The official source for University of Mississippi news
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi staff council awards, presented May 17, recognized various staff members for their hard work and dedication.
Shelia Goolsby, administrative coordinator at the Counseling Center, was the Overall Award winner.
OXFORD, Miss. – Three outstanding faculty members in the University of Mississippi’s College of Liberal Arts have been selected as top teachers and awarded $1,000 prizes and engraved plaques.
The 2012-13 honored faculty and their awards are Felice Coles, associate professor of modern languages, College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Teacher; Sarah Moses, assistant professor of religion, Cora Lee Graham Award for Outstanding Teaching of Freshmen; and Michael Raines, instructional assistant professor of Teaching English as a Second Language and Intensive English Program, College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Instructor. They were recognized Saturday (May 11) afternoon at the college’s commencement ceremony in Tad Smith Coliseum.
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OXFORD, Miss. – When it comes to illicit drugs, especially marijuana, Mahmoud A. ElSohly has tests to reveal how potent they are, whether they are contaminated, from where they might have come and whether someone is using them.
When it comes to legal drugs, ElSohly has a knack for formulating new ones. His name is on 31 patents issued in this country and abroad, and on 23 more pending patents. Companies have licensed several of those formulations, which include a prophylactic treatment for poison ivy dermatitis, compounds for treating malaria and cancer, and precursors to tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, for treating a variety of conditions.
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OXFORD, Miss. – For almost 20 years the Frist Student Service Award has recognized University of Mississippi employees who go above and beyond the call of duty to demonstrate their commitment to students.
Two of these employees, Marvin C. Wilson, associate dean for academic and student affairs at the School of Pharmacy, and Amy Saxton, operations supervisor for summer school and online programs at the Division of Outreach and Continuing Education, are being presented with this award for their exceptional service.
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OXFORD, Miss. – A University of Mississippi professor is helping create an online database to provide easier access to information about the art and material culture of early medieval northern Europe, including that of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons.
Nancy Wicker, UM professor of art history, is collaborating with Lilla Kopár of Catholic University of America and the Institute of Advanced Technologies in the Humanities at the University of Virginia to establish “Project Andvari: A Digital Portal to the Visual World of Early Medieval Northern Europe”. The project received a $27,000 digital humanities start-up grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Office of Digital Humanities.
Nancy Wicker, UM professor of Art
“Our goal is to build an online database to facilitate access to digital collections of art and artifacts from early medieval northern Europe,” Wicker said. “These resources are now scattered around the world, and monographs and catalogs listing inscriptions, runes and monuments are out-of-print or difficult to find.”
The project staff aims to build a single aggregate search engine that links to other databases, cultural heritage sites, museums and archives. Users will be able to search for iconographic parallels, learn about new finds, detect potential comparative material and follow the development and distribution of visual elements, media and types of artifacts.
“Fewer (NEH grants) were awarded than in previous years because of the sequester, so we feel very honored to have been awarded the grant,” Wicker said. “There were eight awards for the Level I grants (for which UM and CUA applied), and 15 for the Level II awards.”
The Institute of Advanced Technologies in the Humanities will provide technical guidance as the project develops, and IATH co-directors Daniel Pitti and Worthy Martin will participate in a two-day workshop. Art historians, literary scholars, archaeologists and museum professionals from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and the U.S. will meet to discuss and recommend the conceptual foundations for a prototype system. IATH will also host the project’s website and provide technical support and data.
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi and Oxford community is invited to remember students, faculty, staff, and emeriti of the university who have died during the past year at the annual University Memorial Ceremony on Thursday, May 2.
First instituted by Chancellor Robert Khayat in 2008, the annual event is open to the public and is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Paris-Yates Chapel. Especially invited to attend are the friends and family members of those being remembered.
Sparky Reardon, University of Mississippi dean of students, says the humble and moving ceremony provides the opportunity to honor the lives of individuals who have passed away.
“When we lose even one member of the community, the fabric of the University is changed,” Reardon said. “This ceremony is important because it gives us a chance, as a community, to come together to remember and celebrate those who remain a part of our university family in spirit and memory.”
The individuals who will be remembered that day are as follows:
Students
Caroline Victoria Bartley
Brooks Michael Degutis
Olivia Lee
Ryan Phil Malone
David Louis Ott, Jr.
Harlon Smith, Jr.
David Bradley Taggart
Price William Thornal
Sarah Katherine Wheat
John William Wheat
Faculty/Faculty Emeriti
Frank A. Anderson
Richard L. Barnes
Aaron S. Condon
William H. “Bill” Norman
Charles A. Panetta
John Pilkington, Jr.
Robert W. Plants
Gene A. Saucier
Damon Wall
Staff
Mattie Draper
Justin Allen Ledbetter
Julius Minor
Guy Thomas Ricker
Timothy Patton Russell
William Earl Sheffield
A reception will immediately follow the ceremony. Handicap parking is available at Paris-Yates Chapel that day. For more information or for assistance related to a disability, contact Johnette Taylor in the Dean of Students Office at (662) 915 – 7248.
By giving an HIV-positive infant anti-HIV drugs within hours of birth, Gay, a pediatrician at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, was responsible for orchestrating an incredible breakthrough. Gay, a 1976 graduate of the University of Mississippi with a B.A. in biology and chemistry and a member of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, has been honored by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Read the story.
OXFORD, Miss. – Yunhee Chang, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management at the University of Mississippi, has been appointed to the board of directors for the American Council on Consumer Interests, or ACCI.
Chang said her two-year stint could “possibly attract more graduate students and scholars” to the university.
“ACCI could give UM more visibility within the field,” Chang said. “Plus, as a board member, I will be more involved in important decisions and (will) become more in tune with the most recent trends of the field, which will be reflected in my teaching and other scholarly activities.”
The organization is an important professional connection for the university, said Kathy Knight, chair of the department.
“Our department’s goal is to have good academic programs and research, but to always remain relevant in the world,” Knight said. “One way to ensure a strong outreach is by making good working connections, such as the ACCI.”
Chang, who joined the UM faculty in 2004, earned a bachelor’s and master’s in human ecology in 1989 and 1991, respectively, from Seoul National University. In 2003, she earned a doctorate in agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana. Chang’s primary research is in household behavior and family economics, welfare and poverty, and demographic economics.
ACCI, founded in 1953, is the leading consumer policy research and education organization consisting of a worldwide community of researchers, educators and related professionals dedicated to enhancing consumer well-being. ACCI promotes the consumer interest by encouraging, producing and communicating policy-relevant research.
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi community will honor revered English professor, author and civil rights activist Evans Harrington on Friday (March 22) for his life’s work during the 20th annual Oxford Conference for the Book.
The event, set for 10 a.m. in the University Library’s Department of Archives and Special Collections, is free and open to the public. It will feature remarks from Harrington’s former students and colleagues, including Robert Hamblin, professor of English and director of the Center for Faulkner Studies at Southeast Missouri State University, and Richard Howorth, owner of Square Books in Oxford.Read the story …
OXFORD, Miss. – The Faculty Recital Series with Jos Milton as tenor and Stacy Rodgers on piano is set for Monday, March 18 in Nutt Auditorium at 8 p.m. Tickets, available at the UM Box Office, are $8 for adults and $5 for students.
The program will include works of Henry Purcell, Ludwig van Beethoven, Francis Poulenc, Benjamin Britten and Ned Rorem. The theme is nostalgia and remembrance, which will include settings of poetry by Michelangelo dealing with different aspects of love; other selections include specific references to Paris.
Milton is an assistant professor of music who joined the voice faculty in 2011, and has performed on campus several times at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, and sang the national anthem at baseball and football games. Rodgers, who has taught at UM for more than 20 years, is a professor of music and head of keyboard studies and accompanying, as well as director of the University’s Community Music School.
