Tue May 26
In trying to understand the potential effects of COVID-19 on society, some commentators have looked to the Black Death – the name given to the Yersinia Pestis plague that first ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351. The Black Death started the Renaissance, caused the end of serfdom and “feudalism,” led to the Reformation and so forth. While…
Tue May 26
English Major and future MFA student Jada Reyes won the 2020 Information Technologies and Resources (IT&R) Outstanding Student Support award for her work as a student assistant at the John C. Hitt Library. One of Jada’s primary accomplishments was her participation in a video companion to a series of research modules created by Dr. Barry…
Wed May 20
With COVID-19 confining us to our homes for the majority of our days, binge-watching is at an all-time high. And while you should definitely be taking breaks and move around between episodes and movies, there’s no reason you shouldn’t continue to take in as many cinematic masterpieces as you can during this period of heightened down…
Wed May 13
The events of the past two months have unfolded with terrifying suddenness only to be followed by a slow drip of grim news. Within three days of our spring break we learned that classes had been canceled for the rest of the month, with the news coming just a few days later that all in-person…
Tue May 12
Censorship in the classroom — that’s the profound theme of the University of Central Florida’s student-produced documentary “Filthy Dreamers,” which just received the 2020 Ogeechee International History Film Festival’s Best Student Film Award. The Ogeechee International History Film Festival is the only open submission, juried, international cinema program of its kind. In the past, festivals devoted to…
Wed May 6
In 2020, the College of Arts and Humanities recognizes 25 staff members for their extensive dedication to UCF. Three of these staff members received prestigious honors that include a financial award of $600 each. In a message to all faculty and staff, Executive Associate Dean Lyman Brodie and Special Assistant to the Dean Paul Lartonoix…
Wed May 6
The Department of Writing and Rhetoric hosted a virtual graduation celebration prior to the May 2 commencement ceremony for 15 graduating graduate and undergraduate students in order to recognize their accomplishments. The graduates were joined by their friends, family and Writing and Rhetoric faculty and staff. In addition to celebrating the new graduates, the department…
Wed May 6
(Illustrations by Nathan Holic ’02 ’07MFA) I. Breakfast Under Quarantine This is my family. There are five of us, and in ordinary times we pretend that we have it all together. (We don’t, but it’s fun to pretend.) I’m an associate lecturer in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric, teaching four classes each semester, and…
Mon May 4
From an early age, Thomas Pring ’20 loved video games — but he never thought he’d end up where he did. “I was always the kid who would stay in his room playing video games growing up,” he says. “A lot of those games left an impression on me and I thought âWhat kind of video games…
Mon Apr 27
When Kevin Mercer, an instructor in the History department and double alumnus of UCF, offered his students an extra credit assignment about COVID-19, he figured his students would have creative responses, but he wasn’t expecting the assignment to go viral. However, when he shared the assignment on Twitter, it garnered national attention and he has since…
Fri Apr 24
04/24/20 Update: Due to the Coronavirus, ArtFields announced that they have canceled the in-person Artfields 2020 celebration. Instead, they are sharing the 2020 artists’ submissions virtually on their website. You can see the work from this year’s artists including quite a few of our own students and alumni! For more information, visit: https://www.artfieldssc.org/ CLICK HERE FOR…
Fri Apr 24
Congratulations to the faculty members from the College of Arts and Humanities who have been selected to receive 2019-20 UCF Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) Awards or Research Incentive Awards (RIA). The TIP rewards teaching productivity and excellence. The award recognizes in-unit employee contributions to the university’s key goals of offering the best undergraduate education available…
Mon Apr 20
The American Advertising Awards, home of the ADDY Award, is one of the industry’s largest creative competitions, with nearly 35,000 professional and student entries each year. The 2020 awards included three UCF students, McKenzie Estes, Gi-ting Chen, Ryan Pesch, and one 2004 alumna, Annika Matos. The ADDYS originated in Florida in 1960 and became a…
Fri Apr 17
In addition to its contribution to the arts and society, music has been shown to make you smarter and boost your immune system. As the semester nears its end — coupled with the stress of the coronavirus pandemic — UCF has turned to four faculty members from the music department for suggestions on the best music…
Thu Apr 16
Rachel Greenwald, a graphic design student, is the 2020 recipient of the James R. Hopes Scholarship, for her impressive first attempt at a piece made entirely of sheet metal. The annually-awarded scholarship was established in 2010 to help promising visual arts and design students advance their careers. Greenwald, who is pursuing a major in Emerging Media –…
Thu Apr 16
This year, 11 music students have been awarded scholarships to recognize their academic achievements, musical ability and contributions to the UCF School of Performing Arts. The awards were announced at the Spring Music Honors Forum held virtually this year. See the full list of winners below. Presser Foundation Scholarship $4000 for winner, $1000 runner-up The Presser…
Wed Apr 15
Zeynep Elshaer, who is majoring in biomedical sciences and Spanish at UCF, wants to be a doctor who won’t let language get in the way of delivering good care. In her own family, Elshaer has seen firsthand the struggle of her Middle Eastern mother to grasp what exactly a doctor is telling her. It wasn’t just a language barrier,…
Fri Apr 10
As UCF Police Chief Carl Metzger ’03MS prepared for the opening of the COVID-19 testing site on campus Monday, his biggest concern was the safety of his officers working the site. So he turned to his neighbor, Professor Kristina Tollefson, for a favor. Tollefson is the resident costume designer for Theatre UCF and knows her way around a sewing…
Thu Apr 9
You may have seen the “ERA Now” buttons at the State of the Union address in February. Or headlines about the Equal Rights Amendment popping up frequently in national news outlets. Or previews for Hulu’s anticipated miniseries Mrs. America, which debuts April 15. Despite being proposed 97 years ago, the Equal Rights Amendment is still being…
Wed Apr 8
The Florida Historical Society honored UCF History alumnus Gramond McPherson with the Gov. LeRoy Collins award for the most outstanding graduate level thesis on Florida history. McPherson’s master’s thesis, “Making Our Voices Heard: Power and Citizenship in Central Florida’s Black Communities,” examines the impacts of government policies on community mobilization in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood and…