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Show Text: Cathe Guptill Dr. Sherwin Howard, the dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, is pleased with the progress made within that school this year. According to Dr. Howard, one of the main accomplishmentsM,the year was the creation of the math tutorial and English writing centers. These centers are located on campus and provide a valuable and convenient service to anyone attending WSC. Also important within the school is the successful implementation of this year's Quarter Abroad Program in Spain. Forty students and four faculty members participated. The tour featured classes given by WSC faculty members and a variety of tours and experiences for the students. WSC's four faculty participants were Larry Dolman (Spanish department), Gordon Allred (English department), Eugene Bozniak (botany department), and Henry Ibarguen (history department). The School of Arts and Humanities also noted the success of this year's productions of the theater department. Those highlights included Vanities, The Merchant of Venice, Harvey and many others. The debate team accomplished quite a bit, also. Although it didn't rank quite as high this year as it did last year, Dr. Howard said that the team was younger and stronger, with probably the best freshman debating team in the country. The school had the honor of hosting its first Western States Undergraduate Literature Conference in April. In addition to participants from within the state of Utah, undergraduate writers came from as far away as Maine to read their literary works. Noted authors John Barth and Tobias Wolff were guest speakers at the conference. Fiscally, the School of Arts and Humanities has been hit by budget cuts because of legislative action taken earlier this year. Dr. Howard noted though that cuts were made proportionately throughout the schools at WSC. He felt that most schools are facing similar challenges because of these cuts. His main concern is maintaining the levels of quality education within the school in spite of the budget setbacks. On the bright side, the math department has received a large grant from AT&T. It has already received two time-sharing computers from the corporation, and Dr. Howard said that more equipment should be forthcoming. Although he did not give a figure in actual monetary value, he implied that the grant had already proved generous with the addition of the computers. Dr. Howard noted a positive feeling within the school this year, citing contributions from both faculty and students that were too numerous to mention. He did evidence this positive air with some good news -enrollment within the school was up for both fall and winter quarters. ArtsHumanities Text: Jana Chesley This past April, Weber State College had the opportunity of sponsoring the first Western States Undergraduate Literature Conference. 'The conference was our brain-child, and we are proud of the results it had," said L. Mikel Vause and Michael Meyer, professors of English at WSC. The conference was held April 17-19, and the guest speakers included authors John Barth and Tobias Wolff . Barth spoke at convocations on April 17 and gave the keynote address at the conference banquet on Thursday night. He is the author six novels: The Floating Opera, The End of the Road, The Sot-Weed Factor, Giles Goat Boy, Letters and Sabbatical, A Romance. He has also written a series of short fiction for print, tape and live voice and was the recipient of the National Book Award for Fiction in 1973. Barth is currently working at his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, as the Alumni Centennial Professor of English and Creative Writing. Wolff spoke to the participants of the conference on April 18 at the Stewart Library Lecture Series held in the Special Collections Room. He also conducted a workshop to help the participants of the conference understand about the writing process. He is the author of "In the Garden of North American Martyrs," which won the Saint Lawrence Award for Fiction in 1982, and "The Barracks Thief," winner of the Pen Faulkner Award for fiction in 1985. "Back in the World," which is a collection of stories, is his most recent publication. He is also the three-time recipient of the O'Henry Prize for his short fiction which has appeared in many national publications. At present, Wolff is a professor at Syracuse University. Undergraduate students came from 14 different states across the nation to participate in the conference. Some students came from as far as Alaska and North Carolina. The conference gave undergraduates the opportunity to read papers on literature to an i -dtS. I . i i . . " K KWCR, Weber State's radio station, offers hands-on experience for communications majorsminors, especially when everything is working correctly. (Signpost photo: Oscar Sosa) r-' i y i 1 ;v 7 u,yx, w'" i ; r "r - - ' J - '-- -1 ' HA- 7. V; r audience of their peers in a scholarly setting, as well as establish contact with eminent writers. Papers were presented under four categories: creative, which was comprised of personal essays, short fiction and poetry; world literature; American literature; and British literature. Papers presented under those categories were of an analytical and critical nature. After participants read their papers, discussions took place about them. These discussions involved the audience as well as the reader. Vause said, "I'm happy to say that, overall, the students from Weber State fared very well against those students from other major universities ana colleges. Their papers were as insightful and had as much critical depth and understanding as papers that were presented by people from universities from other states. They did very well, and I think that indicates that students at Weber can compete equally on a national level as well as any school can." Meyer added, 'The conference was very rewarding; the students felt that something was being done for them. We hope the conferences will continue, with each succeeding one as rewarding and successful as this first conference was." Oq 3 o c T3 m Co a 3 H c n in a I C a IX) CO ai 03 |
