The main event is almost here! Join us in the Humanities Lab for the RRILH’s first Festival of Creative Work! It is a celebration of the creative talent we have on campus here at Texas A&M – Texarkana, so don’t miss it!
When: April 23rd at 12PM
Where: The Humanities Lab in SCIT 120
On the flier above you can see the individuals that are participating in this inaugural event – if you see them, tell them congratulations!
Join us in welcoming Henry Jenkins (Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts and Author of Convergence Culture) for an online discussion of his work in Media.
When: April 25th at 1PM
Where: Texar Room
This will be a PLACE event held in association with the Red River Innovation Lab for the Humanities.
Whether you’re just starting your time at TAMUT or finishing it up like me, if you have an interest in Media then you won’t want to miss this. Dr. Drew Morton will be hosting an Alumni in Media Roundtable event!
Where: UC 217
When: April 11th, 3PM – 4:15PM
TAMUT Alumni with various jobs and experience in Media will be joining us on campus to talk about career paths in media and how to navigate your job search. For details on these individuals, please consult the flier above.
Dr. Morton is also seeking to gauge students interested in attending for what specifically they want to know. If you’ve got any questions you’d like to see answered, please leave your questions with the Red River Innovation Lab for the humanities in SCIT 120 or with me, the intern in the RRILH at aaron.caraway@ace.tamut.edu.
As usual, this event is held in association with the RRILH!
From a internal email by Teri Stover:
The Red River Innovation Lab for the Humanities is proud to announce our first annual Festival of Creative Work on April 23rd at Noon in SCIT 210.
We are seeking creative submissions from students, faculty and staff that showcase the abundance of talent and vision we have on our campus. Submissions might include: short films, graphic design work, documentary projects, photography, data visualizations, applications, podcasts, online lectures and learning supplements.
Drafts and works in progress are completely acceptable!
Please note that submissions do not need to have been made in the lab with lab resources.
We’ve only had our doors open for about a month now and we want to celebrate the creative spirit in an effort to inspire our community.
Submissions can be sent via Vimeo, YouTube, Dropbox or Google Drive sharing, or email attachment (depending on size) and should be submitted to Dr. Drew Morton by 5 p.m. on March 30th via email (dmorton@tamut.edu). Decisions will be made by April 9th.
On February 16th, Main Street Texarkana Hosted a Grand Opening for the 1894 City Gallery. The event was a success as over 200 people came to celebrate and support another downtown business. People from all around the area got to enjoy the live music. The style of the music fit in perfectly with the mood of the event while everyone browsed around the art gallery. Only main section was open, but the guests would wander up the stairs to see the future apartments. People enjoyed seeing the floor plans and getting that “before” look, and the construction was a major topic of discussion and excitement.
The event allowed for Main Street to do their membership kick off where the community could buy a membership that helps Main Street Texarkana revitalize downtown. The organization works closely with downtown, which has eight different restaurants, many museums and several shops that have a steady following. Downtown is home to Photographers Island (state line sign), The Arrow Bar (oldest bar in Texarkana), and the Texarkana Gazette. Of course there are many other downtown attractions, and the Main Street website has them all listed.
Main Street Texarkana is a non-profit organization that focuses on rejuvenating downtown by encouraging traffic as well as offering grants and loans to potential business owners. The organization also offers free design assistance to those who help build up that area of town. Some common events associated with Main Street Texarkana include the Christmas parade as well as the more well-known Dine on the Line. The Texarkana City Guide is also published by Main Street. This non-profit organization relies on the support and donation of the community. A base membership is $25, with a student membership coming soon to encourage students to take part in downtown. Members get early access to event information as well as a variety of other things depending on the type of membership purchased.
If you missed this event, another downtown event, hosted by Texarkana Twin City Sports will happen in early March. They are throwing a downtown festival that will take place with the Big Bass Clash Fishing Tournament on March 9th-11th. Main Street Texarkana as well as the Texarkana Twin City Sports website have more information about this event. To keep up to date with upcoming events, subscribe to the Main Street Newsletter.
As the month of February comes to a close, Dr. Drew Morton will be hosting the second campus event held in association with the Red River Innovation Lab for the Humanities – a Book Lecture on Lev Manovich’s “Language of New Media”.
Where: UC217
When: February 27th, 12:15PM – 1PM
No reading necessary prior to this lecture – just come eager to learn and ask questions about the new opened RRILH!
Dr. Drew Morton will be kicking off the first of many events held in association with the campus’ newly opened Red River Innovation Lab for the Humanities – starting from humble beginnings with a tutorial on importing DVD/YouTube clips into Adobe Premiere!
Where: The Computer Lab in UC323
When: February 1st, from 12:15PM to 1PM.
This will be the first campus event of the semester closely associated with the RRILH. Feel free to come to the tutorial with questions about what the Lab is and what it can do for you!
As final exams approach, a college students anxiety level reaches its peak of the semester. It is important to take a step back, and give yourself a mental break. The Office of Student Life held its annual de-stress day on December 6th, where students had multiple options to relax and rejuvenate before exams hit.
Activities included a massage treatment line where students received machine heated back massages, a machine leg massage, and a full body water massage.
Senior Communications student Leira Moore said, “The massage stations worked wonders on getting my mind off of final exams! With several stations set up to massage different parts of the body, it made for a very relaxing session. The water massage was my favorite part, as cool water jets gave a full body massage. I’m really thankful that the University offers this for their students.”
The puppy petting center and adult coloring books were also a big hit.
Sophomore Kinesiology student Brooke Rayburn said, “I absolutely love dogs! The puppies brought to campus were so happy, energetic, and sweet. It was nice to be able to take a break from my studies and play with the adorable pups.”
For tips about how to make it through finals week successfully, check out the article below written by Communications student Sharda James.
http://eagleeyemedia.org/?p=3197
Best of Luck! Remember, keep calm and make it to Christmas break.
Dr. Rebecca Martindale gave a PechaKucha presentation at the end to give her interpretation of the book.
On Friday December 1, Dr. Rebecca Martindale, Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology, had her students present their PechaKucha presentations over the book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan.
“When we first started these presentations, I kind of did it in the middle of the semester and Caleigh started at the beginning. She’s going to do her presentation of The Demon-Haunted World the way most students and faculty would present when they use PowerPoint Presentation,” said Dr. Martindale.
The event began with Caleigh Bailon’s traditional presentation summarizing chapter 1 of the book. She discussed the key points of the chapter and her slides were text-heavy, which is common in many traditional presentations.
“After learning the new method of presentation, it’s kind of gruesome to go back and look at something like this,” Bailon said.
Next, Philip Dorouen explained what a PechaKucha was and how they worked. PechaKuchas are presentations that follow a specific format. 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each and they advance automatically.
“They are a great creative way for students to express themselves,” he said.
The benefit to this presentation style is that it can prevent the speaker from spending too much of their time talking about one part of the presentation. They have to keep speaking to keep up with the presentation and it can shorten a lengthy topic to highlight the main points. You can visit the PechaKucha website for more information and to watch other presentations. He also played the following video for the audience to give them a visual of how this presentation method worked.
“One of the things they do is have PechaKucha nights. It was originally designed by a couple of architects who basically had this philosophy where if you give an architect a microphone, they’ll talk for hours and hours. People all around the world get together in lots of different venues and have PechaKucha nights to talk about whatever they want with this particular format,” said Dr. Martindale.
Abram Garza presented his PechaKucha to summarize chapter 3 of the book.
Abram Garza presented the first PechaKucha of the event to summarize chapter 3: The Man in the Moon and the Face on Mars. This chapter was about pseudo-science and how people tend to believe tales without proof of their validity. He used note cards to aid his presentation because this format relies on images without text. Roslyn Swofford was the last student to present and she summarized chapter 21 of the book.
Dr. Martindale ended the event with her own PechaKucha presenting her interpretation of the book. This particular method made it easier to stay engaged during the presentations. The absence of text put more focus on the presenter and what they were saying, while also providing an interesting visual. Next time you have a presentation for class, try using this method to make your presentations more fun, engaging, and interesting.
There is no better way to gear up for the end of the semester than good food and great prizes!
A&M-Texarkana’s annual “Fuel for Finals” is Wednesday, December 6th from 8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. in the University Center Cafe. Campus Activities Board, Student Government Association, and the Office of Student Life are hosting the event.
Campus Activities Board Officer Shannon Lovelady said, “Fuel for finals is a fun way to get students away from studying while having breakfast for dinner served by their favorite faculty, and also the chance to win a prize through the raffle.”
Admission is free for all students with a campus I.D., and everyone in attendance will be entered to win cool prizes and gift cards.
