Collected posts from Blogs at the University of Central Oklahoma
UCO
Have you heard of the Research, Creative, and Scholarly Activities (RCSA) Grant program?
This grant program is open to students majoring in any discipline or field. This program offers monetary awards on a competitive basis to support student-focused transformative learning. Students who are selected will receive an award of up to $500/year to support . . .
As international students, we can file our taxes with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program can help you prepare your US and Oklahoma returns. Located at UCO in the College of Business, the VITA program is one of the few VITA sites in Oklahoma that files taxes for international students.
by Riley Stokesberry
The World Congress on Undergraduate Research unites some of the world’s most talented undergraduate researchers to highlight their focus on significant challenges the global community is facing. A select number of students around the world are invited to present their research, discuss global issues and invent or reinforce international research partnerships.
The third WorldCUR will take place on April 3-6, 2023, at The University of Warwick in Coventry, England. “The World Congress on Undergraduate Research is an international effort to bring together the top student researchers from around the world to share their work,” said Michael Springer, Ph.D., professor of history and director of the Office of High-Impact Practices at Central. Alongside the WorldCUR, Warwick will be hosting the British Conference of Undergraduate Research on April 5-6, 2023. This will be the first occasion when a national conference of undergraduate research has been brought together with the World Congress in a joint event.
This year, the University of Central Oklahoma had fourteen submissions, from across four of UCO’s five colleges, twelve students were accepted with one being waitlisted. This was a substantial increase from the last WorldCur in 2019, where only 3 of 9 submissions were accepted. This growth supports the university’s continuous dedication to creativity and excellence in research and scholarly activities. Four of the twelve accepted submissions were Interior Design seniors from the College of Fine Arts and Design.
Valerie Settles, Director of the School of Design, is thrilled and delighted with the success of the interior design students saying, “We are very proud of our interior design seniors. The projects they will
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by Ange Coronado Olmstead
“At first, ‘Asa’ was a piece that stood on its own.” –Grammy Award Winning Composer, Kitt Wakeley
From the beginning, Kitt Wakeley understood the disposition he wanted to convey on his [now] Grammy-winning album, mirroring the sounds of love, heartbreak, empathy, and humility. He began collaborating with artists worldwide to complete his album “An Adoption Story.” Kitt soon realized what he needed to bring his vision to life: Cello.
Enter Tess Remy-Schumacher, stage left.
Tess Remy-Schumacher is a well-decorated musician, who tells her stories through the cello and her projects. She relates to Kitt through her own experiences describing, “When we talked about the proposed cello solo piece ‘Asa’, we shared our common concern wanting to help Foster Youth.”
The duo bonded from there and Kitt listened to Tess bring his story alive. Throughout the recording process, Kitt admires her ability to light up the room, and her humility throughout their time working together.
“Her humility in the recording process is my favorite. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure we get a great track.” He admired and respected her vision for the piece creating an effective collaboration. “Tess also happens to be someone with a huge heart for others. Therefore, Tess wasn’t merely playing this solo. She was using the cello to convey a story to the listener.”
You can find Tess around the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) School of Music and around campus. Whether it is working with her students, colleagues, or other musicians Dr. Remy-Schumacher is always ready to collaborate on her next performance. She makes each and one of her interactions genuine inside and outside the classroom. Although—her students are always at the top of her priority list. Dr. Tess Remy-Schumacher is a Strings Professor for graduate and undergraduate applied cello and aims to bring some of Kitt Wakeley’s leadership style into her teachings. “He always has a clear vision, works incredibly hard, and he and his wife are the kindest human beings.” Even though this is not her first time going through the full recording process, she continues with advice to pass on to her students who are interested in pursuing a musical career.
“I advise my students to take a chance and learn from each opportunity. There are no shortcuts in this world, and nothing can substitute extremely hard work and experience.”
After collaborating on and releasing more than 20 CD projects and albums, Tess mentions that listening to Kitt’s music, story, and message, has had a deep impact on her growth as an artist. “It has been very inspiring and uplifting to collaborate with Kitt Wakeley… I am very excited to share and pass on this experience to my cello students every day.”
For this performance specifically, we see teamwork even beyond the UCO School of Music. Kitt and Tess both send their sincere thanks to Patrick Conlon, Assistant Director of ACM@UCO (Academy of Contemporary Music) and Christina Giacona. Patrick and Christina founded Onyx Lane where “Asa” was recorded and engineered.
“I was proud of the
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The Office of High-Impact Practices values and sincerely appreciates our faculty mentors. In an effort to help you with mentoring at UCO, we have created a guide on our website for faculty mentors to help if you are a new or experienced mentor. Check out the guide and learn more: Faculty . . .
Black History Month is a joyous celebration entangled by a rich History of triumph through hardship, achievement in the face of adversity and pride, on the backs of an unwavering ancestry led by kings & queens. One thing I have come to realize and passionately believe, there is no history without Black History. From the beginning of the establishment . . .
I was born and raised in Southeast Missouri and received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Missouri (UCM) in criminal justice through an ROTC scholarship. After graduation, I served on active duty as a platoon leader with the Army’s First Cavalry Division for four years in the Military Police Corps. While at Ft. Hood, TX I completed . . .
While we have celebrated Black History Month nationally since 1976, the idea of unified recognition of African Americans and Black excellence is almost 100 years old. 98 years ago, Carter G. Woodson proposed a weeklong observation to highlight the vast and varied contributions of African Americans to the country and Central proudly continues this . . .
We’ve recently created the UCO Veteran and Military Connected Faculty and Staff Association! If you are a faculty or staff who is a veteran or military-connected, please let us know to help establish this group. The mission of the group is designed to represent any veteran and/or military-connected (spouse or child) faculty or staff. Its purpose . . .