The Clothesline Project 2013, hosted by UTPA’s Gender and Women’s Studies program, displayed T-shirts students made with messages that speak out against domestic violence.

Zachary Butcher, a senior majoring in history at The University of Texas-Pan American, designed a T-shirt for UTPA’s annual The Clothesline Project – a program focused on the issues of domestic violence – in hopes of raising awareness about a problem that Butcher believes is non-gender specific.

“I feel like domestic violence is not just a problem for women. It is a community problem and we all need to talk openly about these issues. Change will not happen if we are silent,” Butcher said.

The Clothesline Project began in Cape Cod, Mass. in 1990 as a community project addressing the issue of violence against women. Women in the community were encouraged to come together to share their responses and decorate a T-shirt. All the T-shirts were then strung up on a clothesline and displayed in the community to bring awareness. The conversation has spread and now The Clothesline Project has expanded worldwide.

Butcher, like many other UTPA students, continued the 23-year-long tradition and decorated their personal messages on T-shirts outside the Social and Behavioral Sciences building. Many shirts flashed messages of solidarity with victims, empowerment for survivors, catchy anti-violence slogans, and personal testimonies.

Dr. Caroline Miles, associate professor of English literature and director of the Gender and Women Studies program at UT Pan American, has organized The Clothesline Project at UTPA for the past two years. The project is also made possible by funding from the Office of the Dean of Students.

UTPA senior Yanira Perez designs a shirt with messages of love, peace, victory and empowerment during The Clothesline Project hosted by the University’s Gender and Women’s Studies program.

The Clothesline Project allows participants to share their experiences and reactions to domestic violence and continues to attract an overwhelming number of students, staff, and members of the UTPA community, Miles said.

Each year, Miles and her staff have ordered 200 shirts and all of them are decorated, she said.

“It is heartbreaking to read some of the T-shirts and realize how domestic violence really affects the community at large. Yet, is so great to see the students and community speaking out and connecting to such an important awareness program,” Miles said.

Members of the local community such as Mujeras Unidas –- a local 24-hour shelter and hotline, providing services for victims of domestic violence in the Rio Grande Valley community -– lent their support and were present during the two-day event.

“Many people are afraid to speak out, so we are here to let the students and UTPA community know that we are here to help them or anyone they know who is a victim of domestic violence,” said Sarahi Cardoza, a participant with Mujeras Unidas.

Many of the T-shirts will be on display at future Gender and Women’s Studies events around campus. For more information about the Gender and Women’s Studies program and upcoming events, visit the program’s website or email Miles at csmiles@utpa.edu.

If you are a victim of domestic violence, or abuse, and in need of assistance, you can contact the Mujeras Unidas 24-hour crisis hotline at 1-800-580-4879, the UTPA Campus Police Department at (956) 665-7151, or the UTPA Counseling Services at (956) 665-2574.

Original Post by Christy Mendoza, Writer/Intern posted on May 1, 2013.

UTPA–Theatre for Young Audiences presents Mariachi Girl by Roxanne Shroeder-Arce.

Mariachi Girl tells the story of Carmencita, an 8-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a mariachi.

Her father Luis, on the other hand, is much attached to his family’s mariachi traditions and roots and does not approve of women being part of a mariachi group.

It will run May 2-4 at 7 p.m., May 4 and 5 at 2 p.m. at the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre at the Arts and Humanities (ARHU) Building on the corner of University Drive and Sugar Road (formally the Communication Arts and Sciences (COAS) Building).

Children of all ages are welcome to attend.

General admission is $3 per person regardless of age. The box office opens one hour prior to each performance.

For more information, call the University Theatre Box Office at (956) 665-3581.

Original Post by UTPA Theatre posted on April 29, 2013

Students from The University of Texas-Pan American’s French program will perform their new play, “Nostalgie Révolutionnaire 2013,” at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4 at the UTPA’s Student Union Theater.

Dr. Stella Béhar, professor of French and coordinator of the French Program at UTPA, pictured far left, poses with students in her class who will perform their play, “Nostalgie Révolutionnaire 2013,” May 4 at the Student Union Theater.

Inspired by Tom Hooper’s recent movie “Les Misérables,” “Nostalgie Révolutionnaire 2013,” retraces major political upheavals that shaped French history and democracy from 1789 through 1968. Dr. Stella Béhar, UTPA professor of French and coordinator of the University’s French Program, used famous French songs, skits, and poems to offer the audience an overall view of these historical events.

The 15 students from the Theater Practice in French class will perform the medley of songs and theater excerpts from Moliere, Raymond Devos, and Jean Tardieu, punctuated by musical interludes.

This performance is a gift of cultural diversity to the Rio Grande Community from the UTPA French section in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. It is also a way to anticipate the upcoming celebration of Cinco de Mayo, when the French Zouaves were defeated by the Mexicans.

At this event, the best students of French from Rio Grande Valley high schools will be recognized, as well as the numerous students who got national recognition at the Grand Concours (2012 and 2013) of the American Association of Teachers of French.

The performance is supported by the French Club of McAllen. Admission is free and a door prize will conclude this cultural celebration.

For more information, please contact Béhar at behar@utpa.edu.

Original Post by Anjam Chaudhary, Public Affairs Representative on April 25, 2013.

Ivan Barrera, political science major and president of Kappa Sigma and Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society at The University of Texas-Pan American, is not a bike-riding enthusiast.

A Service Learning Showcase will be held at the grand opening at 4 p.m., April 30 of UTPA’s newly renovated Visual Arts Building, located on S. Closner Blvd. in Edinburg. The University community and the public are invited to tour the facility, which includes the art gallery pictured, and view the 60 service learning projects that will be on display.

But his lack of love for riding didn’t stop him from leading his group recently to participate in the event “Bike to the Coast,” raising more than $5,000 for a cause close to his heart.

 “All the money raised from the event benefits the Fisher House Foundation, which provides a home away from home for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization from an illness, disease or injury,” said Barrera, whose own father and other family members are former military members. “We had people donate because of their personal experience with this great foundation.”

Barrera will join members of the fraternity’s local Kappa Epsilon Chapter and other students April 30, to display and talk about their community service work at the Service Learning Showcase to be held at the grand opening of UTPA’s newly renovated Visual Arts Building. The building, which is now home to the Department of Art’s studio art and graphic design programs, is located at 2412 S. Closner Blvd. in Edinburg.

The event starts at 4 p.m. with a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by remarks by Dr. Robert S. Nelsen, UTPA president, and other University administrators.

Tours of both the art facilities and the Service Learning Showcase will be conducted. Students, faculty, staff and the community are invited to attend.

On April 30, the public is invited to tour UTPA’s renovated Visual Arts Building while also viewing a Service Learning Showcase with displays of 60 projects UTPA students have recently participated in and will share with visitors.

As part of their learning experience, UTPA faculty members often have their students engage with local organizations on volunteer community service projects tied to their coursework. At the showcase, there will be more than 60 displays representing more than 200 UTPA students’ service learning activities in a variety of academic disciplines such as business, anthropology, sociology, nursing, English, science, psychology and others.

“What we try to provide with the service learning showcase is the opportunity for our students to exhibit and show the kind of work they have accomplished,” said Dr. Danika Brown, professor of English and faculty director for the Office of Undergraduate Research and Service Learning. “We linked both the Service Learning Showcase and the grand opening of the Department of Art facility because everything that goes on there is experiential learning and we see this facility as a symbol as to what we are trying to bring to the whole University in this engaged way of learning.”

Dr. Susan Fitzsimmons, Art Department chair and professor, sees an essential link in both the Service Learning Showcase and Visual Arts Building grand opening.

“I think it is really important for our students to see what other students in other studies are doing,” said Fitzsimmons. I’ve often had good experiences for our art students working with music students, for instance, because when they realize the level of discipline needed in order to achieve a certain standing within the field, it motivates them. I think it’s the same with service learning.”

For more information, contact Brown at (956) 665-3146 or Fitzsimmons at (956) 665-3481. To R.S.V.P. or for special accommodations, contact (956) 665-2100.

Original Post by Javier Espinoza, Intern on April 22, 2013

The Mariachi Aztlán continued its sweet sound of success March 9 at the 2013 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

UTPA’s award-winning Mariachi Aztlán took home another accolade March 9 winning the 2013 Mariachi Invitational held during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The group bested six professional mariachi groups to win the first place trophy and $7,500 in prize money.

For the third year in the row, the celebrated musical group from The University of Texas-Pan American won first place at the show’s Mariachi Invitational, defeating six professional mariachi groups from Texas that were invited to compete. Wowing an audience of 75,000 people, the Mariachi Aztlán took home $7,500 in prize money and a trophy.

“It was very challenging but the students were great,” said Dr. Dahlia Guerra, dean of UTPA’s College of Arts and Humanities and founder of UTPA’s mariachi program.

The group is led by Musical Director Francisco Loera from UTPA’s Departments of Modern Languages and Literature and Music and Dance.

In their roles as musical ambassadors representing the beauty of Hispanic music and cultural traditions, the Mariachi Aztlán has become one of the most honored musical groups in South Texas and have travelled by invitation nationwide to promote Mexican folk music and culture.

The musicians are three-time Grand Champions of the Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque, besting both collegiate and professional groups in 2006, 2009 and 2010. The group participated at the invitation of the Houston Grand Opera in the 2010 premiere of the world’s first mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna(Crossing the Face of the Moon). In 2011, the group performed for thousands in the famed Hollywood Bowl and in 2012 they presented in Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival as part of its “Campus and Community Program.”

In April, the Mariachi Aztlán will bring its amazing sound and Bronc Country spirit to Chicago where they will present an encore performance of Cruzar La Cara de la Luna with the Chicago Lyric Opera.

See more photos of the Mariachi Aztlán in Houston at the Houston Chronicle website.

Original Post by Gail Fagan, Public Affairs Representative on March 12, 2013

The University of Texas-Pan American is hosting its fifth annual bioethics conference April 2-5.

Heiny Gordon (MS ’12, nursing, FNP Program), shows his research to Dr. Beatriz G. Bautista, director of the Family Nurse Practitioner Program, during the PACE Conference poster presentations in 2012.

The conference, “Bioethics: Creating and Challenging Knowledge in Health,” will address ethical issues that arise in medical practice, health care and biomedical research, as well as issues in educating health care professionals to make ethical decisions.

The event is free and open to the public, thanks to sponsors Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, the Pan American Collaboration for Ethics in the Professions (PACE), Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), UTPA Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE), College of Arts and Humanities, College of Science and Mathematics, College of Health Sciences and Human Services, the UTPA Library and UTPA Continuing Education.

Conference organizers of the four-day event hope to engage UTPA, local health care practitioners and the community in a discussion of health research, health care and the practice of medicine, and health-related issues like obesity and health literacy and to encourage ethical decision-making in these areas.

The conference begins Tuesday, April 2 with a welcome reception at 7 p.m. in the Visitor’s Center, followed by three days of seminars, paper presentations, panel discussions and poster contests. Keynote speakers include Christopher Sholer, M.D., internal medicine specialist, nephrologist and transplant researcher; Lynnae Ruttledge, disability advocate and retired commissioner for the Rehabilitation Services Administration; Dr. Christina Rivera-Garza, award-winning author and professor of writing; and Dr. Ivan Oransky, executive editor of Reuters Health and medical journalist and blogger; and a keynote speaker from Doctors Hospital at Renaissance.

All events, except the opening reception on Tuesday evening, will be held in the UTPA Ballroom.

Panel topics include: open access to medical research, the scandals in cancer research in Texas, the “freedom to be fat” and diabetes and obesity in public health, medical tourism, the advent of patient self-diagnosis through technology, Yerberias vs. Western Medicine, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This year, Thursday evening sessions — held from 6-8:30 p.m. — will be in Spanish and will include a keynote presentation on the practice of psychiatry in Mexico and a panel on health literacy in the RGV.

For more information or special accommodations, call (956) 665-8081 or email PACE@utpa.edu. You may also access the PACE website to learn more.

Original Post by Roxanne Lerma Casares, Staff Writer on March 12, 2013

Tackling illiteracy once again takes center stage at The University of Texas-Pan American during its annual Festival of International Books and Arts (FESTIBA) March 18-24.

UTPA has hosted its Festival of International Books and Arts (FESTIBA) for the past seven years to promote literacy and the arts in the Rio Grande Valley. This year’s theme is “Literacy: Inspiring Healthy Minds & Healthy Bodies.”

 University leaders recognize that literacy is a fundamental component of life, and necessary for success in school, career and everyday skills. In response, UTPA created FESTIBA in 2006, seeking to increase interest in reading and to improve success rates in secondary and postsecondary education.

Over the years, FESTIBA has evolved into a regional event that brings together prominent scholars, educators and authors in their disciplines to UT Pan American to contribute their expertise. Intellectual inquiry and exchange are highly encouraged. With the goal of promoting cultural awareness, UTPA will also celebrate the arts and humanities by engaging the community through books, drama, lectures, poetry, art exhibits, and presentations in dance and music.

This year’s theme is “Literacy: Inspiring Healthy Minds & Healthy Bodies.”

Dr. Dahlia Guerra, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, said the festival is an extraordinary event that will change the lives of young children in the Rio Grande Valley.

“We share the love of reading with children and their parents. The importance of literacy is really stressed during FESTIBA,” Guerra said. “The statistics look really bad. It’s something like 47 percent of the local population can’t read a newspaper. This is a very serious issue and FESTIBA is addressing it to help our children.”

Highlights of the week include a faculty art show, a Congressional Roundtable on Hispanic Literacy for librarians hosted by U.S. Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15), a mariachi competition, and a performance featuring internationally recognized music conductor, Alondra de la Parra.

“We have an academic conference. We also have the GEAR UP kids from the Valley come on campus and we will share incredible performances with them,” Guerra said. “They’ll get to see Olympic gold medal winner Brenda Lilla; Valley native Roberto Garza, an NFL player with the Chicago Bears; and award-winning RGV executive chef Jesse Castellon of the International Culinary Institute. It’s just a wonderful event with a wide range of activities to share with our community.”

FESTIBA 2013 will also feature several exhibits from leading artists in Mexico, as well as plays and a book festival for young readers. Several authors will actually venture out into the community and visit a half dozen schools to share and sign books with the children. Dr. Peter Dabrowski, professor of music and dance, said the weeklong event to support literacy is an exciting way to motivate, engage and educate the public.

“It’s a lot of different activities catering to different audiences and they all promote literacy. We are celebrating as a community,” Dabrowski said. “There is something for everyone at FESTIBA.”

On March 22, the public is invited to attend the FESTIBA at Jardín del Arte Community Festival from 5-10 p.m. at the Edinburg City Hall Courtyard. The evening of cultural and educational exchange will feature a long list of family-friendly events including a variety of musical performances, children’s activity tents, book distributions and displays, plays and art exhibits. Food and drinks will be available from vendors.

“It is very family oriented. We will promote healthy living and a healthy lifestyle,” Guerra said. “There will be Zumba dancing, food vendors and a variety of artists. It will be a wonderful afternoon about fun with your family but most of all we will be stressing the importance of literacy and reading to your children.”

The week’s activities will end on March 23 with a 6:30 p.m. performance featuring winners of a public school mariachi competition at the UTPA Fieldhouse, followed by a concert at 7 p.m. with the Grammy-nominated Mariachi Sol de Mexico and the UTPA Symphony Orchestra, all led by FESTIBA’s guest conductor de la Parra.

To see a complete day to day listing of FESTIBA activities, visit utpa.edu/festiba.

Original Post by Roxanne Lerma Casares, Staff Writer on March 05, 2013

Noted historian Dr. Sterling Evans from the University of Oklahoma will headline the 2013 Rondel V. Davidson Lecture Series at The University of Texas-Pan American on Thursday, March 7, 7 p.m. at the Engineering Auditorium.

Dr. Sterling Evans, Louise Welsh Endowed Chair in Oklahoma, Southern Plains, and Borderlands History and director of graduate studies in the Department of History at the University of Oklahoma.

Evans’ presentation, “Nothing New About NAFTA: North American Connections in Historical Perspective,” will address a variety of different angles involved in North American commerce, industry, and agriculture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. A question and answer session with Evans will follow the lecture. The event is sponsored by the Rondel V. Davidson Endowment and the UTPA History Program.

Evans currently holds the Louise Welsh Endowed Chair in Oklahoma, Southern Plains, and Borderlands History and is the director of graduate studies in the Department of History at the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include Modern Latin America, the American West, and environmental and agricultural history, especially how these fields connect through transnational analysis. He is the author of “The Green Republic: A Conservation History of Costa Rica” (Texas, 1999), “Bound in Twine: The History and Ecology of the Henequen-Wheat Complex for Mexico and the American and Canadian Plains, 1880-1950” (Texas A&M, 2007), and “Damming Sonora: Water, Agriculture, and Environmental Change in Northwest Mexico” (Arizona, forthcoming). 

The annual Rondel V. Davidson lecture is funded by the Rondel V. Davidson Endowment, a fund supported by private donations given in memory of Davidson, late professor and chair of the UTPA Department of History and Philosophy, to spark interest in issues of history, identity, memory and cross-connections in the arts and humanities that arise from the study of the human past.

For more information, call the Department of History and Philosophy at (956) 665-3561.

Original Post by Dept. of History on Feb, 26 2013

The snip of a ribbon at the opening of the Mexican American Studies (MAS) Center Feb. 22 marked a historic day at The University of Texas-Pan American.

A ribbon cutting of the new Mexican American Studies center was held during the NACCS Tejas Foco 2013 Conference held Feb. 21-23 on the UTPA campus. Pictured in front row are Conference co-chair Dr. Sonia Hernández, UTPA Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Havidán Rodríguez, UTPA President Robert S. Nelsen, MAS Program Director Dr. Stephanie Alvarez, Conference co-chair Dr. Marci McMahon, and College of Arts and Humanities Dean Dr. Dahlia Guerra.

“This has been a long struggle for us to get to this point,” said MAS Program Director Dr. Stephanie Alvarez, an assistant professor of Spanish at UTPA, who credited the MAS faculty and its students and graduates for their persistence in nurturing the MAS program at the University and supporting the need for a space to house it properly.

UTPA’s MAS program offers a major, minor and a 12-hour graduate certificate. A proposal for a master’s in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in Mexican American studies is pending approval from The University of Texas System. The center, located in Education Complex, Room 2.216B, provides a meeting place for MAS students, faculty and members of the community and houses basic resource equipment, including computers, a TV, and a printer.

UTPA President Robert S. Nelsen, who greeted guests at the center’s opening, called the day a very important one for the University.

“It is an opportunity to celebrate our culture in the Valley. It is an opportunity to educate our students about that culture. It is an opportunity to maximize our prestige here on the border. We have to be aware of where we are, who we are, and what we are, and the Mexican American Studies Program does precisely that,” Nelsen said.

Dr. Sonia Hernández, an associate professor of history and a faculty affiliate of the MAS program, said the center will be a place where students, community members, faculty and staff can share ideas and intellectualize about community experiences. She said the MAS program at UTPA has the potential to serve as a national model.

During the NACCS Conference, Eva Ybarra, considered the “Queen of the Accordion,” conducted a workshop on conjunto tradition and performed at the conference’s Noche De Cultura during the evening Feb. 22.

“We have everything and it is so hand-in-hand with what the University wants, such as experiential learning and community service. We have all the ingredients and the ganas - the passion, the want and desire – to learn more and to intellectualize these experiences,” she said.

The ribbon cutting was held during the first day of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) Tejas 2013 Conference that was held on the UT Pan American campus Feb. 21-23. The focus of this year’s conference, which drew scholars, artists and activists from across the state and nation, was “Chicana & Chicano Studies ¡Ahora!: Community-Based Pedagogies, Scholarship and Activism.”

Hernández, who co-chaired the conference with Dr. Marci R. McMahon, UTPA assistant professor of English and a teacher in the MAS program, said the theme was conceived in response to the recent attacks on Chicana/o and ethnic studies programs in Arizona. The co-chairs described the conference as a place to share, discuss and test academic research, creative activities, pedagogy and activism, especially the ways in which the work is directly informed by and embedded in the lived experiences of Chicanas/os and Latinas/os in Texas and the nation.

The conference included keynote addresses and plenary sessions addressing issues such as the use of testimonies as pedagogical tools, the state of Mexican American studies in Texas and community-based activism and pedagogy in the Rio Grande Valley. Panels and roundtable discussions were also held on a wide range of topics, from themes in Chicana/o literature and art to policing on the borderlands.

During a Noche de Cultura (Night of Culture) on Feb. 22, female accordionist Eve Ybarra, also known as La Reina de la Acordeón (The Queen of the Accordion), performed along with her conjunto, a group of South Texas acoustic and accordion musicians. She also hosted a conjunto workshop during the conference. Helena Maria Viramontes, creative writing professor at Cornell University and author of “The Moths and Other Stories” (1985) and “Their Dogs Came with Them” (2008), two very influential texts on Chicana history, signed copies of her books and conducted a writer’s workshop at the conference.

Dr. Francisco Guajardo (left), UTPA associate professor of educational leadership, led a workshop during the conference on the use of testimonios and digital narratives as pedagogical tools. The conference attracted distinguished scholars nationwide to UTPA to share ideas and discuss issues regarding Chicana & Chicano studies.

Conference participants also had the opportunity to attend a performance of “Crawling with Monsters,” a multimedia documentary created by UTPA’s Department of Communication about the violence-based crisis in Reynosa, Mexico.

Dr. Marcos Pizarro, professor, chair and graduate coordinator of the master’s program in MAS at San José State University in California, said he was impressed with UTPA’s MAS program and its students whom he met during a pre-conference workshop he helped facilitate on MAS graduate school programs and student mentorship.

“It is clear to me that they are getting phenomenal mentorship and training from their faculty that is far away from anybody anywhere that I have seen,” he said.

Pizarro said some of the more recent anti-ethnic studies sentiment that the conference hoped to address has grown out of the fear of change and misunderstanding.

“Yes, MAS and Chicana/o studies are directed at trying to understand the Mexican, Latino experience. But it’s also for everybody. We have Anglo students, we have Afro-American students, we have Asian students,” he said. “But it is about making sure that Mexican-American, Latino community understands themselves and their history. When those (MAS) students go out into the world, they are going to offer a different perspective and that’s innovation, creating dynamic growth opportunities for everyone.”

To learn more about NACCS and its annual conference at its website. To obtain information about the MAS program at UTPA, go to the MAS website.

Enjoy photos of this year’s NACCS Tejas Foco 2013 Conference at UTPA at this photo gallery.

Original Post by Gail Fagan, Public Affairs Representative on Feb, 25 2013

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” the modern-day morality tale about the terrible consequences of violence and revenge, is the latest Mainstage performance by the University Theatre Productions that will hit the stage this month. 

The production runs February 27-28, March 1-2 at 7:30 p.m. and March 3 at 2 p.m. at the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building (ARHU) on the corner of University Drive and Sugar Road.

This is the famous Stephen Sondheim musical about the legendary barber and his pie-making accomplice, Mrs. Lovett. Sweeney exacts a terrible revenge for the wrongs he has suffered, but at what cost to his soul? Though filled with dark humor and lovely tunes, Sweeney Todd never strays far from the madness that resonates through the streets of mid-19th century London. Nothing like Sweeney and his gruesome revenge (“he never forgot and he never forgave”) can ever touch us now. Or can it?

Ticket pricing: Reserve seating, $15; general admission, $12; non-UTPA students with school ID, $5; and UTPA students/faculty/staff with UTPA valid ID, $3 plus one guest at $3.

Note that no children below the third grade level will be admitted.

For school matinee information, reservations, group reservations or to be added to the University Theatre mailing list, call the University Theatre Box Office at (956) 665-3581 or email Elva Galvan at galvane@utpa.edu.

Original Post by University Theatre Productions on Feb, 15 2013