Member of community action group visits HT class

On November 1, Meme Styles, President of Measure Austin spoke to Dr. Mike Hirsch's Criminology class . Measure Austin is a data-driven group aimed at promoting transparency and accountability regarding Austin's law enforcement community.

 

L to R: Jerome Williams, Sarah Rodriguez, Victoria De Leon, Steven Valadez, Marisol Gomez, Victoria Amaya, Andre Williams, Meme Styles, Victor Fuentes, Chelsea Moore, Ebonee Hunt and DeCoryan Buchanan

"Teachers of Promise!"  ATCP Candidates earn honors.

Three candidates in the Alternative Teacher Certification Program have earned the coveted "Teacher of Promise" designation from Austin ISD at their schools,  Mrs. Kayla Figg, Ms. Deongella Bruce, and Mrs. Shyra Collins-Chapman were recognized for their teaching excellence as first-year teachers.  A "Teacher of Promise" is given as special consideration for the excellent work, student success and care demonstrated by a teacher new to the profession.  Mrs. Figg teaches First Grade at Maplewood Elementary.  Ms. Bruce is the Special Education and Resource teacher at Pickle Elementary.  Mrs. Collins-Chapman teaches PreK at Pecan Springs Elementary.  These teachers and their ATCP cohort will receive their Texas Standard Certification in May.

The Langston Hughes Project at HT

On March 2nd, Huston-Tillotson hosted a multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes's Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz orchestrated by musician Ron McCurdy. Called the Langston Hughes Project, the event took place in HT's King Seabrook Chapel, and was a hit with everyone in attendance.

The event was a multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes’s kaleidoscopic jazz poem suite. Ask Your Mama is Hughes’s homage in verse and music to the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad at the beginning of the 1960s. It is a twelve-part epic poem which Hughes scored with musical cues drawn from blues and Dixieland, gospel songs, boogie woogie, bebop and progressive jazz, Latin “cha cha” and Afro-Cuban mambo music, German lieder, Jewish liturgy, West Indian calypso, and African drumming — a creative masterwork left unperformed at his death.

By way of videography, this concert performance links the words and music of Hughes’ poetry to topical images of Ask Your Mama’s people, places, and events, and to the works of the visual artists Langston Hughes admired or collaborated with most closely over the course of his career — the African-inspired mural designs and cubist geometries of Aaron Douglas, the blues and jazz-inspired collages of Romare Bearden, the macabre grotesques of Meta Warrick Fuller and the rhythmic sculptural figurines and heads and bas reliefs of Richmond Barthe, the color blocked cityscapes and black history series of Palmer Hayden and Jacob Lawrence. Together the words, sounds, and images recreate a magical moment in our cultural history, which bridges the Harlem Renaissance, the post-World War II Beat writers’ coffeehouse jazz poetry world, and the looming Black Arts performance explosion of the 1960.

Dr. Oldmixon's Intro to the Arts class visits Austin's Umlauf Sculpture Gardens

Thursday, March 2, Dr. Oldmixon’s Introduction to the Arts class visited the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, one of Austin’s art treasures.  The students watched a film featuring the late UT professor and sculptor, world renowned Charles Umlauf, speaking about his life, training and work.  The video also explained the lost wax method for casting sculptures and other processes involved in the creation of the sculptures. 

 
After the video, the students walked through the indoor gallery with the curator, viewing the current exhibition on Umlauf and his most famous student and model, Farah Fawcett.  That exhibit includes examples of Fawcett’s sculptures beside her teacher’s work and his sculptures featuring her as a model. 


 After visiting the exhibit, the students went on a guided tour of the sculptures in the gardens,
stopping to discuss (and apply the terms for analyzing sculpture that they are learning) specific works.  The sculptures “War Mother,” “The Kiss,” and those of animals particularly intrigued the students.

Huston-Tillotson hosts event for Central Texas Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French

On March 4th, Dr. Anne Cirella-Urrutia hosted an event for the Central Texas Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French (CTAATF) here at Huston-Tillotson.

French educators from around Texas joined with students to hold a cultural and educational symposium.

Musician Julie Slim & Rendezvous performed for those in attendance.

A message from Dr. Rosalee Martin, Acting Dean

Dr. Martin has been the Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for the past three years.  In that position she has improved faculty morale, encouraged faculty and student excellence, have supported faculty professional development, and have  and have embraced the institutional motto of IDEAL, ie, integrity, diversity, excellence, accountability and leadership. 

This blog will highlight the many accomplishments of students and faculty members that placed HT in a positive light in the Austin community, in Texas, the U.S. and globally. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest academic unit at HT.  It is housed in three buildings and part of a fourth.  There are 43 full time professors and 36 adjuncts and three administrative assistants. CAS has 13 majors with minors, and a minor in religious studies.  Additionally, the only master’s program is in CAS, Master’s in Educational Leadership.  CAS is divided into seven departments: Education Preparation (Dr. Ruth Kane, Chair), English (Dr. Katherine Oldmixon, Chair), Humanities and Fine Arts (Dr. Stephen Burnaman, Chair), Kinesiology (Dr. Carlos Cervantes, Chair), Mathematics (Dr. Ahmad Kamalvand, Chair), Natural Sciences (Dr. Kathy Schwab, Chair) and Social and Behavior Sciences (Dr. Lorraine Samuels, Chair).

CAS faculty members are professionals who are well-known in their field.  Many have published during in professional journals, have attended seminars/workshops and many have present individually and on panels locally, nationally and abroad.  Some have written major grants supporting its programs, as well as bringing other university colleagues to our campus.  Students are provided excellent education as is evident by the student-centered activities used, their exposure to professionals at conferences and workshops, their participation in research activities and their internships in major related areas. These types of modeling and networking experiences are invaluable as students move from the status of student to professional.

CAS will miss our seasoned professors who will retire May 2017.  Dr. Horatio Pena, professor of Spanish, retires after 28 years at HT.  In addition to teaching Spanish, he fills the halls of Jackson Moody with timely exhibits around current events and holidays. Also, Dr. Carol Adams-Means, professor of Communication, will retire for the second time.  She retired from Prairie-View A & M and now from HT after 8 years.  She is instrumental in reviving our Communication program and producing radio programs for broadcast on HBCURadionet.com, Sirius XM Channel 142, and Our Page One Satellite News Magazine.

Grant funds available for Computer Science teachers

Computer Science Teaching Certification Opportuntiy

 

The Education Programs at HT have partnered with the UT College of Education and STEM Departments to offer extra training for certification for Computer Science 8-12.  This training program is open to all majors or minors in education, even if you do not wish to become CS 8-12 certified.

Hundreds of computer science teaching positions go unfilled across Texas each year.  This grant from Google will provide stipends and support funds for our students in all majors who wish to add a teaching certificate.

The preparation involves two online courses, 6-8 professional development meetings and several special events that will prepare you to become an effective computer science teacher and STEM educator.

·         For successful completion of the course requirements, students will receive a $1000 stipend.

·         For certification in Computer Science 8-12, students will receive another $1000 stipend.

Candidates must complete the following tasks:

Enroll and complete online Computer Science course for spring starting in January, or summer starting June 8^th.

Participate in four face-to-face seminar sessions at HT with subject matter experts in teaching STEM and Computer Science during the spring semester

Participate in the HT Hackathon on March 11^th & 12^th

Attend the Computer Science Summit at UT on June 5^th -7^th

Complete one professional development experience from a list to be posted

Complete an online computer science course for fall in pedagogy & teaching strategies

Participate in two face-to-face seminar sessions at HT with subject matter experts during the fall semester

All registration fees and online course tuition will be covered by the partnership grant.

Contact Dr. Jan Seiter, Director of ATCP at 512.505.6462 or jpseiter@htu.edu.  Dr. Seiter’s office is on the 2d floor of Evans Hall.

Student teachers at work in AISD

HT student teacher Samantha Arciba (Kinesiology/teacher certification major) works with students at Guerrero Thompson Elementary School, Austin ISD. 

Student teachers spend 14 weeks working with a classroom teacher.  The student teacher takes over the class at about the 5th week.  Samantha is a Kinesiology major earning teacher certification in Physical Education. Dr. Annette Aron is the Supervisor of Student Teaching at HT. 

Intro to the Arts students visit Austin's Blanton Museum

On February 17, 2017, Dr. Oldmixon's Introduction to the Arts class visited the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin. The students had a docent-led tour of the museum's permanent collection, stopping to visit such highlights as Madame CJ Walker by Sonya Clark, Cruzando El Rio Bravo/River Crossing by Luis Jiménez, and How to Build Cathedrals by Cildo Meireles.

This field trip gave the students an opportunity to experience the beauty and complexity of art and to apply the terminology for analysis and appreciation that they have been exploring in Dr. Oldmixon's course. The next field opportunity for the Introduction to the Arts students will be a visit to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden.

Introduction to the Arts is a survey of a variety of art forms, including pictures, sculpture, architecture, dance, poetry, and theater. Below, you can see several pictures of students involved in the field trip.

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