Ovations, College of Liberal and Fine Arts

Punjabi-Mexican Communities in South Texas

When the Answer to �Hablas espa�ol? is Complicated

Real Life Matters

Dan Gelo, Dean, College of Liberal and Fine Arts

Welcome to another edition of Ovations, highlighting the outstanding achievements of students, faculty and supporters of the UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

It is a truism in higher education that successful colleges teach their students to be lifetime learners. As professional scholars, all of us on the COLFA faculty appreciate the value of continuous, lifelong intellectual development and hope to impart this disposition to future generations. With the task of co-editing this new edition of Ovations I gained a renewed appreciation for this principle. I learned some things. I learned about the interesting distinctions between modern horns and those of earlier days, and marveled at our Professor Kellman’s adventures as a bookman. More importantly, I came to understand better the breadth and reach of the work that our faculty and students do.

Assembling an issue that conveys the wide range of subjects in UTSA’s largest college is always a challenge. The vibrancy and downright fun of some of our scholarship comes across in several of the articles in this new issue. It contains some somber notes too, however, with articles about the cultural construction of death and the grim history of genocide. I confess that I was at first hesitant about presenting readers with such serious subjects, but then realized how critical these explorations are for facing difficult real-life matters and for helping our students prepare for the world ahead.

This broad coverage is the most important aspect of our college’s mission. COLFA faculty teach one-third of all the classroom hours at UTSA, and rightly so, since even the most vocationallyminded graduates need familiarity with facts and issues of the human condition that are investigated best through the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

I hope you will take pride, as I do, in our mission and in those who are pursuing it with so much energy and talent.

Daniel J. Gelo,
Dean
Stumberg Distinguished University Chair

Epic Sisterhoods - Southern Wom in the Civil War

Epic Sisterhoods - Southern Women in the Civil War

Southern Women in the Civil War

When the Answer to ¿Hablas español? is Complicated

Understanding and Combating
Language Loss in U.S. Latin@s

Confessions of a Book Critic

Book: A quaint artifact of the pre-postmodern period, when men and women sat for hours transfixed by a bound ream of paper.

Never Again? Student ITC Exhibit on Genocide Challenges Viewers to Reflect

Student ITC Exhibit on Genocide Challenges Viewers to Reflect

Death and Dying

What defines a life? When does it begin, and when does it end?

Past Melodies Resound Via Rare Natural Horns

Of Note: Rare Natuaral Horn Collection Resounds Past Melodies

Much of the classical music still enjoyed today—by composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Brahms—sounds different now than when it was originally performed. One of the reasons for this variation is that instruments have evolved over time.

Punjabi-Mexican Communities in South Texas

On October 4, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 into law at the foot of the Statue of Liberty, marking an end to the previous system of rigid quotas designed to maintain the Western European ethnic composition of the U.S. Despite assurances from politicians of the era that the bill would not radical change, the policy reform did just that, profoundly reshaping American demographics for decades to come and endowing the country with a more multicultural population.

Viva Italia

Wanderlust. Its’ a feeling that affects more and more students, especially amid the hustle and bustle of midterm papers and final exams. UTSA study abroad gets the attention of these students by sending them to programs in various locations around the world, where their experiences turn them into storytellers..