Tutela

a guiding influence
March, 2002
Volume 4, Number 6		 Peter Middleton, Editor
James Petersen, Advisor
New Dimensions in Learning Support Service Programs

In this Issue

 

Coordinator's Corner

Welcome back! We hope you had a perfect spring break, whether that means lots of rest or way too much excitement, whether "back home" or in some exotic locale soaking up some rays.

March is Women's History Month. To honor two women who contributed to Iowa, we've included articles on Elizabeth Catlett Mora and Carrie Chapman Catt. Elizabeth Catlett Mora was an African-American sculptor who was one of the three pioneers in the MFA program at Iowa. Carrie Chapman Catt grew up in Charles City, Iowa, and achieved national and international prominence for the fight to ratify the 19th Amendment which permitted women the right to vote and for her efforts towards world peace. Interestingly, both Catt and Catlett were investigated by the FBI and other agencies for their "un-American" activities.

We have 106 tutors at present; and for the first time in a very long time, we have covered all math and physics requests. We still need tutors for certain business courses and some upper-level biology/biochemistry courses. If you have a friend or classmate you believe would enjoy tutoring and has done well in any area in which we have a need, please have them get in touch with us.

It's not too early to begin plans for summer school. If you plan to stay in or near Iowa City this summer, please let us know. While the number of tutor requests is much lower in the summer, we still need tutors in most areas, particularly math and science.

Thanks for all the good work you do. You make a big difference in people's lives. --James

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Women's 'Firsts' at Iowa

In 1939, The University of Iowa accepted for the first time motion picture films as part of submitted theses from two students, both of them women. Thelma Dodson and Luellen Bowles were graduate students in the Department of Physical Education and authored theses related to dance. Ms. Dodson's work, "A Suite of Original Dance Compositions," and Ms. Bowles' "A Unit in Developing a Basis for Appreciation and Understanding of Modern Dance Through the Use of Films and Discussions," are the first two theses at the University to use film as a basis of presentation. The Dodson performance was filmed in what was then known as the Women's Gymnasium (today Halsey Hall) in May, 1939.

Both films are housed at the University Archives, Dept. of Special Collections, in the main library, but, because of their condition, are not available for viewing by researchers at the present time.

In addition to the films, written abstracts describing the works are housed at the archives and are available for public research.

For more information, click to http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll.

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Elizabeth Catlett Mora: Sculptor and Printmaker

by Johnnie Sims

Elizabeth Catlett Mora expresses her talents via the reality and struggle of people of color. She brings to the art world a social consciousness in the reflections of her art.

Born on April 15 in either 1915 or 1919, Elizabeth Catlett was denied entrance to the Carnegie Institute of Technology because she was black; she enrolled at Howard University (B.A., c. 1936), where she studied design, printmaking, and drawing.

While working as a muralist with the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration during the mid-1930s, Catlett was strongly influenced by the social activism of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera with whom she studied. She changed her major to painting having discovered what concepts and messages could be conveyed in that art form. These concepts were the turning point in her dedication to Socialist expressive art.

Upon graduation with honors from Howard University in 1937, Catlett went on to the State University of Iowa, now the University of Iowa. At Iowa, she studied under Grant Wood who encouraged her "to paint what we knew most intimately." Catlett was one of the first students to receive a M.F.A. degree from the University of Iowa in 1940 (the first year that degree was offered anywhere in the nation) and one of the first students to produce creative works for their thesis projects. Her project, "Mother And Child," won the American Negro Exhibition in Chicago in 1940.

The turmoil of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s convinced Catlett to settle permanently in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

She was also an accomplished printmaker who valued prints for their financial accessibility. Catlett alternately chose to illustrate such famous individuals as Harriet Tubman and Malcolm X, as well as anonymous workers -- notably strong, solitary black women -- as depicted in the terra-cotta sculpture "Negro Woman" (c. 1960) and the woodcut prints "Sharecropper" (1968) and "Survivor" (c. 1978).

To view images of Catlett's work and to learn more about her, and other African-American artists, click to http://www.artnoir.com.

(Article compiled from various Internet sources.)

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Carrie Chapman Catt:

Suffragist and Founder of the League of Women Voters

Raised in Charles City, Iowa, and a graduate of Iowa State University (the only woman in her class), Catt questioned at an early age the fact that only men could vote in this country. So angered was she that early in her career she began what would become a 30-year crusade to give women the vote. Key coordinator of the woman suffrage movement and a skillful political strategist, Carrie (Lane) Chapman Catt revitalized the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and played a leading role in its successful campaign to win voting rights for women. On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment officially became part of the United States Constitution. One hundred forty-four years after U.S. independence, all women in the United States were at last guaranteed the right to vote. Upon ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, she founded the League of Women Voters.

The National Nineteenth Amendment Society, based in Charles City, Iowa, is restoring her childhood home at Charles City and developing a center for women's studies.

For more information on Carrie Chapman Catt, the Suffrage Movement, and women in politics, click to http://www.catt.org.

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The University of Iowa was the first public university in the United States to admit women and men on an equal basis (1855). Since its founding, it has also accepted students regardless of race.

 

 

Fall Semester Honor List

GRADUATES:

PRESIDENT'S LIST:

DEAN'S LIST:

 

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New Faces in the Crowd

 

Tony Sokolov
Engineering, calculus,
physics, algebra

Jessica Beagan
Art and art history
Nikki Blacksmith
Spanish, psychology

Todd Walker
Economics

 

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Firsts at The University of Iowa

 

Alexander Griffin Clark, Jr., was the first African American in the U.S. to obtain a law degree (1879).
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One of the first three students in the U.S. to earn the Master of Fine Arts degree was Elizabeth Catlett Mora, an African American sculptor (1940). UI was the first university in the country to offer the MFA.
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Lulu Merle Johnson was the first African American in the U.S. to receive a Ph.D. in history (1941).
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Lilia A. Abron, Ph.D., was the first African American woman in the U.S. and the third woman at UI to receive a doctorate in chemical engineering. She is now president and chief executive officer of PEER Consultants, P.C., an environmental consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.
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Richard Culberson was the first African American to play basketball for a Big Ten team (1944-1946).
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C. Vivian Stringer was the first African American to coach a Big Ten women's basketball team (1983).
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Philip Hubbard became the first African American vice president at a Big Ten university (1971, as Vice President of Student Services). He became the UI's first African American faculty member (1947) and was named the first African American administrator at any of Iowa's three state universities (1966, as Dean of Academic Affairs).
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Beulah Wheeler of Marshalltown was the first African American woman at UI to receive a law degree (1924).
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Adah F. Hyde Johnson was one of the first two African American women to graduate from the UI (1912).
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Oscar Anderson Fuller was the first African American at UI to graduate with a Ph.D. in music (1942).

 

 

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Most of us know that a group of lions is called a pride of lions and that a group of sheep is called a flock of sheep. See if you can come up with the proper collective name for the following animals: turtles -- crows -- leopards -- bees -- pigs.

(Answers below.)

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Risa's Pieces

Well, folks... a lot has been going on here in the NDIL office lately. As a result of our ongoing commitment to improvement, we have been looking critically at everything we do - from scheduling appointments to the requirement of training. We are just beginning to explore the possibilities, not yet near the implementation phase, but everything is up for consideration. In this effort, you play a critical role. We need your input! Recently, you were asked to complete an online survey about training, and many of you have responded. However, with 106 tutors, we know that there are more opinions out there. (Please visit http://www.uiowa.edu/~ossp/ndil/trainingsurvey to complete the survey if you have not already done so.) That is only one of the ways you can contribute. Also, in the coming months, we will be facilitating focus groups, and we need tutors to participate. The time commitment is approximately 1 - 2 hours, and you will be compensated for your time.

Some of the topics that we will be considering:

¥ Training topics for new tutors necessary before meeting with a student

¥ How appointments are scheduled

¥ Group tutoring

¥ Coordination of training during the semester

¥ National certification for tutors

¥ How training is delivered

¥ Tutoring as a part-time job

¥ Strengths of current practices

¥ Needs of tutors that are currently unmet

If you are interested in participating, please call the NDIL office (335-1288) or email us at ndil@uiowa.edu. We plan to schedule the focus groups based on the schedules of participants. All tutors will be asked to describe their thoughts on topics like those listed above. Participating in a focus group is a powerful way to share your ideas. You are a tremendous resource, and we appreciate your ideas. Please take advantage of this opportunity to tell us what you think!

 

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Answer to Brain Teaser

A bale of turtles, a murder of crows, a leap of leopards, a swarm of bees, litter of pigs.

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