Heritage Studies Ph.D. program celebrates first 10 years with afternoon symposium Oct. 7; guest speaker is Minnijean Brown Trickey
Arkansas State University will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of its Heritage Studies Ph.D. program with an anniversary symposium on Friday, Oct. 7, at 12:30 p.m. The symposium will be held in the Mockingbird Room of ASU’s Carl R. Reng Student Union, 101 N. Caraway, Jonesboro. Three successive panels featuring graduates of the Heritage Studies Ph.D. program will focus on the earliest years, ongoing emphases, and continuing influences of the doctoral program.
Minnijean Brown Trickey, a frequent visitor and advisor for Heritage Studies at ASU and a well- known advocate of human rights in Canada and the United States and one of the Little Rock Nine, will provide commentary for the second panel of the afternoon. The first doctoral students enrolled in the Heritage Studies Ph.D. program in fall semester 2001. After ten years at the start of fall semester 2011, thirty-nine students are presently pursuing the doctorate in Heritage Studies and seventeen people have completed the Ph.D. The topics and participants in each panel are the following:
Panel I at 12:30 PM: “Heritage Studies Begins.” The planning and first year of the program’s operation. Participants: Dr. Sandy Davis-Baltz, Dr. Francesca Muccini, Dr. Brady Banta, and Ms. Terry Thomas. Moderator: Dr. Deborah Chappel Traylor.
Panel II at 2 PM: “Civil Rights and Human Rights.” The importance of this topic for dissertations in Heritage Studies. Participants: Dr. Fatme Myuhtar-May, Dr. Guy Lancaster, Dr. Simon Hosken, and Dr. Michael Bowman. Commentator: Dr. Minnijean Brown Trickey (hon.). Moderator: Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch.
Panel III at 3:30 PM: “Heritage Studies Continues.” The ongoing careers of our doctoral graduates as they relate to Heritage Studies. Participants: Dr. Sherry Laymon, Dr. Wendy Richter, Dr. Katherine Dillion, Dr. Gary Buxton, Dr. Glinda Hall, Dr. Derek Clements, Dr. Lisa Perry, and Dr. Melany Bowman. Moderator: Dr. Clyde Milner.
With its interdisciplinary emphasis, the Heritage Studies Ph.D. program uses multiple perspectives to explore the interrelationships of history, folklore, literature, geography, culture, and environment in distinctive regions of the United States and the world, especially the Mississippi River Delta.
The mission of the doctoral program in Heritage Studies is to produce heritage professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to support the identification, assessment, preservation, interpretation, management, and promotion of historic and cultural resources for non-specialist or public audiences. Students study regional history, anthropology, archaeology, folklore, regional and ethnic literature, and the social sciences. Students develop and refine the traditional doctoral-level research skills, but as heritage professionals, their expertise will be applied, practical, and public dissemination of history and culture.
The program is approved by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
For more information about the Heritage Studies Ph.D. program at ASU, contact Dr. Clyde Milner II, director, Heritage Studies Ph.D. program, (870) 972-3509. Visit the Heritage Studies Ph.D. program online.
