Around Webster: Cosic, Kunz, Robinson, Taffa
May 21, 2018
Recent professional news and achievements for Webster University community members include:
Taffa Receives Desert Writers Award
The Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers has chosen Deborah Taffa as the recipient of the 13th annual Desert Writers Award. A grant of $5,000 will support work on her manuscript-in-progress, Kiva Song.
Taffa is an adjunct faculty member in Creative Writing the English Department of Webster's College of Arts & Sciences. She is an enrolled member of the Yuma Indian Nation in Arizona, and holds a certificate of descendancy from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico.
“Kiva Song is a collection of nine essays that reflect the cultural geography, local history, spiritual beliefs, and environmental disasters experienced by a Native American family with roots in Arizona and New Mexico,” Taffa said.
Taffa said in her application essay, “Loving the desert is loving myself, yet it has taken me some time to hone in on nature writing as a discipline. While my life is built on desert stories, I have been reluctant to engage in this tradition.
Read more about Taffa's work and this award here.
Ćosić Films at Festivals in Italy, U.K.
Zlatko Ćosić, video artist and adjunct faculty member in the Electronic and Photographic Media Department of Webster's School of Communications, has films screening at several international festivals this month:
ZERO DEGREE OVERLAP screened at Noisefloor, Experimental Music and Moving Image Festival, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK, May 7-11, 2018.
STORY 2: SCENES 1-9 screened at IBRIDA, Intermediate Arts Festival, Forli, Italy, May 11-13. NOT YOUR USUAL TV DINNER, also at IBRIDA, Intermediate Arts Festival, as part of 100x100=900 Project, May 7-11.
STORY 2: SCENES 1-9 screened at the INTERFACE exhibition, neo:gallery 23, Bolton, United Kingdom, March 31-May 20, 2018.
Robinson Nominated for ABPsi Board
Marva Robinson has been nominated as the midwestern regional representative serving on the national board of directors of The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi). This educational and charitable national organization promotes and advances the profession of African Psychology.
Robinson is an adjunct faculty member in Webster University’s Applied Educational Psychology and School Psychology programs. She teaches Family Counseling and Social and Personality Development.
In December 2017, Robinson gave a talk for the Department of Psychology Lecture Series titled, “Expanding Traditional Work Roles to Meet the Demands of 2018: Prioritizing Social Justice, Research, and Community Advocacy.”
Kunz Appointed to Oklahoma Commission
Sandra Kunz, Webster University southwest regional director, has been appointed by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin to serve on the Oklahoma Commission.
The appointment requires Oklahoma Senate confirmation, which took place during the second session of the Fifty-Sixth Legislature. Kunz will serve a six-year appointment.