Humanities Conference Returns to Campus

BY KEAGAN O’RILEY

After being put on hold for three years due to COVID-19, Central Methodist University’s Humanities Conference was back this spring for its 10th annual event. Central’s Humanities Division held the conference on Wednesday, April 19, and the event saw six panels of CMU students present a range of academic works created in their classes, such as research papers, memoirs, poetic forms, and even a collaborative workshop on creative world building.

The day’s schedule included presentations on memoirs “Shifts” by Sydney Jones, “The Good People” by Ashley McGovern, and “Bones” by Anna Valencia, as well as student-created poetic forms the “Mockingbird,” the “Glass Hour,” the “Scrabelle,” and the “Vanguard,” with both panels moderated by Dr. Kavita Hatwalkar. A panel of students also spoke on their experience learning Hebrew during their presentation “When God Uses Italics: Benefits of Knowing Biblical Hebrew,” moderated by Dr. Daryl Jefferies.

Papers on Viking Sagas, which covered topics such as “Masculine and Heroic Identity” and “Women and Power,” were discussed during a panel moderated by Dr. Travis Johnson; and papers on theology, broaching topics such as “Controversies Concerning Sacraments,” were presented during a panel moderated by Dr. Kevin Carnahan. To wrap up the day, a student-led world building workshop moderated by Dr. Ryan Woldruff saw members of the audience collaborate in groups to create new worlds, scenarios, and stories.

The 11th annual Humanities Conference is tentatively scheduled to take place next year on Wednesday, April 17.

directly with art,” he said. “And I get to work with people that love the arts. It’s essentially an excuse for me to talk about art for eight hours a day. Who could ask for anything better?”

It’s no surprise that Pierson is so passionate about his new opportunity at the Gallery, given his personal history with art. He says he began drawing when he was two years old and never stopped creating. After being encouraged to learn more about the subject and take art classes he “fell in love with it,” and that love continued through his time at Doane and led him to applying for art schools. He eventually attended the University of North Dakota, earning a master’s in fine arts and gaining experiences that would shape his passion for art even further.

Pierson found his love for teaching art at UND and worked for the school’s collections department, which ran multiple art galleries on campus. He is excited to get to bring his knowledge and experience from those opportunities to the Ashby-Hodge Gallery, where his first projects have involved redoing the inventory for the permanent collection and working on ways to bring the collection to the public in a digital form.

Aside from that work, Pierson has been enjoying spending time talking about the current show in the Gallery and learning from the cofounder and registrar, Dr. Joe Geist.

“Working with Dr. Geist has been very exciting. He’s so prolific in everything he’s done and he’s wonderful,” said Pierson. “He is incredibly knowledgeable about everything in the arts. I’ve learned a lot from him, and I’m going to continue to learn so much from him.”

As for Pierson’s life outside of his work, he is still heavily involved in the arts, working on pieces for a show at a gallery he’s a part of in Nebraska. When he’s not focused on his own work or getting to know his new home in central Missouri, he enjoys the cinema and live theater.

Pierson’s work can be found on his website, www.tylerpiersonart. com, or his Instagram page, @tylerpiersonart.