News of the College Feb. 2001
 

Faculty News


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It's a good year for Laura Arnold, who just received tenure in the English department. Arnold was selected earlier this year by Oregon Public Broadcasting to be their partner in the development of American Passages, a 16-part series on American literature funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation. Arnold is serving as academic director, overseeing the advisory committee that will review all scripts for the broadcast series. Each episode will cover a different literary movement, such as puritan, Native American, and frontier literature, each juxtaposing canonical and non-canonical works. The prototype episode should be complete by the fall of 2002. Along with the videos, the series will include a study guide, and a new Norton Anthology edition will be produced to accompany the series. Arnold says the target audience is resource-poor institutions and that the project is designed "to help teachers teach better."

Professor of art Michael Knutson was one of four artists featured in Exponential: Four Huge Paintings, an exhibition that was held this winter at the Marylhurst University Art Gym. Curator Terri Hopkins invited Knutson and three other artists to create a large work for this exhibition. Knutson's painting, Tilted Tetra Coil, is 9.5 by 21 feet. Reviewer D.K. Row of the Oregonian wrote that Knutson's piece is one of the two visually compelling works in the show and that they "wouldn't possess the same grandeur or achieve the same effect were they smaller." Knutson says of his work that his intention is to "create a pictorial space that is both concrete and elusive, in which all of the parts are wholly visible, but in which one's attention is continuously pulled away from considering any one part." (More about Knutson's work and the exhibition.) In addition, a show of paintings by both Knutson and his wife, Carol, with one collaborative work, were on display in March at Portland's Blackfish Gallery.

A composition called "Shtik" by David Schiff, R.P. Wollenberg Professor of Music and noted composer, was performed in January in New York City as part of "A Great Day in New York," described in a New York Times ad as "fifty-two living composers. One fierce festival." On the bill with Schiff at the Alice Tully Concert Hall were works by Steve Reich, Wynton Marsalis, John Corigliano, Peter Schickele, and others. Last year Schiff was named by the New York Times as one of 52 great living New York composers and was pictured on the "Great Day in New York" poster. Although Schiff doesn't live in New York, his compositions often reflect his roots there and the city itself. In addition, the Seattle Symphony also performed works by Schiff in March, and he spoke at the University of Missouri's lecture series in March on "What Makes Opera Real?" in collaboration with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Stravinsky Festival 2001.

Peter Andreas, assistant professor of political science, had two books published in 2000. He is co-editor of The Wall Around the West: State Borders and Immigration Controls in North America and Europe, with Timothy Snyder, which was released by Rowan & Littlefield the end of November. The book examines the practice, politics, and consequences of building barriers against migrants. In July Cornell University Press released his book Border Games: Policing the U.S.- Mexico Divide. John H. Coatsworth of Harvard University wrote that "This fascinating and thoughtful book should be read by every citizen, policymaker, scholar, and student seeking to understand how the United States has so artfully managed to import the illegal drugs and undocumented workers its consumers and employers demand, while its government gets credit for eye-catching but ineffective campaigns to control the U.S. border with Mexico. Peter Andreas has caught the underside of the NAFTA paradox perfectly."

Bill Wiest, professor emeritus of psychology, edited and published a book about a tour he and his wife, Thelma, took to Paraguay and Brazil last spring. The Wiests were part of a group of alumni and parents of alumni from Tabor College, Kansas, that gave choral concerts and visited Mennonite communities in those countries. Wiest, who retired in 1995, sang for many years with Reed's Collegium Musicum. He produced the book with the help of Reed's faculty multimedia lab and thanks staff member Fred Lifton and student Billy Shipp '01 in his foreword.

 

 

Reed Mag, May

2001

 
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