2020 Virtual MFA Summer Residency

Get Excited! The Ashland University 2020 MFA Summer Residency is going virtual this year. From July 13 - 31st, we’re hosting workshops, readings, panels, craft classes, open mics, and more--all from the safety and comfort of your home. More at ashlandmfa.blogspot.com

Didion Secures Position at KDRV

May 2020 Digital Media Journalism graduate Samantha Didion will start her professional media career on June 1. Samantha will relocate across the country to Medford, Oregon where she will be a reporter and producer for KDRV TV. At Newswatch 12, she will report on stories of local interest.

2020 Senior Art + Design Exhibition Awards Announced

Congratulations to Ashland University Senior Art + Design Exhibition Award Winners:

• Kiana Ziegler was selected as the senior exhibition award recipient by the AU Art + Design department faculty for her fall semester BFA painting exhibition titled "Meditation on the Flesh".
• The honorable mention award was presented to Rachel Brooks, a digital art major with a minor in creative writing for her digital art and animation works titled "Grandpa’s Attic".
  

Prophets of Zoom at AU: Jemar Tisby, Michelle Higgins, and Seth Wispelwey

Historian Jemar Tisby was scheduled to speak at Ashland University in Peter Slade's class REL340 Religion and the Civil Rights Movement; that was until the Coronavirus cancelled all events and moved all classes online.

Jemar Tisby, author of The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism, kindly agreed to speak to the class on Zoom.

"It went so well," said Slade, "that it occured to me that there were other people I would love my students to meet and learn from." He invited Rev. Michelle Higgins, the founder of Faith for Justice in St. Louis, and Rev Seth Wispelwey, one of the organizers of Congregate Charlottesville. Both kindly agreed to show up.

Recordings of the classes are available for anyone to watch -- click on the titles to go to the videos (Slade apologizes for his limited Zoom skills):

1. Reconsidering Racial Reconciliation - A Conversation with Jemar Tisby

2. Six Years Since Ferguson - A Conversation with Michelle Higgins

3.  . . . since Charlottesville - A Conversation with Seth Wispelwey

Senior Art + Design Exhibition Switches to Online Format

The Ashland University Coburn Gallery will again host the Senior Art + Design Exhibition, though the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated moving the show to an online format.

The exhibition, featuring artworks created by graduating seniors in the Department of Art and Design, will open April 30 via the Gallery’s Facebook page.

This year’s virtual exhibition will run through May 9 and includes graphic design, illustration, sculpture, digital art, painting and video.

Senior Art + Design Exhibiting artists include Halle Sanford, Michael Wolfrum, Rachel Brooks, Allie Hamilton, Robby Young, Graydon Flynn, Jackson Bay and Sophi Cudworth.

Read more at news.ashland.edu

CAS Sweeps Excellence in Scholarship

The winner of this year's Ashland University Excellence in Scholarship Award is Dr. Craig Hovey, Professor of Religion.

The two semi-finalists are Dr. Chris Chartier, Associate Professor of Psychology, and Dr. John Moser, Professor of History.

The award, which consists of a medal to be worn with regalia and a $3,000 honorarium, recognizes AU faculty who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship. All AU faculty who have completed their third-year review (with the exception of past recipients and Trustees’ Distinguished Professors) may be nominated for the award.

To qualify, a faculty member’s scholarship must be demonstrated by outstanding scholarly contributions, including scholarly written work, creative work and other scholarly distinctions.

Hovey, who also is the director of the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, joined the faculty in 2009 and teaches courses in Christian theology and ethics, including the religion courses Exploring the Bible, Exploring Christian Ethics, Faith and Society, Exploring Christian Theology, Taking Human Life, Political Theology and Seminar in Christian Theology.

Chartier, who also is the founder and director of the Psychological Science Accelerator, came to AU in 2013. He teaches courses in General Psychology I, Research Methods, Advanced Research Methods and Social Psychology and has been published in research journals such as Science, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. His research interests include tacit coordination and pro-social behavior.

Moser chairs the Master of American History and Government program. He joined AU in 2001 and teaches courses on modern European, American and East Asian history, including Western Civilization to 1500, Western Civilization since 1500, Renaissance and Reformation, Age of Revolution and Reaction, 20th Century Europe, Modern East Asia, and World War II . Moser has published several books and numerous works on subjects ranging from comic books to Japanese foreign policy.

Randall-Griffiths Named 2020 Taylor Award Recipient

Ashland University’s Dr. Deleasa Randall-Griffiths, professor of communication studies and director of the online of communications studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the recipient of AU’s 2020 Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award.

AU Provost, Dr. Amiel Jarstfer, explains the honor of receiving this award is an outstanding accomplishment as the nominees are recognized by one's colleagues for effective teaching.

Dr. Randall-Griffiths was nominated by her colleague of more than 25 years, Dr. Daniel O'Rourke, who praised her work saying, "From the first time I observed Dr. Randall-Griffiths in the classroom, I knew that she was a passionate advocate for the art of Communication who most effectively shares her message with students. I have learned much from Dr. Randall-Griffiths as a colleague, co-author, and friend. Over the years, I have “stolen” numerous ideas from her lessons... (she) lives to teach. She teaches in the classroom, her office, online, in the community, the state, and, recently, she has added a national component to her educational work."

Elaborating on her passion for the classroom, O'Rourke states, "Dr. Randall-Griffiths actually listens to her students. Teaching is an interactive conversation for Dr. Randall-Griffiths. In her classes, students become co-authors in the lesson plan. No two classes are exactly alike because each collection of students create a new dynamic in the classroom."

"In recent years, Dr. Randall-Griffiths has significantly expanded the scope of her classroom," as O'Rourke explains her ability to adapt and develop programs for the future. "She has successfully created and grown the online teaching program for the Department of Communication. To her credit, Dr. Randall-Griffiths has not only developed ten courses for both the 7-week and 12-week corrections format, but she has taught the courses, recruited top scholars/teachers in the field to teach for Ashland Online, and trained those faculty in the successful methods of online instruction."

Dr. Randall-Griffiths also works tirelessly outside of the AU classrooom as a lay leader in her church, as one of driving forces in the two-decade success of Ashland Chautauqua which has been recognized at the local and state level for its contribution to civic life in Ohio, by blending her intellectual curiosity and performance studies background into programs being offered across the country celebrating the centennial of the Women's Right to Vote, as well as being recognized by the Ohio Communication Association with their "Innovative Teaching Award."

Dr. Randall-Griffiths will be recognized publicly for her award at the Academic Honors Convocation in the fall of 2020 when she will acknowledge her honor with a brief speech on the theme of engaged teaching and learning in higher education.

The Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award, first presented in 1997, was endowed by former Jeromesville residents the late Edward and Louaine Taylor as a way of supporting high quality teaching at Ashland University. The Taylor Teaching Award Committee, whose purpose is to select the award recipient, reviews submitted materials of faculty members who are nominated by students, faculty or department chairs.

All full-time faculty with a minimum of three years of teaching experience at AU are eligible for the award. Recipients of the award cannot repeat for three years and no faculty member may win the award more than twice. The recipients receive a medal to be worn with academic regalia and a stipend.