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                                                              College of Liberal Arts 

CoLA Color
CoLA Weekly
 
Friday, February 26, 2016  

The Collegiate Chorale is gearing up and excited for their tour of Italy where they have been invited to perform as part of the American Celebration of Music in Italy at Sant'Eustachio in Rome and Chiesa di San Filippo Neri in Florence.  They will also participate and sing in a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and in a Mass in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. What a great opportunity for this excellent group of 31 singers at the top of their game. Congratulations to Chorale Director Hank Dahlman and faculty members Kim Warrick, Ginger Minneman, and Amanda Roberts for preparing the students and for leading the way. Have fun all!

 
 
This semester CLASS (Center for Liberal Arts Student Success) has organized Feasting With Faculty where students can sign up to have lunch with faculty and get to know them better. So far faculty feasters have included Lee Hannah, Political Science, David Seitz, English, Noeleen McIlvenna, History, and Karen Lahm, Sociology.  March's faculty lineup includes Amy Hubbard, Anthropology, James Carter, Social Work, and J. Alex Alexander, Communication.  It sounds like it has been a huge hit with everyone! Great work to Becca Salay and her team for organizing these meals!

Wright State students excelled and led at the 23rd DAYMUNC (Dayton Model United Nations Conference) held February 5-6 at Sinclair Community College. Jessica Loving, Political Science, won the Outstanding Paper Award. Honorable Mention plaques went to veteran delegate Amanda Baker, Political Science, (as China in Simulated Security Council) and first-year delegate Allyson Clark, International Studies, (as Israel in the COPUOS Committee). WSU delegates Dan Palmer, Accountancy, Paige Bokman, International Studies, and Ummey Tabassum, Public Administration, won Honorable Mention certificates for their efforts. Wright State student Samantha Hall, International Studies, was Secretary-General of the conference, continuing a tradition of WSU leadership at the annual learning conference.

Wright State Model Arab League competed in the Ohio Valley Model Arab League at Miami University February 18-20. Now in its fourth year as a club, this year's WSU team won the award for Distinguished Delegation representing Saudi Arabia. WSU Senior Samantha Hall, International Studies, won Outstanding Delegate for her role in the Environmental Affairs Committee.  Kandice Abdul Kader, International and Comparative Politics, won Outstanding Delegate for her role in the Palestinian Affairs Committee.  WSU students Allyson Clark, International Studies, and Daniel Clark, International and Comparative Politics, won Distinguished Delegate awards as partners in the Political Affairs Committee.  Congratulations to Team Coordinator Vaughn Shannon, Political Science!   
 
Last Friday's 15th Annual Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality Symposium on Gendered Bodies/Gendered Lives was a huge success!  The Keynote Address was presented by Dr. Brittney Cooper, Rutgers University, and the event was presented by the Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies program, the African & African American Studies program, and the Women's Center, with support by the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center and the Office of LGBTQA Affairs.  The presentations were varied and diverse and presenters including Kathleen Kollman, CLASS and English, and a number of our students.  Congratulations to center directors Hope Jennings, Opolot Okia, Nicole Carter, Edward Twyman, and Petey Peterson for collaborating on such a fantastic event! 

Over Valentine's Day weekend The Musical Theatre Initiative (MTI) and Director Joe Deer, Theatre, presented its second Pop/Rock intensive weekend of training for students and faculty. Over the course of two days, nearly 100 students participated in workshops, master classes and demonstrations of contemporary performance skills. These workshops and yearlong festival put Wright State University at the forefront of contemporary musical theater training nationally! 



This week's Dean's Student Advisory Board featured member is Tristina Allen. Tristina is a senior majoring in International Studies with a concentration in comparative cultures. She enjoys her area of study because it allows her to have a dynamic and well-rounded scope of other people, their backgrounds, and their struggles. Tristina serves as the president of The Black Student Union and is a member of the Independent Scholars program which is for youth who aged out of foster care into college. In her free time she enjoys music and art.  She also loves to go skating, exercise, and participate in community engagements and events.
  
 
Next week we will take a pause from the CoLA Weekly while we enjoy Spring Break. I hope you will take some time to relax and prepare for the final push of Spring Semester!  
 
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Kristin Sobolik
Dean
 
 

Upcoming Events:

Women's History Month Scholar-in-Resident: Dr. Victoria Pitts-Taylor, Wesleyan University, Feminism, Science, and Corporeal Politics, Thursday, March 17, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., Millett Hall Atrium.  In her lecture she will examine how power and inequality are entangled with bodies, particularly neurobiological bodies-those defined in relation to the brain and nervous systems.
 
5th Annual Public History Graduate Symposium, The Politics of Public History: When Stories Collide, Keynote speaker: Dr. Ari Kelman, Penn State University, A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek, Friday, March 25, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Student Union, Apollo Room. 
 
   
CLASS CORNER
Please check out the many upcoming activities planned through our Center for Liberal Arts Student Success (CLASS).