CHSS - News

Dr. Becky Black, a UHD Fine Arts alumna and now associate professor at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, recently published a co-written chapter with co-author Chelsea Shannon titled “Critical Digital Making and Public Pedagogy: Student-Institution Collaboration through Exhibition Making on Google Arts and Culture” in an edited book "Critical Digital Making in Art Education", edited by Aaron D. Knochel, Christina Liao, and Ryan M. Patton.

This chapter features a project she created with her ART 1310 Intro to Visual Arts students in collaboration with the MFAH and Google Arts and Culture while she was teaching as an adjunct faculty member at UHD, prior to earning her Ph.D.  Read the chapter abstract.   She also co-authored a case-study in my co-edited book, Socially Engaged Art History and Beyond that features this project. 

Professor Natacha Poggio submitted two posters from her ART 2302 Graphic Design ll class.  Projects created by Taalir Lollis and Maia Revells, respectively a junior and a senior in the Fine Arts program, have been accepted and will be shared at the national event happening October 23, 2020 from Noon to 1:30 pm CST.   Zoom link to this event will be available soon.

This event is sponsored by Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Cleveland State University.  The organizers are hosting a virtual event to contribute to the national collective energy around encouraging college students to vote in the 2020 election. The event, aimed at students participating in voting-themed projects this fall, will give them an opportunity to share their voting and civic engagement creative work with a vast network of peers across the country. This event is a means to draw attention to the collective power of students and stoke enthusiasm for participating in the 2020 election. The event is also an opportunity for faculty who develop civic engagement projects to connect for future support and collaboration.

Maia Revells

 Taalir Lollis

UHD student Alfredo Maldanado joined Dr. Leena Thacker-Kumar in preseting a paper on class conducted research for Political Science 4326. The presentation focused on examining the short and long-term impact of COVID 19 on countries in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA), most of which are plagued by fragile health care systems, failing economies, and political turmoil. In addition to further exposing and increasing the fragility of the health system, COVID19 has also been a catalyst for increase in State Control, further divisions in society between haves and have-nots, pulling out of U.S. military, and a rise in opportunities for Terrorist organizations to increase and consolidate their power. The presentation further highlighted that the impact of COVID 19, on MENA, is likely to last long after the immediate threat of the virus has been mitigated. The long- term impacts include monopolization of power by the States, increase in power by non-state actors like the terrorist organizations, and a resetting of priorities by larger powers (like the US) with reduced involvement in MENA.

UHD’s Associate Professor of Political Science, Dr. Peter Li, was recently interviewed by the BBC World News on the Covid pandemic and China's wildlife policy. Dr. Li is one of a handful of American-based political science and legal scholars who study animal law, policymaking, and their impact on today's globalized society. His recent commentaries and interviews have appeared in many national and international media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, FoxNews, China National CCTV, Channel News Asia (Singapore), National Geographic, Independent, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the South China Morning Post, and others. Dr. Li has also commented on U.S. policy towards North Korea and China's military policy in Houston area outlets. Most recently, on October 29, Dr. Li appeared on Singapore’s News Asia to discuss China’s 19th Party Congress.

Professor Natacha Poggio was interviewed on Instagram Live by AIGA (the Professional Association for Design).  In this interview, Professor Poggio discusses her involvement with AIGA Unidos and the Hispanic Heritage Talks which she has been co-organizing and facilitating. She also discussed the university, UHD students and the role of design in communication.

Listen to the Interview with Professor Poggio

Harris explores Killmonger’s plight in her article and sheds light on how the film’s Afrofuturism (a literary or cinematic vision of a technologically advanced Black society filled with hope and freedom) is solely extended to African characters. The sole Black American character (Killmonger) is excluded from this world.

Read more on Dr. Harris' Article

Dr. Vida Robertson, Director of the college’s Center for Critical Race Studies, participated on a panel hosted by KUHF’s Houston Matters. He discussed important figures in American history worthy of memorializing in public statues in light of their positive influence on U.S. Society. He pointed out that our monuments and memorials are a vehicle of projecting to future generations our present-day aspirations. He underscored how women, in particular, have been woefully under-represented in public installations. He also reflected upon the importance of people who were prominent in the struggle for equal rights. Listen to the Interview

Dr. Vida Robertson, Director of the Center for Critical Race Studies, was interviewed about Kamala Harris by The Houston Chronicle. Read the Interview with Dr. Robertson

Dr. Creshema Murray, a founding Center for Critical Race Studies Fellow and Associate Professor of Communication Studies, was recently interviewed by Houston ABC affiliate, Channel 13. Dr. Murray spoke on how film can be used as a medium for unpacking and rooting-out systematic racism. Her edited book, Leadership through the Lens: Interrogating Production, Presentation, and Power (Lexington, 2017), explores how leadership and social biases are implanted by the media and the entertainment industry.   Dr. Murray's Interview on ABC13

Dr. Murray is interviewed by Fox26.  In this interview Dr. Murray helps identify how to know when your workplace is toxic.  Does working from home impact this sistation?  Watch the Interview on Fox26

Dr. Murray appears on Fox26's Isiah Factor to address Chicago protests. Watch the Interview on Fox26

NPR Town Square
Dr. Creshema Murray spoke on NPR Town Square on Sept. 28th to delve into the Breonna Taylor case and the ongoing scrutiny of justice in cases of police violence against Black Americans.  Listen to the NPR Town Square Meeting

Breckinridge Film Festival Panel
Dr. Creshema Murray spoke on a Breckinridge Film Festival panel, Racism Through the Lens: The Value of Media in Addressing Racial Justice, on September 19th. Panelists examined how film portrays the Black experience, and discussed the pros & cons of different types of films in the fight for racial justice. 
Read more about the Breckinridge Film Festival Panel.

Dr. David Branham joins a panel of non-experts as they discuss topics from the week of August 14, 2020.   Listen to the Broadcast

Dr. David Branham, Professor of Political Science, was interviewed on FOX26’s “The Isiah Factor” regarding Kamala Harris at the Democratic Convention.  Watch the Interview on Fox26

Professor of Psychology Dr. Kristin Anderson was interviewed by the Houston Chronicle about the Houston police oversight board.

Listen to the Broadcast

Assistant Professor of Health & Human Behavior Michael Lemke was interviewed on ABC13 regarding COVID-19’s impact on truck drivers.

Watch the Interview on ABC13

Dr. Daniel Peña's novel "Bang" (2018) was listed as one of the best books about Texas from the Houston Chronicle's list of the Best Books about Texas

CapSource interviews Assistant Dean Crystal Guillory on being an experimental educator and her experiences at UHD. Dean Guillory shares the results of experimental education: "Regardless of the service-project, I see students first hand develop a strong ability to network, speak publicly, write professional proposals, remain organized, collaborate with others, and work within a team."  

Read the interview with CapStone.

Adam Ellwanger, Director of the Masters in Rhetoric and Composition Program and Associate Professor of English, has published a new monograph, Metanoia: Rhetoric, Authenticity, and the Transformation of the Self with Penn State University Press. Charting the history of metanoia from its original use in the classical tradition to its adoption by early Christians as a term for religious conversion, Ellwanger shows that metanoia involves a change within a person that results in a truer version of him- or herself—a change in character or ethos. He then applies this theory to our contemporary moment, finding that metanoia provides unique insight into modern forms of self-transformation.

Timely and original, Ellwanger’s study formulates a transhistorical theory of personal transformation that will be of interest to scholars working in social theory, philosophy, rhetoric, and the history of Christianity.

This innovative text is the first to examine the contemporary psychological experience of African Americans through the lens of a positive, strengths-based model. It combats the deficit perspective that has permeated the psychological literature about African Americans by focusing on the strengths that have facilitated their growth and resilience—while also considering existing challenges and struggles.

The author examines in depth the major areas of psychological research across family, peer, and romantic relationships, education, work, ethnic-racial socialization and identity, prosocial behavior and civic engagement, and the mental and physical health of African Americans today. African American Psychology: A Positive Perspective

Article by By Varah Thornton in UHD Dateline news

Professor Daniel Peña interviews Dr. Beth Hatfield, Dr. Felicia Harris, and UHD Students Maddie Lehnert and Maria Solache on the CHSS Spring Read, Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age.

But what does conversation look like in the era of COVID-19? And how does technology and quarantine change everything moving forward.

Listen to the interview on Soundcloud.

Dr. Darius Benton, Assistant Professor of Communications, presented “Hero or Villain: A Deeper Look into Erik Killmonger of Marvel’s Black Panther” to a capacity crowd as part of UHD’S 2020 Black History Month programming. Dr. Benton illustrated the unique and sophisticated construction of  “villain” in this blockbuster movie.