INNOVATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

INNOVATION

More than 400 music majors received Zoom Q2N-4K recorders, tripod stands and recording accessories to capture and upload high-quality recordings of auditions, lesson assignments, performances and research, thanks to a Teaching Innovation Grant awarded by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost and matched by the School of Music.

>> LOOKING FORWARD

The National Foreign Language Center developed a free language learning app, Lectica, aimed at helping high school aged-students and adult learners brush up on their language skills. The 420 lessons in seven languages feature authentic source material and are prepared by native speakers. It will be available this fall through the Apple Store.

During her 2020-21 Long Fellowship, Associate Professor of English Kari Kraus developed the course “Storytelling With Code,” which will be offered by the Department of English beginning in Fall 2021. It will introduce undergraduate English majors to the ways that code—the “language” behind computer software, apps and websites—can be used both to analyze literature as well as to create it.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Through a mix of percussion, oral history, electronic sounds and traditional hymns, the story of the historically Black College Park neighborhood of Lakeland was interpreted by the musical trio Lineage Percussion, recipients of a 2020-21 NextLOOK residency. Timpanist and percussionist Lauren Floyd, a doctoral student in the School of Music, is a founding member of Lineage Percussion. The “Shadows of Lakeland” piece was presented by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and Joe’s Movement Emporium.

A crowdsourcing project led by the College of Information Studies and the David C. Driskell Center will engage scholars, historians, artists and the public to help transcribe and preserve the works of the late African American artist, scholar, curator and Distinguished University Professor of Art David C. Driskell. The project initially includes about 1,200 digitized works from the Driskell Papers collection, all ready for transcription and review by anyone who wishes to participate.

Award-winning author and social justice scholar Monique W. Morris discussed her documentary, “PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools,” as part of the 202021 Arts and Humanities Dean’s Lecture Series. This fall, Dean’s Lecture Series speaker Vijay Gupta, a violinist and social justice advocate, will discuss the role of the arts and music to heal, inspire, provoke change and foster social connection.