CAL Currents: The Newsletter of the College of Arts and Letters
| | Volume 9 | Issue 3 | Spring 2026 | | |
Recently, we celebrated the graduation of the College of Arts and Letters Class of 2026. It was a special day for a very special cohort of students.
In this issue of CAL Currents, you'll read a few of their remarkable achievements, as well as the stories of their faculty mentors who are equally excellent. From a Film faculty member in Cannes and on Apple TV this month to the exceptional students engaging in original scholarship, you'll see why this was such a great year around the College of Arts and Letters.
A special "thank you" to Carissa Triolo, English major and CAL Emerging Influencer Intern, for her help with this issue of CAL Currents.
I am also very grateful for Dr. Aimee Whiteside who is stepping down as Associate Dean after two years of impactful leadership. Her dedication to the spirit and mission of the College is appreciated.
Have a great summer!
| | | | CAL Reputational Excellence | College of Arts and Letters students and faculty engage in public-facing scholarship and creative work | | Film Professor and Students in Cannes
with Travolta's Directorial Debut | | |
Prof. Paul de Lumen, Assistant Professor of Film, Animation and New Media, brought his visual storytelling to one of the world’s most prestigious film stages.
Professor De Lumen served as director of photography for John Travolta’s (pictured above and below with De Lumen) directorial debut, "Propeller One-Way Night Coach," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film will start streaming on Apple TV starting on May 29.
The College of Arts and Letters is well-represented at the world's most well-known film festival. Film majors Gracyn Carter ’26, Krystle Gomez ’26, Tomas Lluen ’27, Liam Oscar ’27 and Destiny Greer ’20, traveled with Film Tampa Bay as part of a FilmUSA program to give students exposure to the industry at the highest level. Alumni Tyler Martinolich ’05, executive director of Film Tampa Bay, and Rachel Christ ’17, who works in Los Angeles as a producer, accompanied the group.
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Masterclass Concert Brings Broadway to the Classroom | | |
Broadway star Liz McCartney, whose stage credits include The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, and Mamma Mia!, came to campus for a Masterclass with Musical Theater students that focused on performance, audition preparation, and professional growth.
McCartney also performed an intimate concert for invited guests that included President Teresa Dahlberg, Mayor Jane Castor, and Prof. Paul Finocchairo (FINO!), who is a long-time friend of McCartney.
| | Communication Major Contributes to Public Art
in Tampa Heights | | |
Communication and Media Studies student Stella Davino brought neighborhood stories to life through a vibrant public mural in Tampa Heights.
Davino worked alongside residents under the direction of artist Dylan Perry. Located near the historic Rialto Theatre in Tampa Heights, the project reflects the power of collaboration, storytelling, and creative expression to strengthen community connections.
| | Celebrating a Decade of José Martí Studies at UTampa | | |
The Center for José Martí Studies Affiliate, led by co-directors Dr. James López of Languages and Linguistics and Dr. Denis Rey of Political Science and International Studies (pictured below) marked its 10th anniversary with a special evening celebrating scholarship, community, and the enduring legacy of José Martí.
The event highlighted the Center’s decade of work supporting research, teaching, publications, lectures, and public programming related to Martí’s life, writing, political thought, and cultural influence. The evening also featured a lecture on the history of the lectores, whose tradition of reading aloud to cigar workers remains an important part of Tampa’s cultural and intellectual history.
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Communication Faculty Member Wins Fulbright Award | |
Part-time Communication Department faculty member Elisabeth Parker received a Fulbright award for her project, "Storytelling in Sri Lanka’s Evolving Media Landscape."
Her project explores the legacy of violence against journalists during and after the Sri Lankan civil war, along with the challenges reporters continue to face today. Through narrative journalism and oral history, Parker will draw on her experience as a writer for the Tampa Bay Times and The New York Times to interview families of journalists who were killed and speak with current journalists navigating evolving legal and political contexts.
| CAL Faculty Research Connects Communication, Sustainability, and Global Collaborations | | The College of Arts and Letters is proud to highlight the international scholarship of Dr. Lina M. Gomez-Vasquez, co-Director of the Master in Arts in Social and Emerging Media (MASEM) Program, who has completed the first two phases of her sabbatical work in Colombia. During her time in Bogotá and Barranquilla, Dr. Gomez-Vasquez collaborated with colleagues at Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Universidad del Norte to examine how companies communicate sustainability across websites and social media in the United States, Germany, and Colombia, as well as how Generation Z students interpret and engage with those messages.
Dr. Gomez-Vasquez will continue her sabbatical research this summer in Wiesbaden, Germany.
| | Around the College of Arts and Letters | | CAL events create opportunities for learning, connection, creativity, and cultural engagement | |
Artist in Residence Invites Students into her Fragments of Memory
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The Department of Art + Design welcomed Mabel Poblet Pujol, a mixed- and multi-media artist based in Madrid and Havana, as the 2026 Meridian Scholar in Residence. During her two-week residency, Poblet Pujol engaged UTampa students, faculty, and the Tampa Bay community through Fragments of Memory, an immersive, site-specific project composed of mirrored surfaces and light projections sourced from students' photographs, videos, and actions.
The exhibit was curated by Assistant Professor of Art + Design Dr. Lesley Wolff and UTampa art students.
Poblet Pujol's residency also included a public lecture, student workshop, and exhibition of select works in the Ferman Center for the Arts, creating opportunities for students and community members alike to explore the intersections of memory, identity, collaboration, and contemporary art.
| | Original Student Research on Display | | |
The College of Arts and Letters Research Showcase highlighted student scholarship, creative inquiry, and faculty mentorship across CAL disciplines.
This inaugural showcase, held in the Charlene and Mardy Gordon Performance Gallery, brought together students and faculty to celebrate research, creativity, and storytelling across disciplines.
Featuring over a dozen student scholars (pictured above with Associate Dean Dr. Aimee Whiteside) from literature and communication to theatre, dance, and writing, the showcase featured projects that explored how stories help people better understand experiences, communities, identity, and the world around them.
The Student Research Showcase, coordinated by Dr. Aimee Whiteside, highlighted the unique ways CAL students combine research, creativity, and critical thinking to communicate ideas that inform, connect, and inspire. Many thanks to Provost Mike Stephenson and a wide range of faculty, staff, and students for joining.
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CAL Students Explore Career Possibilities | |
The College of Arts and Letters closed out our new PRISM Career Series with an Internship and Job Strategies event facilitated by Dr. Madison Tarleton.
Students gained practical guidance on identifying opportunities, presenting their strengths, strengthening application materials, and preparing for next steps beyond the classroom.
The session emphasized how CAL students can translate skills developed in their courses, including communication, creativity, analysis, collaboration, and storytelling into professional pathways.
CAL is grateful to faculty participants Prof. Taylor Curry, Prof Santiago Echeverry, Dr. David R. Wheeler, and Prof Daniel Gutierrez as well as the UTampa Office of Career Services, led by Executive Director Mark Colvenbach, for their partnership in supporting arts and humanities students as they build confidence and momentum toward their career goals.
| Students Inducted into French Honor Society | | Félicitations! Bravo! The Department of Languages and Linguistics celebrated UTampa’s Rho Nu chapter of Pi Delta Phi, the National French Honor Society, during a ceremony recognizing new members for their academic achievement in French language, literature, and culture. Congrats to the three faculty members (Profs. Rukholm, Kynes, and Aubry) and students (including Leonardo Guarnere, Gabby Reim, Madison Cortes, Drew Barnes, Ella Wright, MacKenzie Golomski, McKenna Buck, Ana Ortiz, Corinne Cavanagh) inducted. | | Unique Masterworks Concert Combines Choral Ensembles | | |
The Masterworks Concert combined the three premier vocal ensembles—University Concert Choir, University Camerata, and University Chamber Singers. The Illuminare: The Light Within Us All Masterworks Concert was directed by Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Zerrin Martin.
This spring, the University of Tampa Choirs performed a concert of modern choral masterworks by three 21st century American Women composers, Reena Esmail, Elaine Hagenberg, and B.E. Boykin.
If you missed the show, don't worry, we have a great recording of it you can see online here done by Prof. Troy Cusson from the Department of Music.
| | CAL Connects with the Community | The College of Arts and Letters is deeply invested and embedded in the Tampa Bay Community | Rampello Students Walk to the Falk Theatre
for a Morning of Theatre and Imagination. | |
More than 300 students from Rampello K–8 Downtown Partnership Magnet School attended a special 9:30 a.m. performance of Blue Planet, a children’s play directed by Assistant Professor of Theatre Prof. Nicole Crowther and performed by UTampa Theatre students in the David Falk Theatre.
Designed for young audiences ages 7–10, the production invited students into an imaginative world of creativity, collaboration, and storytelling.
Before the play began, Rampello students walked to campus and interacted with the actors, creating a meaningful connection between the young audience and the UTampa students on stage.
| UTampa Symphony Orchestra Celebrates Collaboration | |
The University of Tampa Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Megan Maddaleno, Assistant Professor of Music, enjoyed a phenomenal year marked by outstanding music making, exciting collaborations, and meaningful audience outreach.
This season included an Educational Children’s Concert for the young and young at heart with outreach to Hillsborough County Public Schools and an instrument petting zoo, the Third Annual Holiday Pops Spectacular and Spanish Splendor that collaborated with Ovations Dance Academy and the Principal Dancers of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and a concert featuring the winners of the Concerto and Aria Competition.
| Students, Faculty, and Alums Support Tampa Community | |
Throughout the semester, UTampa students regularly volunteer with a local community organization that hosts a weekly dinner at St. Peter Claver Church.
Dr. Andrew DeMil, Professor of Spanish, who became involved with the organization during his sabbatical, shared that many UTampa students have been part of the ongoing effort, joining community leaders and UTampa alums who help out. Their volunteerism reflects the quiet, consistent ways students and faculty connect learning with service, community, and shared responsibility beyond campus.
| CAL Joins Tampa Bay Creatives
at the CTRL+CREATE Collaborative | | |
College of Arts and Letters Film, Animation and New Media faculty members Profs. Santiago Echeverry, Paul de Lumen and Gregg Perkins, represented UTampa at CTRL+CREATE, an event bringing together creators, technologists, and innovators from across the Tampa Bay region.
Their participation reflects the college’s growing engagement with Tampa Bay’s creative economy and innovation ecosystem. CAL students also joined the conversation, including Candice Fender, who attended a presentation on self-expressive generative AI.
| | UTampa Hosts Southeast Colloquium | | |
The University of Tampa welcomed journalism, media, and communication scholars from across the Southeast and beyond for the 51st annual AEJMC (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication) Southeast Colloquium.
The 2026 colloquium featured research presentations, invited panels, and conversations exploring journalism, media law, ethics, public relations, advertising, and emerging areas of communication research. The keynote speaker was Mark Katches, Vice President and Editor of the Tampa Bay Times.
Dr. Sohana Nasrin, Assistant Professor of Communication, was the event's organizer.
| | Students throughout the college find success in academic, artistic, and professional endeavors | | CAL Celebrates Outstanding Student Award Winners | | |
The College of Arts and Letters celebrated the accomplishments of exceptional students at its annual student awards ceremony, honoring recipients from each of CAL’s eight departments. The ceremony recognized students whose academic excellence, creative work, leadership, service, and dedication have enriched their programs and strengthened the CAL community. Among the day’s highest honors were the Charlene A. Gordon Awards, presented to students who embody a “desire to succeed.”
CAL is deeply grateful for Charlene and Mardy Gordon’s support of student achievement and proud to celebrate all of this year’s honorees.
| | Student-Faculty Research Team Earn Top Honors | | | | |
Holly Rushing, a Communication and Speech Studies major, earned a Top Four Paper Award at the Western States Communication Association annual convention in San Diego alongside co-author Dr. Colter Ray, Director of the Communication and Speech Studies Program and Assistant Professor of Communication.
Their paper examines when “tough love” messages may be received as appropriate and effective. Although these messages are often viewed as unsupportive, Rushing and Ray’s research suggests that context matters, including the closeness and credibility of the person offering support, whether the message feels truthful, and whether the recipient expects that kind of direct communication.
The project began as Rushing’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship work and has grown into multiple conference presentations and publications.
| | Music Student Selected for National Masterclass | | | | |
Junior music education major and aspiring conductor Megyn Fonda traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, with Dr. Megan Maddaleno, Assistant Professor of Music, to attend the College Orchestra Directors Association Conference at the University of Rhode Island.
Fonda was one of only four students selected to conduct the Smith College Orchestra in a masterclass with Diane Wittry, music director of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra.
Although the opportunity was designed primarily for master’s and doctoral students, Fonda was selected through a blind external peer-review process. Her performance impressed directors from across the country and led to a personal invitation from Maestra Wittry to study with her this summer at an advanced conducting workshop in the Pacific Northwest — an opportunity typically reserved for graduate students, pre-professional conductors, and early-career musicians.
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Student Journalist Wins National Award | | |
Journalism major Kailey Aiken received national recognition for her outstanding reporting. Kailey earned the award for Best Written Story in the highly competitive Planet Forward Storyfest for her article, “The Nosara Monkey Bridge Project is saving howler monkeys in Costa Rica.”
As one of just six student winners selected across written, video, and multimedia storytelling categories, Kailey will travel aboard the National Geographic Endurance this July for an expedition to East Greenland with Lindblad Expeditions.
| | "Spartans After Dark" Hits the Airwaves | | Teddi Rollins Brings a Student Voice
to Women’s History Lunch | | |
The College of Arts and Letters was proud to co-sponsor a Women’s History Month luncheon hosted by UTampa’s Office of Access and Community Programs (OACP), where CAL student Christiana “Teddi” Rollins, a musical theatre major, served as both an opening speaker and panelist. Rollins brought a powerful student perspective to a program centered on mentorship, artistic expression, representation, and leadership.
The event also opened with inspiring remarks from OACP team member and CAL alumna Jasmine Liaw ’23, a Film and Media Arts graduate.
| | The College of Arts and Letters is home to a dynamic community of scholars and creatives | | CAL Faculty Recognized for Excellence | | |
The College of Arts and Letters proudly celebrates the faculty and student honorees recognized at UTampa’s 2025–2026 Academic Awards Ceremony, some honorees are pictured above with Dean Dr. David Gudelunas. This annual ceremony highlights excellence across the university, honoring members of the campus community whose teaching, scholarship, mentorship, service, leadership, and creative contributions strengthen the student experience.This year’s CAL faculty honorees include:
Teaching Excellence — Dr. Alexandra Lloyd, Philosophy and Religion
Scholarship Excellence — Dr. Marcus Arvan, Philosophy and Religion
Mentoring Excellence — Dr. Christy Paris, Art + Design
Service Excellence — Dr. Colter Ray, Communication
Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award — Prof. Johnny Bosse, Music
Faculty International Service Award — Dr. Patrick Ellis, Communication
Agent of Change Award — Dr. Victorio Reyes Asili, English and Writing
| | Dr. Alex Ehredt, Music, was the winner of the Dallas Winds Brass Fanfare Competition for his original composition "Blue-Sky Fanfare" which premiered in March. The piece was performed by the UTA Wind Symphony and Brass and Percussion at the Myerson Symphony Center in Dallas. | | | | |
Dr. Marcus Arvan's, 2025 book, Why It's OK to be a Moderate, was praised in Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy and the Journal of Moral Philosophy for its well-researched and compelling argument surrounding political moderation.
One reviewer called his book "a necessary and timely contribution" to the growing literature on understanding our contemporary political situation.
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Dr. Steven Geisz, Philosophy and Religion, published a new book, A Philosophy of Mindful Movement: Tai Chi, Qigong, Yoga, and The Kinesthetic Imagination (Routledge, May 2026).
Drawing on more than a decade of research, Dr. Geisz's book explores how contemplative movement practices can shape ways of knowing, thinking, and experiencing the world, contributing to conversations on embodiment, cognition, and philosophy.
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Dr. Lina Gomez-Vasquez, Communication, published a book chapter entitled "Media Behavior of Generation Z in the United States: Usage patterns and future trends" in Generation Z Internationally: Addressing and Recruiting Young Talent. Expectations of Employers and Career Fields.
Dr. Gomez-Vasquez offers key global perspectives on Gen Z identity, sustainability, media habits, digital behavior, employer branding, AI skills, and effective recruitment strategies.
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Prof. Kendra Frorup, Art + Design had her sculptural work exhibited in New York City as part of the 1-54 Art Fair. Her work was presented by the Current: Baha Mar Gallery and Art Center in the Bahamas. Frorup's work was profiled by the influential art publication Hyperallergic.
Frorup also recently had a solo exhibit at the Flagler College Crisp-Ellert Art Museum - Roots, Return, and The Weight of Memory." You can see Frorup discussing that exhibit in the clip from WJCT above.
Frorup was also recently exhibited and profiled by the Sarasota Art Center. You can see that discussion here.
| Prof. Rajpreet Heir, English and Writing, wrote a review of the essay collection Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time, for the River Teeth Journal. | |
Prof. James Lemming, Film, Animation and New Media, had his short film #toxic_positivity screened at 16 film festivals worldwide including the Lytham International Film Festival, Gasparilla International Film Festival, and Orlando Film Festival.
The film was shot entirely on campus in FMX's virtual production studio with a host of current students and alumni. Destiny Greer produced the film, and Prof. Leming wrote, directed, and edited the film.
| Dr. Megan Maddaleno, Music, was inducted as a distinguished member of Sigma Alpha Iota. The mission of Sigma Alpha Iota, established in 1903, is to encourage, nurture, and support the art of music. | Dr. Kyle McIntosh, English and Writing, co-authored with Ulla Connor and Diego Padilla, the article "Intercultural Rhetoric" which was published in the Routledge Handbook of English for Academic Purposes. | |
Prof. Shane Hinton's latest book, Other Shane Hintons, was recently named a Notable Small Press Book by Literary Hub and was awarded a Bronze Medal by the Florida Book Awards through Florida State University.
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Prof. Dana Plays, Film and Animation and New Media, received Best Historical Documentary Award at the Doc.Berlin Festival for her film Ottilie Moore.
She was also awarded Best Web/Series/Pilot at the Montreal Women Film Festival for Heiress in the Resistance, Best Experimental Feature at the London Women Film Festival for Charlotte Salomon's Letter, and the Envision Award Finalist Trophy at the Around Film Festival for Birth of a Pipe Organ.
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Congratulations to Destiny Greer, Staff Assistant in CAL Graduate Programs and Film, Animation and New Media, on being named UTampa's Employee of the Month for April.
Destiny was recognized during the College of Arts and Letters final college meeting on Tuesday, April 28, alongside colleagues and campus leaders.
We are grateful for Destiny’s dedication, professionalism, and the positive impact she makes in supporting our students, faculty, and programs each day. Her talent and smile light up every room.
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