University of Texas Arlington

ARLINGTON - The Alicia Wilkerson Smotherman Faculty Awards at The University of Texas at Arlington were inaugurated in 2007 to honor College of Liberal Arts faculty whose research expertise and teaching skills inspire students to create work of extraordinary merit. Daniel Cavanagh, Dr. Jerold Edmondson, Dr. Sam Haynes and Dr. Cedrick May, will be honored with the 2008 awards Saturday evening at an invitation-only reception in Thad and Alicia Smotherman’s home.

Cavanagh, assistant professor of music, was nominated for his work with two students, who have composed music that has been performed and recorded, as well as his own compositions, which have won numerous awards and been published.

Dr. Edmondson was nominated for his work with a doctoral student in the linguistics, whose thesis developed a quantative approach to measure eyebrow movement and how it influences interpretation of American Sign Language. Dr. Edmondson is an internationally known expert on historical and comparative linguistics and author of more than 110 publications.

Dr. Haynes also was nominated because of this work with a doctoral student, who received a research grant form the American Historical Association and an award for outstanding graduate student paper from the Western Conference on British Studies, as well as authoring seven books and his consultancies for The History Channel, A&E Television, KERA Public Television and other entities.

Dr. May was nominated for this work with students in African-American literature and literature and history of the Black Power era. Recognized internationally for his expertise in African-American literature, his book “Evangelism and Resistance in the Black Atlantic—1760-1835,” was published this year by the University of Georgia Press.

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The University of Texas at Arlington is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer.