UTArlington - The University of Texas at Arlington Magazine

Street Artist

2013-11-20T20:43:34Z

Carlos Donjuan (’05 BFA, Art) was selected to paint Dallas city-funded murals to brighten retaining walls beneath the Jefferson Boulevard bridge’s Zang and Marsalis entry/exit ways in Oak Cliff. He is a lecturer in art and art history at UT Arlington.

Sociology Professor

2013-11-20T20:30:20Z

Louwanda Evans (’04 BA, ’06 MA, Sociology) is a visiting assistant professor of sociology at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss.

Video Producer

2013-11-20T20:20:05Z

Chris Mead (’12 BA, Broadcast Communication) is a video production intern for the Oakland Athletics and is pursuing a master’s degree at San Francisco State University.

Energy Analyst

2013-11-20T20:16:35Z

Magdalena Salamon (’12 BA, Russian) is an upstream energy analyst in Houston. She studies oil shale in the U.S. and serves as an analyst for European and Russian energy ventures.

The Art of Giving

2013-11-12T20:17:39Z

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Jonathan Campbell and Tanya Dowdey have donated a large portion of their African art to the College of Liberal Arts. The works are on display in the Fine Arts Building. Eventually, they plan to give all of their African art collection to UT Arlington.

Message from the Editor

2013-11-12T16:20:52Z

First semesters can shape your future. Handle the rigorous coursework and you’re on the road to graduation and career success. Venture beyond the classroom and you make friendships that last a lifetime.

UT Arlington’s Class of 2017 arrived this fall full of energy, excitement, and ambition. It’s a notable class—the first under Vistasp Karbhari, who became UT Arlington’s eighth president in June. As you’ll read in our conversation with President Karbhari, he shares the students’ enthusiasm and is committed to providing them a top-tier education that instills creativity and innovation.

Themes of newness and distinction pervade this issue. A study by the New America Foundation named UT Arlington one of six “Next Generation Universities.” The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked UT Arlington seventh on its list of fastest-growing public research universities. And U.S. News & World Report ranked us as the nation’s fifth most ethnically diverse campus.

Laura Suarez Henderson is among a handful of students worldwide to win two Amelia Earhart Fellowships, awarded annually to women pursuing doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering. Henderson also received a highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to locate space debris and determine how to maneuver around it.

Our cover story features the research of four professors who are exploring ways to preserve the world’s water supply and protect it from toxins and other dangers. Even the old becomes new as we take a fresh look at the JFK assassination through essays written by students here 50 years ago.

Beginnings offer hope, and the dawn of an academic year with a new president is an ideal time to elevate our aspirations. To paraphrase Dr. Karbhari, we have the opportunity to dream big dreams and work together to make them come true.

Talk of the Town

2013-11-12T16:20:52Z

If you’re looking for entertainment that’s enjoyable and enriching, the 2013–14 Maverick Speakers Series is delivering both. The lineup includes a popular CNN anchor, a legendary entrepreneur, a world-famous neurosurgeon, and lauded journalists.

Award-winning CNN reporter Anderson Cooper takes the College Park Center stage Nov. 11. A respected network news figure for more than a decade, he hosts Anderson Cooper 360.

Spring 2014 lectures will feature Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, and Nina Totenberg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning legal affairs correspondent for NPR. Gupta comes to College Park Center on March 18. Totenberg will speak in Texas Hall on April 8.

The fall slate began in September with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. A native of the Philippines, he delivered a heartfelt account of his life as an undocumented immigrant. In October cable TV pioneer and ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen detailed the sports network’s beginnings and its rise to prominence.

Now in its sixth season, the Maverick Speakers Series has attracted more than 40,000 people to hear some of today’s brightest minds address current events and timely issues. Past speakers include Seth Meyers, Cokie Roberts, Ken Burns, Soledad O’Brien, and Cal Ripken Jr.

Lectures begin at 7:30 p.m. and feature audience question-and-answer sessions. When applicable, the events include book or autograph signings.

The lectures are free, but tickets are required. Preferred packages are available for purchase and include reserved seating at the front of the venue and reserved parking. For information or to reserve tickets, visit uta.edu/maverickspeakers.

Packaging and 3-D CAD

2013-11-12T16:21:11Z

Students in Ben Dolezal’s Packaging and 3-D CAD (computer-aided design) class are on the cutting edge of design technology. The course, which uses the University’s new Corrugated Prototype Design and CAD Production Lab, teaches how to solve real-world packaging issues. Each semester, students work individually and in teams to design and construct items such as a retail floor display stand, a food and beverage shipper, and a retail shelf display. “I chose these assignments because the dimensional product and packaging solutions explore the relationship between conceptual thinking, structural design, brand development, and consumer behavior,” explains Dolezal, an assistant professor of visual communication. In addition to instruction from local packaging professionals, the class features guest lectures, panel discussions, and facility tours. “By offering a partnership between industry and education, the course allows students to engage in meaningful discussions and prepare for full-time employment upon graduation.”

Parents Wield Influence Over Teen Smoking

2013-11-12T16:20:51Z

The biggest deterrent to teen smoking and drinking may be a candid conversation between parents and their kids.

A study by marketing Associate Professor Zhiyong Yang concludes that early, substantive dialogue between parents and their grade-school children about the ills of tobacco and alcohol use can be more powerful in shaping teen behavior than advertising, marketing, or peer pressure.

“First, our conclusion is that parenting styles can be changed, and that’s good news for the parents and the teens,” Dr. Yang says. “Second, our study shows that parental influence is not only profound in its magnitude but persistent and long-lasting over the course of a child’s entire life.”

Yang’s research was published in a recent edition of the Journal of Business Research. Similar findings were part of a 2010 study he published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing of the American Marketing Association.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 3,900 Americans under age 18 begin smoking each day and about 1,000 youth will become daily cigarette smokers.

Yang says his findings run counter to common perceptions that parents have little influence on behavior after their children enter adolescence. Conventional wisdom suggests that peer pressure and targeted marketing and advertising are of paramount influence on teen decisions to use tobacco and alcohol or engage in other risky behaviors.

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

2013-11-12T16:21:10Z

If anyone understands the sociology of sports, it’s Krystal Beamon. The sociology assistant professor and Service Learning Faculty Member of the Year was an All-American track star at Oklahoma State, while her two brothers were elite athletes in basketball and baseball. “Throughout my childhood, my household was structured around sports,” she says. So it’s little wonder that sports continue to shape her career as a sociologist. A faculty fellow in the Center for African American Studies, Dr. Beamon has focused of late on the social significance of sport in America and its connection to race and race relations. “My research examines the two divergent perspectives employed to understand the role of competitive sports in the development of African-American males,” she says. “Athletics provides educational opportunities to African-Americans from underprivileged backgrounds, but athletics also exploits the majority of African-American athletes at the expense of academics.” Her book, The Enduring Color Line in U.S. Athletics, is due this fall.