David Gudelunas, Ph.D.

Dean, College of Arts and Letters

UTampa voice students, Shaylee Plichta and Austin Keys, were featured young artists in solo and opera scene concerts in Italy at InterHarmony International Summer Music Festival where Dr. Hein Jung, Professor of Music, serves as an Artistic Faculty (pictured above). Over 300 festival students and faculty attended. Dr. Jung was also invited by Chugye University for the Arts in Seoul Korea to conduct a voice master class (Pictured below). 

Dr. Lina M. Gomez-Vasquez, Assistant Professor of Communication and Co-Director of the Master of Arts in Social and Emerging Media (MASEM) at UTampa, traveled to Wiesbaden, Germany, with three UTampa students to participate in the eighth International Summer School in Intercultural Branding, Marketing Communication and International Careers.

The weeklong summer school, organized by the media management program at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, featured twenty-seven students worldwide from countries including South Africa, South Korea, the United States, Germany, and Switzerland. Students worked in international teams to solve a real-world communication challenge for the German multinational company, Seibert Group.

Film students Hannah Porter, Kylie Harlan, Christian Carranza, Amanda Pearson and Kelsey Bustos were accepted to the SIGGRAPH 2025 Student Showcase in Vancouver. The students worked closely with Professor Dana Corrigan from the Film Animation and New Media Department.

Neighboring Institutions Help Connect 
Classroom to Culture

From the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Ybor City to the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg and everything in-between, CAL Students and and Faculty take full advantage of being a part of the Tampa Bay arts community.

Pictured above, Dr. Angela Meyer Sternik's Digital Writing & Culture students toured the Henry B. Plant Museum. One of the class assignments is to create a digital pamphlet based on examples of hard copy brochures and newsletters from the Museum. Students were tasked with taking their own photographs for use in their digital pamphlets while they learned about the history, exhibits, and entertainment of the time.

Pictured below, Dr. Allen Zimmerman's Advertising students visted the Innovations Lab at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg where they participate in a creative design challenge.

Lecture Series Partners with 
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

The Department of Communication's "Controversies in Communication Lecture series brings large afternoon audiences to the Charlene A. Gordon Theater for faculty-led talks about current issues.

Pictured above, Dr. Lauren Malone, Assistant Professor of Communication, presented the conversation, "Empathy Farming: The Evolution of Unhinged Mobile Game Ads." Her talk looked at the phenomenon of mobile game transitions and opened the discussion to the audience.

Film Tampa Bay Connections Lead 
to Valuable Industry Experience

Film and Media Arts (FMX) students Jeton Jao and Alicia Felts (pictured above) were selected to participate in the newest Production Assistant Master Certification Program hosted by Film Tampa Bay. Jeton and Alicia were chosen to join an online course covering core skills such as production assisting fundamentals, on-set protocol, paperwork, departmental structure, and call sheet navigation. The course also includes being placed directly on a Tampa Bay production, as well as an IMDB credit and invaluable networking opportunities.

This past summer, Film students Marco Polo-Perez and Falyn Housenbold gained hands-on experience working on a film set for murder mystery series during their Summer II course, led by Film, Animation and New Media Department Chair Gregg Perkins (pictured below). This production, filmed here on UT’s campus allowed these students to turn their summer II course into a valuable internship experience.

Nicolas Banaitis (pictured above), an Advertising and Public Relations major, who spent his summer as a marketing intern with L’Oreal, working in the consumer products division, specifically on Essie, in New York City. Banaitis fulfilled tasks, such as staying on top of current social media trends and influencer events as well as collaborate with the manager of social media.

Several CAL stduents participated in the annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium. Alyssa Cortes (Journalism), Holly Running (Communication and Speech Studies), Hannah Van Hise (English and Writing), and Samantha Walker (Dance) all shared their research with the UTampa community.

Undergraduate Communication and Speech Studies student Holly Rushing published an article co-authored with Director of Communication and Speech Studies, Dr. Colter Ray, in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 


This is a leading journal in relationship research and only 15% of studies submitted are accepted for publication.

"Loneliness Coping Strategies: Their Perceived Effectiveness and Frequency of Use" uses over 3000 responses, the study developed a comprehensive set of loneliness coping strategies—documenting the frequency of use of coping strategies and the frequency of their effectiveness in reducing loneliness.

Art + Design students, Tatyana Gonzalez, Dafne Suárez, and Ciara Grad, had their work published in the Journal of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry. The journal showcases Gonzalez’s design skills as the cover work artist , and Dafne Suárez and Ciara Grad’s work as the artists of the back cover.

Graduate stduents in the Social and Emerging Media program successfully showcased their capstone projects in a gallery-style exhibition and pitched their ideas to an expert panel of judges.

Among the award recipients, Sade Bassan was recognized with both the Exhibition Juror’s Prize and the Exhibit Pitch Audience Award. Sophia Glenn earned the Exhibition Honorable Mention Award, Marie Hall received the Exhibition Alumni Award, and Jazmin Giovino took home the Exhibit Pitch Faculty Award.

The event was judged by Tampa Bay business leaders including Alexa Sweetman, Ashley Iaccarino, and Howard Lin. 

Minaret newspaper staffers won several prestigious awards at the Society of Professional Journalists' (SPJ) 2025 Sunshine Awards. The wins included a First Place award for Cassandra L. Carithers for Front Page Design and Finalist recognition for stories and designs by Shane Petagna, Naisha Lalwani, and Faith Montalvo. The honors celebrate the hard work and talent of student news leaders.

Dr. Sohana Nasrin, Assistant Professor of Communication, is the Minaret advisor.

The College of Arts and Letters proudly celebrated the achievements of our newest alumni at the Hooding Ceremony this past August.

Congratulations to all of our graduates from the Master of Arts in Professional Communication (MAPC) and the Master of Arts in Social and Emerging Media (MASEM) programs who participated in the ceremony.

Dr. Patrick Ellis, Assistant Professor of Communication, was awarded the eleventh annual Imago Mundi Prize for his article, “'Maps to the Homes of the Stars’: California, Celebrity, and Cartography in the Twentieth Century.” The prize is awarded every two years “to have made the most significant contribution to the discipline.” Dr. Ellis’ research for this article can be accessed here.

Dr. Lesley Wolff, Assistant Professor of Art + Design, is the recipient of the 2025 SECAC Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication for her book Culinary Palettes: The Visuality of Food in Postrevolutionary Mexican Art (University of Texas Press, 2025).

This award is granted annually to one outstanding work of scholarship in art or design history. 

Associate Professor of Theater, Prof. Paul E. Finocchiaro, directed a production of SHREK the Musical at Priscilla Beach Theatre in Plymouth, MA.

This fully mounted production had 24 professional actors from all around the country.

Associate Professor of Communication, Dr. Chris Gurrie's work on fitness communication was published in the National Social Science Journal, Vol. 63, #2: Fitness Communication: Improving Fitness Outcomes through Communication Research.

Dr. Sucheta Kanjilal, Assistant Professor of English and Writing, published “Legacies of Colonial Translation in Contemporary Hinduism: Desexualizing and Re-contextualizing Kṛṣṇa” in the International Journal of Hindu Studies.

Associate Professor of English and Writing and Director of the Academic Writing program at UTampa Dr. Kyle McIntosh published a new book, Writing in English for Internationalized Higher Education: Pedagogies and Practices for Linguistically Diverse Student Populations.

The book, from Routledge, is co-authored with Carolina Pelaez-Morales from Columbus State University.

Professor Rodney Shores, Instructor of Music, screened his film March of the Black Hussars: Viennese Operetta in America at the Monadnok International Film Festival in Keene, NH.

Funded by an OURI grant, the documentary film explores the popularity of Carl Millöcker’s operetta The Black Hussar, a Viennese operetta that celebrated German nationalism and militarism.



The film was directed by UTampa alumnus Steven Nye and produced by Dr. Charles McGraw Groh, Executive Director of the Henry B. Plant Museum and Dr. Rodney Shores. The film featured UTampa Music and Musical Theatre students Lily Downs, Chase Hale, Alyssa Hernandez, Jonah Jacobbi, Austin Keys, Shane Patterson, Samuel Stahlmann, Ben Sutherland, and UTampa alumni Jubilee Lee, Ethan Lucas, and Hope Lelekacs. 

Professor Daniel Carpenter, CAL alum and current part-time Communication and Speech Studies faculty member, was featured on FOX13 Tampa Bay news. The segment featured a story about Hoods Up Week, an exhibit created by Carpenter that allows visitors to see under the hoods and the engines of each car on display at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum.

Dr. Grigorios Zamparas, Music, performed at the 5th Annual Festival of Chamber music organized by the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico.

Dr. Megan Maddaleno, Director of Orchestral Activities and String Studies, was awarded First Prize for the American Prize in Conducting—university/community opera division, 2025.

Additionally, she was awarded "Finalist Honorable Mention: Orchestral Programming—The Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award, 2025."

It was a busy Fall as the College welcomed many new faculty and staff. Welcome to the community!

The College of Arts and Letters is again proud to present a comprehensive list of events in this year's annual Arts & Ideas guide beautifully designed by Professors Luciana Gassett and Daniel Leonardos with help from all the staff assistants and department chairs around the college. 

Copies of the Arts & Ideas guide can be located in the Ferman Center lobby, the Scarfone/Hartley Gallery, the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values, and the Falk Theater.

This year’s cover features a stunning interdisciplinary installation by CAL Faculty Amanda Gabaldon and Jaime Aelavanthara.

New this year, Professor Maria Blokhina has developed a stunning new digital presence for Arts & Ideas that can be found here.

The Department of Film, Animation and New Media proudly announces the Tampa Animation Festival (TAF) 2025, taking place November 6–9 at the Charlene A. Gordon Theater.

The festival showcases the power and diversity of animation as a global art form, presenting over 140 films from 38 countries across narrative, experimental, documentary, and student categories, including Academy Award–nominated films. All screenings are free and open to the public, with tickets available through Eventbrite.

“The Tampa Animation Festival celebrates animation not only as an art form, but as a space where storytelling, design, and technology intersect,” said Prof. Gregg Perkins, Festival Director and Chair of the Department of Film, Animation, and New Media. “This year’s program brings together international filmmakers, students, and professionals to share new visions for what animation can be.”

Global Reach and Local Collaboration

The 2025 festival features work from renowned animation programs, including CalArts, Gobelins, Ringling College, RISD, SCAD, RIT, Sheridan College, and The University of Tampa, among others. Participating nations span five continents, including France, Japan, Brazil, Finland, Nigeria, and Australia.

The festival also partners with Toon Boom Animation, the industry leader in 2D animation software, to provide Harmony and Storyboard Pro licenses to award winners in categories such as Best Animated Short, Best Student Animation, and Audience Choice.

You can also hear Professor Santiago Echeverry discussing the festival on NPR.

The Sykes Chapel Concert Series returns Sunday, November 9 at 2 p.m. in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values. Internationally acclaimed pianist Kemal Gekić, celebrated for his electrifying performances, will present a program of works by Liszt and Chopin.

Don't forget to join us as well on Sunday, December 7 at 2 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. for Tampa's favorite holiday tradition: The annual UTampa Holiday Choral Concert.