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Sara Gazarek
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The 2009 GLT Jazz Masters Concert, featuring singer/songwriter Sara Gazarek, will be held at 8 p.m. on February 7 in Illinois State University’s Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. Gazarek was born and raised in Seattle and first became interested in jazz in high school. As a senior she was awarded the first Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation Outstanding Jazz Vocalist Award at the Essentially Ellington Festival in NYC. Following her graduation she studied at the prestigious Thornton School of Music, where she helped develop the JazzReach program and spent two years working as a jazz choir director with inner city elementary schools. She has released two albums, her most recent being “Return to You.” The album features unique arrangements of contemporary standards by songwriters such as Paul McCartney and Harry Connick Jr., and new songs by her pianist Josh Nelson, a talented composer and lyricist. Gazarek’s music is steeped in jazz tradition, but also embraces the music of her own generation. Despite her young age, Gazarek’s albums have won a number of awards, and have received a great deal of recognition.
To purchase tickets or obtain more information visit www.wglt.org
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Bruce Burningham, professor of Spanish and comparative literature, recently published Tilting Cervantes: Baroque Reflections on Postmodern Culture (Vanderbilt University Press). The book examines several contemporary texts— Fight Club, Brazil, The Matrix, and The Moor's Last Sigh, among others—by reflecting them against a cluster of early modern Spanish and Latin American literary works, principally Don Quixote. Through a deliberate juxtaposition of these cross-cultural and cross-epochal texts, this book explores the notion that each of these varied cultural products can be read—in a very Borgesian manner—as precursors to each other, especially for contemporary readers who may not come to them in their proper chronological order. At the same time, and within this larger juxtaposition, this book examines the interrelated baroque and postmodern preoccupation with mirrors and self-reflexivity, and thus argues that many postmodern writers and performers do not so much break new ground as simply rediscover terrain already explored by such baroque literary figures as Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
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Roger Biles, Professor of History, guest-edited the most recent issue of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. Biles is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois State Historical Society. The special issue is composed of papers given at the 27th annual symposium of the Illinois State Historical Society, which was held on the ISU campus on February 15-17, 2007. The society held its symposium outside of Springfield for the first time ever to commemorate ISU's sesquicentennial celebration. “This special issue of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society is essentially another part of ISU's sesquicentennial celebration,” said Dr. Biles. He is the author of several books, including Illinois: A History of the Land and Its People (2005) and Crusading Liberal: Paul H. Douglas of Illinois (2002).
Two other ISU history professors have also published articles in the journal. John B. Freed, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, wrote “The Founding of Illinois State Normal University: Normal School or State University?”
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Ali Riaz
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Dr. Ali Riaz, Chair of the Department of Politics and Government, presented his testimony on Bangladesh’s upcoming national elections at a public hearing in Washington, DC held by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on December 4. The hearing explored the prospects for free, fair, and peaceful elections in Bangladesh, the development of a stable democracy, the threat to democratic values posed by religious extremism, and strategies for the U.S. government to promote democracy and respect for human rights, including freedom of religion or belief. Bangladesh's last national elections were followed by numerous reports of violence against members of religious minority communities, particularly Hindus.
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Maria Smith
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Maria Ostendorf Smith is a new associate professor of Anthropology in the Sociology and Anthropology department. Her area of interest within biological Anthropology is human skeletal analysis and her research focuses on the pre-Columbian peoples of the southeastern United States, specifically from the Tennessee River valley. Analysis consists of identifying health status (e.g., pathology, trauma, nutrition) in order to reconstruct ancient lifestyles, subsistence economies and quality of life. Her doctorate is from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Smith previously taught at Loyola University (Chicago) and Northern Illinois University. She is a member of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Paleopathology Association, Southeastern Archaeological Conference and the Midwest Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology Association. Her hobbies include oil painting, watching old black and white movies and anything Jane Austen.
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Haley Drucker, Rachel Johnson, and Joanna Styczen
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Three ISU students—Haley Drucker, Rachel Johnson, and Joanna Styczen—have completed a semester-long internship in the CASNews office. Drucker and Johnson completed their assignment as part of the requirement of the undergraduate Publishing Studies emphasis in the English Department. Styczen, a senior majoring in journalism, participated in fulfillment of the requirements for the School of Communication’s field experience program. The three interviewed faculty, staff, and students throughout the College and wrote many of the stories that appeared in CASNews. They also took photographs and mastered a number of computer programs as they produced 16 issues of CASNews containing over 100 stories.
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This is the final issue of CASNews for 2008. In 2008, CASNews was honored to report over 200 stories reflecting positive achievements of College faculty, staff, students, and alumni. We look forward to continuing coverage of College success and events next year. Publication of the newsletter will resume on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.
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