“Once you get into the workplace, it’s the full tapestry of personality, approach to problem solving, and interpersonal skills that help determine one’s success. The breadth of education and experience that a liberal arts education equips you with is very beneficial in that respect,” explained Jim Gold (A&S '86), a Tulane liberal arts alumnus who was an Executive in Residence on campus this fall.

Over the course of two months, Gold visited numerous classes, gave two lectures, and provided one-on-one career advising to Tulane students. Gold studied English while at Tulane, and after obtaining an M.B.A from Harvard Business School moved on to pursue a career in retail and merchandising, most recently holding the position of President & Chief Merchandising Officer for the Neiman Marcus Group, LLC. “It’s been fun to have an opportunity to be back on campus and see the extraordinary changes taking place,” remarked Gold. “Tulane is a very different place today than when I was here—the campus and the student body are so impressive.”

During his time with students, Gold shared how wide-reaching retail is as an industry—ranging from digital companies like Amazon to department stores, vertical brands, restaurants, and auto dealerships—and the extent to which it drives our economy. He encouraged students to think about retail when considering the array of professional possibilities it presents, and outlined the massive transformations the industry is going through, driven by technology. “I believe that most retail companies today crave associates who are comfortable with technology in all of its forms. And historically, younger associates would come to a company and have little to bring to the table regarding experience,” Gold explained. “But it is flipped today—the insight and comfort level that youth have today with technology is essential for businesses. Recent graduates are in a better position than ever to add value to a company as a young associate, and they should be very optimistic about how much opportunity is out there.”

From advising students on the importance of developing social skills, to urging them to get out of their comfort zone, work hard, and hitch their wagon to the most talented people in the organization, Gold also explored the correlations between university and professional settings. “When I was a student at Tulane, it became clear to me that if you were willing to invest in the experience as a student, professors were willing to invest in you. They wanted to see demonstrated interest, and if you sought them out, they were always willing to spend quality time with you. And I believe there is an analogy here in terms of how a young professional should approach their work—it is critical to be resourceful and proactive as they navigate their new company. ”

Gold values his undergraduate experience at Tulane and reflects on how his liberal arts coursework prepared him in many ways to succeed, including creating a foundation built on being able to write and communicate effectively—important tools for every profession. “It was really nice to be able to offer some advice to Tulane students, and to do my small part to help them navigate the road ahead after graduation,” said Gold.

“We are laying the groundwork for a structure that holds open an affirmative space for many voices to be heard and many practices to develop side by side,” explained Chris Givens, a master’s student in the Department of Theatre and Dance, when speaking about a new art space he co-founded this year in New Orleans.

Givens is participating in the Mellon Graduate Program in Community-Engaged Scholarship, an initiative of Tulane’s Office of the Provost and School of Liberal Arts. Through the Mellon Program, graduate students take their regular coursework while developing a community-engaged project that resonates with their scholarship. As Givens describes, “I originally wanted to create a new performance that brought together members of different communities in New Orleans. I spent a year looking for a community group or partner organization that might fit what I wanted to do, but in hindsight I wasn’t really approaching it correctly. It was a very ‘top-down’ way of thinking, bringing a fleshed out project and asking if anyone is interested.” Working with his faculty advisor Holly Flora, a professor in the Newcomb Art Department, and community fellow Lauren E. Turner in the Mellon Program, his vision shifted. “The more I learned about engaging in community-based work, the more I saw you really can’t enter with too many firm ideas. You’ve got to be flexible and able to adapt to the needs of that community. Unless you can actively listen and then build on the existing assets rather than asserting your own, you might end up creating something no one actually wants or needs.”

Soon after beginning the Mellon Program, Givens met David Williams, whose family had been working to restore an old building in downtown New Orleans. Williams had begun the Beaubourg Theatre Company a few years prior as an ensemble of performers that produced plays throughout the city. After many conversations, Givens and Williams began working together to bring the organization to not-for-profit status and create robust programming for an experimental art space with a goal of welcoming artists and community members of all backgrounds and interests. In its newest iteration, the two describe the Beaubourg Theatre as a “public arts space and arts organization that fosters creative projects, hosts engaging performances, presents new works in the live arts, and offers a range of educational opportunities.”

The organization plans to house four main programs: The Beaubourg School, an artist in residence program, a works in progress program, and a festival. Under the rubric of The Beaubourg School, individuals are paid to teach classes to community members who attend for free. Givens estimates that different practitioners will offer 12-24 classes each season, with about 12-15 students enrolled in each class. This fall, The Beaubourg School offered courses such as “Freeing the Natural Voice,” “Get It Written: Creative Writing,” “Explorations in Walking with Qingong,” and many others.

Among the various programs Beaubourg is planning, it also hosted three plays this fall by local theatre companies Nola NOW and No Dream Deferred. Turner, who founded No Dream Deferred, continues to work with Givens since becoming his community fellow advisor. "Working with Chris as my mentee, colleague, and collaborator has been a true gift. His heart and vision for equitable, radically inclusive art-making in the city mirrors my own. Not only has he facilitated No Dream Deferred's residency at Beaubourg, I also believe The Beaubourg School is a true testament to the expansiveness of his vision and his potential to create a lasting impact on the local art and cultural landscape, and therefore on the Greater New Orleans community at large,” said Turner.

“As an artist, my work is often collaborative and through working on many shows, plays, and films with lots of different people, I’ve experienced that the process is by far more meaningful than the product, every time. With community-engaged work the process is the product,” said Givens. After just launching programming this fall, Beaubourg has welcomed more than 250 community members for programs and events, and Givens looks forward to partnerships and involvement continuing to grow. “I would like to see Beaubourg become an arts organization that can push society forward and create a more compassionate, inclusive, equitable world.”

Exterior of the Beaubourg Theatre.

A view onto the courtyard of the Beaubourg Theatre.

The cafe of the Beaubourg Theatre.

Linking Academic Research and Community Work Through Technology

Mellon fellow Rubén Morales Forte shares how his work creating the Mayan archeological database Maya Scripta benefits researchers around the world and local Guatemalan communities.

When the Process is the Product

Master's candidate and Mellon Fellow Chris Givens recently co-founded a non-profit art space in New Orleans that supports a variety of voices.

Retail Executive Gives Back Through Guidance

Liberal arts alumnus Jim Gold (A&S '86) offered optimistic career advice to students this fall through Tulane's Executive in Residence Program.

Hamlet Returns for One Night Only

Join the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane for a special public performance of Hamlet January 10, 2020 during their annual Performance for the Schools program.

Newcomb Art Department Holiday Sale

Stop by the Annual Newcomb Art Department Holiday Sale December 12-14 for works in glass, ceramics, and more made by Tulane students, faculty, staff, and alumni..

 

 

 

Tulane School of Liberal Arts 

102 Newcomb Hall • New Orleans, LA 70118
liberalarts.tulane.edu 

Understanding Sex, Power, and Culture

Ph.D. Student Wins Distinguished Fulbright-Hays Award

Anthropology doctoral candidate Travis Fink will return to the Ecuadorian Amazon for the eighth time to research indigenous perceptions of history with support from the U.S. Department of Education.

Student Conference on Latin America Celebrates Seventeenth Anniversary

TUSCLA is a platform for undergraduate and graduate students to present their research in a professional environment among fellow classmates and faculty members.

Alumni Spotlight: In Conversation with Legier Biederman

Art history alumna Legier Biederman recently launched a jewelry line that is sold in boutiques around the world. She shares how her liberal arts background continues to inspire her work.

The Importance of LGBTQ Representation in Media

Liberal Arts senior Hailey Mozzachio shares her opinion on the inaugural Bobby Yan Lectureship featuring film producer Christine Vachon.

"Buckets" of Fun at School of Liberal Arts 2019 Homecoming Tailgate

Spirits were high for Tulane alumni, parents, students, and community members celebrating Homecoming 2019 on November 2. Enjoying a win for the Tulane Green Wave football team and sporting our giveaway bucket hats, fun was had by all at the School of Liberal Arts tailgate tent.

Tulane School of Liberal Arts 

102 Newcomb Hall • New Orleans, LA 70118
liberalarts.tulane.edu 

Celebrating Major Accomplishments

Each year in December, we gather to celebrate our faculty’s major achievements of the previous twelve months, from books and editions to solo exhibitions and albums. It is one of our most beloved traditions in the School of Liberal Arts, an event that many of us look forward to all year long. This year, of course, is one when social gatherings have been forced to take on new forms in order to protect the very community we are honoring. In spite of how much we regret not being able to come together to hold these precious books close, flip through their pages, peer into the iPads that capture the exhibitions and musical performances, however, we are no less joyous to see the culmination of years of work by so many of our colleagues. Indeed, to celebrate these remarkable accomplishments at the end of a year that has been so trying is all the sweeter because it reminds us that, amidst all else, these good things have come to be. Well after the pandemic that presently keeps us apart is over, these works will live on, edifying, educating, and entertaining us. They are for the longue durée. And though we cannot raise a glass to their authors all together in one room, I hope you will explore the novel ways in which we have attempted to bring the voices of our colleagues to you as they discuss the works we are here to pay tribute to. In a virtual space as much as in a physical one, we may toast our colleagues and friends for a job exceptionally well done. Congratulations!

– Brian Edwards, Dean School of Liberal Arts

Recognized Works of 2020

Barry Ahearn

English

Pound, Frost, Moore, and Poetic Precision

Thomas Albrecht

English

The Ethical Vision of George Eliot

William Craft Brumfield

Germanic & Slavic Studies

Journeys Through the Russian Empire

Ronna Burger

Philosophy

Nature, Law, and the Sacred: Essays in Honor of Ronna Burger

Adam Crosson

Art

Haptic Recordings: The Body Eyes

Alexis R. Culotta

Art

Tracing the Visual Language of Raphael’s Circle to 1527

Joel Dinerstein

English

JAZZ: A Quick Immersion

Allison L. C. Emmerson

Classical Studies

Life and Death in the Roman Suburb

Sean Fader

Art

Thirst/Trap

Leslie A. Geddes

Art

Watermarks: Leonardo da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature

R. Blakeslee Gilpin

History

My Bondage and My Freedom

Benjamin Han

Communication

Beyond the Black and White TV

Douglas N. Harris

Economics

Charter School City

Douglas N. Harris

Economics

Challenging the One Best System

Yuri Herrera

Spanish & Portuguese

A Silent Fury

Mirya R. Holman

Political Science

Good Reasons to Run

Andy Horowitz

History

Katrina: A History, 1915–2015

Brian J. Horowitz

Jewish Studies

Vladimir Jabotinsky's Russian Years, 1900-1925

Barbara Jazwinski

Music

Recordings for Chamber Ensembles: The Girl by the Ocean, Dreams, interrupted…, and Designs in Blue

Dennis P. Kehoe

Classical Studies

Roman Law and Economics, Vol I and Vol II

Amalia Leguizamón

Sociology

Seeds of Power

Jana K. Lipman

History

In Camps

Felicia McCarren

French & Italian

One Dead at the Paris Opera Ballet

Elisabeth McMahon

History

The Idea of Development in Africa

Jenny Mercein

Theatre & Dance

Auld Lang Syne

Jonathan Morton

French & Italian

The ‘Roman de la Rose’ and Thirteenth-Century Thought

Golan Y. Moskowitz

Jewish Studies

Wild Visionary: Maurice Sendak in Queer Jewish Context

Scott Oldenburg

English

A Weaver-Poet and the Plague

Monica Payne

Theatre & Dance

Song of Home

Vaheed Ramazani

French & Italian

Rhetoric, Fantasy, and the War on Terror

Leslie Scott

Theatre & Dance

Moving To Heal

Nick Spitzer

Anthropology

American Routes: Live & from the Archive

Izabela Steflja

Political Science

Women as War Criminals

Jesmyn Ward

English

Navigate Your Stars

Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé

English

A Different Order of Difficulty: Literature after Wittgenstein

“I’m trying to decide how I can be the most effective,” says senior Lauren Allen (SLA ’20), considering her plans after graduating this coming spring. In February 2019, Allen launched a debate team for incarcerated women in Orleans Justice Center (OJC) after working closely with prison administration, Operation Restoration, and Rikers Debate Project, a program that teaches debate skills to students in New York’s Rikers Island Jail. While the program is the first of its type in New Orleans, it is the fifth chapter of the Rikers Debate Project, whose model and curriculum has also been adapted by prisons in Connecticut, Newark, Maryland, and five other sites in New York. As Allen explains, “debate teaches one how to advocate for oneself, helps build confidence, and aids in the development of strong analyzation skills that assist in breaking down arguments, which in turn, helps others understand you and your point of view, and vice versa.”

Over the last year, Allen has learned an immense amount about the prison system and convictions in Louisiana, which has continued to shape her involvement and future plans. According to the Pew Research Institute, in June 2018 “the imprisonment rate in Louisiana was 712 per 100,000 residents,” becoming the state with the second highest rate of incarcerated individuals in the U.S. The national average for federal and state prisons is 450 per 100,000 residents, and these facts are some of the many reasons Allen was drawn to start this program, building on the skills she gained debating for the past nine years.

Debra Hammons, director of policy and inmate services at the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, has worked closely with Allen to establish the debate team. “The debate team brings a lot to the table for the female inmates. They are developing conflict resolution skills, and we are seeing a boost in their public speaking skills because they are called upon to present their point of view on an issue or question of the day,” explains Hammons. “These inmates have been in many situations where no one listens to them. But through the debate team, their voices are heard and that matters a great deal.”

When Allen began the project, more than twenty women expressed interest in participating. Due to schedules, releases, and movement between prisons, about four to eight women on average attend the class. “I want to help each woman be able to distinguish from opinions, facts, and things you can debate,” explained Allen. Each time the group meets, the women choose the topic they want to debate, which ranges from an experience that they have faced directly to issues in the news.

Allen and the OJC are both hopeful that the program can grow to also include men, and potentially youth. OJC administration has praised Allen’s presence and the program for not only increasing confidence in the women, but also making the space safer: “Lauren brings a lot of energy to the program. She brings her skills as a debater to help the female population resolve conflict in a more productive manner, as opposed to engaging in physical conflict. Choosing a more productive way to resolve conflict makes the jail safer for inmates and for staff.”

When her time at Tulane ends, Allen plans to continue to work in ways that lower incarceration rates across the country. “I became a communication major so that I could better understand the stances of other people and better communicate my own propositions,” Allen explains. “People who are incarcerated are largely stripped of most of their rights, and the way that they communicate is forced to change. I hope we are giving them tools to amplify those voices—they have so much to say.”

Before I moved here to join Tulane’s interdisciplinary City, Culture, and Community doctoral program, someone told me that New Orleans is a city practiced at reckoning with ghosts. Sure, this lyrical appraisal fits a historic Southern Gothic city where popular ghost tours pass through the French Quarter every night, but it fits the patterns of everyday life, too. Neighborhood boundaries frequently echo and reinforce decades of redlining and segregation, wooden homes balance on cinder block stilts because the ground below may disappear beneath water after a hard rain, and flood lines and spray-painted symbols tattoo the past upon the present.

This city lives with these known ghosts, but new ones have arrived, brimming with premonitions of a more waterlogged future. These new specters float in ever closer from the Gulf, as natural barriers of coastal wetlands insulating the city melt away at an unprecedented rate; they ride downstream on the Mississippi River, which has been flowing through town at a higher level for a longer period than anyone can remember. They overstay their welcome in the days after heavy rains, rearranging the ground beneath the city and bumping up against the older ghosts.

And yet, life in New Orleans continues apace: the city incorporates these new ghosts into its everyday patterns. When streets, cars, and houses take on water, and as neighbors dry off, conversations assessing and reassessing losses echo how “these things happen.” The loss is a form of dues paid to live in this city. We present these individually borne losses to one another as one more set of extreme experiences in the Gulf, but if we listen to our colleagues in the natural sciences, we know that these events and intensifications are facets of a new normal. We know these challenges are here to stay.

My work in the social sciences takes on these changes quite literally, and I’ve worked with several research initiatives at Tulane to study how we understand “home” amid looming upheaval. With the Consortium for Resilient Gulf Communities, I surveyed disaster resilience among rural populations affected by multiple hurricanes and the 2010 BP oil spill, and the data affirmed that social networks and social bonds buoy individuals navigating combinations of natural and technological disasters. Learning from Gulf residents whose experiences preparing (and often restructuring) their homes—the communities, economies, and landscapes where they dwell—confirmed to me that while the past will continue to push into a future characterized by loss of the familiar, practices of mutual aid provide hope. As a Mellon Graduate Fellow, I work in partnership with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network to document and archive decades of environmental justice struggles across the state. And with the School of Liberal Arts’ emerging Critical Visualization and Media Lab, I am working with a group of students and faculty using digital techniques to help tell the stories of New Orleans residents petitioning for fully-funded relocation away from the toxic chemicals leaching into their homes from the ground below.

I came to southern Louisiana to learn the tools that social scientists use to listen to a world in the midst of big changes. These analytical tools, designed to categorize a recognizably unjust world, hold the potential to imagine how we can better tether ourselves to one another in anticipation of changed home and landscape. How might the old ghosts of this city teach us to move toward one another as we face increasingly imaginable losses? No single discipline can explain New Orleans’ past or future, but the social sciences provide a toolkit to listen to the signs of change so that we might support one another as we leave much of what is familiar, even as we stay at home.