Philip Kan Gotanda is a professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies and one of the most prolific playwrights of Asian American-themed work in the United States. In the first episode of a three-part series, Gotanda talks about growing up in Stockton, California, after World War II and the anti-Japanese racism that he couldn’t name as a child, but that he’d go on to write about as an adult.
Philip Kan Gotanda is a professor in the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley and one of the most prolific playwrights of Asian American-themed work in the U.S. (Photo courtesy of Philip Kan Gotanda, copyright Diane Takei 2021)
Two graduates recognized as Jack Welch Scholars
May 6, 2021
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst will honor the exemplary achievement, initiative and leadership of some of its most talented and accomplished graduating seniors during Undergraduate Commencement ceremonies taking place Friday, May 14 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Four smaller, socially distanced ceremonies will take place at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. due to COVID-19 safety protocols.
Ten members of the graduating class will be honored as 21st Century Leaders at Undergraduate Commencement:
Jason Biundo of Burlington, Mass., is a Commonwealth Honors College student who is graduating with degrees in biology and neuroscience. He was named Residential Life Peer Mentor of the Year. In his sophomore year, he joined the Moorman Lab, a neuroscience lab that studies motivation and addiction, and propelled that experience into being accepted into an immersive summer program in computational
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 6, 2021) American theatre researchers will benefit from the major discovery of correspondence between two of the nation’s most storied playwrights Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill. University of Kentucky Professor Herman Daniel Farrell III, a playwright and noted O’Neill scholar, found the letter while doing research in the archives at Yale University.
The newly discovered letter gives readers an idea of the impact the two celebrated artists had on the other. The correspondence, penned by the critically acclaimed Williams in 1945 not long after the success of his work The Glass Menagerie speaks to his appreciation of a new work of Nobel Prize laureate O’Neill The Iceman Cometh. Williams’ letter expressed admiration for O’Neill’s play describing it as “an unique dramatic achievement.”
Staff Reports
SAN MARCOS – Alan L. Tinsley, member of the Texas State University System Board of Regents, will be the keynote speaker during one of Texas State University’s in-person, socially distanced commencement ceremonies for spring 2021 degree candidates May 13 and 14 outdoors at Bobcat Stadium.
Tinsley will speak during the 10 a.m. ceremony May 14, to be attended by degree candidates from the Department of Biology; Department of Computer Science; Department of Engineering Technology; Department of Physics; Materials Science, Engineering and Commercialization; Interdisciplinary Science; Department of Finance and Economics; Department of Marketing; and Graduate College.
Earl Maxwell, CEO of St. David’s Foundation, will be presented with an honorary doctoral degree during the 6 p.m. ceremony May 13. Robby Maxwell will speak on behalf of his father.
This past fortnight has been like none other in my memory. The daily sight of people literally dying on the streets and of bodies dumped on pavements as they await a slot for cremation or burial is en