David Gudelunas, Ph.D.

Dean, College of Arts and Letters

CAL Kicks Off Inaugural Pizza with the Dean Event

On Wednesday, March 19, our college hosted the inaugural Pizza with the Dean event in the Black Box Theater in the Ferman Center for the Arts. This well-attended event featured opening remarks and sage advice from the Dean Gudelunas and Associate Dean Aimee Whiteside, great conversation, and, of course, pizza! This event is part of a larger initiative designed to foster communication, connections, and community across the college. Many thanks to faculty who invited their students to attend, including Professors Sarah Smith-Frigerio, Victorio Reyes Asili, Rajpreet Heir, Brandon McDannald, and Hein Jung. Additional thanks to CAL students Pria Thompson, Zoe McCoy, Emily Son, and Alejandro Ramirez Tello for their ideas and help in creating this new event.

Call for Panelists and Mentors for New Series

Our college is preparing to launch a new series in partnership with the Office of Career Services. This program features a suite of scaffolded opportunities for our students, including major exploration, ATS-compliant resume design, cover letter writing, networking 101, mock interviewing, and job and internship fairs.

Are you a CAL alum or community professional (current or retired) who is willing to serve as a panelists and/or mentor for students? We are looking for professionals who are able to address how an arts and letters major propelled your career in ways that you did not realize at first. Additionally, we are seeking hiring managers for our job and internship fairs. Please consider lending a helping hand and contact us at cal@ut.edu. Spread the word!

Stay on Track: Academic Planning Sessions

Are you a student in your second, third, or fourth year with a major or minor in CAL? Do you need help with your academic planning? Not sure where to go for help before your appointment with your faculty advisor? Our Student Success Coordinator, Erin Setelius, is offering a series of drop-in sessions where you can get help with academic planning and advising. No appointment/registration is needed - just come. Erin can work with you one-on-one for personalized academic planning support. Please note that this session is NOT a replacement for your meeting with your faculty advisor, and Erin cannot remove the registration hold. Drop by the Charlene A. Gordon Theater at these times and dates:

Tuesday, April 8 and Thursday, April 10:

• 10:00a
• Noon
• 2:00p

Mark for Your Calendars for CAL-A-PALOOZA

This year's CAL-A-PALOOZA is April 4-12 and features scholarly showcases and performances from all around the college, including



• Student Scholars: Poster Showcase
• Reckon Riddle Art Exhibition: The Prints of D.L. Simmons
• Always Welcome Art Exhibition: In Honor of Dorothy
• Legacies Art Exhibition
• Spring Dance Arts Continuum
• Faculty Recital: Duncan MacMillan, Piano
• The Annual Spring Dance Concert
• Opera Workshop: Opera Ball
• The Play: Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
• Synergy Performance: Ai Ai, Captain

Please refer to the Arts and Ideas Calendar for current dates, times, and locations. Special thanks to CAL student Alejandro Ramirez Tello for his work on the poster.

Join us for the Opera Ball

Please join the UTampa Opera Workshop series for the Opera Ball on Friday, April 11 at 7:30p in the beautiful Charlene A. Gordon Theater. The ensemble is directed by Dr. Hein Jung.

The Opera Ball is part of a long line of exciting events at this year's CAL-A-PALOOZA celebration of the arts and letters on April 4-12.



You're Invited: Upcoming Events

Please join us! The Master of Arts in Professional Communication is hosting two events in April. An alumni panel on April 29 at 6:00 p.m. in the the Gordon Theater. The second event is co-hosted by Philosophy, Alumni Office, and Student Government and features an evening with Justice Renatha Frances on April 30 at 6:00 p.m. in the Gordon Theater. Register here or use the QR code.

CAL at the President Dahlberg's Inauguration

Several College of Arts and Letters (CAL) faculty attended president Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg's inauguration on Monday March 31. President Dahlberg is the eleventh president of the University of Tampa. Events included a lunch, Future of Higher Education presidents' panel, gala, meet and greet, and tree planting ceremony. CAL students performed throughout the festivities including the Chamber Singers, Jazz ensemble, and Opera Workshop students. Dr. Victorio Reyes Asili, Assistant Professor of English and Writing, read a poem for the event while student soloists Joshaua Hett and Kejia Wang provided additional entertainment for guests.

From Surgical Waste to Transformative Art Honoring Professor

UTampa students transform surgical waste into art in honor of their professor, a two-time cancer survivor. Art+Design Professor Kendra Frorup, who has taught over twenty years at UTampa, found it therapeutic to pickup nonhazardous surgical waste donations after her treatments at Moffitt Cancer Center and bring them to her students.

In a partnership with Society of Surgical Oncology's sustainability task force on surgical waste, students from three different classes created a three-part installation that spins in a circle entitled, "Collective Support: A Tribute to Surgical Oncology." Notice the structural molds of the students' hands are lifting up the surgical waste. As Professor Frorup explains, “The students...wanted the piece to translate transformation, resilience and sustainability.”

University Tenure and Promotion Celebration

The University of Tampa community and their family and friends gathered to celebrate tenure and promotion on Tuesday, March 20 in Fletcher Lounge.

The College of Arts and Letters is proud to celebrate the following accomplishments:

Granted Promotion to Full Professor:

Marcus Arvan, Ph.D., Philosophy and Religion

Bradford Blackburn, Ph.D., Music

Granted Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor:

Taylor Raye Curry, MFA, Film, Animation and New Media

Lina Gómez-Vásquez, Ph.D., Communication

Susannah LeMarquand, MFA, Theatre and Dance

Granted Promotion to Associate Teaching Professor:

Claire Class, Ph.D., English and Writing

Nicole Schrag, Ph.D., English and Writing

Granted Promotion to Lecturer II:

Rodney Shores, M.M., Music

Not pictured: Marcus Arvan, Nicole Schrag, and Rodney Shores

Here Comes the Sun: Denis Phillips Visits CAL

Tampa Bay's favorite meteorologist was on campus on Thursday, March 27. The Department of Communication welcomed dozens of students, faculty, staff, and community members in a packed presentation in the Gordon Theater at noon. Denis Phillips addressed his 30-year storied career, braving hurricanes, and establishing ethos and trust with his followers. Pictured below is Denis Phillips to the right of Dr. Jeff Neely, Department of Communication Chair.

The Department of Communication offered a well-attended, thought-provoking Spring series that probes and investigates various controversies related to communication with both invited and University of Tampa scholars in the Communication Department. This series collaborates with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (USF) to foster intergenerational discussions. This Spring series featured sessions that explore sex and media archaeology. Pictured is Center for Public Speaking Director Dr. Lacey Corey Brown introducing the Sex & Communication lecture.

The Department of Theatre and Dance presented The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in the beautifully renovated David Falk Theater in mid-March. Directed by Professor Karla Hartley and with music direction from Professor Tara Richards Swartzbach, the musical comedy featured a lovable assortment of teenagers as they compete in the spelling bee and share their vulnerabilities and not-so-great home lives.

Speech Faculty Remind of Us of Our Power

Master of Arts in Social and Emerging Media Co-Directors Dr. Christopher Boulton and Dr. Lina Gomez-Vasquez hosted an interactive showcase of creative media, applied research, and innovative thesis projects with a two-minute capstone pitch competition, award ceremony, and reception. The capstone pitch competition and exhibition was judged by a panel of community professionals.

Talented Students Showcase their Work at the Annual Juried Student Exhibition

The Department of Art+Design hosted their annual Juried Student Art Exhibition in the Scarfone/Harley Gallery. From Friday, January 31 through March 1, the exhibition showcased a variety of student work ranging from: painting drawing, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. This exhibition was curated by Gallery Director Jocelyn Boigenzahn and sponsored by the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

UTampa Art Students Win GFA Scholarships

Congratulations to our latest UTampa Gasparilla Festival of the Arts (GFA) Scholarship recipients, Ana Diaz Riveiro, Lili Smith, Kaytie Odom, and Anna Popham. We look forward to where your bright future takes you.

Thank you our UTampa Art+Design Department faculty for helping and supporting their students commitment to art exploration, technique, creativity, and innovation.

Photo credits: Alissa Pradera

UTampa Dance Presents at the American College Dance Association's Southeast Conference

The UTampa Dance program attended the American College Dance Association's Southeast Conference in Charleston, South Carolina over spring break: 

• Assistant Professor Amanda Gabaldon presented choreography for adjudication in the ACDA formal concert
• Undergraduate Research & Inquiry (URI) grant recipient, Carly Dell (class of 2026) presented her research on the creation of a socially and emotionally focused dance curriculum for older adults
• Student chorographers Ambar Cesari (class of 2026) and Natalie Fortuna (class of 2026) presented choreography that was adjudicated as part of the formal and informal dance concerts

Graduate Class Ends with a Leadership Night

Congratulations to our Master of Arts in Professional Communication (MAPC) Students on completing their leadership course. Dr. Chris Gurrie, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, closed out the MAPC 601 course hosting a leadership night workshop. Students put their semester skills to the test in timed problem solving, motivational speeches, and awards. The students now move on to MAPC 602.

Music Tech Student Releases Debut Album

Hannah Phillips ’27, a B.A. in Music (Music Technology) major, released her debut album in January and gave a live performance of it here.

Find her web site and streaming of the album here.

Student Devises According to the Fox Theatrical Production

Under the guidance of Professor Nicole Crowther, student Alana Sasdelli has devised the theatrical production According to the Fox, which has been selected for performance at the 2025 Orlando Fringe Festival.

Creative Nonfiction Professor Helps Students Get Publishing Opportunities and Internships

Professor Rajpreet Heir and her creative nonfiction student, Zosia Paul (Writing minor), read Grace Lo Prasad's debut memoir, The Translator's Daughter, over winter break and worked on the pitching and drafting process. Zosia's review went live in January in River Teeth, one of the most prestigious nonfiction literary journals, was founded in 1999 and is based out of Indiana. 

Professor Heir also helped two students get internships at CAM Advisors and another student one publish a book review of Hyeseung Song's Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect-Asian Girl in Sage Cigarette Magazine.

Journalism Students Thrive in Conference Presentations and News Competitions

A team from The Minaret—Leah Burdick (News Editor), Kiley Petracek (Editor-in-Chief), and Shane Petagna (Managing Editor)—presented a panel titled "Uniting Voices: The Power of Cross-Campus Collaborative Journalism in Student Media" at the College Media Association’s ProCon25 conference in New York City.

At the same conference, another team from The Minaret—Leah Burdick (News Editor), Cassandra Carithers (Senior Graphic Designer), Jillian Geer (Social Media Manager), and Kiley Petracek (Editor-in-Chief)—presented a panel titled, "Deadline Dynamos: Navigating Student Media's Digital Landscape."

Kiley Petracek is a finalist in this year’s Planet Forward competition, a nationally recognized program sponsored by George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. Her environmental feature, "Fighting Against Florida’s Most Invasive Reptile," written for Dr. Sohana Nasrin's feature writing class earned her this prestigious recognition. Let’s support her by voting for her story to help her win the competition.

Shane Petagna, a graduating senior (journalism major, sports management minor) and Managing Editor of The Minaret, presented his honors thesis research at the AEJMC Southeast Colloquium at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, held March 13-15.

At the same conference, Kiley Petracek and Alyssa Cortes, the Arts and Entertainment editor of The Minaret, presented their research-in-progress titled, "From Storm Surge to Climate Crisis: How Florida Newspapers are Covering Hurricanes in the Era of Climate Change."

Dr. Marcus Arvan, Professor of Philosophy, published a paper in AI & Society entitled, "'Interpretability' and 'Alignment' are Fools' Errands: A Proof that Controlling Large Language Models is the Best Anyone Can Hope," arguing artificial technology is on a dangerous path. He also published an op-ed in Scientific American entitled “AI Is Too Unpredictable to Behave According to Human Goals” based on his forthcoming paper in the journal AI & Society entitled, “Alignment and Interpretability are Fool’s Errands: a proof that controlling misaligned large language models is the best anyone can hope for.”

Additionally, Dr. Arvan's book, Why It’s OK to be a Moderate, was published by Routledge. He makes this case to you, showing that whatever your reasonable political ideology may be, things tend to go best politically when radicals and moderates effectively complement each other’s virtues while counterbalancing the other’s vices.”

Professor Dana Corrigan, Assistant Professor of Film, directed an animated short film, "Chorus to Dero." This film was accepted into the following festivals and won the following awards:

• Catalyst Content Festival in October 2024 (won an award for Best Animation Pilot)
• Miami International Science Fiction Festival in February 2025 (won an award for Best Animation)
• Sunscreen Film Festival in April 2025
• International Christian Film and Music Festival in April-May 2025
• Urban Mediamakers Film Festival in October 2025

Additionally, both "Chorus to Dero" and another of Corrigan's films, "Shoes: All Walks of Life," were accepted into the International Christian Film and Music Festival. 

Professor Corrigan also leads and conducts workshops, including two at the following film festivals:

• Miami International Science Fiction Festival in February 2025
• Sunscreen Film Festival in April 2025 at the Sundial in downtown St Pete

Dr. Andrew DeMil, Professor in the Department of Languages and Linguistics, published a book entitled, Conversations in Spanish: Tasks to Start Speaking: Beginner to Intermediate.

DeMil's book is based on the premise that the best way to learn a language is repeated opportunities to understand a language. The communication activities available in the book are designed in such a way that you can work with a friend to help each other learn, by exchanging personal information and opinions. DeMil contends this will promote fluency, even at a beginning level.

Professor Paul Finocchiaro, Associate Professor of Theatre, will be directing SHREK the Musical at Priscilla Beach Theatre in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts on July 2-19. He will be working with many actor’s union members. 

Dr. Chris Gurrie, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, presented at the National Social Science conference his work on fitness communication and how communication scholarship can help improve fitness goals. At the same conference, he partnered with UTampa faculty Dr. Tony LaRose to present work on human trafficking. In June 2025, Dr. Gurrie will represent the Communication and Speech Studies faculty at the International Communication Association conference in Denver, Colorado. There he will present two pieces—one on speech topic selection and delivery and the other on communication studies curriculum. 

Rajpreet Heir, Assistant Professor of English and Writing, was a panelist on two Association for Writing Professionals (AWP) 2025 panels: "‘Can Writers “Live the Dream’?: On Paying the Bills While Doing What You Love” and “Our Dirty Little Secret: On How (and why) to Find a Book Coach." The conference, which takes place in Los Angeles, California, in March 2025. AWP received 1,597 event proposals and only accepted 23% of submissions. 

Dr. Sarah Juliet Lauro, Associate Professor of English and Writing, was named the Scholar of the Year for 2025 by the International Association for the Study of the Fantastic (IAFA). Additionally, Dr. Lauro gave the plenary presentation at the IAFA annual conference in March.

Professor Samantha Modder, Assistant Professor of Art+Design, had nine murals of women featured at the Gallery at Creative Pinellas. On display through February 23, Modder's pieces formed a collection entitled, "Source of All Hair, Wearer of All Socks," where she Jennifer Ring explains she "tackles consumerism, greed, status and oppression through the collection of socks." Modder was featured in a January 31, 2025 article by Jennifer Ring in Creative Loafing as well as a March 5, 2025 piece by Sean Daly of ABC Action News. Daly describes Modder's work as "very-larger-than-life storybook come to fantastical life, a Black woman escaping to an Other World where anything and everything is possible."

Photo credits: Jennifer Ring, Creative Loafing

Dr. Sohana Nasrin, Teaching Professor of Communication, has been awarded a $1,000 Civic Engagement Mini-Grant from Project Pericles for her course Hurricanes & Histories in Fall 2025. Her proposal, "Beyond Media Literacy," was selected for its innovative approach to empowering students to engage with public issues through inclusive and collaborative projects. This grant, supported by the Mellon Foundation and the Eugene M. Lang Foundation, also makes Dr. Nasrin a Periclean Fellow, joining a national network of faculty dedicated to strengthening democratic engagement in higher education.

Dana Plays, Professor in the Department of Film, Animation and New Media, presented her film, The Longest Walk, at the DCTV Firehouse Cinema in New York City on February 13, 2025. This film was an official selection of the Justice Film Festival (JFF), the premier showcase for films that shine a light on social justice and affirm the dignity of all people. Since 2012, JFF has been dedicated to creating a platform for redemptive stories of marginalized people and ecosystems bravely overcoming challenges and bringing hope, compassion, and light to a world in need of inspiration.

Dr. Colter Ray, Assistant Professor of Communication and Speech Studies, published three studies this spring. Topics included investigating how adults with ADHD perceive social support messages (Journal of Social and Personal Relationships), proposing and successfully testing a model for understanding instances when tough love messages are effective (Communication Studies), and a multinational study using over 2000 participants from five countries to demonstrate the potential for rational emotive behavioral therapy to address loneliness (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy). Additionally, his work on communicating support to those battling cancer was featured on the local news station BayNews 9 in January.

Devon Rice, Adjunct Professor of Film, Animation and New Media had two of his most recent film projects have been selected by Sunscreen Film Festival this year. One is Underground History, a full-length documentary that explores the diverse histories of Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, from the archeological remnants of ancient Indigenous villages to settlements of freedom seeking people, Cuban fishing ranchos, displaced African American communities and erased cemeteries.

The second film is Underground History Visual Poetry, a short art film that is a companion to the documentary. It features a collection of the artistic visualizations of five poems written and recited by Tampa Bay poets. Both films will be screened at Sunscreen Film Festival next month on April 26 at the AMC Sundial theater in St. Pete. For both films, Professor Rice served as co-Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Animator and Composer.

Dr. Lesley Wolff, Assistant Professor of Art + Design, recently published the book Culinary Palettes: The Visuality of Food in Postrevolutionary Mexico City with the University of Texas Press. Culinary Palettes addresses how the visual culture of food, cookery, and consumption played a central role in the making of postrevolutionary Mexican heritage. This book is part of the edited series Visualidades: Studies in Latin American Visual History. 

We have dozen of concerts, showcases, lectures, magazine/book launches, performances, and events just waiting for you. Please refer to the Arts and Ideas Calendar for current dates, times, and locations.

We look forward to seeing you there!

All events are free and open to the community!