Humanities News, Features, and Other Updates

World War I and The Copper Country Trench Webcam

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American soldiers in trenches during World War OneAs part of World War I & The Copper Country, a full-scale reconstruction of a section of WWI firing trench on the front line can be viewed through our webcam! This webcam will be available until November 11.

Still Image | Streaming | Time Lapse

An immersive outdoor trench exhibit invites the public to imagine how soldiers experienced life in the trenches, including “going over the top.” This project is headed by Drs. Stanley Vitton and Kris Mattila (Civil and Environmental Engineering), and it involves student and faculty participants from across campus. The exhibit showcases an actual winding trench dug several feet into the ground and spanning several yards on the campus green. The exhibit is multifaceted featuring an acoustical installation simulating the sounds of battle designed by Christopher Plummer and Sound Design students (Visual & Performing Arts); looped recordings of memorial poetry and selections from soldier memoirs; and informative signage conveying historical facts about trench structure and trench warfare. Prospective plans include a commemorative ceremony to fill in the trench on November 11, 2018 with the participation of local VFW and American Legion groups, ROTC, and JROTC.

Image: Figure 20, Lubin 2015. American Soldiers in trenches, France (near Verdun). 1918 Library of Congress

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Richard Ward Publishes Creative Non-fiction Story

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Richard WardRhetoric, Theory, and Culture PhD student Richard Ward has published a creative non-fiction story in Pennsylvania’s Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Nonfiction, released by Z Publishing House, 2018. Ward’s story is titled “A Rumble in the Woods”. Previously, Ward’s “Cute from a Distance” won the The Bob Hoffman Award for Creative Non-fiction and was published in York Review 21, 2015.

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Patty Sotirin Awarded ADVANCE Grant as Co-PI

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Patty SotirinPatty Sotirin is a co-principle investigator on a project that has received a $1,000,000 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. Adrienne Minerick (School of Technology) is the principal investigator. Sonia Goltz (School of Business and Economics), Audrey Mayer (School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences/Social Sciences) and Andrew Storer (School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences) are also Co/PIs on the project titled, “ADVANCE Adaptation AMP-UP Continuous Improvement Process to Transform Institutional Practices and Culture.” This is a three-year project.

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Wenjing Liu Among Fall 2018 Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Award Recipients

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Wenjing LiuWe are happy to announce Rhetoric, Theory and Culture PhD student Wenjing Liu is among the winners for the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Award. Congratulations!

Finishing Fellowships provide support to PhD candidates who are close to completing their degrees. These fellowships are available through the generosity of alumni and friends of the University. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD candidates who are in need of financial support to finish their degrees and are also contributing to the attainment of goals outlined in The Michigan Tech Plan.

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RTC Graduate Students Present at IAICS International Conference

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Three RTC Graduate students presented papers at the 24th International Conference of the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies, July 5-8, 2018. Hua Wang (with Junhua Wang, University of Minnesota Duluth) presented on the topic “Culture and Rhetoric: A Contrastive Analysis on the Effectiveness of Two Articles on Climate Change”. Aranya Srijongjai presentated on “Digital Rhetoric of Cosmopolitanism: A Methodological Framework” and also chaired the Communication and Technology panel of the conference. Wenjing Liu presented on “Color in China”.

The conference was on the theme “Communication and Dialogue: Integrating Global Communities”. According to organizers, “The IAICS international conference brings scholars together from around the world to share ideas, experiences and scholarly research from diverse interdisciplinary perspectives on communication across cultures.” The conference was hosted by DePaul University in Chicago, IL.

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Dana Van Kooy Edits Essay Collection

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Dana Van KooyDana Van Kooy has edited a special edition of essays about Teaching Romantic-period drama for Romantic Textualities, a peer-reviewed, online journal. These eight essays contribute new insights about a variety of topics, including William Blake, visual spectacle and theatrical form, the intersections between biography and tragedy in Mary Mitford’s work, gender and Goethe’s “Faust,” politics and Sheridan’s “Pizarro,” and the changing cultural landscape of the Atlantic world in George Colman the Younger’s “Inkle & Yarico.”

Each highlights the relevance of Romantic-period drama and theatre as a textual, performative, and a visual art form. Contributors include scholars from University of Pittsburgh, UCLA, Aldo Moro University (Italy), Mount Saint Vincent University (Canada), Montclair State University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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