Monthly Archives: March 2016

The Bakkhai, a Foot in the Door Production

Pentheus, the young king of Thebes, has banned the wild ritual worship of the god Dionysus, a young “foreign” god (in fact, the son of Semele, princess of Thebes, and Zeus). Dionysus has traveled now to his mother’s city, retinue of maenads in tow, to establish his cult in Greece. When he meets resistance  he drives the women of Thebes mad and sends them to the hills to partake in his worship. Meanwhile, in the city with his chorus of maenads, Dionysus takes on human form in an attempt to change Pentheus’ mind. The ensuing struggle between freedom and restraint, old and new, rational and irrational, foreign and Greek, man and god eventually leads to tragic death and devastation for the city. 

About the playwright: Euripides was one of the foremost playwrights in Greece during the 5th century. Of his 90 plays, 19 have survived including The Bakkhai, his final masterpiece. 

About the translator: Anne Carson is a poet, Classicist, and writer from Canada. She has translated over ten Greek plays over the course of her career, and her translation of The Bakkhai was first performed in 2015 at the Almeida Theatre in London.

See the attached poster for performance times. bakkhai poster

Advanced Spanish-speaking student research assistant position (linguistics, anthropology)

McDonough, Kelly – Spanish & Portuguese

Starting on: As soon as possible

Contact: kelly.mcdonough@austin.utexas.edu

This project studies the representation of Mexican indigenous “informants,” collaborators, and authors in their own right during the twentieth century in anthropological and linguistic research (specifically related to Nahua culture, Nahuas being native speakers of Nahuatl – language of the Aztecs and more than 1.5 million people today). For the majority of the twentieth century many of the indigenous people who provided the information for academic studies were seen as sources of raw data that the “intellectual” academician would then analyze and interpret. In reframing indigenous peoples as intellectuals in their own right,  I argue for an expanded understanding of indigenous intellectualism addresses both the tensions and complementary nature of oral and written modes of creating and transmitting oral and written indigenous knowledges. At the same time, with this approach as example, I advocate for a return to early twentieth-century anthropological and linguistic studies in order to tease out and recover voices of indigenous intellectuals that can and should inform contemporary studies of Nahua culture.

Research assistants will identify linguistic and anthropological studies on/with Nahua people in the 20th century in pertinent journals; download and code essays for general topics; assess how the indigenous person who provided the source material (usually called an informant or collaborator, but sometimes author) is recognized in the essays. 

Qualifications:  

Required: Advanced proficiency in Spanish; knowledge of Word and Excel; basic research skills.

Preferred: Interest in Indigenous Studies

Time Commitment: Negotiable, usually 4-5 hours per week, less during midterms and finals

Duration: through the end of the semester; summer opportunities also available. Research team meets one hour every other week

Compensation: Credit in the acknowledgments of the completed article

The sponsor of this project is available for meetings every other week

For more information please contact Kelly McDonough at kelly.mcdonough@austin.utexas.edu

Student job opening in Dean’s Office

The Student Division has a few job openings in the Dean’s Office for Peer Advisors. For those of you who aren’t very familiar with this position, it largely involves answering policy and procedure questions, making appointments for students and advisors, and helping students fill out paperwork to drop classes, change majors, etc. Some perks of the job include being able to work on homework during downtime, flexible schedules between the hours of 8-5, M-F, a start pay of $10/hr, and the opportunity to gain office experience. 

Students can find the position at http://www.hirealonghorn.org under “Senior Student Associate/Peer Advisor” or job posting 59638. It’s open through Sunday the 27th, though I may extend it if needed. Feel free to contact me with any questions!

Positions in language research (linguistics, cognitive neuroscience) for spring graduates

The Department of Linguistics at the University of Maryland, is looking to fill up to four full-time positions for post-baccalaureate researchers. 

Starting date for all positions is Summer/Fall 2016. Salary is competitive, with benefits included. The positions would be ideal for individuals with a BA degree who are interested in gaining significant research experience in a very active research group as preparation for a research career. Applicants must already have permission to work in the US, or be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and should have completed a BA or BS degree by the time of appointment. The ability to interact comfortably with a wide variety of people (and machines) is a distinct advantage. Applicants may request to be considered for all four positions. 

The positions are open until filled. For best consideration, applications should be submitted by April 1st, 2016. However, review of applications will begin immediately. 

Positions #1–#2: Baggett Research Fellowships 

Baggett Fellowships are full-time positions. Fellows can pursue research in linguistics, cognitive (neuro-)science of language, language acquisition, or computational modeling. 1–2 positions are available for 2016-2017. Positions are for one year and are not renewable.

Contact: Dr. Andrea Zukowski

Position #3: Research Assistant in Psycholinguistics/Cognitive Neuroscience 

This person will be involved in all aspects of studies of language comprehension using behavioral and neuroscientific techniques, including electrophysiological brain recordings (training provided). The person will also contribute to Maryland’s Language Science program (http://languagescience.umd.edu/). Previous experience in (psycho)linguistics preferred. 1 year initial appointment, possibility of extension. 

Contact: Dr. Colin Phillips

Position #4: Research Assistant in Syntax and Morphology 

This person will be involved in all aspects of syntactic analysis of several languages, some of which are new to the study of linguistics, using methods of morpho-syntactic analysis and corpus construction (training provided). The person will also assist in bibliographical research and website construction.The person will also contribute to Maryland’s Language Science program (http://languagescience.umd.edu/). Previous experience in linguistics preferred. 1 year initial appointment, possibility of extension. 

Contact: Dr. Maria Polinsky

Application Requirements

Applicants may request to be considered for all four positions, or any subset. Applicants for any of these positions should submit a cover letter outlining relevant background and interests, including  potential faculty mentors, if applying for the Baggett Fellowships (multiple mentors are both possible and fruitful), a current CV, and names and contact information for 3 potential referees. Reference letters are not needed as part of the initial application. Applicants should also send a writing sample. All application materials should be submitted electronically to the following recipients:

Positions #1–#2 – Andrea Zukowski; zukowski@umd.edu. Put ‘Baggett Fellowship’ in the subject line.

Position #3 – Colin Phillips; colin@umd.edu. Put ‘Research Assistantship’ in the subject line.

Position #4 – Maria Polinsky; mpolinsk@gmail.com. Put ‘Research Assistantship’ in the subject line. 

The Department of Linguistics has shared facilities for testing of infants, children and adults, 2 eye-tracking labs, an ERP lab and a whole-head MEG facility. The department is part of a vibrant language science community (http://languagescience.umd.edu) that numbers 200 faculty, researchers, and graduate students across 17 departments and centers spanning 6 colleges, and is affiliated with the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science (http://www.nacs.umd.edu/) and the Maryland Neuroimaging Center (http://mnc.umd.edu/).

The positions are open until filled. For best consideration, applications should be submitted by April 1st, 2016. 

However, review of applications will begin immediately.

Details about these positions may be found here:

http://ling.umd.edu/baggett/jobs/

Register for Lavender Graduation 2016 today!

Wednesday, 05/18/2016

4:00pm

@ SAC Ballroom

The Gender and Sexuality Center and the Texas Exes LGBT Network are pleased to invite you to the 9th annual Lavender Graduation at the University of Texas at Austin, on Wednesday, May 18th 2016.

Anyone who will be attending the ceremony or Alumni Celebration should sign up here, and if you are planning on graduating, there is a second set of questions for you. If you have questions please contact the Gender and Sexuality Center at gsc@austin.utexas.edu or 512-232-1831.

Register here!

Feminist Action Project Seeks Cosponsorship

My name is Mia Ferguson, and I am a student representative for the Feminist Action Project here on campus. The Feminist Action Project is a student group that organizes an annual activist conference for gender justice in today’s world. 

The title of our conference this year is, “Mapping Out the Crossroads, Beyond Mainstream Feminism”. At this year’s conference, we hope to cultivate an environment where feminism can be explored through intersectionality and explore concepts that transcend the dialogue found in everyday media, such as toxic masculinity, colorism and activist self-care. We are honored to announce our keynote speaker, Kim Katrin Millan, an award-winning, internationally acclaimed artist, educator and writer. I wanted to see if you would be interested in co-sponsoring the program with us. I realize that the Texas Parents Association has already distributed funds to UT student organizations for the year, but there are many ways to co-sponsor other than financially. Our organization would be incredibly grateful for any of them.

 

Feminist Action Project Conference: 

This year’s Feminist Action Project Conference will be held in the evening of Friday, April 8th and Saturday, April 9th in the Student Activity Center.

Ways you can help:

Sponsor our keynote: $1,500 (or any percentage of this fee)

Donate funding for breakfast and lunch: $1,000 (or any percentage of this fee)

Volunteer to take photos.

Volunteer to check people in at registration table, help set up/break down.

Spread the word! Tell your friends, students, faculty, and staff about the event. http://tinyurl.com/FeministAction2016 

Just let us know, and of course you will be recognized at the event, on the programs, and on the Facebook event. 

Learn more about our keynote: http://www.kimkatrinmilan.com/ 

Learn more about our organization: http://feministactionproject.blogspot.com/ 

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/618950668257803/ 

 

Thank you for considering our request to co-sponsor the 2016 Feminist Action Project Conference.  If you have any questions, please contact us by email at feministactionproject@gmail.com. Thank you for your time and consideration, and we look forward to hearing from you.

SW360K Experiential Leadership I

SW 360K Experiential Leadership I

Wednesday evenings 6-8pm SSW 1.214 and Gregory Gym

Due to popular demand, The School of Social Work is again offering a series of two interdisciplinary courses in collaboration with the Experiential Learning and Opportunities Program (ELOP) through the Division of Recreational Sports. The courses bring together the combined expertise of Recreational Sports in experiential learning, outdoor leadership and therapeutic recreation with social work expertise in group work, social justice, community engagement and social change. In the first course, students will progress through a series of classroom lectures, discussions, activities, prominent guest speakers and experiential exercises (e.g. high and low ropes course) along with civic engagement service learning projects to facilitate the development of ELOP core competencies: Social Responsibility; Leadership; Problem Solving and Decision Making; and Group Facilitation. This first course prepares students for the spring course, Experiential Leadership II, although students are not required to take the second course in this series. The spring course will involve more advanced recreational leadership skill building activities (e.g. indoor rock climbing and an overnight adventure trip), peer group facilitation, community service learning projects that will involve the application of skills learned, and additional certification opportunities.

These courses will be co-taught by Chris Burnett, Senior Associate Director of Recreational Sports, Outdoor Recreation and Community Outreach and Mary Beer, LCSW. Both Chris and Mary are adjunct professors in the School of Social Work. Chris brings his years of experience teaching Outdoor Wilderness Leadership courses and his expertise in experiential learning and therapeutic recreation and Mary brings her expertise in group work, leadership and social justice to the course. This creative faculty collaboration will offer a dynamic, challenging and meaningful learning experience that will provide students with valuable skills to bring to their future careers as well as numerous opportunities for personal growth.

There will be approximately two service learning events in the community that will occur outside the regular class time. An additional course fee will be required for this class.

Class size will be limited due to the experiential nature of the course ands permission to register for the course requires an interview. Interviews will be scheduled during the week of 4/18-4/22.

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Chris Burnett at: Chris Burnett  burnett@austin.utexas.edu

Summer 2016 Study Abroad Scholarship Opportunity

The Senate of College Councils has a $1,000 study abroad scholarship to give out for the Summer 2016 semester.

The Summer 2016 Study Abroad Scholarship offers a merit-based $1,000 scholarship to a qualifying student to pursue his or her education around the world through programs offered through UT’s Study Abroad Office.
Eligibility: Open to all UT Austin students, including international students, studying abroad in Summer 2016. Maymester study abroad students are NOT eligible. Applicants may apply for the Academic Enrichment Study Abroad Scholarship as many times as they wish, but once an individual has been awarded the scholarship, he/she may not be awarded the scholarship a second time.
Deadline: Friday, April 1st at 11:59pm. Completed application and one page resume sent to:
senateae@gmail.com

Upcoming Joynes lecture, with free books for honors students

“Dirty Secrets: The environmental impact of factory farming”

Thursday, March 31st, 7 p.m.

Joynes Reading Room (CRD 007)

(512) 471-5787

Will Potter is an award-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He specializes in dissident politics and culture, the policing of dissent, and civil liberties post-9/11. His work has appeared in the world’s top media outlets, including the Washington Post, CNN, National Geographic, WIRED, NPR, the History Channel, and Rolling Stone. His award-winnning book, Green Is The New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege, exposes how non-violent animal rights and environmental protesters came to be classified by the FBI as “eco-terrorists.” This year he was selected as a TED Senior Fellow, and he recently was appointed the Marsh Visiting Professor in Journalism at the University of Michigan. The Joynes Reading Room has a limited number of free books by Will Potter which we will give away to interested honors students who inquire in person at the front desk, CRD 007.