Newsletter: April 2016 – School of Liberal Arts An Interdisciplinary Approach

U2's The Edge

The Edge, from the popular band U2, visited SLA to discuss several programs within the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, including the Musical Cultures coordinate major. Along with famed music producer Bob Ezrin, The Edge co-founded Music Rising at Tulane - a program fostering national and international study of music and culture through the work of K-12 educators and university scholars. (Sonya Robinson, The Edge, Rebecca Snedeker)

Musical Cultures of the Gulf South: Only at Tulane 
by Rebecca Snedeker

Students come to Tulane from all over the world, curious about New Orleans and eager to engage with the city that some will eventually call home. For those who wish to study this place, the Musical Cultures of the Gulf South coordinate major is an alluring option.

Student Spotlights

Kidd Duhe Solomon Kidd Duhe Solomon, Tulane University

Finding Inspiration in D.C. with "World's Coolest Internship"

Before arriving, when I imagined my duties as a U.S. Department of State intern, I assumed they would consist of two things: picking up visas and delivering coffees. I never expected to brief a room of over 100 Ambassadors about the power of online business registration in an effort to promote global prosperity.

Shira J. Kaplan Shira Kaplan, Tulane University

Assisting and Performing with Musical Legend, Kristin Chenoweth

The really spectacular things in life are beyond our control. As someone who is always trying to plan for the future and make sure everything goes according to that plan, I have had a hard time accepting this. This past December I had the amazing chance to be the interim personal assistant for Tony and Emmy-award winning actress Kristin Chenoweth.

British Petroleum Protest at Jackson Square, New Orleans

New Environmental Studies Course Offering- Petrochemical City: Costs and Consequences to New Orleans 
by Christopher Oliver

The issue of global climate change is not simply an important global issue but is in actuality "a" — or even "the" — definitive moment in human history — a two centuries long period of the bioaccumulation of pollutants from industrial production and other related human activities. This unprecedented epoch in the earth's history is often referred to by many as the "Anthropocene" to emphasize both its significance in terms of the human contribution as well as the likely unalterable changes to the global ecosystem.

Cross-disciplinary Studio Space 
by Ama Rogan

For fifteen years A Studio in the Woods, a program within the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, has been hosting artists, writers, scholars, and students of all ages in creative retreat within eight forested acres on the Mississippi River in Lower Coast Algiers, New Orleans.

Digital Collaborations
by Vicki Mayer

Digital humanities in New Orleans sit at a crossroads for collaborative growth. The city's various institutions for research — from library archives to university academic units — have nearly twenty years of experience with initiatives to promote access and increase connectivity with knowledge collections.

Message from the Dean The Heart of SLA 

Carol Haber, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts

From almost the first day I stepped on to campus, nearly a decade ago, I was struck by the interdisciplinary nature of the School of Liberal Arts — an approach that remains today at the very heart of SLA. Not only does the school have almost twenty interdisciplinary programs, providing majors, coordinate majors, or minors, but the teaching and research environment for both faculty and students is shaped by this principle.


News from the Field: Laura McKinney The Environmental Origins of Death and Disease Among Women

Laura McKinney, Tulane University

During my recent research leave, I conducted original research on the influence of environmental factors and gender inequality on death and disease among women in less developed nations. AIDS remains a leading factor contributing to health declines in poor nations, where more than 95% of the 33.2 million individuals infected with HIV reside.


Theater of War
by Mary Sparacello

On April 7th, Theater of War, the 2016 Dennis A. Georges Lecture on Hellenic Culture, vividly demonstrated the relevance of Greek tragedy for confronting today's challenges. Under the auspices of the Classical Studies Department in the School of Liberal Arts, the New York City social impact company Outside the Wire presented a dramatic reading of Sophocles' Ajax, a tragedy about the suicide of a hero-soldier following the Trojan War presented with contemporary themes.


City, Culture, and Community Graduate Student Symposium
by Tait Kellogg

Tulane University's interdisciplinary doctoral program, City, Culture and Community (CCC), held its third annual student-organized symposium, Social Justice and the City: Implications for Race and Equity, on March 10th-11th, 2016. The program, currently in its fifth year, is an innovative partnership between the Department of Sociology, Urban Studies, and the School of Social Work.

Mary Pattillo, Tulane University


Rare Book of Shakespeare's Plays Comes to Tulane

Join Tulane in the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death with a rare viewing of the First Folio. The Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane is proud to be the location in Louisiana to exhibit this amazing 17th century book. The celebration begins with a Jazz Funeral on May 9th and the book will be on display through May 31st.

First Folio event flyer