Highlights

New Forum Opinion-Columns Feature CAH Writers

College of Arts and Humanities

by Gene Kruckemyer

Posted June 21, 2012

What good are your opinions if you can’t share and discuss them?

Beginning Wednesday, June 20, columnists from around the university will start sharing their viewpoints and analyses in a weekly series called the UCF Forum.

Nine people have agreed to offer their thoughts on a rotating basis for the next 12 months on the UCF Today website. Their backgrounds are as varied as their opinions likely will be. They are professionals from medicine, criminal justice, biology, art and other fields. A student majoring in creative writing and journalism also will offer her perspective.

The topics, which could range in scope from campus to international issues, will be chosen by the writers. The first column is by history professor Dick Crepeau about the summer Olympic Games in London – and whether the benefits of sponsoring such a monumental event are worth the investment.

Forum columnists involved with the College of Arts and Humanities include the following.

Dick Crepeau is a history professor at the University of Central Florida. A member of the UCF faculty since 1972, he specializes in 20th century U.S. history and the history of American sport. He has published extensively in both areas and for the past 20 years has written a commentary called “On Sport and Society” for the Sport Literature Association. The commentary began as a weekly feature on WUCF-FM. He currently is working on a book about the history of the National Football League. His degrees are from the University of Minnesota, Marquette University and Florida State University. He and his wife, Pat, served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia in the 1960s.

Alexandra Pittman is a junior at the University of Central Florida majoring in creative writing and journalism. She also is the online editor for the Central Florida Future student newspaper. She plans to pursue a master’s in creative writing and work at a book publishing house or literary agency. When not absorbed in a good book, writing or vacationing at Disney theme parks, Pittman can be found spending time with her family and friends.

Carla Poindexter is an associate professor of fine art at the University of Central Florida and a studio artist with more than 25 years of professional experience in painting and drawing. She received her BFA from the University of Texas (UTPB) and her MFA from Texas Tech University. She also studied at the University of Houston and the Alfred Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She created the visual art book,The Devil at the Door, and in 2008, created and directed an animated short film in collaboration with composer Jay C. Batzner, assistant professor of music, which continues to be screened at film and music-video festivals. Her work is in private and public collections, and it has been exhibited in many commercial, educational, and public venues.

Eileen Smith is director of the E2i Creative Studio at the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation & Training.  After 22 years in industry, she joined IST to explore how the spectrum of technology can be used in understanding and assessing human performance – for military situational awareness, free-choice learning, classroom performance, and physical and cognitive rehabilitation. Her research initiatives include Learning in Informal Settings in museum and urban environments, and Healthy Living, which includes recovery from military-service complications of traumatic brain injuries and PTSD, obesity and diabetes prevention in young adults, and increasing quality of life and recognition of value for long-term brain-injury survivors.

The series was organized by UCF News & Information. Each Wednesday there will be a new column posted on UCF Today.