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Alumni News

Annual Department Picnic set for Saturday, April 18th, from 3 to 7 p.m. at USF Riverfront Park

Graduate alumni, faculty, and current graduate students are cordially invited to the department's spring picnic at USF Riverfront Park (off Fletcher Avenue east of 56th St.) on Saturday, April 18th, from 3 until 7. There wil be activities and a potluck supper. Come join the fun!

Department News

Jennifer Fiore wins College of Arts and Sciences Performance Bonus Award

On December 12th, Jennifer Fiore was presented with a Performance Bonus award from the College of Arts and Sciences in recognition of "extraordinary achievement in the workplace . . . above and beyond the normal responsibilities required by his or her position." Since the last hiring freeze, Jenna has been our only fulltime staff member, so she has been both Office Manager and Administrative Assistant for the department. Congratulations, Jenna, on receiving this well-deserved recognition!

Dr. Maria Cizmic wins the 2007-2008 Outstanding Teaching Award!

Dr. Maria Cizmic has won the 2007-2008 Outstanding Teaching Award for her excellence in teaching. Award candidates are reviewed through an evaluation process that encompasses peer review and Provost's review of a candidate's submitted professional teaching folio. Recipients of the award are recognized for demonstrated excellence in preparing students for work in the major, as well as for providing a strong foundation in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The Award was presented to Dr. Cizmic by President Genshaft in a surprise visit to her evening class on Monday, November 17, 2008. The Department congratulates Dr. Cizmic for receiving this honor.

Jennifer Fiore receives the Staff Senate Quiet Quality Award

On November 21, 2008, Jennifer Fiore was presented with the Staff Senate Quiet Quality Award for her work in the Humanities and American Studies Department. The Department Chair, Dr. Belgrad, nominated Ms. Fiore for the award. The Awards Committee evaluates candidates based such criteria as conscientiousness, professional manner, positive attitude, interpersonal relationships, work performance, responsibilities, team-oriented approach, and problem-solving suggestions. Jennifer received a framed Award Certificate and an invitation to an awards reception that the STAFF Senate will host in June.

Undergraduate Research Travel Grants

The Office of Undergraduate Research has travel grants available for undergraduates whose research is accepted for presentation at a conference.  There is no fixed deadline: Students should submit their applications (available online at ur.usf.edu) as soon as possible after receiving notification of conference acceptance.  The application should include copies of the letter of acceptance and abstract, the proposed travel itinerary and a projected budget, and includes a brief form to be completed by the student’s mentor.

Awards are for up to $600 for domestic and $1000 for international.  In general, students are required to make their own travel arrangements and to save all receipts. Beginning in 2009, they will be required to submit a short assessment of their experience upon return.

Mentors of student recipients of travel grants may be called upon to serve as evaluators for future undergraduate research grant proposals or as judges for the undergraduate research symposium.

For further information, please email ur@ur.usf.edu or visit our website, http://ur.usf.edu

In Memoriam

The Department mourns the passing of our beloved teacher and colleague, October 6, 2008.

Dr. Priscilla Brewer

PhD. American Civilization

Brown University, 1987

Areas of Interest:

American material culture & technology, communal studies, American family history, popular literature, history of education.

About Dr. Brewer:

Dr. Brewer earned a B.A. in History from Williams College in 1977 and spent several years working at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA before beginning graduate school. During graduate school, she also worked as an interpreter and curator at Slater Mill Historic Site in Pawtucket, RI. It was these experiences that convinced her of the value of artifacts as historical sources.

A historian of everyday life, she was interested in the connections between how Americans lived in the past (including housing, diet, work and family life, schooling) and what they believed and valued. Her courses emphasized the critical analysis of primary sources (including artifacts) in their cultural context. Her philosophy of teaching was aptly summarized by this quotation from Mark Hopkins’s presidential inaugural address at Williams College in 1836: “We are to regard the mind ... not as a piece of iron to be laid upon the anvil and hammered into any shape, nor as a block of marble in which we are to find the statue by removing the rubbish, nor as a receptacle into which knowledge may be poured, but as a flame that is to be fed, as an active being that must be strengthened to think and feel.”

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