Published: January 22, 2018
UT Honors Program Announces Spring 2018 Symposia Series
The University of Tampa's Spring 2018 Honors Program symposia series kicks off on Thursday, Feb. 1, with a presentation by Stephen Blank, internationally renowned historian of the Tsarist, Soviet and Russian periods and senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington D.C. His talk, titled "US/Russia Relations," begins at 4 p.m. in the Reeves Theater on the second floor of the Vaughn Center.
Throughout the series, resident scholars and researchers at the University as well as guest speakers will present in their areas of specialization. Guest speakers in the series include Richard Chess, award-winning professor at UNC Asheville; Caleb Smith, professor of English and American studies at Yale University; and Dan Berger, author or editor of six books, including Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era.
All lectures are free, open to the public (unless otherwise noted) and held on the UT campus, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd. For a full schedule, see below:
- Thursday, Feb. 1: "US/Russia Relations," Stephen Blank, internationally renowned historian and senior fellow at The American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C., Vaughn Center, second floor, Reeves Theater, 4 p.m.
- Tuesday, Feb. 13: "How Light Gets In: Making Room for Bodies, Hearts, Minds, and Spirits in the Honors Classroom and Beyond," Richard Chess, award-winning professor at UNC Asheville, Sykes Chapel, 4 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 16: English/Writing Symposium, Caleb Smith, professor of English and American studies at Yale, Vaughn Center, ninth floor, Crescent Room, 4 p.m.
- Thursday, Feb. 22: "Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era," Dan Berger, associate professor in the University of Washington Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, Vaughn Center, second floor, Reeves Theater, 4 p.m.
- Monday, Feb. 26: "Inhalational Marijuana: What You May and May Not Know," Mary Martinasek, associate professor of public health at UT, Vaughn Center, second floor, Reeves Theater, 2 p.m.
- Thursday, March 1: "I Can't Get You Out of my Head: Popular Music and Second Language Learning," Vanessa Rukholm, assistant professor of languages and linguistics at UT, Vaughn Center, ninth floor, Trustee's Board Room, 3 p.m.
- Wednesday, March 21: "The Cabaret: Research and Results," Santiago Echeverry, associate professor of film, animation and new media at UT, Vaughn Center, second floor, Reeves Theater, 4 p.m.
- Friday, April 13: "Timothy M. Smith Inspiration through Exploration Award," Victoria Sunseri '18, Vaughn Center, ninth floor, Trustee's Board Room, 11 a.m.
Please note that dates and locations are subject to change. For more information, contact the Honors Program at (813) 257-3545 or honors@ut.edu.
On Sunday, April 8, The University of Tampa’s 2017-2018 Sykes Chapel Concert Artist Series will conclude with a performance by the Philadelphia Brass, called “one of the gems of Philadelphia’s cultural life” by NPR’s Martin Goldsmith. The concert begins at 2 p.m. in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values and is free and open to the public.
The concert will have a special emphasis on American music, featuring works by Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington and Frank Loesser, among others.
On Friday, March 30, The University of Tampa will welcome pianist Frederick Moyer — hailed by The New York Times as “first-class” and The Milwaukee Journal as “a superstar pianist” — for a guest recital. The concert, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Plant Hall Grand Salon.
The program for the performance will include works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Oscar Peterson.
“There are a lot of stereotypes and studies that say boys aren’t as good in second language acquisition as females,” said Harrington, who worked with Assistant Professor Andrew DeMil on the research project, “Gender differences in Spanish Language Learning: Speaking Exams,” which they presented at the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference in February and to the UT Board of Trustees March 22.
“We wanted to do a study of our own here at UT. In the previous year (DeMil) had studied reading comprehension of girls versus boys, so we wanted to study speaking this year,” said Harrington, of Maple Grove, MN. “The results were the same though. The boys aren’t any worse, if not the same, as females. They are just extremely underrepresented.”