2017 October Newsletter

Volume 1 | October 10, 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

I am excited to introduce the first edition of the OU College of Arts and Sciences monthly newsletter. We will showcase the best of the best from our college each month, from new research and groundbreaking discoveries to the notable achievements of our more than 550 full-time faculty members and 1,500 staff, and now more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate majors. We will also include a list of important upcoming dates and deadlines.

We would also like to ask for your feedback about topics and for your suggestions on additional articles for upcoming issues. If you have news regarding research, awards, announcements or events we encourage you to submit those items to the college communication office to be included in future newsletters.

PRESIDENT BOREN LEAVING A LEGACY

On Wednesday, Sept. 20, OU President David Boren announced his plans to retire after this academic year. Upon his retirement, he will have served as OU’s president for over 23 years.

College of Arts and Sciences interim dean David Wrobel commented on President Boren's leadership.

If you would like to send notes of appreciation and good wishes to the President and Mrs. Boren please contact the college to facilitate.

10,000+ MAJORS

This semester the College of Arts and Sciences reached an all-time high with 10,291 majors (over 7,700 undergraduates and 2,500 graduate students). Over the last five years the college has seen an increase each year and a growth in enrollment by 33 percent. Nearly 40 percent of OU's students are majoring in the College of Arts and Sciences.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

WELCOME NEW FACULTY MEMBERS

This fall 37 new faculty members were welcomed to the College of Arts and Sciences. Visit the college website to see a listing of the new members of the faculty and learn about their research .

Angela Pharris , Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work, begins a series on the college YouTube channel featuring our new faculty.

Meet our Faculty: Angela Pharris, Social Work

OU RANKED AMONG TOP 50 PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN THE NATION

For the first time in history, the University of Oklahoma has been ranked among the top 100 colleges and universities in the nation , public or private, according to U.S. News & World Report . In its 2018 Best Colleges, OU was among the best national universities as No. 97 overall – up from No. 111 in 2017 – and as No. 41 among public institutions.

92 PERCENT RETENTION RATE MARKS ALL-TIME HIGH

For the second year in a row, the University of Oklahoma has set an all-time record of over 92 percent freshman-to-sophomore retention , ranking OU among the top universities in the nation, both public and private. As the university's largest provider of general education and lower-division courses, the College of Arts and Sciences played a key role in this achievement. The college extends thanks and congratulations to our faculty, staff and graduate teaching assistants for your extraordinary dedication to student success.

OU FOOD PANTRY IN NEED OF DONATIONS

Since opening in March, the OU Food Pantry has provided free groceries over 400 times to university students, faculty and staff in need. Now after six months in operation, funding is needed. You can make a gift to the food pantry through the Thousands Strong platform to eliminate food insecurities and provide resources to the OU campus community in need.

RANDALL HEWES NAMED DEAN OF GRADUATE COLLEGE

Randall Hewes , who has been serving as interim dean of the Graduate College since July 2016, has been appointed to the position permanently . A member of the OU faculty for the past 16 years, Hewes has taught undergraduate courses in cell biology and cell/molecular neurobiology. He served as chair of the Departmen t of Biol ogy from 2011 to 2015.

RESEARCH

KASPARI AWARDED $1.2 MILLION NSF GRANT

MIchael E. Kaspari , has been awarded a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to study MacroSystems ecology —exploring how Earth’s temperature, precipitation and biogeochemistry govern the abundance, diversity and activity of ecological communities.

RESEARCH GROUP AWARDED $10.5 MILLION NIH GRANT

A research team led by Ann West , professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has been awarded a five-year, $10.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to support an Institutional Development Award Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. The IDeA program grant will allow for a greater understanding of human diseases and conditions associated with neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, stroke, chronic and acute bacterial infections.

LEWIS AND WARINNER TRACK MICROBES

Cecil Lewis and Christina Warinner are using technology to cast an illuminating light on the past, hoping to find clues that could help cure some of the most threatening diseases in the world today. Their work was featured by Chip Minty in Sooner Magazine.

NATIVE CROSSROADS FILM FESTIVAL AND SYMPOSIUM MARKS FIVE YEARS

The 2017 Native Crossroads Film Festival and Symposium, “Bodies in Motion,” was coordinated by Joshua Nelson who was featured in Sooner Magazine by Katherine Parker.

FIVE GEOGRAPHICAL ECOLOGISTS WORK ON MICROSYSTEMS GRANT

Michael Kaspari , Matt Miller , Michael Weiser, Katie Marshall and Cam Siler work to provide data that will be valuable to a variety of stakeholders: ecologists testing and refining models that predict future insect communities; land managers who want to know the likelihood of a pest eruption; conservation biologists and urban planners hoping to anticipate spread of invasive ants and beetles.

R Grinberg's New Book on New York Intellectuals

GRINBERG DISCUSSES NEW BOOK

Department of History's Ronnie Grinberg sits down to discuss the topic of her up-coming book on New York intellecutals, for which she received a grant from the OU Office of the Vice President for Research.

AWARDS

Davis-Undiano’s book Mestizos Come Home! wins 2017 International Latino Book Award for “Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book”

The prize was announced at a ceremony held on Sept. 9 at California State University Dominguez Hills.

Robert Con Davis-Undiano , director of the newly inaugurated Latinx Studies program at OU and series editor for the Chicana and Chicano Vision of the Américas at the University of Oklahoma Press, said he was grateful that this award will amplify the book’s core message--a message about democracy and inclusion that he feels is vital for all Americans.

GENOVA HONORED BY SOUTH CENTRAL MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION

Congratulations to Pamela Genova for being awarded the South Central Modern Language 2017 Book Prize. Her book Writing Japonisme provides new insights about the nineteenth-century French reception of Japanese culture. Genova is a David Ross Boyd Professor of French and Presidential Professor in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.

IN THE NEWS

ZGURSKAYA'S GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH FEATURED IN NATURE MEDICINE

The groundbreaking research of Helen Zgurskaya to facilitate the discovery of new antibiotics was featured in the Aug. 4, 2017, issue of the scientific journal Nature Medicine. “Breaking through: How researchers are gaining entry into barricaded bacteria,” by S. Chakradhar, associate news editor , highlights her promising research.

For more information about Zgurskaya’s research, please visit her research page and read the Nature Medicine article .

DEADLINES AND FEATURED EVENTS

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL CALENDAR OF OCT. COLLEGE EVENTS

Oct. 11

Deadline for academic units to submit nominations to dean's office for CAS faculty teaching awards.

Oct. 13

Beat Texas Reception - 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., Omni Hotel, Dallas Texas

Oct. 20

Deadline for academic units to submit nominations to dean's office (Susan Bayliss) for university faculty awards, advising awards, and the George Lynn Cross Research Professorship.

Oct. 20

Arts and Sciences Research Discussion Series: Anaylysis and Use of Image Data across Scholarly Domains. 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., Ellison Hall Room 132

Oct. 23

Deadline to submit graduate program modifications to the Dean's office c/o Sheryl Heinrichs

Oct. 25

CASFAM Staff meeting, 9 a.m., Zarrow Hall Community Room

Oct. 26

Chairs and Directors meeting, 9 a.m., location-TBD

Reminder: Departments, institutes and centers that need to migrate their website to the OU CMS have until Dec. 31, 2017, to do so. Please contact college communication staff members at 325-6556 if you need assistance.