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Faculty Excellence is a series which focuses on faculty members who excel in their field of study. Ann Kim talks about her current work in the Art and her exploration of new mediums.
Now you can follow Ann and the rest of the faculty and students within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences on Facebook.
Whether you’re interested in art, communication, English, history, criminal justice, political science, psychology, or sociology, you can prepare for a successful career at IU East. In the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, you will explore human experiences and behavior and learn to express those experiences through writing, speaking, and participating in the arts. You’ll study with caring faculty members who are experts in the field. When you graduate, you’ll have an IU degree, a broad liberal arts education, and the skills for a rewarding career. Education for a career; arts for a lifetime.
School News
Associate professor of English receives National Endowment for the Arts fellowship
Jean Harper, associate professor of English, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for writing (prose). The fellowship will support work on her book, Horses and Divorces.
The fellowship is designed to give writers the time and freedom to pursue their work; the creative writing fellowships are the NEA’s most direct investment in America’s artists. Harper is the only person in Indiana to receive the fellowship in literature for this year.
“Receiving a NEA Fellowship is a huge honor, and I’m incredibly thrilled to receive this,” Harper said. “ I am very grateful to Indiana University East for all the support I’ve been given over the years to do the work of writing that enabled me to earn this fellowship.”
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the federal government and has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.
“This is a significant honor and quite an accomplishment. I look forward to reading her book," said Larry Richards, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
Also, North American Review will publish a chapter from Harper’s book manuscript in its publication forthcoming in 2012. The North American Review is the oldest literary magazine in the United States.
“The School of Humanities and Social Sciences is extremely proud of Jean Harper’s work. Both the NEA Fellowship and publication in the North American Review are tremendous achievements that attest to Jean’s success as a writer and researcher. We are all looking forward to the publication of her latest book, Horses and Divorces,” said Katherine Frank, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
North American Review is published four times each year at the University of Northern Iowa. The North American Review is well-known for its early discovery of young, talented fiction writers and poets. It also publishes creative nonfiction, with emphasis on increasing concerns about environmental and ecological matters, multiculturalism, and exigent issues of gender and class.
Harper is currently a resident of Hagerstown, Ind. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College and her Bachelor of Arts in English from Earlham College.
IU East WVAAC announces Top Eleven, Purchase awards recipients
Indiana University East announced the Top Eleven Award and Purchase Award recipients during the Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition reception held October 26.
This year’s competition was juried by Katherine Sherwood, a professor at UC Berkeley in the art department and the Disability Studies Program. The competition accepts entries from artists throughout a 300-mile radius around Richmond.
The Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition exhibit in The Gallery and Meijer Artway, located in Whitewater Hall, is open now through December 9.
Visitors are welcome to view the exhibit during gallery hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, call Ed Thornburg, gallery curator, at (765) 973-8605 or visit iue.edu/gallery.
2011 Whitewater Top Eleven Merit Award Winners
- Scott Anderson, Hartford City, Ind.: "The Prophet, His Ego, and 7 Unoriginal Sins" Acrylic on Canvas
- David Cunningham, Indianapolis, Ind.: "The Present" Oil on Panel
- Erik Austin Deerly, Fishers, Ind.: "Force" Pigment Ink on Watercolor Paper
- David Hannon, Muncie, Ind.: "Hide and Seek" Oil on Panel
- Jim Hair, Richmond, Ind.: "County Fair" Digital Photograph
- Katie Jacob, Richmond, Ind.: "The Owl and the Pussycat" Mixed Media
- Benny Kenworthy, Richmond, Ind.: "Romancing the Barn" Acrylic / Mixed
- Brandon McFadden, Centerville, Ind.: "Red Sky in the Morning" Burnished Lacquer Stoneware
- Diana Pappin, Richmond, Ind.: "Sacred Silence" Digital Photograph
- Nicole Pancini, Muncie, Ind.: "Survival" Acrylic on Canvas
- Mark Sawrie, Muncie, Ind.: "Stragglers" Pigment Print on Canvas (PH)
Purchase Awards
- Gail Ginther, Metamora, Ind.: "Evening Rain" Acrylic on Canvas
- Larry Graham, Muncie, Ind.: "Cityscape #13" Automotive Lacquer on Paper
- Sara Fleenor, Eaton, Ohio: "Cans" Oil on Canvas
- Nicole Pancini, Muncie, Ind.: "Survival" Acrylic on Canvas
English Faculty Present at Feminisms and Rhetoric's Conference
HSS English faculty, Margaret Thomas Evans, Linda Applegate, Rachel Ramer and Frances Peacock recently presented papers at the Feminisms and Rhetoric's Conference at Minnesota State University, Mankato, on Friday, October 14. The title of their presentation was "The Challenges of Feminist Rhetoric in Traditionally Male Domains: Religion, Engineering, and Technology.
Assistant Professor Releases New CD, Uses Work as Composer to Teach Students
Elliott McKinley, assistant professor of music and music program coordinator, knows that his work as a composer will ultimately enhance the learni
ng experience of his students in the classroom. Active as a professional composer, he has composed music that has been performed throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.
"My experiences as a composer and a musician come back to the classroom directly, giving students an idea of what it is like to work as a professional in the field," McKinley said. McKinley recently released a new CD recording, "String Quartets," through Navona Records and distributed by Naxos. The CD features three string quartets composed over a 10-year period by McKinley. The Martinů String Quartet of Prague commissioned and premiered each of these quartets and is also the performing ensemble on the CD. One of these quartets, McKinley’s sixth quartet, had its recording supported by an IU East Faculty Research Support Grant in 2009.
In addition to the new CD, McKinley was recently commissioned by the Essex Chamber Music Players in Boston to write a new piece commemorating the 50th anniversary of Northern Essex Community College. The work, a trio for flute, cello, and piano, will be premiered on March 25, 2012, at Northern Essex Community College.
McKinley received another IU East Faculty Research Support Grant to record a recent composition, "Three Symphonic Moods," commissioned and premiered by the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra last November. When the edited recording becomes available, he will use the piece in his orchestration and arranging course.
McKinley goes beyond recordings of his music to instruct students on composition. This fall, his students were embedded with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in a rehearsal allowing the students to get a sense of music and the experience from the musicians’ standpoint. Many students may not be directly familiar with playing an instrument thus the experience of seeing musicians at work, gives them an invaluable lesson on the issues, problems, and solutions that occur while preparing a musical performance.
Guy Bordo, music director/conductor for the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, said a big part of the RSO's mission is education.
"We are always glad to see students taking advantage of the opportunities we can provide. The growth that IU East has been experiencing is exciting and we are very glad to help enhance those experiences.
"It is always very important for students studying orchestration or composition to see the practical application of what they are doing. It is one thing to put notes on a page. But it is completely different to see the results of what a composer does with a live orchestra," Bordo said. "Playing music is not an exact science, it is an art. So there are many ways to interpret the notation we use. Seeing that done first hand is invaluable to a student in music."
Faculty Work to Publish in Literary Magazine
Jean Harper, Associate Professor of English at Indiana University East, recently received notice that a chapter from her book manuscript Horses and Divorces, has been accepted for publication at the North American Review. 
"I am very pleased to see a chapter of my book manuscript appear in such a prestigious literary magazine," Harper said. "This gives me great hope for the future publication of the book itself."
Founded in Boston in 1815, the North American Review is the oldest literary magazine in the United States. Published at the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls) since 1968, on six occasions during that period, it has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award (the magazine equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and it has twice won the top award in the Fiction category—in head-to-head competition with The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, and others. No other university-sponsored periodical has an equivalent record of achievement.
Published four times each year, the North American Review is well-known for its early discovery of young, talented fiction writers and poets. It also publishes creative nonfiction, with emphasis on increasing concerns about environmental and ecological matters, multiculturalism, and exigent issues of gender and class.
More information about the literary magazine can be found at www.northamericanreview.org
Communication Studies Faculty Send Recent IU East Graduates Off to Graduate School
Communication Studies faculty are proud to announce that two of their most recent graduates Bruce Morgan, and 2011 Chancellor’s Scholar, Kimbra Shoop were recently accepted into competitive graduate programs in Communication. Bruce Morgan graduated with a BA in Communication Studies in May 2011 and was recently accepted into the Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communication program at West Virginia University to begin January 2012. Kimbra Shoop who also earned her BA in Communication Studies in May 2011 was accepted and has already begun pursuing graduate studies in health communication since August 2011 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Both students were strongly supported by letters of recommendation from Communication faculty Elvinet Piard, Natalia Rybas and Jerome Mahaffey.
School of Humanites and Social Sciences Alumni Gets Published
Indiana University East Alumni, Jacquelynn Steele (B.A Humanities 2010), has an article published in the online magazine, LiveBetterMagazine.com. The article comes out of her experiences in Paraguay, which began with a Summer Research Scholar project in summer of 2009. Jacquelynn worked with former HSS World Languages faculty, Teresa Henderson on the SUMRS project; Jacquelynn also worked Associate Professor of English, Jean Harper, writing about her Paraguay experiences for her Humanities capstone project. The article can be viewed here at:
Disappearing Cultures: Paraguay’s Indigenous Tribes
Students Present at Indiana College Assoicaiton Annual Conference
Three of HSS students presented at the Indiana College English Association (ICEA) annual conference, October 7, at Anderson University, in Anderson, Indiana. The students and their presentations were: Zack Bishop ("Road Not Maintained"); Hillary Cameron ("Judged, Beaten, and Loved"), and Christina Persson ("Human Recreation and its Effect on the Environment"). Zack and Christina's presentations grew out of work supported by the Summer Research Scholars program; Hillary's presentation is part of her current work on her honors thesis.
The theme for this year's conference was "Spiritus Loci" (spirit of place). The conference drew presenters and attendees from four states, and featured Scott Russell Sanders, IU Bloomington Professor Emeritus, as the keynote speaker.
In addition, this year Jean Harper, Associate Professor of English, was the recipient of the Teacher/Scholar of the Year award for 2011 by ICEA. This competitive award is given annually, and recipients are selected by the Board of Directors of ICEA.
The Indiana College English Association is a professional organization equally dedicated to scholarship and to teaching. One of twenty regional affiliates of the College English Association, the ICEA welcomes faculty, students, independent scholars and creative writers who are interested in contributing to scholarship, teaching, and literary culture.
