Keri Watson Archives | �鶹ԭ�� News

�鶹ԭ�� Applauds 7 Top Faculty at 2025 Luminary Awards

Joe Adams | Photos by Antoine Hart — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 17:03:13 +0000

�鶹ԭ�� honored seven faculty members as shining examples of excellence, dedication and inspiration during the 2025 Luminary Awards.

Established in 2017, the annual awards recognize faculty whose achievements reflect the university’s highest standards in advancing knowledge, inspiring others and elevating �鶹ԭ��’s impact across disciplines and communities.”

“Thank you for the ideas you pursue, the people you inspire and the impact you create,” said �鶹ԭ�� President Alexander N. Cartwright at Wednesday’s celebration at the Burnett House, home of �鶹ԭ��’s president and first lady. “You are advancing what is possible for our students, our state and our world — and proving every day that �鶹ԭ��’s brightest light comes from our people.”

Honorees were selected based on nominations by deans, department chairs and directors from across �鶹ԭ��. The event gathered family members and friends, fellow faculty, former awardees and community leaders to celebrate their achievements.

Joining in recognizing the honorees were �鶹ԭ�� Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs John Buckwalter, Vice President for Research and Innovation Winston Schoenfeld, and Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence Joel Cramer.

Here are this year’s luminaries.

Mohamed Abdel-Aty

Pegasus Professor and Trustee Chair, Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Abdel-Aty is recognized globally as a leading light in transportation engineering and traffic safety, ranking as the world’s most cited researcher in his field for the past five years.

Through innovations in technology, computing, artificial intelligence and sensing, he has contributed to preserving lives and preventing crashes for drivers and pedestrians alike. His pioneering technologies to better manage traffic have been deployed across Florida, the United States and the world, including in Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.

“Dr. Abdel-Aty is a one-of-a-kind researcher whose individual and research group achievements are paralleled only by the state, national and global impacts he has made,” said Kevin Mackie, the engineering department chair who nominated Abdel-Aty for his award.

Over three decades at �鶹ԭ��, Abel-Aty has secured more than $32 million for research and managed more than 90 related projects. This includes development by him and his team of CitySim, a drone-based database capturing driving behaviors at challenging highway sites that has led to new insights for preventing traffic mishaps. Among other accomplishments, Abdel-Aty also developed the nation’s first master’s degree in smart cities.

Kareem Ahmed

Trustee Chair and professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Ahmed is reshaping the future of air flight and space travel. A world expert in hypersonic and space propulsion, his pioneering work includes developing technology that makes a 15-minute flight from coast to coast a future possibility.

Ahmed heads the �鶹ԭ�� Center of Excellence in Hypersonic and Space Propulsion, which develops technology and innovation aimed at enhancing national defense and fostering new frontiers in space exploration. Beyond advancing faster air and space travel, Ahmed and his team’s research holds promise for enabling lighter, energy-efficient rockets that burn clean fuel and travel farther at a reduced cost.

The U.S. Department of Defense supports Ahmed’s work through multiple research grants, which also offer opportunities for his students — the next generation of innovators and explorers — to prepare for space industry careers.

“Throughout his career, Dr. Ahmed has demonstrated exceptional leadership in both research and education,” said Hyoung Jin Cho, Ahmed’s interim department chair, who nominated him for the award. “His pioneering work on detonation-based propulsion and supersonic combustion has expanded our understanding of aerospace engineering and has been recognized by prestigious awards, media coverage, competitive funding and high-impact publications.”

Tim Brown

Associate professor, School of Performing Arts, College of Arts and Humanities

Brown is an internationally renowned theater and music tour designer in demand for his artistry, creativity and ingenuity.

His scene designs are sought by celebrities that have included late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and rapper and music producer J. Cole. Brown has designed environments in world-class venues, such as Madison Square Garden, and for the Festival Musica in Strasbourg, France. When the Los Angeles Philharmonic premiered an original opera, Place, it called on Brown to recreate his designs from the world premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, another premier theatrical venue.

Locally, Brown brings his talents to the Orlando Shakes and Orlando Family Stage. At �鶹ԭ��, he teaches various theatre technology and design courses, sharing his professional insights and leading-edge industry practices to prepare students for successful careers.

“Professor Brown is richly deserving of a Luminary Award. He is one of the school’s top achieving theater artists with an international reputation for excellence and the credits to back that up,” said Michael Wainstein, director of the School of Performing Arts.

Yue “Gurt” Ge

Associate professor, School of Public Administration, College of Community Innovation and Education

Ge aims to make cities safer and more resilient to disasters, from hurricanes to disease outbreaks. He explores how governments, organizations and communities can collaborate more effectively on strategies and action plans to create for stronger and more adaptable places to live.

As faculty co-lead of �鶹ԭ��’s Urban Resilience Initiative, he brought more than 50 scholars and community partners together to boost urban resilience. This work led to two major U.S. National Science Foundation-funded projects: a Smart and Connected Communities grant focused on artificial intelligence to improve risk communication, and a Civic Innovation Challenge grant for establishing educational and urban resilience hubs. Ge is among a few social scientists nationwide to lead both types of NSF projects.

His research is shaping public policy and practice, including through a mobile emergency training app being adopted by �鶹ԭ��’s Office of Emergency Management and a city-supported resilience hub serving Orlando neighborhoods.

“Dr. Ge is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar in the interdisciplinary fields of community resilience and smart cities,” said Doug Goodman, director of the School of Public Administration. “His work exemplifies �鶹ԭ��’s mission to unleash the potential of people and ideas to positively change the world.”

Carmen Giurgescu

Chatlos Foundation Endowed Chair and associate dean for research, College of Nursing

Giurgescu excels as a world-renowned maternal researcher and game changer for elevating her college’s excellence and national prominence.

As a women’s health nurse practitioner, she works to give mothers and babies the best possible start by reducing preterm births and improving health outcomes. Her impactful research portfolio involves multi-millions in grants — including from the National Institutes of Health — as both a principal and co-investigator.

Giurgescu has spearheaded innovative research initiatives, developed training programs and provided critical support to steadily grow her college’s research expenditures, placing it among the top 50 nursing schools nationwide.

“Her research is not only advancing scientific understanding but also transforming clinical practice,” former College of Nursing Dean Mary Lou Sole said in Giurgescu’s award nomination. “Across her college, Dr. Giurgescu has fostered a culture of discovery and collaboration.”

Chiara Mazzucchelli

Associate professor and Dr. Neil Euliano Chair in Italian Studies, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, College of Arts and Humanities

Mazzucchelli’s passion for scholarship and teaching fosters connections to other cultures that expand learning opportunities for students.

She directs �鶹ԭ��’s Italian studies program and is internationally recognized for her scholarship in Italian American studies, particularly on Sicilian migration. Her leadership in strengthening ties between the United States and Italy, including with the Italian consulate in Miami, have led to various grants from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Such partnerships have enhanced course offerings and created new opportunities for students to engage with Italian language, culture and global perspectives.

Meanwhile, Mazzucchelli’s contributions have earned prestigious honors in Italy. Last year, she was named a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy — the nation’s second-highest civilian honor and awarded by Italy’s president to citizens who foster meaningful international relations. In 2023, she received the Euno Award from Kiwanis International in Enna, Italy, for her impact on education and the next generation of scholars.

“Her exceptional combination of research, academic leadership and international reputation make her eminently worthy of this recognition,” said Geri Smith, chair of �鶹ԭ��’s Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.

Keri Watson

Professor of art history and assistant director, School of Visual Arts and Design, College of Arts and Humanities

Watson’s scholarship and community engagement show how the humanities can lift lives and benefit society.

Watson has attracted over $1.7 million from national foundations in the past three years to power her research and the Florida Prison Education Project. She founded and directs the program to open college doors for incarcerated Floridians and change the course of their lives.

Watson’s publications and curated exhibitions, such as Silent Protest: Perspectives on War and Disability and Illuminating the Darkness: Our Carceral Landscape, have sparked widespread dialogue on incarceration, disability and civic engagement.

“Dr. Watson exemplifies what it means to be a luminary at �鶹ԭ��,” said Rudy McDaniel, director of the School of Visual Arts and Design. “Through her scholarship, teaching and public humanities leadership, she advances interdisciplinary research excellence and extends the university’s reach far beyond campus.”

Exploring Tradition and Identity at �鶹ԭ�� Celebrates the Arts 2025

Emmily Stufflet — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:15:09 +0000

�鶹ԭ�� Celebrates the Arts is an annual, two week-long festival that highlights the creativity and innovation of students and faculty from the College of Arts and Humanities. The event inspires a collective celebration of the arts, with performances and exhibitions spanning the fields of music, theater, the visual arts and more. �鶹ԭ�� Celebrates the Arts is held at the Dr. Philips Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Orlando from April 1-13.

This year, the festival spotlights the powerful connections between two influential art figures — the artist Marc Chagall and the composer George Gershwin — and an iconic musical Fiddler on the Roof.

The Connection Between Marc Chagall and Fiddler on the Roof

Chagall, a Russian-Jewish painter known for his dreamlike imagery and use of vibrant colors, drew inspiration from his childhood in a small Jewish village in Eastern Europe. The image of the fiddler repeatedly occurs in his work. Over time, the fiddler began to symbolize Jewish heritage and the preservation of tradition.

Notably, the image of the fiddler on the roof, demonstrated in a series of Chagall’s paintings, including his 1912 work Le Violoniste (The Fiddler), served as inspiration for the title and imagery of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. This production tells the story of Tevye, a Jewish father struggling with the changing traditions in the fictional Russian town of Anatevka. The production later became an Oscar-winning film in 1971 and has since become a beloved story by many worldwide.

“Fiddler on the Roof demonstrates that culture and family traditions are not fixed in time, but that they evolve, and it’s important to embrace that fluidity,” says Julia Listengarten, professor and artistic director of Theatre �鶹ԭ��.

Theater �鶹ԭ�� chose to showcase Fiddler on the Roof at this year’s festival for its global appeal and artistic richness. The production’s themes of family values and tradition explore the challenges that occur when norms change.

George Gershwin: A Product of Cultural Change

George Gershwin, an American composer and pianist, was born in 1898 to Russian-Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. As part of the “new immigration” to the United States in the late 19th century, his parents were influenced by the changing political life of Eastern Europe. Growing up in a city that became a hub for Jewish immigrants fleeing political upheaval in his family’s homeland, Gershwin’s upbringing had an impact on both his identity and music. His work incorporates his Jewish heritage and the American experience, relating to the overall theme of adapting to evolving change. Perhaps his most famous piece, Rhapsody in Blue, combines both elements of the nascent jazz music he heard as a young man with traditional Jewish melodies.

The Benefit to �鶹ԭ�� Students

�鶹ԭ�� Celebrates the Arts provides students with hands-on experiences while also immersing them in cultural history.

Under the guidance of Debi Starr, associate lecturer of Studio Art, over 300 students from the are bringing Chagall’s imagery to life through 3D sculptures.

“This is a subject matter the students would never have researched on their own,” Starr says. “Each group of students had to write a research proposal to understand the history behind their work. It’s been a great learning experience for them.”

Through this process, students have expanded their design skills by learning how to replicate Chagall’s abstract painting style, using tools like laser cutters to develop sculptures that closely mirror his work.

The benefits go beyond the visual arts department. Students involved in the production of Fiddler on the Roof are not just performing an iconic musical; they’re fully immersed in a narrative about Jewish identity, tradition and resilience.

“I’ve gained my historical perspectives through the shows I’ve helped produce and the research they have led me to,” says Michael Wainstein, director of the . “Being part of this production will give students a different perspective on how history shapes people today.”

A Celebration of Art and History

The festival will feature a special talk titled The Life and Work of Marc Chagall, presented by art historian and �鶹ԭ�� School of Visual Arts and Design Assistant Director Keri Watson and theatre professor Listengarten, to discuss the artist’s impact and legacy. Attendees can look forward to a special lineup, including A Gershwin Celebration, a pre-show talk with Ken Hanson, �鶹ԭ�� professor of Judaic studies, before the opening performance of Fiddler on the Roof on April 10, with additional performances through April 13. The festival also features Celebrating Chagall 3D sculptures displayed on the grand staircase of the Dr. Philips Center for the Performing Arts and much more.

�鶹ԭ�� Celebrates the Arts 2025 promises to be an enriching experience for the Central Florida community. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the

�鶹ԭ�� Celebrates “Silver Sparrow” During NEA Big Read: Central Florida

Nicole Wills ’20 — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 15:20:05 +0000

If you’ve set a New Year’s resolution to read more books in 2021, you can start making good on your promise with “Silver Sparrow,” part of the NEA Big Read: Central Florida program. �鶹ԭ�� faculty, staff and students can pick up a complimentary copy at the John C. Hitt Library of Tayari Jones’ fiction novel on Jan. 11 during the Big Read’s kick-off event from 1–3 p.m.

The NEA Big Read: Central Florida is a program designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment. This year, it runs from Jan. 11 through Feb. 23 and will feature a series of exciting events related to the novel.

Silver Sparrow was added to the NEA Big Read Library of classics in 2016. Jones’ website describes the book as “a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and the teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s families — the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters.”

“Jones’ book…offers an excellent opportunity for �鶹ԭ�� to bring impactful programs that celebrate the role of literature in our community,” says Keri Watson, director of the NEA Big Read: Central Florida. “Our programming will coincide with �鶹ԭ��’s celebration of Black History Month, and we are working with Africana Studies to bring the Big Read to a new campus audience.”

�鶹ԭ�� is one of 84 communities nationwide participating in the NEA Big Read this year, receiving a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. This is the sixth consecutive year the College of Arts and Humanities has received NEA funding to host the program.

NEA Big Read Events

Additionally, from Jan. 11 through Feb. 5, the �鶹ԭ�� Art Gallery will host But Before Bone is Skin, an exhibition curated by Jonell Logan, creative director for the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, N.C.

On Jan. 22, a keynote address by Logan will take place via Zoom. She will discuss the relationship between the visual and literary arts, Silver Sparrow and the ways in which the novel’s themes informed the artwork featured in But Before Bone is Skin. On Jan. 28, contributing artists to the exhibition will discuss their artwork and how the themes of the book inspired their work in an artist panel via Zoom.

In addition, Seminole County Public Libraries will host daytime and evening book-discussion groups at each of its five branches, for a total of 10 book clubs this year. All clubs and discussions will take place via Zoom and are free and open to the public.

Visit �鶹ԭ��’s Big Read website to learn more about the NEA Big Read: Central Florida and register for the program’s upcoming events.

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.

NEA Big Read Celebrates 6th Year of Programming with ‘Silver Sparrow’

Mollie Guerrero — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 16:19:23 +0000

The �鶹ԭ�� is one of 84 communities nationwide participating in the NEA Big Read from September 2020-June 2021, receiving a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. This is the sixth consecutive year the College of Arts and Humanities has received NEA funding to host this community event. The NEA Big Read: Central Florida will take place Jan. 14-Feb. 14, 2021, and celebrate Tayari Jones’ novel Silver Sparrow.

Jones, a New York Times best-selling author, has written four novels, most recently An American Marriage, which is on Barack Obama’s summer reading list and an Oprah’s Book Club Selection. Jones, a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, has also been a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. Her third novel, Silver Sparrow was added to the NEA Big Read Library of classics in 2016. Silver Sparrow “unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and the teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s families – the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters.”

Several units from the �鶹ԭ�� College of Arts and Humanities, including visual arts, performing arts and history, will host programming, as will �鶹ԭ�� Libraries.

The NEA Big Read: Central Florida brings together several Central Florida institutions. Several units from the �鶹ԭ�� College of Arts and Humanities, including visual arts, performing arts and history, will host programming, as will �鶹ԭ�� Libraries.

Seminole County Public Libraries will host daytime and evening book-discussion groups at each of its five branches for a total of 10 book clubs early next year. Six additional book clubs are planned at the Orlando Museum of Art, the �鶹ԭ�� Africana Studies program, Black Man’s Candor, Afro Artistry, and two at the Florida Department of Corrections’ Central Florida Reception Center.

“2021 marks the 10^th anniversary of the publication of Tayari Jones’ award-winning novel, Silver Sparrow,” says Keri Watson, director of the NEA Big Read: Central Florida. “Jones’ book … offers an excellent opportunity for �鶹ԭ�� to bring impactful programs that celebrate the role of literature in our community. Our programming will coincide with �鶹ԭ��’s celebration of Black History Month and we are working with Africana Studies to bring the Big Read to a new campus audience.”

Watson has been leading �鶹ԭ��’s Big Read initiative since receiving the first programming grant in 2015. An art historian, Watson takes a broad, interdisciplinary view of how literature influences and is influenced by other disciplines. The novels �鶹ԭ�� has read are Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (2016), John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (2017), Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears (2018), Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (2019), and Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried (2020).

Other principal investigators on the grant include Julia Listengarten from the School of Performing Arts, Scot French from the Department of History, and Shannon Lindsey from the �鶹ԭ�� Gallery. Fon Gordon, director of �鶹ԭ��’s Africana Studies program, which is part of the Department of History, will also be involved with program planning. The team is organizing more than 20 events related to this year’s novel, including discussions, an art exhibit and a production of Dominique Morisseau’s play Blood at the Root.

Announcing the winners of the Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts & Wellness Innovation Awards

Arielle Feldman — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 21:05:08 +0000

Two teams have been announced as the 2018 winners of the Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts & Wellness Innovation Awards. The teams, comprising faculty members from across �鶹ԭ�� and the Central Florida community, were each awarded $25,000 for their cross-disciplinary, community-focused and sustainable arts and wellness projects.

The idea for supporting these projects came from Margery Pabst-Steinmetz and Chuck Steinmetz. Pabst-Steinmetz is a long-time supporter and advocate for caregivers, having organized programs to help individuals use art as a way to express themselves and promote self-care. This is the couple’s first gift from the newly-merged Pabst Steinmetz Foundation.

Fourteen teams from across the university submitted proposals for the award and the winners were selected by a panel consisting of members from the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Nursing, the College of Medicine, and several community members.

Read on to learn more about the award-winning ideas.

Bringing the arts to the elderly

As Central Florida’s population ages, new initiatives are needed to make sure elderly residents are happy and healthy. “The Arts and Aging: An Interdisciplinary and Intergenerational Initiative” brings together the College of Arts and Humanities, College of Medicine, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts to show how the literary and performing arts can be used to improve elderly well-being.

Elements of the ACA’s Creative Caregiving program, which brings arts and wellness practices to Volusia County’s elderly residents, will be integrated into the Big Read. A nationwide program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Big Read encourages reading for pleasure through the sharing of a good book. Research shows that reading reduces stress and slows the onset of dementia, so the team behind “The Arts and Aging” will be coordinating its own Big Reads at area nursing homes and wellness facilities.

Additionally, theatre students taking the course THE 5677/4674 “Health & Wellness for the Performing Arts” will partner with medical students to visit these facilities and see the ACA’s Creative Caregiving program in action.

The faculty members, students and ACA members working on this project are:

Julia Listengarten, Professor of Theatre

Keri Watson, Assistant Professor of Art History

Luciana Garbayo, Director of Ethics and Medical Humanities, Philosophy

Christopher Niess, Associate Professor of Theatre

Nancy Lowden Normen, Atlantic Center for the Arts Executive Director

Eve Payor, Atlantic Center for the Arts Director of Community Programs

Loretta Forlaw, College of Medicine

Kate Kilpatrick, College of Arts and Humanities graduate student

Helping new mothers through animation

The postpartum recovery period can be a stressful and confusing time for new mothers. The Modern Languages and Literatures department, the College of Sciences, and the School of Visual Arts and Design’s animation department plan to help by creating “Positive Parenting” videos. These videos will outline the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s nine tips for parenting of infants from birth to year one. However, instead of just stating these points, the videos will present them as memorable fictions or fables. They will be offered in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.

The faculty members working on this project are:

Tyler Fisher, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures (Spanish)

Kimberly Renk, Associate Professor, Director of the Understanding Young Children and Families Laboratory and Research Clinic, College of Sciences

Cheryl Briggs, Associate Professor, School of Visual Arts and Design (Animation)

Nick-Myrca Malebranche-Gauthier, Visiting Instructor, Modern Languages and Literatures (French and Haitian Creole)

Marie Leticee, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures (French and Creole)

�鶹ԭ�� Community Challenge Initiative Backs 2 Projects

Katie Wyche — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 18:30:42 +0000

Two �鶹ԭ�� projects of local concern were recently chosen to receive the university’s support after they were selected as part of the �鶹ԭ�� Collective Impact Community Challenge Initiative competition.

The recipients are:

Florida Prison Education Project, directed by a team led by Keri Watson, an assistant professor in the School of Visual Arts and Design

Collectively Confronting and Resolving the Injustice of Human Trafficking, developed by John Bersia, special assistant to the president for global perspectives and director of the Global Perspectives Office, and Martin Dupuis, interim dean of Burnett Honors College.

The two projects were chosen to help address significant community challenges that have national or global implications. They were chosen from five finalists of community-based projects.

provides educational classes to the 30,000 people incarcerated in Central Florida.

“By 2020, an estimated 65 percent of all jobs will require post-secondary education,” Watson said. “But most prisoners in Florida have limited access to higher education despite the fact that statistical evidence overwhelmingly confirms that a college education reduces recidivism, increases employment opportunities, and strengthens communities.”

Each year, 33,000 people are released from Florida prisons, and many settle in Central Florida.

“As the largest university in the state, �鶹ԭ�� is well-positioned to bring transformative education to those behind bars,” Watson said.

Collectively Confronting and Resolving the Injustice of Human Trafficking is the product of 15 years of progress by campus and community partners to raise awareness of the problem. The situation has received some recent national and international attention, but the organizers of this project say the effort to combat trafficking is more important than ever.

“Many people think that this happened years ago and don’t know or won’t accept that it’s going on today in our backyard,” said Bersia, also co-director of the Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery. “Unfortunately, Florida has the awful distinction of being a hotbed of slavery and trafficking.”

The two project were selected because the initiative was “looking for comprehensive, multifaceted, interdisciplinary strategies that will create solutions for acute, complex community issues,” said Lisa Guion Jones, associate provost for strategy and special assistant to the president. Nearly 800 faculty and staff members helped in the selection process.

�鶹ԭ�� to Join The Big Read with Free Books, Lectures, Play

Victoria Weston — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 14:58:59 +0000

As part of the upcoming annual Big Read supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, �鶹ԭ�� will celebrate The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, the debut novel of African journalist and MacArthur Foundation Fellow Dinaw Mengestu. Events include an art exhibition, play, book clubs, lectures, artist talks and book signing. Woven throughout these events is the goal of revitalizing reading as a shared community initiative.

�鶹ԭ��, in collaboration with the Seminole Public Library, received a grant to host the NEA Big Read in Central Florida from Jan. 8 to Feb. 4. An initiative of the NEA in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read was established to broaden our understanding of the world and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. �鶹ԭ�� is one of 75 nonprofit organizations to receive an NEA Big Read grant to host a community reading.

“With this grant we join a select few ‘repeat readers’ who have received the grant more than once,” said project director Keri Watson, assistant professor of art history at �鶹ԭ��. In 2017, �鶹ԭ�� celebrated John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath, and in 2016 honored Zora Neale Hurston and Their Eyes Were Watching God.

��ǳܳ��The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears follows the story of Sepha Stephanos, an immigrant living in Washington, D.C., who finds himself stuck between his identity as an Ethiopian and his identity as an American immigrant. Through his struggles with his failing grocery store and introspective dialogues, Sepha must find a way to move forward in life without forgetting his roots.

The novel has been recognized with several awards including The Guardian First Book Prize, listed as one of The New York Times’ Notable Books of 2007 and the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35,” and was a Seattle Reads Selection of 2008.

��ǳܳ��the Author

Mengestu is an Ethiopian immigrant who escaped a communist revolution and moved to Illinois in the 1970s. He went on to graduate from Georgetown University and Columbia University before traveling throughout sub-Saharan Africa as a journalist. His writing focuses on the lives of those in war-torn areas such as Sudan, Uganda and Congo. As immigration continues to be passionately debated throughout the world, �鶹ԭ��’s Big Read programming highlights individuals’ stories and the effects of displacement.

Mengestu will hold a reading and book signing in the gallery Jan. 18.

Upcoming Events

Activities for the Big Read at �鶹ԭ�� kick off Monday, Jan. 8. As long as supplies last, there will be a free book distribution for the community at the John C. Hitt Library and an exhibit at the �鶹ԭ�� Art Gallery entitled Finding Home: The Global Refugee Crisis. On Jan. 16, poet, journalist, biographer and literary critic Obi Nwakanma will read in the gallery from his latest collection of poetry. Seminole County Public Library will have book clubs and a “Welcome to the Neighborhood”-themed program for its K-5th grade Library Explorers Clubs.

‘The Big Read’ at �鶹ԭ�� to Focus on Zora Neale Hurston

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 19:33:27 +0000

�鶹ԭ��’s College of Arts & Humanities has been awarded one of 75 grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in “The Big Read,” a nationwide program created to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.

Grant recipients around the country pick their own books to feature. To celebrate the 125th anniversary of author Zora Neale Hurston’s birth, beginning in January the college will partner with the Seminole County Public Library to host six weeks of events focusing on her book “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Events will include an art exhibit, lectures, film screenings, theatrical performances and other programs.

Keri Watson, an assistant professor in the School of Visual Arts & Design, wrote the NEA matching grant for a total of $30,000 to support the project.

“Because of our location and the anniversary, it’s a good tie-in for the community,” said Watson.

Hurston was born in 1891 in Notasulga, Ala., but her family moved to Eatonville when she was a child. She later lived a brief time in Sanford, where she wrote her first book, “Jonah’s Gourd Vine,” published in 1934.

Of her four novels and more than 50 short stories, plays and essays, her best known work was the 1937 “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The author, folklorist and anthropologist died in 1960.

Watson said the �鶹ԭ�� project will be complementary to the annual Zora! Festival in Eatonville on Jan. 23-31, which also is also celebrating the author’s 125th birthday in January.

Only three other grants were given in Florida for different books to be featured in The Big Read – Broward Public Library Foundation in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Dade College, and Volusia County Public Library. Participants pick one of 35 featured novels for their programs.

Kicking off the Hurston series will be a reception and art exhibit in the �鶹ԭ�� Art Gallery featuring the work of Boston conceptual artist Eric Gottesman and the students and faculty of the �鶹ԭ�� School of Visual Arts and Design and their colleagues at Rollins College. The exhibit, “The Encounter: Baalu Girma and Zora Neale Hurston,” will be Jan. 11-Feb. 18 and present a fictional encounter between the two writers. Girma was an Ethiopian novelist and journalist who died in 1984.

“Though the two writers overlapped in time, but not in place, Gottesman was inspired to create a work of art that would imagine a meeting between these two important African diaspora public intellectuals,” said gallery director Yulia Tikhonova.

A reception at the gallery to kickoff the series will be 6-8 p.m. Jan. 14.

The other events in the free series are:

Jan. 15 – Lecture: Zora Heale Hurston and Afro-Futurism by Julian C. Chambliss, a Rollins College associate professor of history and director of African and African-American Studies. Chambliss has presented his work to domestic and international audiences, and his commentaries can be found in such media outlets as CBS News Radio, National Public Radio, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel and others. The lecture will be 6 p.m. in the gallery.

Jan. 16 – Film screening and discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the screen adaption of the movie produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Producions. The movie stars Halle Berry, Michael Ealy, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Terrence Howard and Ruby Dee. Following the screening, Scot French, associate professor of history at the �鶹ԭ�� and Director of the Public History Center, will lead a panel discussion with Trent Tomengo, professor of humanities at Seminole State College, and Lisa Mills, professor of film at the �鶹ԭ��. The program will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland.

Feb. 1 – Lecture on “The Life of Zora in Sanford” by Francis Oliver, coordinator of the Goldsboro Museum in Sanford. The noon lecture will be at the Sanford branch of the Seminole County Public Library, 150 N. Palmetto Ave.

Feb. 2 – Book club discussion. Seminole County Public Libraries’ Book Clubs will read “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and host book discussions open to the public at the February 2016 meetings. The first will be 6:30-7:45 p.m. at the Central Branch, 215 N. Oxford Road, Casselberry.

Feb. 3 – Book club discussions 6:30-7:45 p.m. at the east branch library, 310 Division St., Oviedo, and west branch library at 245 N. Hunt Club Blvd., Longwood.

Feb. 4 – Seminole County youth services librarians will present a school age program that will share a few of Hurston’s collected folklore tales. Storytelling will be presented with puppets, followed by a related science experiment, and an opportunity to make art that relates to one of the tales presented. Hurston collected folktales as she traveled the back roads of Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisana so that the spirit and richness of the oral storytelling tradition could be shared and preserved. The programs will feature stories from “What’s the Hurry, Fox?,” “Lies and other Tall Tales,” and “Go Gator and Muddy the Water.” The program will be 3-5 p.m. at the northwest branch library, 580 Green Way Blvd., Lake Mary.

Feb. 5-7 – “New Windows Looking Back” glass art project. Glass artist Therman Statom will involve children at the Midway Safe Harbor Community Center in the creation of a glass sculpture inspired by “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Statom is an American Studio Glass artist whose primary medium is sheet glass. He cuts, paints and assembles glass to create three-dimensional sculptures. Sound and projected digital imagery are also features of the environmental works. The project will be at 2405 Rightway, Sanford.

Feb. 9 – Book club discussion at east branch library, 310 Division St., Oviedo, 1-2:15 p.m.

Feb. 10 – Book club discussion at north branch library, 150 N. Palmetto Ave., Sanford, 6:30-7:45 p.m.

Feb. 16 – Book club discussion at northwest branch library, 580 Green Way Blvd., Lake Mary, 12:30-1-45 p.m.

Feb. 16 – “Their Eyes, Our Voices” game jam and showcase. The �鶹ԭ�� School of Visual Arts & Design and �鶹ԭ�� Art Gallery will showcase games students created that were inspired by “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The evening will feature a guest performance by Dietrich Squinkifer, a writer, programmer, musician and visual artist. The activity will be 6-8 p.m. at the art gallery.

Feb. 17 – Seminole County youth services librarians will present their program for school age children that will share a few of Hurston’s collected folklore tales 3-5 p.m. at the northwest branch library, 580 Green Way Blvd., Lake Mary.

Feb. 23 – Film screening of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” at northwest branch library, 580 Green Way Blvd., Lake Mary, at noon.

Feb. 24 – Seminole County youth services librarians will present their program for school age children that will share a few of Hurston’s collected folklore tales 3-5 p.m. at the west branch library, 2445 N. Hunt Club Blvd., Longwood.

Events are still being added to The Big Read. For the up-do-date schedule, check back at http://bigread.cah.ucf.edu/.

Watson said she plans to apply for another grant next year for The Big Read with a different book.

Sideshow Wonders to Visit �鶹ԭ�� Art Gallery

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 19:03:32 +0000

Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up to see the Bearded Lady, Lobster Boy, and Sealo the half man/half seal – just inside this door at the �鶹ԭ�� campus!

Just like the oversold promises of carnival barkers of the past, these midway icons of yesteryear may not actually be present, but you can see images of them at the �鶹ԭ�� Art Gallery’s “Step Right Up: Art of the Sideshow” exhibit of original painted banners, photographs, sculptures and films.

Featured in the July 16-Aug. 29 exhibit in the Visual Arts Building are some of the huge signs used to entice spectators to see whatever was inside, whether an anatomical wonder, scientific anomaly or colorful carnival character.

The most common size of the era’s historic sideshow banners was 10 feet wide and 8 feet high, but one exhibited 50-by-22-foot painting of funhouse clowns will take up one whole wall at the gallery.

“I bought it many years ago and believe it or not have never seen the whole thing. I never had a place large enough to display it,” said Howard Marks, a local attorney and art collector whose banners are on loan for the show.

Marks’ banners date back to the 1920s and all have a Florida connection because Gibsonton near Tampa was the summer home of circus performers and painters.

“The clown banner is stunning because of its size, the number of characters, and its condition,” said Keri Watson, a �鶹ԭ�� assistant professor of art history who curated the show. “I also am a fan of the Bearded Lady; she is quite fetching.”

The banners in Marks’ collection by some of the leading painters of the 20th century – Fred Johnson, Snap Wyatt, Jack Sigler and Johnny Meah – are an important part of Americana, she said.

“Circuses, state fairs and sideshow attractions were popular forms of leisure and entertainment from the 1840s through the 1950s. Offering the ultimate escape from the day-to-day, the sideshow was an area of the fair where for an additional five or ten cents viewers could see extraordinary people billed as exotic wonders.”

The brightly painted signs of this disappearing art style generally were created by commercial artists working for tent and awning companies.

“These artists used their imaginations, fine art, and popular culture for inspiration,” Watson said, “and they employed a variety of techniques to emphasize and exaggerate the contrast between the unusual and the normative.”

But today with printing companies and digital technology, signs are rarely painted by hand, and with the decline of traveling circuses and sideshows there is little commercial demand for sideshow banners.

Other works in the exhibit are fair photographs by Reginald Marsh, Marion Post Wolcott, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, Ben Shahn and �鶹ԭ�� photography professor Layne Wyatt; contemporary paintings by Arnold Mesches; sculptures by Rigoberto Torres and �鶹ԭ�� students; and a video/sculptural installation by Carl Knickerbocker of Oviedo. Two documentary shorts (“Johnny Meah, The Czar of Bizarre” and “Ward Hall, King of the Sideshow,” made by �鶹ԭ�� film students Milos Ajdinovis and Yson Dickson) will be on a continuous video loop at the gallery.

The free exhibit will have an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, and will then be open during the gallery’s regular hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Yulia Tikhonova, gallery directory, has lined up some additional free collaborations for the six-week exhibit:

Aug. 25, 6 to 8 p.m. – Film screening of the 1932 cult classic “Freaks,” featuring Harry and Daisy Earles, Daisy and Violet Hilton, Johnny Eck, Prince Randian, and Frances O’Connor. In the film, the carnival “freaks” are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the “normal” members of the circus who are part of a conspiracy. The film will be screened next door to the gallery in Visual Arts Building Room 132.
Aug. 26, 6 to 8 p.m. – Film screening of the 1999 documentary “Sideshow: Alive on the Inside.”This film looks at the world of the circus and carnival sideshows, and how the headliners found happiness in their careers. Also shown in VAB 132.
Aug. 27, 6 to 8 p.m. – Closing reception in the gallery with guest appearances by Johnny Meah, one of the last banner painters and a veteran sideshow performer, and impresario Ward Hall, both featured in the documentary shorts to be shown at the gallery. There will be cotton candy, corn dogs and catering by 4Rivers Smokehouse.
Aug. 29, 4 p.m. – “A Look at the Sideshow,” a performance piece in the gallery written and directed by �鶹ԭ��’s Be Boyd and John Shafer. The play portrays the challenging lives of real sideshow performers such as John Merrick, The Elephant Man; Annie Jones, The Bearded Lady; Francesco A. Lentini, The Three-legged Wonder; and Grady Stiles, Lobster Boy.