WT Distinguished Lecture Series to host diverse speakers

From K-pop to Mexican cinema, West Texas A&M University’s Distinguished Lecture Series will present a global lineup of seven events this spring, including the internationally acclaimed playwright and actor Anna Deveare Smith.

Dr. Chuyun Oh, associate professor of Dance Theory at San Diego State University, will present “K-Pop Dance” at 6:30 p.m. March 9 in the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall.

Oh’s expertise comes from more than five years of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, choreography and participation-observation with 40 amateur and professional K-pop dancers in New York, California and South Korea. Her book, “K-Pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media” was the top Amazon new release in both communications and pop dance in July 2022.

Dr. Jacqueline Avila, associate professor of musicology at the University of Texas, will focus on “Listening to Nostalgia in Contemporary Mexican Media” at 6:30 p.m. March 29 in the FAC Recital Hall.

Avila specializes in film music studies, sound studies and the intersections of identity, tradition and modernity in the musical cultures and new media of Mexico, Latin America and the Latinx community in the United States. She published “Cinesonidos: Film Music and National Identity in Mexico’s Época de Oro” in 2019.

“An Evening with Anna Deveare Smith,” this year’s headline event for the series, will begin at 7 p.m. April 4 in Legacy Hall in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center.

Smith is known for her advocacy work and her appearances in hit films like “The American President,” “Philadelphia,” and “Rachel Getting Married” and TV series like “Inventing Anna,” “The West Wing,” and “Black-ish.”

Lt. Barbara Ferrara, master peace officer with the WT University Police Department, will speak at the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Kickoff Event, which will relaunch WT’s “Start By Believing Campaign.” The event will begin at 6 p.m. April 10 in Legacy Hall with a pancake dinner sponsored by Northwest Texas Hospital.

Aaron Mahnke is the host, creator, writer, and producer of the critically acclaimed storytelling podcast “Lore.” Mahnke will sign books and discuss the importance of folk tales and legends at 6 p.m. April 13 in the Derrick Room at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, 2503 Fourth Ave. in Canyon.

Theodore Waddell, one of the West’s most celebrated contemporary painters and sculptors, will be featured by the Center for the Study of the American West in its Garry L. Nall Lecture in Western Studies at 7 p.m. April 20 in PPHM’s Hazlewood Lecture Hall.

Dr. Jose Limón, the author of multiple books and published articles centered around Mexican American culture, and Rebecca VanDiver, a Vanderbilt University professor focused on art histories of African American artists, will speak June 9 as part of the international Space Between Conference, an interdisciplinary, professional research conference to be held at WT. The conference will cover a variety of cultural content produced between 1914 and 1945, and connect to this year’s theme of “Outsiders, Outlaws, and Outreach in the Space Between.”

Being responsive to the needs of a diverse campus community and providing outstanding educational resources are key goals of the University’s longrange plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic, $125 million One West comprehensive fundraising campaign. To date, the five-year campaign — which publicly launched in September 2021 — has raised more than $115 million.