Faculty Accolades

DR. ROB COLTER

DR. JEAN A. GARRISON Philosophy

Professor Rob Coulter was featured in a chapter on the subject of Stoicism in “The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers,” authored by Eric Weiner.

Botany

David G. Williams and colleagues published a recent article in the journal Conservation Physiology on the highelevation Altiplano cacti of Bolivia.

Physics and Astronomy

Jifa Tian (PI) and his Co-PIs, TeYu Chien, Jinke Tang, Brian Leonard, and John Ackerman have recently been awarded a DOE Building EPSCoR-State/National Laboratory Partnerships grant entitled “Exploring Nontrivial Topological Superconductivity in 2M WS2 for Topological Quantum Computation.” It is for three years at $750,000.

Political Science AND International Studies

Jean A. Garrison, professor of political science and international studies, is the recipient of the Seibold Professorship for 2021-2022. She will spend the year building upon elements of the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program, which she directs, to create greater depth and breadth in virtual civic engagement programming for K-12 social studies teachers, design a service learning component for her classes, explore a partnership with F.E. Warren AFB in national security studies, and build upon a grant partnership with the Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) on ‘Contestations of the Liberal Script’ to apply the civic engagement lens to questions of polarization and hyper partisan politics from a local to global scale.

Modern and Classical Languages

Professor Ekaterina Alexandrova was awarded the prestigious Seibold Professorship for 2021-2022.

Theatre AND Dance

All faculty in Theatre & Dance have been successfully provided on-line, hybrid and in-person classes throughout the fall semester, produced a live streaming performance, “Asking Strangers the Meaning of Life” and filmed vocalists and dancers for the musical “29” which released in early January.

Assistant Professor Scott TedmonJones served as the scenic slide/image coordinator for The Juilliard School Drama Division’s fourth year Zoom Festival – their solution for creating

DR. CECILIA ARAGÓN

work during the pandemic. His work primarily focused on prop design, location setups and lighting, and background image design.

Assistant Professor Patrick Konesko has contract with Routledge for his book “Death of Satire” due out in 2021.

New Associate Professor Jenny Foldenauer was a winner for best costume design for her work on Mary Zimmerman’s “Argonautika” put on at A Noise Within theatre company in Pasadena, Calif.

Lee Hogdson, professor and costumer for the Department of Theatre & Dance from 1987-2020, was awarded Emeritus status for a distinguished career at the University of Wyoming.

Former Department Head and Professor Leigh Selting is now the Associate Dean in the University of Wyoming Honor’s College.

Along with co-author Professor William Missouri Downs, Professor Lou Anne Wright was given a weeklong March residency by the Phoenix Theatre Company in Arizona. The play “You Can’t Say That” was awarded a series of staged, public readings by the Phoenix as a part of its Festival of New American Theatre. Wright was invited to perform a new monologue by playwright Evan Edwards at the Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference. Wright’s monologue “Triple Ma’am” was chosen by The Brave New World Repertory Theatre in Brooklyn to be included in an evening of new pieces written by women. “Over and Above” was performed in August and featured actors Laura San Giacomo and Blair Brown.

Professor Cecilia Aragón was appointed to Leadership Wyoming, an organization that promotes and develops future leaders in Wyoming. Aragón also has a book contract which will be published in 2021, entitled “Borderlands Children’s Theatre: The Emergence of MexicanAmerican/Chicano Youth Theatre,” published by Routledge Press, UK: London. In addition, Aragón has a published essay entitled, “Ceremony of Sisterhood: Performing Mestizaje in Rudolfo Anaya’s Literature and Plays for Children,” in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies at UCLA.

Aragón has two more forthcoming books under contract “Indigenous Revivalism: Mestizaje Performance and Danza Azteca in Latinx-Chicanx Popular Culture,” published by University of Arizona Press (2021), and “Performing the Myths of “El querido Billy the Kid-El Bilito: Cultural Politics in Folk Songs, Folk Celebrations, and Contemporary Dramas,” published by University of New Mexico Press (2021). Aragón continues to serve as the Executive Director for the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference and the Director of Theatre Education, K-12 Theatre Education Endorsement.

William Missouri Down’s play, “How To Steal A Picasso” will soon be published by TRW (Theatrical Rights Worldwide). In addition to this, Downs had three overseas productions of his plays: “Women Playing Hamlet” by the Hartwell Players in Melbourne, Australia, “Cockeyed” at the Fifth Theatre in Omsk in Russia, and “The Exit Interview” was part of a theatre festival at the Daehakro Theatre in Seoul, South Korea.

Cecilia Aragón has participated in two creative activities: Aug. 19, 2020, Podcast interview with AnnaTude: “Un asiento en la Mesa- Ft. Dr. Cici Aragon, University of Wyoming Theatre and Dance and Latinx Studies Professor”

DR. FREDRICK DOUGLASS DIXON

http://bit.ly/ annatude-cici

Aragón was cast in “Trumpus Caesar” written by Carlos Morton and performed at University of California, Santa Barbara https://youtu.be/ tmu3CM1EOVI

Professor Margaret Wilson and Neil Humphrey (Geology & Geophysics, adjunct in Theatre & Dance) were selected for the Presidential Speaker Series to highlight their research in their individual fields, their collaborative work in Vertical Dance and their site-specific project in Greenland.

Art

UW Professor Diana Baumbach is a 2021 recipient of the Visual Arts Fellowship, a highly competitive award from the Wyoming Arts Council. Visual Arts Fellowships are funded and unrestricted awards of merit, based on the artist’s portfolio, honoring the work of Wyoming visual artists whose work reflects serious and exceptional aesthetic investigation. Classics

The UW Classics program sponsored Relative Theatrics’ virtual reading of Euripides’ “Medea” on Nov. 12, 2020. The play explored the trauma that a refugee and her children experienced when they lost the protection of their guardian. Black Studies Center

Fredrick Douglass Dixon spearheaded the launch of the Black Studies Center. Its inaugural webinar launch was Oct. 13, 2020, and was entitled “Liz Byrd Speaker Series: Let Freedom Ring - After Fifty Years, Does Black Studies Matter? A Critical Critique.”