COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AT A GLANCE
The
College of Arts and Sciences
strives to be an inclusive, enriching and high-performing academic community. We recently compiled an infographic to share facts and figures about the college. From an all-time high of 10,296 majors (over 7,900 undergraduates and 2,300 graduate students) to a growing list of academic units in the college, you may be surprised what you learn about the cornerstone of the university.
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HOMER L. DODGE PHYSICS COMPLEX AND LIN HALL DEDICATED
In appreciation of the gifts, the OU Board of Regents recognized Homer L. Dodge, who served as chair of the OU Physics and Astronomy Department from 1919 until 1944, by naming the physics complex “The Dodge Physics Complex,” and Lin by naming the new academic building Lin Hall. Lin Hall and Nielsen Hall now comprise the new physics complex.
The dedication of the research facilities was held Saturday morning. Featured, from left to right, are: Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy Chair Phillip Gutierrez, Norm Wilson, Treasurer of the Avenir Foundation, Dodge family members Margaret Wallace and William Wallace, Chun C. Lin, OU President James Gallogly and OU College of Arts and Sciences Dean David Wrobel.
The new academic building features a modular design for maximum flexibility in the more than 18,000 square feet of research laboratory space as well as office space for faculty and graduate students and an astronomy observatory on the roof. The laboratories have advanced temperature control, vibration and acoustic isolation, and electromagnetic shielding in addition to providing critically needed space. It is one of only a few buildings in the world to meet the NIST-A requirements on vibrations, temperature and humidity, as well as electromagnetic interference.
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OU HOSTS NATIVE NATION LEADERS AT HISTORIC RECEPTION
OU President James L. Gallogly invited all leaders of the 39 Native Nations in Oklahoma to a reception to honor the nations’ sovereign statuses and recognize the relationships between them and the university.
The Tribal Leader Event
was held in the Sandy Bell Gallery of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in September. Thirteen leaders of Native Nations attended and were accompanied by university executives. Amanda Cobb-Greetham, chair of the Department of Native American Studies and director of the Native Nations Center, commented on the historic event as a momentous stride from the University’s growing efforts to “grow our relationship with Oklahoma’s Native sovereigns.” President Gallogly’s welcoming speech and presence deepened the remarkable relationship between the leaders of the Native Nations and the university.
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RICK KEARNEY ESTABLISHES FUND FOR GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
The college would like to thank Richard C. Kearney for his generosity in establishing an endowed fund to provide a graduate fellowship in the Department of Political Science.
Kearney earned a master’s degree in public administration and a doctor of philosophy degree in political science from OU. He wished to honor the department and its professors – in particular, David R. Morgan – by endowing the fund to support a doctoral student with a demonstrated interest in state and local politics and policy.
After retiring from his position as professor and director of the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University, Kearney reflected on his life and career, and how much OU had meant to him.
After graduating from Mississippi State in 1968, Kearney entered the Navy as a line officer. His assignments included a ship cruising the waters of Vietnam and a small naval communications base in the highlands of what is now the east African nation of Eritrea. After his discharge, he remained in Eritrea as a civilian for a short while, taking courses in political science and public administration from OU's Advanced Programs at a nearby Army base. John Wood and Hugh MacNiven were two of his professors. With their encouragement, Kearney came to Norman in 1972 and utilized the GI Bill to pursue his M.P.A. and doctorate in political science while working at the Regional Rehabilitation Institute and later for the Bureau of Government Research. He credits Morgan, MacNiven and Stephen Sloan with grooming him for his career after OU. Kearney coauthored articles with both Morgan and Sloan. He credits Morgan particularly with mentoring him on how to conduct and present scholarly research.
“When I began searching for jobs during my last year at OU, this published research really gave me an advantage over other candidates,” said Kearney. “I had truly excellent and caring professors who opened up the doors of possibility for me as an academic. Any success I enjoyed as an academic is a credit to them. I felt I should give back to someone else who needs a helping hand and a sense of direction like I did.”
The student recipient may use this fellowship to take his/her research to a conference, gain additional methodological training to improve the research or do field research. The fellowship is awarded each spring, so the student can use the funds over the summer or the fall.
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SOCIAL WORK ANNOUNCES NEW STUDENT GROUP AND HEAD OF HARUV USA
Gal Avni Barlev has been named the new
director of Haruv USA at OU-Tulsa
. Born in Israel, Barley earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work from Ben-Gurion University, and currently is a doctroal student at Haifa University. Haruv USA is a training institute for professionals in the field of child abuse and neglect. Their mission is to support and nurture professionals dedicated to the prevention, identification, reporting and treatment of abused and neglected children.
Dustin Huckabee, a transfer student from Texas Tech, has formed a new student organization, called
United Student Services
. For students in recovery and those who support recovery, the organization promotes and encourages fun in recovery, community outreach and awareness through education of addiction and recovery.
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SAVE THE DATE - WINTER CONVOCATION
A College of Arts and Sciences Convocation celebration is too big to contain.
The college will recognize the academic achievement of our students at the upcoming
2018 Winter Convocation.
The convocation will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14, at Lloyd Noble Center. Please encourage families, friends and community members to join in this momentous celebration and remind students to check their email for information from the college about the event.
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STUDY ABROAD APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN
Faculty, please encourage your students to apply to study abroad in spring and summer 2019. Unique college-based programs are offered, led by arts and sciences faculty who teach and direct every aspect of the course and experiential learning. Additionally, the college hosts various study abroad experiences based from OU centers like the programs at Arezzo, Puebla and Rio de Janeiro. Spending time abroad not only fulfills academic goals but allows our students to form networks and experience a new culture, language and environment. Students interested in study abroad should visit the
college website
.
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FACULTY AND STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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AMANDA COBB-GREETHAM NAMED DYNAMIC CHICKASAW WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Congratulations to
Amanda Cobb-Greetham
,
who
was honored as the
2018 Dynamic Chickasaw Woman of the Year by Chickasaw Nation
Gov. Bill Anoatubby on Oct. 4. Cobb-Greetham is the chair of the Department of Native American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the OU Native Nations Center. Her continuous efforts and devotion to empowering women and advocating for inclusivity within the community has inspired others to follow her lead. Anoatubby stated, “This award recognizes and honors a Chickasaw woman who inspires, gives hope to others and through her example opens opportunities for others.” Her professional career as an educator, researcher, leader and author are being recognized and celebrated within the community. Cobb-Greetham believes all Chickasaw women are dynamic, hardworking and will continue to persevere through times of adversity.
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JIZHONG ZHOU HONORED BY AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY
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DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY HONORS HUGH BENSON
Twelve leading scholars of ancient philosophy gathered on campus in September to
honor recently retired OU philosophy professor Hugh Benson.
Benson joined the OU faculty in 1985 and retired as a George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the end of 2016. At the event, Seth A. Robertson was announced as the recipient of the inaugural Hugh Benson Award for Excellence in Research, given to a philosophy graduate student for outstanding research over the past year.
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PAUL SPICER TO HELP LEAD ZERO TO THREE
Paul Spicer
, professor of anthropology, has been named president of the board of
Zero to Three
. The organization is the nation's largest devoted to infants, toddlers and families; its mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start to life. With an annual budget of over $50 million, Zero to Three envisions a society that has the knowledge and will to support all infants and toddlers in reaching their full potential.
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ZGURSKAYA'S RESEARCH ON ANTIBIOTIC DISCOVERY FEATURED
Professor
Helen Zgurskaya
, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was
featured in a KWTV News 9 news story on antibiotic discovery
. The story showed her research to discover an antibiotic to fight the multi-drug resistant
bacteria,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
. Zgurskaya and Valentin Rybenkov are working with a research team from the University of Cagliari, Italy; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Saint Louis University School of Medicine; Basilea Pharmaceutical, Switzerland; and The Medicines Co.
In addition, Zgurskaya and an OU team will develop biochemical and structural tools to enable effective characterization of the mechanism of action of new potential anti-tuberculosis therapeutics. The MmpL3 assays and structure project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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$146,708 - UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE - KNOXVILLE
HIGH-PERFORMANCE BIOINFORMATICS WORKFLOW FOR INTEGRATIVE "-OMICS" DATA ANALYTICS
Big data generated by a variety of meta-omics analyses provides unprecedented systems biology insights into complex microbial communities living in many natural ecosystems and around the human body. However, the velocity of data generation often exceeds the computing capability of existing serial algorithms for data analytics on single computers. To remove this bottleneck, the group will develop parallel algorithms for big data analytics with high-performance computing. The group will use network analysis to discover knowledge and generate hypotheses from massive -omics datasets. The research will enable large-scale meta-omics characterization of microbial communities relevant to human diseases, carbon cycling and marine ecology.
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$34,728.35 - STATE OF OKLAHOMA WILDLIFE CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT, OK-WILD
WINTER HABIT USE AND SEASONAL MOVEMENTS IN THE THREE LONGSPUR SPECIES
Ross has secured a State Wildlife Grant from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to study the wintering habits of longspurs. These grassland birds rely heavily on Oklahoma sites during the non-breeding season and all three species of focus have declined greatly over the past few decades. Ross and his students will use a variety of field survey, radio-tracking and computer modeling techniques to help determine the critical habitat needs of these species and whether population declines may be attributable to factors on their wintering grounds.
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$225,485 - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
HOT CARRIERS DYNAMICS IN LOW-DIMENSIONAL SYSTEMS
A major source of loss in commercial solar cells is the generation of heat (energy that is not extracted as useful power) when the semiconductor material comprising the solar cell absorbs higher-energy light. If this loss could be circumvented, cells operating at power conversion efficiencies in the range of 60 percent (rather than ~ 30 percent) may be possible. Recently, the group of Ian Sellers has demonstrated novel technologies to slow heat-loss processes in quantum engineered structures. The success of this work has resulted in a DoE funded partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. In this program, members of the Sellers group will spend extended periods at NREL to investigate the fundamental physics driving heat generation (i.e., losses) in novel solar cell materials to develop a new generation of higher-efficiency devices. A major focus of this work will be to further understand new, exciting perovskite materials for next-generation solar cells, which are solution
processed
– therefore, potentially cheaper than silicon-based solar cells that currently dominate the market.
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$50,000 - CFD RESEARH CORPORATION
PRODUCING BIOSYNTHETIC THERAPEUTICS FROM EXTREME MICROBIOMES
OU is working in collaboration with CFD Research Corp. to identify and develop new antimicrobial compounds that could be used as antibiotics. The project focuses on mining metagenomes prepared from yet uncultured microorganisms that inhabit extreme environments for novel biosynthetic pathways that generate antibiotic natural products. Currently, microbial natural products provide roughly 80 percent of the world’s antibiotics and the unusual microbes inhabiting extreme ecosystem are a yet-to-be-explored resource for drug discovery.
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$100,755 - NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CPR ON PROBLEM SOLVING: RESHAPING MATHEMATICAL IDENTITY BY VALUING CREATIVITY IN CALCULUS
Savic is part of the
Creativity Research Group
, which received funding to both help calculus instructors teach to foster mathematical creativity and investigate the effects of focusing on creativity in teaching. The group believes that when an instructor fosters creativity in the classroom, students will gain confidence, persistence and math appreciation. Since calculus is crucial for many other fields, this may ultimately lead to retention and recruitment in STEM. Mathematicians need to be creative in their research, CEOs across the world believe that creativity is an essential skill for their employees, and math organizations are requesting that creativity be involved in the undergraduate classroom.
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The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the
OU Department of Mathematics
co-hosted the Fourth Annual Meeting of the SIAM Central States Section the first weekend in October. The conference consisted of three plenary talks, parallel sessions and a poster session. The conference was generously supported through a $20,000 award from the National Science Foundation. The speakers were Peter Kuchment (Texas A&M University), Hong Qian (University of Washington) and Eitan Tadmor (University of Maryland, pictured).
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DEADLINES AND FEATURED EVENTS
SAVE THE DATE - WINTER CONVOCATION - 7 P.M. FRIDAY, DEC. 14, LLOYD NOBLE CENTER
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Oct. 24
Nathan D.B. Connolly will present a public lecture as part of the Presidential Dream Course, After Charlottesville: Race and Nation in American History. Connolly is the Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. The lecture, “Blood and Soil!: Real Estate and Racism in Modern American History,” begins at 6 p.m. at the Eddy Auditorium, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. For more information, click on the image to the left.
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Oct. 25
Day of the Dead - A One-Act Real Life and Death Play
8 p.m., Reynolds Performing Arts Center
The play, which explores the meaning of the Day of the Dead was written by
World Literature Today
director
Robert Con Davis-Undiano
For more information, click on the image to the right.
Oct. 26
Deadline to submit graduate program modification (using State Regents forms) to the Dean’s office.
Nov. 1
Deadline for academic units to upload unit recommendations for tenure and promotion in the TPS system.
Nov. 1
Deadline for academic units to finalize and freeze promotion-only dossier in the TPS system.
Nov. 1
Deadline for academic units to submit winter intersession course proposals to Renee Williams in the Intersession office. They also can be scanned and emailed to
reneewilliams@ou.edu.
Nov. 16
Deadline for academic units to submit to the Dean’s office recommendations for reappointment or non-reappointment to a third year for tenure-track and ranked-renewable term faculty.
Nov. 16
Deadline to submit undergraduate program modifications and undergraduate certificates (using State Regents forms) to the Dean’s office.
Nov. 19
Deadline to submit Presidential Dream Course proposals to the Dean.
Nov. 23
Deadline to enter graduate courses and undergraduate courses with G designation not associated with program modifications into Courseleaf.
Nov. 30
Deadline for academic units to upload unit recommendations for promotion-only in the TPS system.
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If you have information or announcements for
News & Updates
, please submit to the college
communication office
.
News & Updates
is published every month.
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