Focus on Faculty is a Speakers' Series for UT Arlington faculty, begun during 2002-2003 to provide a forum for outstanding faculty to share their research and achievements with students, faculty and staff of this campus and with the citizens of Arlington. Speakers are invited who have received major awards for research, teaching or service.
Six speakers are scheduled each year. A light dessert reception is served.
Spring 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Michael Ward
Central Library sixth floor parlor
Noon - 1:30pm
What Effect Does Video Game Violence Have on Actual Violence?
The NRA says a lot and the Supreme Court says not much. What does the research say? How would one conduct research into the topic? Professor Ward summarizes the existing research methodologies, the results they yield and the criticisms level against each one. In particular, he presents his own research findings on the subject.
Michael R. Ward is a Professor of Economics who has been at UTA since 2002. He has several recent publications on the video game violence: "Video Games and Crime," Contemporary Economic Policy, 2011; “Video Games and Adolescent Fighting,” Journal of Law and Economics, 2010.
A light dessert reception follows the talk. These events are filmed and later available on the UTA Library YouTube Channel Focus on Faculty playlist.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tim Ishii
Central Library sixth floor parlor
noon - 1:30pm
Jazz: The Perfect Cultural Exchange Model
Professor Tim Ishii will perform some jazz classics then describe his work with the International Jazz and Youth Exchange. This youth exchange utilizes jazz music to bring together students from Hawaii and Germany. Ishii will be assisted by Dan Cavanagh, Professor of Jazz Studies. Ishii received both his M.M. in saxophone performance and his B.M. in jazz studies performance from the University of North Texas.
Professor Dan Cavanaugh is a pianist and is assistant director of Jazz Studies. He has garnered numerous awards for his compositions. Cavanaugh’s music is performed internationally, and he has received commissions from a wide range of groups across North America. He has his masters of music degree in jazz studies from the University of Oregon.
This program will be recorded and may be viewed online.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Daniel W. Armstrong
Central Library sixth floor parlor
Noon - 1:30pm
Testing for Performance Enhancing Drugs: The Case of a Chiral Stimulant
In the midst of the media excitement surrounding the Lance Armstrong/Oprah interview, have you ever wondered about who else has been using performance enhancement (PED) drugs? And how? Or how the types of doping they might use? Or how it is detected? Dr. Armstrong will give listeners an overview of PEDs going back farther than you might think!
ABSTRACT: The use of performance enhancing drugs (PED) has a long history in sports and combat, and only in the last several decades has become an area of concern. This is because issues of health, safety and fairness have come to the forefront. Further, the regulation and control of these substances and those who would use them is an effective way for large regulation-based organizations to acquire power, funds, etc. Also the use of PEDs has extended from world-class athletes and military uses to recreational sports and other venues. A brief history of PEDs will be given, along with an overview of their types and effects. Finally we will take a specific look at a recently banned stimulant that was a constituent of one of the largest selling nutritional supplements in the world.
This program will be recorded and may be viewed online.
Fall 2012
Lonnie Harrison
October 3, 2012
Central Library sixth floor parlor
12:00pm - 1:30pm
When Books Go Underground: Censorship and Media Control in Russia
Our October 3 Focus on Faculty lecture by Assistant Professor Lonny Harrison in the Russian Section of the Modern Languages Department, offers a look at the subject of government repression of reading, and examines the practice of and results surrounding state-banning of books in Russia and the former USSR.
This lecture is part of the UT Arlington Library Banned Books Week events (Sept. 29 - Oct. 6) and is co-sponsored by the Friends of the UT Arlington Library.This program has been recorded and may be viewed at http://youtu.be/mmHRFXTE2EA
Michael Moore
October 24, 2012
Central Library sixth floor parlor
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Reflections on the Texas Brand of Justice: The Struggle to Adopt and Implement the Fair Defense Act (and A Few Remaining Challenges)
Hailed by legal experts as the most important piece of indigent defense legislation in the country in the last quarter century, the Texas Fair Defense Act provided legal protections to indigent defendants charged in criminal matters by providing access to qualified and timely appointment of counsel. This talk will reflect on the struggle to adopt Fair Defense Act, the impact the Act has had on justice in Texas, and the work that remains to be done to insure justice is done in criminal matters.
For more information: http://www.uta.edu/events/main.php?view=event&eventid=1350398525658
Kathryn Holliday
November 14, 2012
Central Library sixth floor parlor
12:00pm - 1:30pm
How Do Cities Grow?
Why do we build them the way we do? Who decides what buildings get built - where they are and what they look like? What does the architecture of our cities tell us about our own cultural histories? As an architecture historian, Kathryn Holliday asks and answers these kinds of questions.
This lecture is part of the GIS Day annual event, so Dr. Holliday will discuss a current project focused on the history of DFW as stored in cartographic maps and images. For the past three years, Dr. Holliday and her students in her course 'The Life of Cities: Modernism in Context' have taken scanned maps from the UT Arlington Library's Special Collections and georeferenced them using ArcGIS software.
For more information: http://www.uta.edu/events/main.php?view=event&eventid=1350400212522
These programs are free and open to all. Registration is not required. Light refreshments will be served. If you need special accommodation to fully participate in this program, contact Maggie Dwyer at817-272-5366 or dwyer@uta.edu. Allow sufficient time to arrange your requested accommodations.
Past Events
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