Stephen Asma (Humanities, History and Social Sciences) completed a lecture tour of China where he presented research at prestigious universities in Shanghai, Xi’an and Beijing. He was invited to present a lecture/demonstration on American blues and jazz music at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Dawoud Bey (Photography) and Taisha Paggett (Dance) had work featured in the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial.

Suzanne Blum Malley (School of Liberal Arts & Sciences) delivered the keynote address at The Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language and Media held at Northern Illinois University in March.

Elgin-Bokari Smith (Center for Community Arts Partnerships) created Pocket Con, a one-day Chicago comics convention that focuses on work by black artists and other underrepresented groups. The third annual Pocket Con was held July 12.

Peter Cook (American Sign Language) was a 2013-14 Visiting Fellow with the Neubauer Collegium at the University of Chicago.

Pamela Dittmer McKuen (Journalism) received a healthcare journalism award, the Media Orthopaedic Reporting Excellence (MORE) award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, for her story on advances in joint replacement technology in Chicago Life Magazine.

Jen Ellison (Theatre) directed the 38th annual revue of The Second City’s e.t.c. theatre, called Apes of Wrath.

Joan Giroux (Art + Design), Jim DeRogatis (English) and Louis Silverstein (Humanities, History and Social Sciences) were the featured presenters for “Changing The World: Music, Art & Cultural Consciousness” at Intersections, a March event co-sponsored by the Chicago Cultural Center.

Kristina Gosh and Erika Valenciana (Center for Community Arts Partnerships) gave 30-minute “Playground Talks” at SXSW’s Education Expo.

Norma Green (Journalism) reviewed “Scribblin’ for a Livin’: Mark Twain’s Pivotal Period in Buffalo” in American Journalism: A Journal of Media History Vol. 30, No. 4. Green is a manuscript evaluator for the quarterly journal of the American Journalism Historians Association.

Kate Hamerton (Humanities, History and Social Sciences), Ames Hawkins (English) and Erin McCarthy (HHSS) received the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences/Institute for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts & Media Fellowship to conduct their own projects or research.

Re’Lynn Hansen (Creative Writing) won the PRISM International prize in Creative Nonfiction for her essay “Reunion,” which appeared in the spring issue of PRISM International, a publication of the Creative Writing program at the University of British Columbia.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs (Semester in LA), president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, spoke on stage at the Academy Awards about the Los Angeles movie museum scheduled to open in 2017.

Garnett Kilberg Cohen (Creative Writing) had pieces published in three journals: “Beer Bottle on Bathtub Rim” in Confrontation; “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in the Midwest” in The Chicago Quarterly Review; and “Dust to Dust” in The Prague Revue. She will publish a collection of short stories, End of Days, in September. She was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Megan Kirby (Institutional Marketing and Communications) won The Southeast Review’s World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest. Her story, “Knead,” will appear in the publication.

Aviya Kushner (Creative Writing) held a nonfiction residency at the Vermont Studio Center.

Kris E. Larsen and Jessica Young (Creative Arts Therapies) had two chapters published in the book Grief and the Expressive Arts about movement techniques they created to facilitate the grieving process.

Elio Leturia (Journalism) performed in the play La Fulana Respetuosa (The Respectable Prostitute) by Jean-Paul Sartre at Chicago’s Aguijón Theater. Leturia also produced the play’s promotional video, poster and postcard.

Weihua Li (Science and Mathematics) gave a talk titled “Crossed products and MF
algebras” at the 2014 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore. Her talk was part of a special session at the conference, “Classification problems in operator algebras.”

Jenny Magnus (Interdisciplinary Arts) published Observations of an Orchestrated Catastrophe in February. She ran Magnus in Play, a seven-play retrospective of her work, as part of the 25th annual Rhinofest.

Eric May’s (Creative Writing; BA ’75) debut novel, Bedrock Faith, was chosen as WBEZ’s book of the month. His short story, “An American Family,” was published in Solstice Literary Magazine.

Amy Mooney (Art + Design) participated in the forum “Root, Branch and Blossom: Social Origins of Chicago’s New Negro Intellectuals and Artists.” Mooney discussed “Strategies for Visualizing Cultural Capital: The Black Portrait.” The project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, will result in a book, several symposia and curriculum development for Chicago Public Schools.

John Mossman (Cinema Art + Science) played the title role in Jacob at Provision Theater.

Sarah Odishoo’s (English) essay “Eat Me: Instructions From the Unseen” was listed among notable essays in The Best American Essays 2013. Her creative nonfiction story, “Intimations of the Marvelous,” was published in the February issue of Knee-Jerk Magazine.

Dominic Pacyga (Humanities, History and Social Sciences) was awarded the Mieczyslaw Haiman Award from the Polish American Historical Association. The award is given annually to an American scholar “for sustained contribution to the study of Polish Americans.”

Sheldon Patinkin (Theatre) directed City Lit’s production of The Tempest.

Mark Porter (Exhibitions, Performance Student Spaces) had a kinetic sculpture, “Translator,” on display in the exhibition Gambiólogos 2.0 at the Museu dos Brinquedoes in Brazil.

Pegeen Reichert Powell’s (English) book Retention & Resistance: Writing Instruction and Students Who Leave was published by Utah State University Press.

Brendan Riley (English) was on the Comic-Con panel “Zombie Myths & Misconceptions” along with the author of World War Z and several other zombie experts. Riley teaches the Zombies in Popular Media course at Columbia. The course was also a featured answer on Jeopardy! on July 9.

Susan Schultz (Journalism) was named president of Columbia’s Community Media Workshop.

April Sheridan (Center for Book and Paper Arts) co-curated In Clipping Signal, an exhibit of visual poetry at Spudnik Press Cooperative.

Bruce Sheridan (Cinema Art + Science) gave a lecture about his journey from science to cinema, titled “Human creativity and the centrality of arts in 21st century education,” at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He also participated in three panels at CIMMfest and has joined the festival’s advisory board.

Jeff Spitz (Cinema Art + Science) and his wife created a documentary, Food Patriots, inspired by their teenage son’s battle with a foodborne disease.

Sam Weller (Creative Writing; MFA ’01) had two short stories—“Weird” and “A Song for My Father”—published in the May 25 edition of the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Journal.

Kimo Williams (Music) received the Excellence in the Arts Award from the Vietnam Veterans of America at the 2014 National Leadership and Education.