CLASS Vikings

Timeless Vision: Earth, Sea and Sky

The Galleries at Cleveland State University presented Timeless Vision: Earth, Sea and Sky in the spring 2020 semester. The exhibition celebrated the sublime beauty of the landscape and examines the various ways in which the eight artists perceive the wonders of the world and give us a sense of our place in the universe.

The show opened on Friday, January 31, with a free reception, and was to run through Saturday, April 11 but had to close early due to Ohio’s stay-at-home order. The exhibition featured work of local artists Valence Davillier, Michael Greenwald, A.D. Peters, Annie Peters, John Sargent III and Richard Vaux, as well as Thomas Pickarski from New York and Alan Paine Radebaugh from Albuquerque.

“The talented people participating in this exhibition include local, regional and internationally recognized artists working in the genre of the landscape. Their unique styles, materials and methods capture the beauty of the natural world,” notes Kendall Christian, assistant director of the Galleries at CSU. “We are very pleased to be able to bring all of these artists together for an examination of the landscape and how it impacts and drives human existence.”

To further enhance the impact of its exhibitions for students and the community, the Galleries at CSU started a new Thursday Night Art Talk series. Presented weekly through March 16, the series featured presentations by the artists and experts who explore the natural world and its inherent beauty as represented in the artwork. Presenters included Joe Hannibal, geologist and paleontologist with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Kevin R. E. Greenwood, curator of Asian Art for the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College.

For more information on The Galleries at CSU exhibitions, please visit class.csuohio.edu/art-gallery/.

The Digital CSU Student Showcase

at Cleveland State University

Digital CSU is an interdisciplinary group of faculty, librarians, institutional technologists, and staff interested in digital research, pedagogy, and content creation. The group began in 2016 and continues to grow and hold a variety of events each year. Digital CSU provides opportunities for interdisciplinary conversations about digital methods, tools, and practices. In addition to offering events for faculty and staff, Digital CSU, in partnership with the Michael Schwartz Library, hosts a student research showcase at the end of each semester to promote the importance of digital literacy, acknowledge the digital work our students produce, and offer a space for students to engage with the CSU community.

The Digital CSU Student Showcase began as a small poster session facilitated by Dr. Shelley Rose (cofounder of Digital CSU) in 2016. In the years that followed, the showcase provided opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students from across campus to share their digital projects. Essentially, the Digital CSU Showcase is a digital poster session held, most recently, in the Atrium of Berkman Hall, on the Tuesday prior to the last week of class. Students register for a half-hour time slot and present their digital projects. The showcase is a low-stakes, conversational environment in which students get to talk with faculty, staff, and other students about their digital work.

The fall 2019 showcase was the largest yet with 41 students registering and attending the event. The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences was well-represented with students presenting projects from First-Year Writing, English, History, Communication, Film, and Art, as well as work done for the Center for Public History and Digital Humanities. The College of Education and Human Services was also represented. Students have presented impressive digital projects demonstrating their hard work and digital literacy skills. Past projects have included a website focused on helping hi school teachers integrate multimodal literacy practices into the classroom, a digital timeline tracing the life of Saint Augustine, a podcast discussing Jean Donovan (an American Missionary), an interactive lesson plan for high school English Language Arts teachers, and a video promoting a local Cleveland business.

Providing students with opportunities to practice digital literacy skills via creating digital texts (e.g. websites, podcasts, videos, infographics, digital posters, etc.) has been shown to motivate and engage students (Bohannon, 2015; Powell et al., 2014). Offering them opportunities to then share that work with a public audience is also a best practice of project-based learning and provides students with real-life experiences that promote engaged learning (Buck Institute for Education). If you are an instructor who asks students to produce any type of digital text, then your students can share that work at the showcase! If you are a student who has produced digital projects outside of school, you are also more than welcome to participate in the event!

Although the spring 2020 Digital CSU Showcase was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students and faculty can look forward to presenting at and/or attending the Showcase at the end of the fall 2020 semester. As faculty and students transition to emergency remote teaching and learning, instructors might consider assigning digital projects which students can present in our upcoming Fall 2020 showcase. There will be limited space at the event (36 seats), so registration is required and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Student participants should be prepared to share their projects digitally and are encouraged to provide supplemental materials such as handouts about their design process, research methods, or other relevant documents; however, this is not required.

If you have questions about the Digital CSU Showcase or if you want to get involved, please do not hesitate to reach out to one of the Digital CSU Co-Conveners (Melanie Gagich, Ben Richards, Dr. Molly Buckley, or Cigdem Slankard).

Memorial Tribute Concert to

Henry J. Goodman

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to recognize the David and Inez Myers Foundation for their support of the Henry J. Goodman Family Concert.

On March 8, pianist Jeffrey Siegel performed a free family concert for the young and young at heart. The concert was a memorial tribute to community leader and activist, Henry J. Goodman, who also served as Past Chairman, Board of Trustees, Cleveland State University and founder of the Kulas Series of Keyboard Conversations® at CSU.

Mr. Siegel’s special program highlighted Gershwin’s delightful “I Got Rhythm,” Copland’s humorous “Cat and the Mouse” and Chopin’s “Cat Waltz.” The audience also heard variations on Mozart’s “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” Beethoven’s “Für Elise,” Manuel de Falla’s fiery “Ritual Fire Dance,” and Debussy’s “Golliwogg’s Cake Walk.” In usual fashion of Keyboard Conversations® the audience following the concert to talk about the music and ask questions. A wonderful time was had by all.