The road leading down to Southwestern’s new fieldhouse and practice fields has been named in honor of the Medley family, whose members have been long-time supporters of Southwestern. Mary Medley, a Southwestern trustee and granddaughter of the late Southwestern football coach Randolph Medley, is shown here standing with President Edward Burger. (Photo by Lucas Adams)

Top News

SOUTHWESTERN CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR IS AMONG THOSE NAMED ‘OUTSTANDING TEXAS WOMEN IN STEM’ FOR 2013

A Southwestern University chemistry professor has been recognized for serving as a role model to young women hoping to pursue careers in math and science.

Emily Niemeyer is one of six women who have been named Outstanding Texas Women in STEM by Girlstart, a organization that offers after-school programming to encourage girls in grades 4-8 to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The award recognizes women who have “made it” in the traditionally male-dominated STEM fields, said Tamara Hudgins, executive director of Girlstart.

The award recipients will be honored at Girlstart’s annual luncheon in Austin Oct. 17.

Read more here.

2013 WRITER’S VOICE EVENT TO FEATURE NOVELIST T.C. BOYLE

Novelist and short story writer T.C. Boyle will be the guest for the 2013 Writer’s Voice event sponsored by Southwestern’s A. Frank Smith, Jr. Library Center. Boyle will make a public appearance at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the Alma Thomas Theater.

Boyle’s many novels and several short story collections include The Tortilla Curtain, When the Killing’s Done, Wild Child, Drop City, and his most recent, San Miguel. His work explores varied themes, settings and subjects from complex environmental themes in California’s Channel Islands to Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal life to immigration to identity theft to Alfred Kinsey, and beyond.

Boyle has received numerous awards for his creative work over the past 35 years, including National Book Award finalist status for the novel Drop City and the O. Henry award for short stories in five different years.

T.C. Boyle has been compared to Charles Dickens in that he is both a social critic and an entertainer,” said David Gaines, associate professor of English. Gaines is having students in both his 20th and 21st century American Writing courses and his Paideia cohort read When the Killing’s Done in preparation for a classroom discussion with Boyle when he is here.

Writer’s Voice events are free, but tickets are required. Tickets are now available to Southwestern students, faculty and staff and will be available to the general public Oct. 15. Tickets may be reserved on the Writer’s Voice web page at http://southwestern.edu/infoservices/writersvoice/Boyle/index.php

Read more here.

Events

FILM FESTIVAL CONTINUES THROUGH OCT. 3

The last film to be shown as part of a film festival sponsored by the Spanish Department this fall will be shown Thursday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. in Olin 105. The film to be shown is a 2012 film from Mexico titled “Despues de Lucia/After Lucia.”

Read more here.

‘ART OF THE POT’ EXHIBIT OPENS OCT. 10

An exhibit titled “Art of the Pot+” will be on display in the Fine Arts Gallery from Oct. 10 through Nov. 10.

Art of the Pot is a collective of Austin-based potters committed to expanding the reach and understanding of contemporary studio pottery through studio tours, public lectures and gallery exhibitions. This exhibit has been curated by Patrick Veerkamp, professor of art, and will showcase the works of 16 members of the collective.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Thursday, Oct. 10, from 4:30-6 p.m.

The Fine Arts Gallery is open from 1-5 p.m. daily. Read more here.

FOUNTAINWOOD OBSERVATORY TO HOST PUBLIC VIEWING NIGHT OCT. 12

The Fountainwood Observatory will host a public viewing night on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 8-10:30 p.m. Faculty members from the Physics Department as well as observers from the Williamson County Astronomy Club will be on hand to guide viewing.

The viewing nights are free, but donations are encouraged to help maintain the observatory. The observatory is located on the northeast side of campus adjacent to the Rockwell Baseball Field (see #6 on the campus map at http://www.southwestern.edu/map).

For weather-related updates about viewing nights, call the Fountainwood Observatory hotline at 512-863-1242.

Media Coverage

Josh Long, assistant professor of environmental studies, was interviewed for an Austin.com story about the legacy of the late Leslie Cochran. Read the story here.

The Austin American-Statesman did a story on the return of Southwestern’s football program. Read the story here (full story available to subscribers only).

The Williamson County Sun did a column on the return of football to Southwestern.

Southwestern was featured prominently in a story about “flipped classrooms” that appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Read the story here.

Glada Munt, director of intercollegiate athletics, was interviewed for a story in SB Nation about the rise of DIII football. Read the story here.

Notables

Melissa Byrnes, assistant professor of history, led a discussion on peace and transformation as part of the International Peace Day Celebration at Moksha Yoga and Pilates on the Square in Georgetown Sept. 21.

Senior Paige Duggins was named the SCAC’s Female Character & Community Student-Athlete of the Week for the week ending Sept. 22. Read more here.

Senior Lindsay Jakszta was named the SCAC Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 29. Read more here.

Alison Kafer, associate professor of feminist studies, gave a paper at the Critical Ethnic Studies Conference in Chicago Sept. 19-21. Her paper, co-written with Mel Y. Chen of UC-Berkeley, was titled “Critical Genealogies: A Queer Look at Critical Ethnic (and) Disability Studies.” Kafer will be doing a reading from her book, Feminist, Queer, Crip (Indiana University Press, 2013) at Bookwoman in Austin Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. Read more here.

Junior Chandler Lentz was named the SCAC Volleyball Co-Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 29. Read more here.

Kenneth Mello, assistant professor of religion, and Dustin Tahmahkera, assistant professor of communication studies, have been invited to serve on the host committee and as co-chairs of the Media, Arts, and Music subcommittee of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association meeting to be held May 29-31, 2014, at The University of Texas. The conference is expected to draw more than 1,000 participants.

A paper by Emily Northrop, associate professor of economics, is being published in the fall issue of The American Economist. She also presented the paper, which is titled “The Accuracy, Market Ethic, and Individual Morality Surrounding the Profit Maximization Assumption,” at the Association for Heterodox Economics Conference that was held in London July 4-6.

Patricia Schiaffini, part-time assistant professor of Chinese, was invited to deliver a paper at the Mellon Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Cultures that was held at the University of Southern California Sept. 27. Her paper was titled “Sino-Tibetan Hybridity and Ethnic Identity Perception in China.” 

Sophomore Colten Shea has been named the SCAC Football Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. Read more here.

Kenny Sheppard, professor of music, accepted an invitation to coach student conductors from colleges across Texas as they prepared to conduct music-reading sessions at the annual meeting of the Texas Choral Directors Association July 22-23. Sheppard and Karen Kenaston-French from UT-Arlington prepared 16 aspiring conductors for their TCDA debut. Over the summer, Sheppard also served as director and clinician for the Conductors Institute held at Southwestern and conducted the Festival Chorus in the final concert of the 2013 Georgetown Festival of the Arts.