WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE COLLEGE

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: the Tom Golden Collection 

This significant collection includes collages, prints, photographs, and other objects reflecting Golden’s relationship over the years with these two remarkable artists. It will be available for viewing at the Art Gallery (located at the Art and Design Center) from October 24 through December 13, 2008.  Opening reception is Friday October 24th from 7 to 9 pm.  There is a Gallery Lecture at 10 am on Monday, October 27th.

An Invitation to China

Early this fall, we opened our campus theatre season with Sister Acts/Sister Schools, a specially prepared production brought to campus from Shanghai Normal University in celebration of Northridge’s  50th Anniversary.  During this visit, plans were put forth for a reciprocal exchange, with our guests offering to host.

Dean Robert Bucker and Theatre Chair Peter Grego  will  lead a contingent of sixteen CSUN scholars and students to China in November, accepting a generous invitation to perform and conduct master classes at Shanghai Normal University (SNU), a sister school of Cal State Northridge.  Reprising Dr. J’aime Morrison’s HOUDINI’S BOX, a CSUN production from last season, will be a student cast of ten who will share backstage duties as well as perform.  Prof. John Binkley, a faculty designer, will provide the production’s set design.  While in Shanghai these CSUN students, along with their Chinese counterparts, will take part in university master classes taught by Dean Bucker, Dr. Morrison, and Prof. Binkley.

‘Dear Mr. President’ Project Gives CSUN Community a Voice

Media Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler
carmen.chandler@csun.edu
(818) 677-2130

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Oct. 20th, 2008) ―Do you have something you want to say to the next president of the United States of America? Do you have a personal story or concern you want to share about this historic election? Faculty, staff, students and community members have until Thursday, Nov. 6, to visit Cal State Northridge’s own version of the MTV-styled “confessional” booth.

The confessional booth is part of cinema and television arts lecturer Geri Ulrey’s project: Dear Mr. President. The project involves the use of a mobile video booth located in a miniature house that travels around campus. Faculty, staff, students and visitors to campus are invited to record a video message addressed to the next president of the United States of America. Participants are encouraged to share personal stories, feelings and thoughts about their lives. The video messages will be organized, streamed from the project’s Web site and mailed to the White House.

“My desire is to engage with young people regarding the political process,” said Ulrey, who collaborated with the Art Department and several student organizations in designing the project and the house. “I believe that it is really important for people to hear themselves speak.”

The video house is open now through Nov. 6 at various locations on campus. Ulrey, the project producer and director, said the project is nonpartisan. She plans to send the footage to the campaigns of both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, no matter who wins on Nov. 4.

The project was funded through a grant from CSUN’s Judge Julian Beck Learning-Centered Instructional Projects. Beck grants are awarded to faculty to provide students with opportunities to actively engage in and ultimately become responsible for their own learning. Projects must be completed in one year and all faculty and staff are eligible to submit projects, either individually or as a group.

Ulrey said students are involved at all levels in the project, from inviting visitors to taping messages and editing and uploading the messages.

“This is an opportunity to bring art to large numbers of people who wouldn’t ordinarily have the opportunity, and to involve students on all levels,” said Kim Abeles, professor of art. She said art students helped design the Victorian style miniature house as an on-campus public art piece. The idea for the house design came out of the notion that individuals are most comfortable talking about issues in cozy chairs in their own home, she added.

“It’s portable, yet it’s also a cozy place,” Abeles added.

So far, nearly a hundred students, faculty and staff have taped messages with themes ranging from concerns about the economy to health care.

During his taped message, student Shahar Aframian said he was concerned about taxes, gas prices and the economy.

“I think those issues are more important than Iraq and the war,” he added.

For more information about the project, visit www.dearmrpresident08.org.

 

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

The college is pleased to announce the hiring of five new tenure track professors who will begin their career at CSUN in the fall of 2008.

COMMUNICATION STUDIES John Kephart III, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Director of Forensics John M. Kephart III (M.A., 2005, University of Southern California), received his B.A. and M.A. in Communication from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication.  His emphasis is on Rhetorical Theory and Criticism and Gender Studies.  His dissertation engages cultural responses to narratives of “masculinity crisis” within the United States in the late 20th, examining rhetorical strategy and cultural politics within popular culture and social movements. John is the Director of Forensics at CSUN, which competes in a wide variety of debate and individual events.  John blends theoretical inquiry with practical application to create a collaborative learning environment devoted to critical thinking.  He has taught a wide range of courses, including Argumentation, Gender and Media, Rhetorical Theory, and Small Group and Team Communication.  As likely to quote "The Big Lebowski" in class as he is Aristotle, John believes that critical engagement is just as valuable in our everyday lives and mundane experiences as it is when examining issues of global significance.

Jeanine Mingé, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Director of CSUN’s Performance Ensemble Jeanine Marie Mingé (Ph.D., University of South Florida), received her Master's degree from San Diego State University and her Bachelor’s degree from James Madison University.  Jeanine has published her work on performance and sexuality in the journal Qualitative Inquiry.  Her dissertation focuses on cob building, a natural building process, to create sacred and aesthetic spaces with the community. Cob building expands and complicates our understanding of arts-based and performance methods in communication, the categorization of community art, feminist poststructural pedagogies, and community methods. Her areas of interest include performance studies, feminist theory, queer theory, and arts-based inquiry. All of her work is dedicated to cultivating social justice. She is equally enthralled by and creates the communicative presence of visual imagery, poetry, installation art, narrative, and performance.

JOURNALISM Tae-Hyun Kim, Assistant Professor Tae hyun Kim, (B.A., M.A., Ohio State University, Ph.D., Washington State University).  Tae Hyun previously taught at the University of Louisiana at Monroe where he was in charge of the communication department’s news editorial curriculum.  A media sociologist, he specializes in the study of control and social change functions of mass media.  Kim’s media industry experience includes being a staff writer for the Madison Press, public relations coordinator for the Asian America Commerce Group, and a photo stringer for the Columbus Dispatch, the Akron Beacon Journal, and the Associated Press.

Jessica Retis, Assistant Professor Jéssica Retis, (B.A., Universidad de Lima, M.A., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ph.D., Universidad Complutense de Madrid.) Jessica has conducted research and has taught in Mexico, Spain and US universities in Madrid.  She specializes in the analysis of contemporary Diaspora and its media implications. Prior to teaching, Jessica has more than 18 years of experience as a journalist including working for publications such as Fin de Semana, Universal, Ojo in Perú, Revista Mexicana de Comunicación, El Nacional, and Reforma in Mexico.  In addition, she brings experience as a producer, scriptwriter, and news anchor for television stations in Spain and Perú.

THEATRE Christine Menzies, Associate Professor Christine Menzies has been an actor, director, voice and dialect coach, writer and teacher in the United States, Canada, Britain and Trinidad. Christine has also taught at Louisiana State University, Portland State University, the University of Southern California and Cal Poly, Pomona, as well as colleges and universities across Canada.  Christine has been a Voice/Text/Dialects Director at the Oregon and Kentucky Shakespeare festivals, at Portland Centre Stage and Artists Repertory Theatre, Oregon and The Swine Palace, Louisiana.  She has directed extensively in the U.S. and abroad.