Challenge, Metacognition, and Perception (ChaMP) Lab Aug 30, 2022 Welcome to the Challenge, Metacognition, and Perception (ChaMP) Lab at the University of Alabama in Huntsville! We are a dedicated group of researchers in the field of human factors and engineering psychology who study metacognition and theory of mind within the context of human factors psychology. Specifically, we study human-technology interaction as it relates to humans’ mental representations of autonomous and artificially intelligent (AS/AIS) tools and teammates. We use a variety of self-report, behavioral, and UX approaches in our research and strive to communicate our findings to the general public. Members of the ChaMP Lab have a curiosity and enthusiasm for discovering truths about the world. We work in interdisciplinary teams where trainees of all levels meaningfully contribute and grow as researchers and professionals. Meet our team and apply to work with us! What is Human Factors Psychology? The American Psychological Association (APA) defines human factors and engineering psychology as the study of how people interact with machines and technology (2025). Human factors experts collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to design products, technologies, and environments with human abilities and limitations in mind (HFES, 2025). Human factors experts improve computer interfaces, issue recommendations to aircraft manufacturers, and make space travel safer for astronauts (to name just a few). If you’ve ever seamlessly navigated a new smartphone, biked safely down the street, or driven comfortably on a road trip, you have a human factors specialist to thank! What is Metacognition? Metacognition is the awareness and knowledge of one’s own cognition (Flavell, 1979), which is maintained through monitoring and control. Metacognitive monitoring involves continually updating the representation of one’s own mental state (Nelson & Narens, 1990) in response to changes in oneself and the task environment. Metacognitive control takes place when this representation is used to inform one’s subsequent actions (Metcalf, 2009). Let’s imagine you’re driving with your family to the grocery store. Your ability to pay attention to the roadway is a function of what’s happening in the car (e.g., talking, fighting) and on the street (e.g., traffic, construction). As you notice your mental state deteriorating, you may ask the passengers to be quiet so that you can focus. Monitoring your metacognitive state allows you to choose actions that best control your metacognitive state. What is Theory of Mind? Theory of mind commonly refers to how people represent and make judgments about other people and animals (Röska-Hardy, 2009), although increasingly this definition is expanded to encompass technological systems (Williams, Fiore, & Jentsch, 2022). Those who exhibit theory of mind can perform complex tasks, such as understanding others’ perspectives as different from or incompatible with their own (Rakoczy, 2022). This is accomplished by inferring others’ state of mind from their words, actions, and outward appearance. Our Research The Challenge, Metacognition, and Perception (ChaMP) Lab specializes in the study of metacognition and theory of mind - the processes by which humans understand themselves, their human teammates, and the technologies they work with. Our active research projects involve human-technology interaction within the context of autonomous and artificially intelligent systems (AS/AIS), specifically as it relates to humans’ mental representations of AS/AIS tools and teammates. Our work is embedded in a community setting: we engage in outreach efforts and work to involve the public in all stages of the research process. This approach allows us to share our expertise with the greatest impact: we identify opportunities for product improvement and offer recommendations and tools to address their underlying cause. You can learn more about our active research projects: AI Cognition Graphics for Explainable AI Metacognition of Human-AI Teams The Linguistic Fingerprint ™ To learn more about the ChaMP Lab, please contact Lisa Vangsness at lisa.vangsness@uah.edu. Apply Now Our Publications and Conference Presentations Coming soon... UAH Theatre announces the 2022-2023 season Aug 29, 2022 UAH Theatre announces the 2022-2023 season (#18) and it is REVOLTING! This year, we have focused on comedy, good feels, and REVOLUTION! Join us as we examine women and the revolution, an important cultural musical, and a readers series of new and diverse work all in the Black Box Theatre in Morton Hall. The SPARK Readers Theatre Series #1 The Underpants Godot by Duncan Pflaster The Underpants Godot is about a director who's surreptitiously rehearsing for an avant-garde production of “Waiting for Godot”, with the main characters played by hot dudes in their underpants instead of old men. A representative from the notoriously litigious Samuel Beckett estate crashes a rehearsal to investigate and decide whether the performance should be allowed. The play is a hilarious meta-theatrical piece about the limits of adaptation and interpretation. Directed by Karen Baker October 13 at 7:30 pm FREE Morton Hall Black Box Theatre The Spark is a staged reading series performed in front of a live audience. Actors read from scripts and the stage directions are read aloud. This unique presentation of a play has all of the timing and emotional dynamics of a live performance without the demands of fully produced theatrical work. A well-executed staged reading can serve as the springboard for a number of successful theater projects and give audiences access to material they may never have otherwise. The series will highlight plays by diverse authors about diverse matters relevant today. The Revolutionists by Lauren Gundersen In a country divided between the haves and the have-nots, and facing the threats of domestic terrorism and civil war, four women come together to unite as a sisterhood and fight back using the magic of theatre. When deposed queen Marie Antoinette, playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, and freedom fighter Marianne Angelle join forces, the Reign of Terror will cower and a free France will rise. They hope. Fingers crossed. A comedy based on true stories, The Revolutionists is a play that will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you cheer: Vive la Femme! “…a sassy, hold-on-to-your-seats theatrical adventure… Directed by Amy Guerin November 2,3,4,5 - 9,10,11,12 at 7:30 pm November 6 & 13 at 2:30 pm $15 - Student Free Morton Hall Black Box Theatre The SPARK Readers Theatre Series #2 Play to be announced Directed by Amy Guerin February 13 at 7:30 pm FREE Morton Hall Black Box Theatre HAIR UPDATE 3-24-2023: This semester’s public performances of the musical “Hair” was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. UAH has refunded the full amount of all tickets. Guests can learn more about the Theater program, as well as past public performances here. Book and Lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado Music by Galt MacDermot The American tribal love rock musical Hair celebrates the sixties counterculture in all its barefoot, long-haired, bell-bottomed, beaded and fringed glory. To an infectiously energetic rock beat, the show wows audiences with songs like "Aquarius," "Good Morning, Starshine," "Hair," "I Got Life" and "Let The Sun Shine." Exploring ideas of identity, community, global responsibility, and peace, Hair remains relevant as ever as it examines what it means to be a young person in a changing world. Directed by Karen Baker March 29,30,31, April 1 - 5, 6, 7, 8 at 7:30 pm April 2 and 8 at 2:30 pm $20 - Students Free Morton Hall Black Box Theatre For questions about this year's season, please contact theatre@uah.edu ... UAH to host The Joy of Juneteenth with Dr. Opal Lee August 28 & 29, 2022 Aug 16, 2022 The Joy of Juneteenth brings Dr. Opal Lee to the City of Huntsville to discuss the history and significance of celebrating the anniversary of the day General Gordon Granger proclaimed the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas. Known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Dr. Opal Lee was present on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, thereby establishing June 19, or “Juneteenth,” as a federal holiday. Ms. Lee said, on that day, “Now we can celebrate freedom from the 19th of June to the 4th of July!” Opal Lee was born in Marshall, Texas in 1926 and moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 1937. On June 19, 1939, at the age of 12, her family’s home was destroyed. Neither she nor her family allowed this to deter them from making an impact in their community. Ms. Lee has served on many boards and with many organizations, including Citizens Concerned with Human Dignity, Habitat for Humanity, and the Tarrant County Black Historical & Genealogical Society—an organization dedicated to preserving the history of Fort Worth’s Black populace. During her tenure as Chairman of the Community Food Bank, the organization received the 1.3-million-dollar 33,000 square foot facility that now serves 500 families per day. Ms. Lee is the oldest living board member of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, a national movement started by the late Dr. Ronald Myers to have Juneteenth declared a National Holiday. At 90 years of age, to bring awareness to the need for celebrating Juneteenth nationally, Ms. Lee began a walking campaign from Fort Worth, TX to Washington, D.C. She walked 2.5 miles in cities across the country to represent the 2.5 years it took after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation for enforcement to reach Texas and free the enslaved. In 2019, Ms. Lee launched an online petition campaign that garnered over 1.6 million signatures to continue the crusade for holiday observance. Earlier this year, Texas Congressman Marc Veasey and 33 other members of Congress nominated Ms. Lee for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize for her work to “advance understanding and respect between individuals of different backgrounds and socioeconomic levels.” During her visit to Huntsville, Ms. Lee will meet with dignitaries from across the city, attend a church service at St. John AME; sign copies of her book, Juneteenth: A Children’s Story, at Oakwood University; read her book to students at a local public elementary school; tour the campus of Alabama A&M University; and participate in a public dialogue on the campus of The University of Alabama in Huntsville. The book signing and public dialogue are free and open to the public. Other events are closed or by invitation only. The Joy of Juneteenth is sponsored by the UAH Humanities Center, and in partnership with United Women of Color. Collaborators for Ms. Lee’s visit also include Alabama A&M University, the City of Huntsville, Highlands Elementary PTA, Madison County Commission District 6, Oakwood University, St. John AME Church, UAH Music, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Sunday, August 28 Location: St. John AME Church Time: 10:00 AM Masks and temperature checks are required for admission to the sanctuary. Ms. Lee, Deaconess at Baker Chapel AME in Fort Worth, Texas, will attend church service. St. John AME streams their services on their Facebook page. Location: Moran Hall Auditorium (Oakwood University) Time: 3:00 PM This event is free, open to the public, accessible, and child-friendly. Masks are required. Meet Ms. Lee, and have her sign a copy of her children’s book, Juneteenth: A Children’s Story. The first 100 attendees will receive a free copy of Ms. Lee’s book as a gift from the UAH Humanities Center. (Other giveaways also will be available.) Monday, August 29 Location: Highlands Elementary School (Huntsville City Schools) Time: 9:00 AM This is a closed event, with streaming access available online. Ms. Lee will read her book, Juneteenth: A Children’s Story, to students as part of Highlands Elementary PTA’s ongoing—and nationally recognized—literacy initiative. Location: Knight Center (Alabama A&M University) Time: 11:00 AM This is a closed event. Ms. Lee will tour the campus of Huntsville’s oldest Historically Black College and University, founded in 1875. Location: Charger Union Theater (The University of Alabama in Huntsville) Time: 6:00 PM This event is free, open to the public, accessible, and child-friendly. Hear Ms. Lee discuss the history and significance of Juneteenth, and pick up some free souvenirs from the UAH Humanities Center. Doors open at 5:30 PM. WAFF’s Margo Gray will moderate, and the City of Huntsville will make a special announcement. For more information on The Joy of Juneteenth event, contact: Dr. Nicholaos Jones, UAH Humanities Center Director,humanitiescenter@uah.edu or 256-824-2338 Ms. Angela Curry, United Women of Color Executive Directortheunitedwoc@gmail.com or 256-384-4933... UAH continues to discover the history of Avalon May 16, 2022 The land currently occupied by UAH was a nineteenth-century cotton plantation called Avalon. Starting in the early 1800s, Avalon became one of the largest cotton plantations in Madison County. By 1860, 106 enslaved people worked the land and lived in 35 houses on the property. For several years, UAH history classes have been excavating Avalon-related sites under the direction of Ben Hoksbergen, Redstone Arsenal archaeologist. These classes uncovered the site of the enslaver’s dwelling (between the Nursing Building and Roberts Hall). We seek to know more about the enslaved people’s lives here at Avalon. Sadly, not much documentation exists in historical records. So this summer, the UAH History Department and the UAH Archives, with support from the Provost’s Office, enlisted the help of the Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research (TVAR) to use ground-penetrating radar in an attempt to locate where enslaved people were laid to rest on the property. Claiborne Sea of the TVAR spent three days in mid-May scanning two areas with ground-penetrating radar for that purpose. One area was near University Drive and the other around the existing Jones-Perkins Cemetery behind Morton Hall. We can’t wait to see what his work shows! If you are interested in UAH campus history research, please donate to support the work of the UAH History Department, UAH Archives, and our community partners as we learn more about UAH’s history and erect markers to share that history with the community. Information provided by the Department of History and Dr. Christine Sears, Department Chair. For questions, please contact history@uah.edu.... Never too young to start: a teenager’s passion for history May 05, 2022 An interview with Vishal Rameshbabu - by Dr. Andrei Gandila, UAH Associate Professor of History At 10 years old Vishal took his first college-level class, Honors 103 – World History to 1500. He earned an A in that class. To be fair, he didn’t do a perfect job. He lost points on his research paper about the origins of the First Crusade, because it exceeded the word limit. It was twice as long! Now, at 16, Vishal is enrolled in the capstone seminar HY 490 and in HY 401 Daily Life in Ancient Rome, both challenging, writing-intensive, classes. Vishal graciously agreed to share his experience which I’m sure will be a source of inspiration for everyone. Dr. Gandila: When did you first become interested in history and how did it happen? Vishal: I have always loved geography, and I’ve been reading atlases my whole life. Over time, I grew annoyed with how relatively stationary the present world was to me, so I looked over historical maps and historical cartographical animations online when I was about eight years old. From then on, it was a rabbit hole into the great states, empires, people, and the past. I soon read encyclopedia articles and watched documentaries about the ancient world, usually about Near Eastern civilizations, which drew my interest towards the cultural and societal history of long-gone cultures and societies. Dr. Gandila: It is common for children to develop a strong interest for an activity but then to forget about it and move to something else. What kept your interest in history for so long? Vishal: Nothing else has caught my interest as much as history ever in my entire life, but I expressed my interest in different ways over time, which may have kept my attention towards the subject for such a long time. I learned to channel my passion for history through event organization, writing, and teaching others on an individual basis, which I’ve never lost sight of and never lost my connection with. While my relationship with history has changed significantly over time (from an individual perspective to a broader, more communal perspective), my general interest has not. Dr. Gandila: I know you have a particular interest in pre-modern history. What is your favorite culture and why? Vishal: The Bactrians are very interesting to me. Their location at the crossroads between the Indo-Aryans, Hellenistic Kingdoms, and Eurasian Steppe granted them a very unique culture. Whether they were ruled by the mysterious Yuezhi tribes of the Kushan Empire or the Nomadic Hephthalite Empire, they maintained a variety of both odd and familiar practices. To me, there is nothing more incredible than a civilization that fits all the boxes and none at the same time. The Bactrians, who adopted Indian Buddhism and Persian Zoroastrianism but practiced artificial cranial deformation and lived in tents, are just that. Dr. Gandila: You took HY 103 in the Fall of 2016. The previous fall I had your older brother Rahul in the same class. One day he came to my office and told me half-jokingly that his kid brother Vishal, who is in elementary school, wants to help him with his assignments for my class. You even visited the class one time, so he wasn’t joking. What convinced you that you could handle a college-level class at that age? Vishal: At the time, whether I could handle the class or not was not on my mind. I saw it as a challenge and a fun experience. I had no idea what the class had in store, but I wanted to go beyond studying history on my own, and I thought HY 103 was perfect for just that. While I may have been naive about the class and its commitments at the time, I definitely made the right decision. Dr. Gandila: One time, one of your classmates came to me after class and whispered “Who is that kid, and how come he knows so much about everything?” How did you feel in a room with students so much older than you? Vishal: It was natural to me. I think in the present day I might even be more apprehensive about a situation of that sort than I was then. I just enjoyed the environment for what it was and the age difference between me and my classmates rarely crossed my mind, if ever. In-class discussions, the only thing I cared about was offering my perspective to my classmates regardless of who I was. Dr. Gandila: What is the most important thing you learned from your college experience so far? Vishal: Through academic writing and class discussion, I figured out how to communicate information beyond just a series of rote memorized facts. I learned how to offer opinions and insight and tie information together, not only in history but in general. That shift in mentality and experience has helped me immensely in bringing my knowledge further than my own mind. I found that teaching others involved shaping information with your own personal perspective and nuance. Dr. Gandila: How do you see your future and will it include the study of history? Vishal: I am likely going to be involved in the academic side of history for the rest of my life. I hope to study history at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and enter academia from that point. I’m considering entering historical podcasting or non-fiction historical writing as well. Even if my plan to become a full-time academic historian does not come to fruition, I will definitely be involved in the academic study of history regardless. Dr. Gandila: Why is history important and why should people care about it? Vishal: It is impossible to truly understand human society without knowing the context behind everything from the beginning of civilization. In order to think critically about today’s world, and think critically in general, the study of history is a very important tool. History offers cautionary tales and murky waters that real people saw and fought through which are extremely valuable and impossible to replicate in any other field. Even though pre-modern history doesn’t have a direct correlation with the present world, some things never change. The politics of the Late Roman Republic offer significant insight into political intrigue and demagoguery that still ring true today. The rise of Islamic empires in India created similar demographic shifts to the ones of the modern Near East. Dr. Gandila: We live in a digital age and the focus is shifting from the human experience to technology, robotics, and automation. What is the future of history as a discipline and should students continue to major in history? Vishal: A fully digitized and automated society requires a lens into the past, especially as societies shift exponentially through technological development and cultural change. In a world where technology morphs the cultural and political landscape to unrecognizable levels, keeping track of the past can only grow more challenging and more necessary. In predicting the future of a dynamic world through past political and cultural events, whether in the realm of diplomacy, policy, or economics, the historical record will be necessary. Understanding traditional military conflict, global diseases, and political failure will also be needed, even in a time where those events grow rare and foreign, as those crises can show up unexpectedly, especially in societies unequipped with the historical knowledge of preventative measures. Studying history should be more viable over time, especially as other careers simplify or become defunct through automation and technological progress, and history grows more necessary to the modern, erratic world. There should be greater demand for historical knowledge in the future, both modern and non-modern, when institutions and societies demand a broader and more comprehensive understanding of the ever-growing and convoluted human past. For questions about our Department of History, please contact history@uah.edu ... 2022 Annual Juried Student Exhibition Award Winners Apr 27, 2022 The Department of Art, Art History & Design’s annual juried student exhibition showcases exciting work from students across the disciplines. The show includes studio artworks in Drawing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture as well as Graphic Design and Animation. Awards selected by Guest Juror Michael Dickins. Congratulations to all participants and award winners. The Exhibit will be on display in both the Wilson Hall and Salmon Library Galleries until May 6, 2022. 2022 Student Awards List Campus and Community Awards Evans Best of Show Award - $1000 – Any Category – Ayuka Schichinohe – “Chef’s Pick” President’s Award - $500 – Any Category – Ace Lemley – “Cremated Womanhood” Provost’s Award - $500 – Any Category – Tiffany Hawkins – “Hunter” Christine Curtis Student Excellence Award - $500 – Any Category – Victoria Scogins – “Untitled” Dean’s Award for Painting - $250 Painting/Drawing Category – Tiffany Hawkins – “Fate of Rivers” Jeffrey Bayer Memorial Scholarship Award - $300 -Tiffany Hawkins Mayor’s Purchasing Award – Mady Urbanski – “Tempo” Women’s & Gender Studies Emerging Woman Artist Award - $100 – Any Category (Female) – Courtlyn Hart – Aspects of One’s Self Art Club Award (1st Place) - $125 – Any Category – Cari Sheets – “Venus II” Art Club Award (2nd Place)- $75 – Any Category – Molly Brazier – “Untitled” Huntsville Museum of Art Award – Eriel Gibson – “Unstrung Marrionette” Animation Awards Pinnacle Solutions Best in Digital Animation Award - $500 – Any Animation (Models and Shorts categories under Animation) – Tucker Youngblood – “11Second Club Animatic” Media Fusion Digital Animation Excellence in Modeling Award 1st Place - $100 – Animation/3D Models Category – Sophia Stephenson – “1994 Polly Pocket Magical Mansion” Media Fusion Digital Animation Excellence in Modeling Award 2nd Place - $50 – Animation/Modeling Category – Dylan Coleman – “Pendragon’s House” Media Fusion Digital Animation Excellence in Animation Award 1st Place - $100 -Animation/Shorts Category – Vaughn Oeth – “Good Omens Animation” Media Fusion Digital Animation Excellence in Animation Award 2nd Place - $50 Animation/Shorts Category – koi Vargas-Fernandez – “Salsa Girl” Digital Illustration Award - $100 – Digital Illustration Category – Courtlyn Hart – “Gold Star Channel 11” Photography Awards Huntsville Photographic Society Photography Award - $100 Photography Category – Madison Dalton – “Seeing Double” Nick Lavenant Peasant T-Shirt Shoppe Photography Award - $100 Photography Category – Jacob Chatfield – “Misery” Southerland’s Photo Excellence in Photography Award – $50 Gift Card – Lolia Chiekh “Syria My Love” Printmaking Awards Michael Crouse Excellence in Printmaking Award - $100 Printmaking Category – Anna Beam – “Third Story” Nick Lavenant Peasant T-Shirt Shoppe Printmaking Award - $100 Printmaking Category - Emma Gould – “Borderless” Katie Baldwin Excellence in Printmaking Award - $50 – Printmaking Category – Stevie Evans – “Claby” Painting/Drawing/Mix Media Awards Erzulie Johnson-Veasey Painting Award - $100 – Painting/Drawing Category – Cari Sheets – “Sketchbook -1” Mixed Media Award - $100 Mixed Media Category – Alyssa Eady – “Devouring My Inner Sanction” Graphic Design Awards Advertising and Marketing Materials Award in Graphic Design- $100 – Graphic Design/Advertising and Marketing Category – Rinata Bauzhanova – “Music Magazine” Advertising Illustration Award in Graphic Design Award- $50 – Graphic - Design/Advertising Illustration Category – Rebecca Brown – “Hidden Channel” Sculpture Awards Chris Taylor Excellence in Sculpture Award – $150 Sculpture Category – Cindy Dahm – “Suitcase” Gallery of Exhibition and Reception ... BFA graduate Justin LaMar Ward's multimedia works explore identity during the pandemic Apr 14, 2022 Emergence UAH BFA photography major Justin LaMar Ward's multimedia works explore identity and the ways that the pandemic brought isolation and subsequent introspection. Ward's narrative exhibition is a journey through reckoning, confrontation, disintegration, and eventually - growth. His combination of photographs and digital imagery, light, and projection invites the viewer to empathize with the experience of loss, grief, and betrayal and to witness the artist’s development of a sense of balance amidst the shifting winds of the pandemic, and ultimately a discovery of interior freedom and an openness to trust and faith. For those unable to attend the show in person, here are a few pieces from his exhibit. Photo Credit: Maleah Taylor ('22 BFA Graphic Design) ... Huntsville Native Wiloughby Lucas Hastings exhibits at Salmon Library Gallery Apr 14, 2022 Use Your Outside Voice. Willoughby Lucas Hastings Guided by the notion that we only critique the things we love; in Use Your Outside Voice., artist Willoughby Lucas Hastings presents a body of work influenced by growing up in and recently returning to Huntsville, AL. Informed and limited by her white subjectivity she analyzes Huntsville's connection to the period of enslavement and the ideologies and aesthetic traditions that as a result linger in our present. In this exhibition, Hastings flips a familiar phrase to implicate herself and the viewer in the responsibility of thinking critically about our beliefs and how we represent them to the public and at home. Through these artistic interventions in her hometown and personal ancestry, Hastings uses her outside voice to represent opportunities for historical reflection, accountability, and coalition building. As a result, Hastings asks her audience to reflect on how our biases and behaviors are part of a longer history of socialization and confirmed by our daily routines, our chosen communities, the environments we inhabit, and how we remember the past. By contrast, if we adopt a sense of social and situational awareness while confronting the darkest parts of our collective history we begin to make space for grievance, healing, accountability, and more honest relationships in the future. For those unable to view the gallery in person, here are a few pieces from the show. ... Exciting Courses for Summer & Fall 2022 with the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Mar 11, 2022 The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences is excited to announce some of our new and returning courses for Summer and Fall 2022. New class descriptions will be added daily! Check back often. If you have questions about courses, please contact our college at cahs@uah.edu or speak with your Academic Advisor. ENGLISH EH 618: Indigenous Women’s Literature Dr. Alanna Frost frosta@uah.edu This course will explore issues of identity, representation, and experience in texts written by and about Indigenous North American women. We will engage with a broad variety of texts—fiction, literary criticism, ethnographies, and native-studies criticisms—in order to consider the politics of demarcating what counts as Indigenous women’s literature and what it means to mark a course as concerned with understanding “Indigenous” and “Women.” HISTORY HY 399: History of the Modern Olympic Games Dr. Molly Johnson johnsomw@uah.edu This course will explore the history of the Olympic Games from 1896 to the present, using the Olympics as a microcosm for exploring broader themes including: nationalism and internationalism, amateurism and professionalism, politics and protest; race, gender, commercialization, media, urban planning, environment, security and terrorism, and the emerging global anti-Olympics movement. MUSIC MUX 390: Concert Choir Dr. Matthew Carey mjc0030@uah.edu The UAH Concert Choir is an SATB ensemble, comprised of singers with a wide range of experience and ability from almost every college and major on campus. The Concert Choir and Chamber Choir often collaborate with the UAH Wind Ensemble, Huntsville Community Chorus, and Huntsville Symphony. WORLD LANGUAGES & CULTURES Spanish 101S: Intro to Foreign Language Various Faculty wlc@uah.edu NEW! This course will be online for summer and fall with a hybrid model of both synchronous and asynchronous course schedules. You will be required to be at one Zoom class meeting each week, while other material will be completed online asynchronous. Teaches beginning listening, speaking, reading, and writing within cultural contexts. No prerequisites are needed. ENGLISH 207 AND 208 COURSE INFORMATION: EH 207-05 - Joseph Taylor Literature and Culture teaches critical analysis of texts from ancient times through the Age of Discovery. This course introduces students to the methods of literary study through an examination of works in their social, historical, and philosophical contexts. We will examine different genres such as poetry, prose fiction, and drama and oral literatures. These texts will take us from ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) to ancient Greece, from pre modern Britain to medieval Africa, and from early modern Spain to Renaissance England. Our readings will consist mainly of works in translation but will also include texts first written in English. Our main texts for this course will include the ancient Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh, the fifth-century BCE drama Oedipus Tyrannus, the Old English poem Beowulf, the epic of medieval Mali, Sundjiata, the fourteenth-century Middle English poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales, the sixteenth-century Spanish picaresque novel Lazarillo de Tormes, and Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. We will also read other supplemental texts relative to the periods/cultures that produced the main texts. EH 207-06/10 - Ryan Brown Literature without Environmental Borders explores the ways that humans have constructed not only physical boundaries between them and their environment—like fences, walls and fire—but also symbolic ones in the literature of early civilizations. The course focuses on literary texts depicting and performing human-animal-plant relationships and analyzes the ways these borders are maintained or reimagined today. By reconstructing and deconstructing the literary boundaries created in ancient texts, we hope to understand more about our modern hurdles toward healthier relationships with our environments. The course will explore what it means to be human, what happened to nature, what animals mean to us, fear, love, violence, and the boundless terrains of foundational literature. EH 207-07/08/09 - Lacy Marschalk-Brecciaroli Topic: "Storytelling Animals: Beginnings to 1605" “One of the most intrinsic things about [humans],” says author Salman Rushdie, “is that we're storytelling animals. The need to understand the world through our stories is profoundly embedded in human nature." In this course, we will study extant literature from ancient times through the so-called “Age of Discovery.” In particular, we will be examining the history of storytelling, of how stories are told and why they are told, in cultures from around the world. To answer these questions, we will analyze works within their social, historical, and philosophical contexts while paying special attention to the forms of stories and their narrative structures and techniques. Readings may include The Odyssey, The Ramayana, The Thousand and One Nights, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, King Lear, and The Tale of Genji. EH 208-01/05 - David St. John (POST) HUMAN WISHES: Monsters, cyborgs, artificial intelligences and everyday humans populate the readings in this survey of literature since the Enlightenment. The authors we study in this class all propose differing answers to the question of what makes humans "human." In addition to tracing the development of literature across the aesthetic movements of Romanticism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism, this class incorporates writers from outside the western canon that have their own novel perspectives. Texts include Frankenstein (Shelley), The Metamorphosis (Kafka), and Never Let Me Go (Ishiguro), along with shorter readings by David Hume, Sandra Cisneros, Maxine Hong Kingston, and others. EH 208-06/07 - Joseph Conway The Legacy of Frankenstein: Since its publication in 1818, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been an endless inspiration to writers and filmmakers: A warning to scientists. A class parable. A prophesy of A.I. or genetic engineering. A feminist critique of patriarchal marriage. An allegory about artistic creation. A study of racism. A mournful meditation on human violence. A good old-fashioned horror story. In this class we will explore The Legacy of Frankenstein beginning with Shelley's original and continuing through writers like H.G. Wells, Karel Čapek, Nnedi Okorafor, Victor Lavalle, and Kazuo Ishiguro, and films like Blade Runner and Bride of Frankenstein. ... Now Showing! The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged Feb 24, 2022 The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged opens Wednesday, February 23rd in our Morton Hall Black Box Theatre. The play is by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield and will be directed by Dr. Chad Thomas, Associate Professor of English at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. Three actors present all 37 plays by William Shakespeare in a hilarious evening of theatre. An irreverent, fast-paced romp through the Bard’s plays, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) was London’s longest-running comedy having clocked a very palpable nine years in London’s West End at the Criterion Theatre! Join these madcap actors in tights as they weave their wicked way through all of Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies in one wild ride that will leave you breathless and helpless with laughter. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS Director's Note: Directing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is an admittedly odd choice for someone as devoted to Shakespeare as I have been in my professional career. In a former life, I used to act with Shakespeare in Santa Fe. Later, I wrote a dissertation and several journal articles that focus on Shakespeare and Shakespeare Studies. At present, I teach undergraduate and graduate courses on Shakespeare for UAH and have directed a number of Shakespeare’s plays for Theatre at UAH. Plus, I continue to produce, direct, and act with Huntsville Shakespeare. Why, you may ask, am I directing this show instead of a play that Shakespeare actually wrote? I’m so glad you asked! First of all, this show is funny! All of us have had an incredibly difficult couple years and, frankly, there haven’t been a lot of opportunities for laughter. We wanted to change this and offer you a chance to forget your troubles and enjoy 37 plays in 97 minutes. The New York Times called this show “Pithier than Python. Irresistible.” The Miami Herald raved, “Shakespeare as it was back in the Bard’s day: bawdy, irreverent, sublimely entertaining.” And according to the Today Show, “If you like Shakespeare, you’ll love this show. If you hate Shakespeare, you’ll love this show!” So there is truly something for everyone with this show. And second, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a difficult show to produce, so we did for the challenge! Coming into this, I knew it would require a major commitment from designers and technicians, but I had no idea just how much stuff had to happen for the show to succeed. Student designers did an incredible job with costumes, sound, and lighting. The set is inspirational, the wigs are hysterical, and the assortment of props is truly astonishing. Plus, I cast at least two actors in each role, and they all worked so hard – not only did they have to learn lines and differentiate between characters, they had to fight and dance. (Needless to say, the choreography is amazing.) This show rejoices in the collaborative nature of theatre – and it is our gift to you. We hope you have as much fun watching The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) as we had preparing it! -Dr. Chad Thomas Director PROGRAM Photo Credit: Chris Baker C Scott Photography... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10