FALL 2022 | UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
Events
College of Arts and Sciences Special
Exhibitions Some Bodies: Oceanic Imaginations in Contemporary Art On View: September 6 to October 21 Humanities Center Gallery, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall Artists and their publics have been fascinated with depictions of large bodies of water for centuries. Contemporary artists have shown their own distinct interest in these ocean environments, from purely formal explorations, to romantic suggestions, to impatiently expressed concerns for the natural environment. This small survey of watery imagery draws upon the growing collections of prints and photographs stewarded by University Galleries and features memorable examples of recent practices by Sandra Cinto, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Christiane Baumgartner, Emma Stibbon and Bas Jan Ader. Their immersive representations will be presented during the first half of the fall semester in conjunction with the Humanities Center’s thematic investigation of oceans and the human landscape. (Right) Sandra Cinto, Open Sea (closeup), 2016, cyanotype. University Print Collection, Purchased through the John A. Petersen Print Acquisition Fund. PC2016.22.01
A Witness in the Grass: Thirty Years of Prints by Bill Kelly On View: September 30 to December 9 Hoehn Family Galleries, Founders Hall
Screenings 9: LaToya Ruby Frazier On View: October 31 to December 16 Humanities Center Gallery, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall Screenings 9 celebrates the practice of Chicago-based multimedia artist, LaToya Ruby Frazier (b. 1940). Frazier’s still photography and video projects bring scrutiny and empathy to a cluster of urgent issues centered on race, social justice and family. Her commitment to representing the public health crisis that exists in Flint, Michigan, has so far taken the form of exhibitions, a book and video. Flint Is Family (2016) is one product of the artist’s five-month residency in the central Michigan city, documenting residents’ experiences as they battled bravely for the right to safe drinking water in their homes. Flint Is Family combines Frazier’s compelling black-and-white imagery, spoken poetry and lush cinematic sensibility, to achieve what Frazier refers to as “a platform to advocate for others, the oppressed, the disenfranchised . . . [seeking to] create visibility through images and [to use] storytelling to expose the violation of their rights.” This ninth iteration of Screenings, thus, underscores the politics of water in contemporary America. (Above) LaToya Ruby Frazier, Awaiting the Arrival of President Barack Obama, May 4, 2016, Flint, Michigan, 2016-2017. Gelatin silver print. © LaToya Ruby Frazier. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery.
This exhibition celebrates the practice of artist and USD faculty member Bill Kelly. As a printmaker, teacher and collaborative bookmaker, Kelly continues to impress upon the world through his intuitive image-making and cultivation of emerging artists. Over the course of his career, Kelly has ardently engaged the medium of printmaking to unearth his images, which largely draw upon his experience as a witness to the subtleties of nature, keenly aware that he, too, is subject to being witnessed. Incorporating further elements of poetry, grief and art history, Kelly’s work evokes a meditative resonance that beckons both personal reverie
MESSAGE FROM THE DE AN I am happy to share some of the events that the USD College of Arts and Sciences has in store for this fall. Arts and culture continue to be a vibrant part of our campus. This
and insightful consideration. (Above) Bill Kelly, A Swarm of Witnesses, 2013, multiblock color woodcut, 21 ¾ x 17 5/16 in., on loan from artist’s studio.
October, we will host our second annual USD Arts and Culture Festival in the new Arts District on campus. Prints and Pinot, one of the college’s signature events, will also return this fall. I hope you will join us for the many art exhibitions, music performances, lectures and more as we continue to expand our in-person events. To get complete event details and for additional events, please go to sandiego.edu/events/cas. Noelle Norton, PhD, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
usdcas
Humanities Humanities Center DISCUSSION SERIES
Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence Thursdays at 4 p.m. October 20, 27 and November 3 Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200 This series investigates the nature of consciousness with a view toward implications in the development of artificial intelligence. “Consciousness” factors into debates about ethics, the mind-body problem and the question of the role of artificial intelligence in human society. Will computers be capable of cognition, self-awareness and sentience (“Strong AI”)? Or is consciousness so unique to organic life that it can never be manufactured? Coordinated by Susie Paulik Babka, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and element chair of the Humanities Center’s technology and humanities program.
DISCUSSION SERIES
1922: One Hundred Years Later The Humanities Center continues its commemoration of the literary “miracle year” of 1922 by focusing on three great texts produced in that year: Eliot’s The Waste Land, Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and the abridged edition of Frazer’s The Golden Bough. In these two events, the extraordinary influence of these works will be considered, as will their historical context, namely the end of the First World War.
Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Frazer’s The Golden Bough: Intersections Brian R. Clack, PhD, Department of Philosophy and A. Vassiliadis Director of the Humanities Center and Tyler Hower, Department of Philosophy Monday, October 17 at 5 p.m. Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200
The Burial of the Dead: WWI, The Spanish Flu, and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land Malachi Black, PhD, Department of English and Kathryn Statler, PhD, Department of History Wednesday, November 30 at 5 p.m. Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200 (Above) J.M.W. Turner, The Golden Bough, 1834, oil paint on canvas, Collection of Tate Britain, image released through Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported), https://www.tate.org. uk/art/artworks/turner-the-golden-bough-n00371
ILLUME SPE AKER SERIES SPECI AL GUESTS
ILLUME MINERVA LECTURE SERIES
Merpeople: A Human History
Between the Ancient and the Contemporary
Vaughn Scribner, PhD Monday, October 24 at 5:30 p.m.
Florence Gillman, PhD, STD, Professor Emerita,
Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200
Theology and Religious Studies
In this lecture, Vaughn Scribner, associate professor of history at the
Monday, November 14 at 5:30 p.m.
University of Central Arkansas and author of the critically acclaimed
Teaching biblical studies is like taking a daily
book, Merpeople: A Human History, will survey humankind’s perennial
walk down the streets of the ancient world, and
fascination with mermaids and mermen. Exploring their presence in art,
during that walk a dialogue takes place between
film, mythology and history, Scribner reflects on the ubiquity of merpeople
those fascinating centuries and our own,
and in so doing aids our understanding of “one of the most mysterious,
especially on the level of theological and social
capricious and dangerous creatures on Earth: humans.”
developments. In this lecture, Florence Gillman
In Conversation with Celeste Ng
will reflect on a career in biblical studies that has interestingly paralleled and been much affected
Friday, October 21 at 7 p.m.
by the feminist movement’s resurgence from the
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre
latter decades of the 20th century.
USD’s College of Arts and Sciences and Humanities Center, along with Warwick’s bookstore, invite you to spend an evening with best-selling author Celeste Ng and her new book, Our Missing Hearts, a suspenseful and heartrending novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child in a society consumed by fear. Ng (pictured above) is the author of Everything I Never Told You (2014) and Little Fires Everywhere (2017); her fiction and essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Guardian, and she is a recipient of several awards, including a Pushcart Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship. This is a ticketed event that includes a copy of Our Missing Hearts. Masks are required for all attendees at this event per the author’s request. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to warwicks.com/event/ng-2022.
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES E VENTS | FALL 202 2 | sandiego.edu/events/cas
Theatre and Music
Unless noted, all Department of Music concerts are free. Seating is limited. You can reserve your seats ahead of time at usdmusic.eventbrite.com; remaining seats are available at the door. For more information, please email the Department of Music at music@sandiego.edu, sign up for the email newsletter, and follow us on social media at bit.ly/usd-music. Please go to sandiego.edu/music for the most up-to-date event information.
Music Ensemble Concerts Strings and Chamber Music Ensembles
Jazz Ensemble
Thursday, December 1 at 6 p.m.
Wednesday, December 7 at 8 p.m.
French Parlor, Founders Hall
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre
Gamelan Ensemble
Mariachi Ensemble
Monday, December 5 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, December 8 at 8 p.m.
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre
Student Recital
Digital Audio Composition Concert
Tuesday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Monday, December 12 at 3 p.m.
Thursday, December 8 at 1 p.m.
Shiley Theatre, Camino Hall
French Parlor, Founders Hall
Wind Ensemble Sunday, November 6 at 6 p.m. The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center The USD Wind Ensemble opens its concert season with an exploration of industry and forward motion. In addition to the consortium premiere of Pete Meechan’s “Machine,” featuring faculty percussion soloist Dr. Ryan Nestor, the Wind Ensemble will perform standards by Norman Dello Joio and William Schuman alongside newer works by Cindy McTee, Elizabeth Raum and Katahj Copley.
USD Choral Scholars and SDSU Chamber Singers Saturday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m. Hoover High School The USD Choral Scholars and SDSU Chamber Singers present Craig Hella Johnson’s moving suite, Considering Matthew Shepard for choir, strings and percussion in the beautiful auditorium of Hoover High School.
Gospel Choir Friday, December 9 at 7:30 p.m. Shiley Theatre, Camino Hall Ken Anderson, director of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Choir of San Diego, will be in residence at USD this fall semester, leading open rehearsals with USD choirs and the MLK Community Choir of San Diego through the beginning of December. Join the USD Choirs and the MLK Community Choir of San Diego for a joint concert on Friday, December 9.
USD Faculty Recitals
PRESENTED BY USD’S UNDERGRADUATE THE ATRE PROGRAM
PRESENTED BY THE OLD GLOBE AND
Heroes of the Fourth Turning
UNIVERSIT Y OF SAN DIEGO SHILEY
Written by Will Arbery
GRADUATE THE ATRE PROGRAM
Directed by Jersten Seraile
Measure for Measure
Friday, November 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Written by William Shakespeare
French Parlor, Founders Hall
Saturday, November 5 at 2 p.m.
Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
Justin Grinnell and Friends
Saturday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m.
November 12 to 20
Sunday, November 6 at 2 p.m.
The Old Globe
Applied Winds and Brass Faculty Tuesday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, September 27 at 7:30 pm. Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre
Studio Theatre, Sacred Heart Hall
Measure for Measure, with its complex views
It’s nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four young conservatives have
of how gender and power intersect, feels
gathered at a backyard afterparty. They’ve returned home to toast their
more contemporary than ever at a moment
mentor, Gina, newly inducted as president of a tiny Catholic college. But as
when our society is reckoning with precisely
their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos and clashing generational politics,
these questions. Delicia Turner Sonnenberg’s
Tuesday, October 11 at 7:30 p.m.
it becomes less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood. On a
production will be bracing, fresh and alive.
Learning Commons Courtyard
chilly night in the middle of America, Will Arbery’s haunting play offers grace
The students in training at The Old Globe and
and disarming clarity, speaking to the heart of a country at war with itself.
University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre
Tickets are available on Eventbrite at usdtheatre.eventbrite.com. For more
Program will bring urgency and skill to this
information, email theatre@sandiego.edu or go to sandiego.edu/theatre.
rich text. Tickets are available on Eventbrite at
Guest Recitals Farah Dinga and BJ Robinson (Vocal Jazz)
Music from South Africa and Zimbabwe featuring Nomsa and Zimbeat Tuesday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m.
usdglobe.eventbrite.com. For more information,
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre
go to graduateacting.com.
Special
Events LCL BOOK L AUNCH
BARRIE CROPPER MEMORI AL LECTURE
Women’s Work: How Culinary Cultures Shaped Modern Spain
Jenny Boully
Rebecca Ingram, PhD, Department of Languages, Cultures and Literatures
Thursday, September 29 at 12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 28 at 4 p.m.
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice,
Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200
Room A/B
Famous chefs, Michelin stars, culinary techniques and gastronomical accolades attract moneyed tourists to Spain from all over the world. Even with this global attention, we know little about how
LINDSAY J. CROPPER MEMORI AL
Spanish cooking became a litmus test for demonstrating Spain’s modernity and, relatedly, the roles
WRITERS SERIES
ascribed to the modern Spanish women responsible for daily cooking. Ingram will present her new
Reading with Jenny Boully
book, Women’s Work, and discuss how efforts to articulate a new, modern Spain infiltrated multiple
Thursday, September 29 at 6 p.m.
genres and media, including those about food. Culinary writing engaged debates about women’s roles
Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall
in Spanish society and reached women at the site of much of their daily labor — the kitchen — and shaped thinking about their roles in modernizing Spain. Dr. Ingram will be in discussion with Amanda
Jenny Boully is a Guggenheim fellow in general
Petersen, PhD, and Martin Repinecz, PhD. Sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program
nonfiction. She is the author of Betwixt-and-
and the Food Studies Initiative.
Between: Essays on the Writing Life. Her previous books include not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them; The
LCL+HC LECTURE SERIES
The River Ceases to Be: Environmental Concerns in Contemporary Amazonian Poetry
Book of Beginnings and Endings: Essays; [one L ANGUAGES, CULTURES AND LITERATURES
love affair]*; of the mismatched teacups, of the single-serving spoon: a book of failures and
Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200
Documenting Migration and State Violence in Spain: Film and Discussion with Xavi Artigas
This presentation will expose critical reflections on what has been called the “poetics of the
Thursday, October 27 at 5 p.m.
where she double majored in English and
Anthropocene” in contemporary Peruvian poetry of the Amazons. Through a language that hints at
Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall
philosophy and then went on to earn an MA
denunciation, the poetic work of Carlos Reyes Ramírez, Perchi Vílchez Perez Vela and Ana Valera
Filmmaker Xavier Artigas, who has made several
Tafur expresses their concern for the environmental destruction produced by the extractivist
documentaries on police corruption and racism
economy of Peru. With this objective, some of the ideas developed are borrowed from David Farrier
in Spain, will screen his latest film, Idrissa, and
in Anthropocene Poetics: Deep Time, Sacrifice Zones and Extinction and from the essay “Amazonian
discuss his work with students.
Ana Valera Tafur, PhD Thursday, September 29 at 4 p.m.
Thought and Ecological Discourse in Amazonian Poetry” by Jeremy Larochelle. This event will be held in Spanish.
The Body: An Essay. Boully was born in Thailand and grew up on the southwest side of San Antonio, Texas. She attended Hollins University,
in English criticism and writing. Her other degrees include an MFA in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in English from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She currently teaches at Bennington College and the Bennington Writing
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND
Seminars. This is a reading, book-signing and
INTERNATIONAL REL ATIONS
dessert reception.
Politifest Saturday, October 8 at 10 a.m. Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Politifest is an annual public affairs summit produced by Voice of San Diego and hosted by USD. The event focuses on issues affecting San Diego communities and, during election years, on candidates and ballot measures with debates, panels and one-on-one interviews.
Pearson-Chambers Lecture Wednesday, November 2 from 4 to 8 p.m. Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice The Department of Political Science and International Relations hosts the annual Pearson-Chambers Symposium inviting distinguished guest speakers to campus for a lecture series that brings together faculty members, students and the community.
Poet Valzhyna Mort Thursday, November 10 at 6 p.m. Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall Valzhyna Mort is the author of three books of poetry: Factory of Tears (Copper Canyon Press, 2008), Collected Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2012) and Music for the Dead and Resurrected (FSG, 2020), named one of the best poetry books of 2020 by The New York Times and NPR, and winner of both the 2020 International Griffin Poetry Prize and the 2022 UNT Rilke Prize. Mort is a recipient of the Lannan Foundation Fellowship, the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry, the Amy Clampitt fellowship, the Gulf Coast translation prize and the Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award. Born in Minsk, Belarus, she teaches at Cornell University and writes in English and Belarusian. This is a reading, booksigning and dessert reception.
CELEBRATING ART AND CULTURE
USD Arts and Culture Festival Saturday, October 15 from 9 to 11 a.m. Studio Theatre Courtyard (USD’s Arts District) Join the College of Arts and Sciences for its second annual USD Arts and Culture Festival. The departments of music, theatre, communication studies and ethnic studies will present their own welcome during Homecoming Weekend on October 15 at the college’s recently nicknamed Arts District.
Prints and Pinot Thursday, October 27 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Hoehn Family Galleries and Founders Foyer, Founders Hall Pair delicious wine with USD’s newest exhibition, A Witness in the Grass: Thirty Years of Prints by Bill Kelly. USD faculty member and artist Bill
CENTER FOR CATHOLIC THOUGHT AND CULTURE
ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Lessons and Carols
The College of Arts and Sciences is at the heart of the University of San Diego,
Saturday, December 3 at 7 p.m.
providing a 21st century liberal arts education that sharpens minds and develops
Sunday, December 4 at 2 p.m.
students holistically. Building Toreros at the convergence point of the arts, humanities,
Founders Chapel, Founders Hall
and natural and social sciences. Together students think, learn and experience across 19 departments and 13 interdisciplinary programs from theatre to theology, music
Kelly incorporates further elements of poetry,
Get into the Christmas spirit at this annual USD
grief and art history that evoke a meditative
celebration — a festival of word and song that
resonance that beckons both personal reverie
dates back over 100 years throughout the world.
and insightful consideration. Enjoy interactive
Through poignant readings from the Old and
art, gallery tours, light hors d’oeuvres and, of
New Testaments interspersed with music, the
course, pinot noir and pinot grigio wines for
congregation is invited to reflect on the birth
those ages 21 and up. Hosted by the College of
of Jesus in the context of its significance in
HOW TO SUPPORT THE COLLEGE
Arts and Sciences and University Galleries.
salvation history.
To support the College of Arts and Sciences, please contact College of Arts and
to math and physics to philosophy. Our diverse, award-winning faculty engage in research both local and global, mentoring students in the lab, studio and community. Graduates gain the intellectual and ethical footing to take on challenges and navigate them with purpose.
Sciences Director of Development Tania Batson at tbatson@sandiego.edu.