Liberal Arts on display

The UTRGV College of Liberal Arts will host NEXUS, an open symposium featuring guest speakers, workshops and information, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday in PlainsCapital Bank El Gran Salón on the Brownsville campus.

Walter Diaz, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said the idea behind the symposium is to have the liberal arts recognized in the community.

“NEXUS has a strong community engagement component, too,” Diaz said. “Close engagement to students, and the thing is also to get the liberal arts out there. We live in a time where everything is about science, technology, engineering and math. STEM this, STEM that, but the truth is that liberal arts careers are extremely competitive. There’s a lot of research that shows that graduates with a liberal arts background actually do much better in the later market.”

Colin Charlton, chair of the Department of Writing and Language Studies and main organizer of NEXUS, said various topics will be highlighted by speakers and workshops.

“So, we’re talking about the classroom,” Charlton said. “We’re talking about the college and we’ve got people talking about specific initiatives that they’re doing that are kind of collaborative and interdisciplinary.”

The symposium kicks off with an exhibit revolving around the history of Fort Brown from 5:45 to 7:15 tonight on the second floor of the UTRGV Brownsville library, and presentations will begin Tuesday in PlainsCapital Bank El Gran Salón.

They include:

–“Gender and Women’s Studies,” presented by History Associate Professor Linda English et al., from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday; 

–“Plenary on Teaching,” presented by 2017 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award recipients Assistant Professor Alyssa Guadalupe Cavazos, Lecturer Andrew S. Hollinger and Amy A. Weimer, an associate dean for the Department of Psychological Science, from 9:25 to 9:55 a.m. Wednesday;

–“Sea Turtle Puppet Group,” presented by Writing & Language Studies Lecturer Pamela Herring, from 11:25 to 11:55 a.m. Wednesday;

–and “Current Issues in Reading, Studying, Teaching and Writing Children’s and Young Adult Literature,” presented by Literatures & Cultural Studies Professor Diana Dominguez and Associate Professors David Bowles and Amy Cummins, from 11:25-11:55 a.m. Thursday.

Planning for NEXUS started a year ago and is the first symposium organized by the College of Liberal Arts since UTRGV was established in 2015.

“I think we’re doing a lot of different things to try and experiment to find out what appeals to students and faculty,” Charlton said. “We really wanted to re-present what the College of Liberal Arts does for the university and the community, and to try and build a place for people to come and talk about that, instead of just having that vision given to them. … We’re inviting students and faculty to have meaningful interactions.”

Diaz encourages students, faculty and staff from both Brownsville and Edinburg to attend.

“We really encourage everyone to go by,” he said. “There are different sessions, panels and discussions of interest to faculty, the students, to the community and staff also.”

For more information on the College of Liberal Arts, visit www.utrgv.edu/cla.