Free Writing Workshop Offered to Local Non-Profits

On Tuesday, April 24, 10 am–12 pm, The Community Writing Center will host “Writing to Reach,” a workshop for local non-profit agencies. The workshop will be hosted at the Good Will Career Center and is free and open to the public.

The workshop will cover issues related to writing for non-profit agencies including newsletters, grants, and writing for the web. Additionally, the workshop will encourage attendees to network and make connections with other local non-profit agencies. Lunch will be provided.

The Community Writing Center, part of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University, will offer several more workshops for the public focused on different types of writing throughout the year.

For more information, go to http://communitywritingauburn.org, or contact Beth Savoy at beth.savoy@auburn.edu.

Join us for a lecture by Dr. Suzanne Blier

On Tuesday, April 17, Dr. Suzanne Blier, Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University, will give a talk entitled “Art Matters: Sculpture, Peace, and Diplomacy in Ancient Yoruba" at 5 p.m. in Biggin Hall Auditorium. The lecture will explore the amazing terracottas and bronzes of ancient Ife and a king who brought peace to warring factions of a devastating civil war through the commissioning of art works and a new city plan. The public is invited.

Blier, an historian of African art and architecture in both the History of Art and Architecture and African and African American Studies Departments at Harvard, is the author of The Anatomy of Architecture: Ontology and Metaphor in Batammaliba Architectural Expression (Cambridge University Press) and  African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power, among others. Her forthcoming book is Art and Risk in Ancient Yoruba: Ife History, Power and Identity c.1300. (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and African's Worlds: A History (with Joseph C. Miller, Oxford University Press, 2012).

On Wednesday, April 18, Blier will give a free lecture/demonstration on the electronic geo-spatial database AfricaMap, a site of the WorldMap project. She serves as co-chair for Africamap. The lecture will be held at noon the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library. A reception will follow.

Blier’s lectures are the concluding programs for Art at the Threshold, a program of Auburn Connects! common reading program. Sponsored by Auburn University College of Liberal Arts’ Department of Art and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities.

Auburn Speaks: Making Auburn Research Available

The inaugural edition of Auburn Speaks, an annual publication showcasing Auburn University research and creative scholarship, is now available for purchase. 

A year in the making, Auburn Speaks: The Oil Spill of 2010 focuses on research across campus that related to the catastrophic explosion of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in spring 2010. The explosion set off a chain of events that led to the largest environmental and economic disaster in the history of the region.  The impacts of that disaster are still felt and are not yet fully understood.

Auburn Speaks captures the work of faculty across campus who address issues ranging from the environment to health to economics. The stories in Auburn Speaks make their research accessible and interesting for all readers.

Beautifully illustrated, Auburn Speaks is full of compelling, fascinating stories of what goes on behind the scenes in labs, at computers, on boats and between the pages as university faculty and students seek understanding and answers. For instance, the impact of the Deepwater Horizon explosion on communities that dot the Alabama Gulf Coast, including Orange Beach and Bayou La Batre, was environmental, as well as social, economic and physical. Judith Sheppard, faculty member in Journalism, interviews the people who experienced the disaster first hand, while Ken Halanych, Chris Anderson, Prabhakar Clement and Joel Hayworth are among the many contributors who give us the science behind oil drilling, the spill and clean-up.

Produced by the Office of the Vice President for Research with assistance from the Office of University Writing, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Office of Communications and Marketing, Auburn Speaks, according for VP for Research Dr. John Mason, intends to “make Auburn Research more accessible to a broad audience.

Auburn Speaks is available through its website, http://auburn.edu/auburnspeaks, and at the Auburn University bookstore.

Public programs, including lectures and presentations, on Auburn Speaks: The Oil Spill of 2010, will be available to libraries, schools and communities. For more information on the publication or opportunities to bring speakers to your town, go to http://auburn.edu/auburnspeaks or call 334-844-4946. 

Eric Schlosser Speaks on "To Be an American"

Acclaimed author and journalist Eric Schlosser will give a free talk on Thursday, March 22 at 4 p.m. in the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center auditorium. His talk, “To Be an American,” addresses the historical, cultural and social implications of our nation’s immigrant identity.

As a melting-pot nation, the United States has experienced both the vigor and the tension that comes from making one of many. Schlosser’s wide-ranging perspective addresses the roots of American identity and the impulse that helped make the nation a destination for those in search of economic, cultural and religious freedom. 

Schlosser’s first book, Fast Food Nation, published in 2001, helped start a revolution in how Americans think about what they eat. In 2011 it was named one of Time magazine’s 100 all-time best nonfiction books and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for two years. His second book, Reefer Madness (2003), looked at America’s thriving underground economy and was also a New York Times bestseller.

Schlosser served as an executive producer and co-wrote the feature film Fast Food Nation (2006), directed by Richard Linklater. He was a co-producer of the award-winning documentary, Food, Inc., directed by Robert Kenner, and served as executive producer of There Will Be Blood (2008), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Two of Schlosser’s plays have been produced in London: Americans (2003) at the Arcola Theatre and We the People (2007) at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

As an investigative journalist, Schlosser has made a career of going outside the mainstream media to give a voice to people not always widely heard. He’s followed the harvest with migrant farm workers in California, spent time with meatpacking workers in Texas and Colorado and gone on duty with the New York Police Department Bomb Squad. 

Schlosser’s talk is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts’ Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, Department of Communication & Journalism and Community and Civic Engagement Initiative, as well as the Auburn University College of Agriculture. 

Film Series on Immigration Continues with "Abandoned"

Abandoned (2000, 55 minutes), a film by directors David Belle and Nicholas Wrathall, is the second installment of a film series on immigration. Abandoned will screen at on Tuesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (540 East Thach Avenue). Dr. Stacey Hunt, professor in the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts, will lead discussion.

Abandoned, takes a close look at the personal impact of immigration laws and depicts the severity of current detention and deportation policies. Through intimate interviews and shocking footage of detainees' treatment behind bars the film provides an eye-opening experience for those unfamiliar with the detention system.

Hunt, who will moderate Abandoned, is currently an assistant professor of Political Science. She specializes in comparative politics with an emphasis on contemporary state construction in Latin America.  Abandoned, has been shown at over a dozen film festivals and focuses on the effects of the 1996 law that allows for the Immigration and Naturalization Service to imprison legal permanent residents and asylum applicants.

The series, which is free and open to all, will include screenings of seven other films, including Harvest of Shame, Pueblos Hermanos and Morristown. Each screening will take place at AUUF at 7 p.m. Designed to spark discussion of both film and issues of immigration, the series was created by Dr. Kerri Muñoz and is sponsored by the Auburn University Latin American Studies Center for Community Connections, the College of Liberal Arts Global Citizenship Project, the departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures, English, and Political Science, as well as AUUF and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the Collegeof Liberal Arts.

Film Series on Immigration Launches with "El Norte"

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, El Norte, a film by director Gregory Nava, will kick off a movie series on immigration. “El Norte” will screen at 7 p.m. at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (540 East Thach Avenue). Dr. Robert Leier, professor in the Auburn University College of Education, will lead discussion.

El Norte, the first independent film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, traces the journey of two Mayan youth who flee Guatemala following a Guatemalan Army-led massacre in their village. The journey is marked by danger, and sometimes humor, as the two make their way to Los Angeles.

Leier, who will moderate El Norte, is currently an assistant professor and program area coordinator for the graduate degree and certificate programs in English for Speakers of Other Languages Education, Department of Curriculum and Teaching, College of Education at Auburn. In addition to its Oscar nomination, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The series, which is free and open to all, will include screenings of seven other films, including Harvest of Shame, Pueblos Hermanos and Morristown. Each screening will take place at AUUF at 7 p.m. Designed to spark discussion of both film and issues of immigration, the series was created by Dr. Kerri Muñoz and is sponsored by the Auburn University Latin American Studies Center for Community Connections, the College of Liberal Arts Global Citizenship Project, the departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures, English, and Political Science, as well as AUUF and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the Collegeof Liberal Arts.

Auburn Speaks 2013 Announces Editors and Call for Submissions

Auburn Speaks, an annual peer-reviewed publication showcasing research and creative scholarship by Auburn University faculty, students, staff and alumni, is pleased to announce that Dr. Graeme Lockaby, the associate dean for research in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, will serve as the editor for its 2013 edition.

Auburn Speaks features important research at Auburn University that affects and may be of interest to the general public. Accessible and visually engaging, the publication draws from all disciplines.

The 2013 edition will focus on water. The topic is a subject rich with applications across the sciences and social sciences, including state, regional and global issues of use, conservation and quality. Water is a significant factor in issues related to energy and the environment, rural and urban development, public health, as well as food production, processing and distribution. Water informs creative research, the visual arts, creative writing and performing arts. Auburn’s long history of engagement in water research will also be featured.

Lockaby serves as director of the Center for Forest Sustainability and has extensive experience with research and outreach on water issues. Working with him to recruit and edit submissions are ten  faculty members who will serve as subject area experts and  associate editors: Dr. Kelly Alley on social/policy issues and arts/humanities; Dr. Claude Boyd on water use and aquaculture; Dr. Prabhakar Clement on groundwater; Dr. Mark  Dougherty on global water issues; Dr. Diane Hite on ecosystem services; Drs. Elise Irwin and John Aho on biodiversity; Dr. Latif Kalin on land-use change; Dr. Charlene LeBleu on low-impact development; and Dr. Puneet Srivastava on climate influences.

The deadline for submissions of articles to Auburn Speaks is no later than April 15. The Auburn Speaks website (www.auburn.edu/auburnspeaks) offers contact information and submission guidelines. Those with questions about appropriate topics for submissions are encouraged to contact an associate editor.

Auburn Speaks is a project of the Office of the Vice President for Research, with assistance provided by the OVPR’s Program Development Office, the University Writing Initiative and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, as well as the College of Agriculture’s Office of AgriculturalCommunications and Marketing.

The 2012 edition of Auburn Speaks, which will debut in April during this year’s Auburn University Research Week, will include features and profiles relating to research on the BP oil spill. Information about it can also be found at the Auburn Speaks website.