Burkhart will be on view at Ty Stokes Gallery, Atlanta, GA from July 14 - Aug 14. Works featured will be by Artists who have published at FHE, the Fine Arts Press at the University of Central Florida.

Stella Sung, Eladio Scharron and Rob Reedy will appear on the next edition of "UCF Metro" this coming Sunday, April 1st and again on Sunday, April 8th on WMFE-TV. The program is hosted by Linda Chapin and will air on the local public television station at noon on both dates. "UCF Metro" is produced out of the Film Division by Lisa Mills and her film students.

Professor of English Susan Hubbard has launched her second book from Simon & Schuster entitled The Year of Disappearances. The novel is a sequel to her 2007 book The Society of S. She is the author of two collections of short fiction, both winners of national prizes, and four novels. More information is available at Susan's website.

Professor Paul M. Dombrowski, English, has received an award as a Landmark Author of the Past Fifty Years of the journal IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, at the 2007 International Professional Communication Conference in Seattle in October 2007. The journal celebrated its fiftieth year of publication at the conference.

Dr. Lisa Mills will be heard on WMFE-FM, 90.7 on Thursday, March 27th between 6:30 and 7pm. She was interviewed by Becky Morgan for The Arts Connection, a local radio program about arts and culture in Central Florida. Dr. Mills will be discussing the documentary lineup at the Florida Film Festival. She served on the festival's programming selection panel for the 2008 for the Festival.

Jay Boyar has written a film-and-travel book called Films to Go: 100 Memorable Movies for Travelers & Others, which has just been published by Capital Books. The book includes his reviews of such classics as High Noon, L'Atalante, Vertigo, Los Olvidados, Pather Panchali, To Have and Have Not, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Third Man and Sunset Blvd., among others.

Robert Jones' film Fetus Fetish will be screened September 17 at the Hollywood Laemmle Fairfax Cinema by the New York International Independent Film Festival. Fetus Fetish also won Best Experimental Film at the NYIIFF in May, the Best Actress Award at the B Movie Film Festival in Chicago and Third Place for Best Comedy at the Indie Film Festival in Ohio. For more about the film, visit www.fetusfetish.com.

The first recipients of the History Department's Pauley Endowment Travel Awards are Hong Zhang, Amelia Lyons, and Hakan Ozoglu. The awards will support overseas research.

Jose Fernández, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities was awarded "Don Quijote Awards Professional of the Year" by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando and the Hispanic Business Initiative Fund.

Peter Larson and Connie Lester received the UCF Excellence in Research Award for 2006 and were honored for their books that came out this year.

Luis Martínez-Fernández, the director of the Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies Program and professor of history at UCF was one of the featured scholars in Lejos de la Isla, a film by L.E. Salas about the history, culture and politics of the Cuban exile community in the United States.

Professor Lori Walters was featured in the Orlando Sentinal with a profile of her on-going project "Shadows of Canaveral" at www.capehistory.org.

Prof. Moshe Pelli has just published his new book titled Haskalah and Modernity. The book has been published in the Hillal ben Hayim Library of Hakibutz Hameuchad Publishing in Israel which is devoted to publishing basic studies, research and thought in the general field of Jewish Studies. Prof. Pelli's 12th scholarly book is written in Hebrew with an English abstract. The book deals with the beginning of Hebrew Haskalah (Enlightenment) literature in Germany in the last quarter of the 18th century. It further studies the introduction of modernism into Hebrew literature, and the reception of the early Haskalah during the 19th century.

Keith Folse, Associate Professor of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in the Department of Modern Languages, has been awarded the "TESOL Thomson Heinle Award for Excellence in Teaching." This international teaching award is given annually by the international TESOL association, and the $1,000 award is funded by Thomson Heinle Publishers. The TESOL Thomson Heinle Award recognizes a teacher's excellence in teaching, including the ability to motivate and courage students, development of effective lesson strategies, and implement fair and effective lesson strategies as well as fair and effective evaluation techniques. In addition, the recipient is involved with colleagues in professional development and fosters professional development in students.

Baritone Thomas Potter (Voice and Opera) will sing in Mark Adamo's opera LITTLE WOMEN with the Orlando Opera Company on Friday, May 9 and Sunday, May 11. More information may be found at: www.orlandoopera.org.

Dr. Yun-Ling Hsu will participate in a recital tour featuring the music of horn, tuba, and piano. Concerts include Florida State University (March 18), University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (April 15), and University of Cincinnati (April 17). She will be joined by James F. Wilson, Visiting Assistant Professor of French Horn at Florida State University and Principal Horn of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa, and Jay Hunsberger, Tuba and Euphonium Professor at the University of South Florida. A concert recording is scheduled for release at the end of April.

On February 2, 2008, Dr. Nora Lee Garcia will perform at the Florida Flute Fair with Dr. Ayako Yonetani, viola, and Dr. Lee Eubank, bass. The concert is The Fastest Fingers at the Capitol Room Altamonte Springs Hilton Hotel at 1:00pm. They will perform a piece entitled "Schulhoff Trio for Flute/Piccolo, Viola and Bass".

Baritone Thomas Potter (Voice and Opera) will sing the role of Baron Scarpia in a fully staged version of Puccini's opera TOSCA with the Imperial Symphony in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, January 19. More information may be found at: www.imperialsymphony.org/schedule/special.asp.

Pianist Yun-Ling Hsu is invited by Jay Hunsberger, the tuba and euphonium professor at the University of South Florida, to perform a duo recital with the Norwegian tuba soloist Øystein Baadsvik on Sunday, October 21st, at 7pm in the USF Recital Hall in Tampa, Florida. Mr. Baadsvik is probably the finest tuba soloist in the world today. The recital is being simulcast over the internet at banddirector.com.

Thomas Potter, Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera, will sing the role of "Ford" in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Falstaff with the Indianapolis Opera. Performances are scheduled for May 4 and 6. Details may be found at www.indyopera.org.

Professor Jeff Moore presented a clinic and performed a concert at the Minnesota Day of Percussion at Concordia College in Moorhead.

Thomas Potter will make his debut with Orlando Opera in the role of "Sharpless" in Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly. Performances are scheduled for March 23, 25, 27 and 30. Details may be found at www.orlandoopera.org.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore presented master classes, workshops, and performed an evening solo concert at the Sixth Annual International Percussion Festival in Ukmerge, Lithuania. Earlier in the week he served on the jury of the 2nd Annual Jonas Talocka International Youth Percussion Competition.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore received a second consecutive nomination from the College of Arts and Humanities for the University's Excellence in Professional Service Award.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore presented a clinic and performed a concert at the Idaho Day of Percussion at Idaho State University in Pocatello.

Kimberly Saunders Randall will be featured as a soprano soloist with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park in their February 18 concerts, entitled "Handel’s Heroes and Heraldry." More information may be found at: http://www.bachfestivalflorida.org/.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore appeared at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Austin, Texas. He served on a Collegiate Committee Panel Discussion focusing on preparing students for graduate school and as an adjudicator for the Marching Percussion Solo and Ensemble Competition.

UCF Voice Faculty members Jeremy Hunt and Thomas Potter will sing as soloists with the Orlando Chorale and Orchestra in performances of Mozart's Requiem. Performance dates are November 5 and 12. Details may be found at www.theorlandochorale.org.

Thomas Potter will sing as bass soloist with the Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra in performances of the Bruckner Te Deum and the premiere of Vision of the Earth by Keith Lay. Performances will be October 28 and 29. Details may be found at www.bachfestivalflorida.org.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore had his first book and instructional CD, Drumstick Control, published by the company World Music 4All.

Jeff Rupert performed at the Clearwater Jazz Festival, with the Kenny Drew Jr. quartet.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore gave a workshop and a master class at the University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale.

Jeff Rupert performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, CA.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore's article "Marching Percussion in Hong Kong" was published in the August 2006 issue of Percussive Notes.

Professor of Percussion Jeff Moore performed solos and gave master classes in the summer percussion camps at Washburn University, the Hohner Institute of Percussion-Alma College and throughout the United States with the Yamaha Sounds of Summer program.

Jeremy Hunt presented a lecture on "Breathing for Singers" at the National Flute Association annual convention in Pittsburgh, PA. In July, he gave a master class as well as a lecture on French lyric diction for the high school division of the Intermezzo program in West Palm Beach.

Jeff Rupert performed at the Pori Jazz Festival in Pori, Finland.

Jeff Rupert performed at the Molde Jazz Festival in Molde, Norway.

Thomas Potter was one of two final adjudicators of Orlando Opera's Reyfuss Singing Actor Awards, a national vocal competition which awarded over $7,000.00 in prizes.

Associate Professor Nora Lee Garcia participated in the Powell Flutes tour of Chile in June. She also presented masterclasses and concerts in Chile and Argentina. Later this summer, she will tour Italy and Japan. In addition, Dr. Garcia will appear at the National Flute Association Convention in Pittsburgh where she will perform, join a panel of judges, and conduct the UCF Flute Choir in concert.

Jeff Rupert performed at the Vision Festival in New York City with Sam Rivers's RIVBEA Orchestra.

Professor Shaun Gallagher was recently interviewed for a Boston Globe article by Drake Bennett entitled "Don't just stand there, think." You can also listen to parts of an interview with Gallagher by Martin Hubert for a German Public Radio science program at Science in Focus (Wissenschaft im Brennpunkt). This was a special program on The Body in the Head [Körper im Kopf], recorded March 13, 2007 at Bochum Universität, and aired 20 January 2008. Listen to the program (in German): MP3.

Professor Shaun Gallagher has published a new book, co-authored with Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen), entitled The Phenomenological Mind. This volume explores a number of issues in philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences from the perspective of phenomenology. It discusses such topics as consciousness, temporality, embodiment, action, social cognition, and personal identity.

Daniel Schmicking, University of Mainz, is currently a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at UCF. His visit is made possible by a Siemens Corporation grant in support of the study of German Philosophy. Dr. Schmicking is working on a edited collection of essays entitled Handbook of Phenomenology and Cognitive Science to be published by Springer Publications next year. He will be presenting a Philosophy Department colloquium on his reasearch in October.

The Philosophy Department has organized an international and interdisciplinary conference on embodied cognition. Researchers from 13 different countries, including Japan, Australia, and a variety of countries in South America and Europe are gathering to discuss perception, movement, action, social cognition, and a variety of theoretical approaches to these and other topics. Key note addresses are being given by Andy Clark and Jeffrey Bradshaw. More information available at www.philosophy.ucf.edu/pcs/eeee.html.

Shaun Gallagher was interviewed for Croatian Public Television in October on the topic of background factors in cognition. He was joined by philosophers John Searle (Berkeley), Dan Hutto (Hertfordshire), Michael Wheeler (Stirling), and Susan Stuart (Glasgow). The program will air in 2008.

Shaun Gallagher is Visiting Professor at the Cognitive Science Program at Ecole Normale Supériure, Lyon, in May and June 2007.

Shaun Gallagher is special editor of Janus Head (Interdisciplinary Journal of Continental Philosophy, Literature, Phenomenological Psychology and the Arts) 9.2 (Winter 2006/07), published in April 2007.

Ronnie Hawkins was Guest Editor for the journal Ethics and the Environment, Special Topic Issue on Nature/Culture Dualism, Volume 11, Number 2, published in April 2007.

Bruce Janz has been named Interim Director of the Institute for Humanities and Digital Research.

Shaun Gallagher delivered a series of five lectures on "Body, Agency, and Intersubjectivity" at the Philosophisches Seminar. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany in March.

Nancy Stanlick is principle investigator for a grant entitled "Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility," funded by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. In connection with this project she also received a CAH Research Award.

Kristin Congdon traveled to China with a group of faculty from the University of Oregon for purposes of establishing a research agenda with Shandong University of Art Design in connection with a major Chinese folk art collection and an Institute for Research on Folk Art.

Kristin Congdon is the principle investigator on two humanities grants that are running through the Spring semester 2007. These include Folkvine.org High School Curriculum," and "Folkvine.org Elementary School Curriculum," both supported by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Arts in Education Grant.

Steve Fiore is principle investigator or co-principle investigator on several grants that are running through 2007, including Cognition in natural environments: Using simulated scenarios in complex decision making experiments, funded by the National Science Foundation, Training Perceptual Processes for Superior Threat Identification by Airport Security Persons, funded by the Transportation Security Lab/Federal Aviation Administration, and several grants on team cognition and problem solving.

Steve Fiore is guest co-editor of a special issue of the International Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychology, Volume 4, on the topic of Team Cognition and Expert Teams: Emerging Insights into Learning and Performance for Exceptional Teams, published in late 2006.

Shaun Gallagher received a grant from the European Science Foundation, CNCC Project, to support the organization of a conference on Narratives Alternatives to Theories of Mind at the University of Hertfordshire in England.