2014-2015 Projects

Through the nearly $93,000 we awarded for the 2014-2015 academic year, Confluencenter supported tangible, compelling work for the social, artistic and academic benefit of our campus and community. We were thrilled to support six projects that include 25 faculty members from the colleges of Fine Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Humanities, Medicine and Engineering.

Musical Cognition, Emotion and Imagery

UA School of Music Associate Professor Donald Kinser-Traut (CFA) collaborated with Dan Kruse, a 2012 UA graduate with a Master’s in Ethnomusicology, and with Andrew Lotto, Associate Professor in Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, to conduct a research study on why “ear worms” – the tunes that get stuck in our heads – arrive in our minds, and why they stay there. Read the Arizona Daily Star article to learn more about the project.

A Poetry of Art: Burchiello Redressed

Art Professor David Christiana (CFA) created interpretive etchings of poems by Burchiello, and Aileen Feng and Fabian Alfie from the French and Italian Department (COH) presented research and translations into this Florentine’s work for an exhibit at the Poetry Center.

The Dance of Baseball: An Exploration of Aesthetics

Assistant Professor Amy Ernst (CFA) and Fine Arts Dean Jory Hancock joined faculty in the colleges of Medicine and Engineering to study human movement in baseball and dance to provide a holistic approach for analyzing the aesthetics of movement.

Kinuta: Noh Soul in Western Garb

James Cook (CFA) and Noel Pinnington (COH), associate professors of Art and East Asian Studies, respectively, created a screenplay of the Japanese Noh play, Kinuta. While retaining the Zen influence, the screenplay is infused with contemporary language and Western social trappings. 

Turkey in Theory: An Interdisciplinary Workshop

Director of the new Arizona Center for Turkish Studies, Brian Silverstein (SBS), and Salih Can Açiksöz, Assistant Professor of Middle East and North African Studies (SBS), organized a two-day workshop on contemporary Turkish society, history, politics and arts. View the pdf schedule of events.

Translating Transgender

Susan Stryker, director of the Institute for LGBT Studies (SBS), and Assistant Professor of German David Gramling (COH) invited 18 leading scholars in Translation Studies and Transgender Studies for a three-day workshop that included a translational “slam” and curated reading for the public.