Dr. Randolph Lewis interviewed in The Texas Observer

Congratulations to UT AMS PhD and current faculty Dr. Randolph Lewis who was interviewed this week in the Texas Obserabout his new book, Under Surveillance: Being Watched in Modern America. We've included an excerpt below, and you can read the whole interview here:

You introduce the concept of the Funopticon, or the lighter side of surveillance — from hobby drones to surveillance cameras designed to look like cuddly animals. Why did you want to write about how surveillance can be fun?

The Panopticon, from Foucault, was the dominant metaphor in surveillance studies in the last 100 years — thinking about how we’re going to internalize the gaze of the warden in all these senses. It’s a powerful metaphor, but it tends to be deployed in a sinister, scary, Orwellian way. And I was looking for a way to account for the lighthearted, voyeuristic and sexual side of surveillance. What do you do with the fact that people like to download apps that let them see random CCTV footage from around the world?So much of surveillance culture is driven by men looking at women in objectifying ways, sometimes called “perveillance.” For example, a lot of casino CCTV operators and shopping center parking lot operators are young men who are using the equipment maliciously as a form of sexual harassment. There’s pleasure in there, and some of it’s dark and disturbing.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Lewis!

Dr. Janet Davis Named To Academy of Distinguished Teachers

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Janet Davis, who this week was named to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at UT Austin. The Academy membership makes up approximately 5% of the tenured teachers at the University, and as a body it "provides leadership in improving the quality and depth of the undergraduate experience." You can read more about this year's class of inductees here, and more about the award in general here. Congratulations again to Dr. Davis!

Dr. Shirley Thompson Named One of the "Texas Ten" By Alcalde

The Alcalde, the University of Texas at Austin's Texas Exes alumni organization's magazine, has named UT AMS Associate Professor and department Associate Chair Dr. Shirley Thompson as part of their 2017 Texas Ten group of distinguished educators at UT. We've included part of their profile of Dr. Thompson below, and you can read the rest here. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Thompson!

Shirley Thompson came to teaching through research. “I’m the kind of person who is a natural researcher,” says the soft-spoken professor. “I had to work on teaching.” Thompson, who describes herself as an introvert, says it was through her students’ questions that she fell in love with standing at the front of the classroom.

“What really drew me into it,” she says, her face lighting up, “was listening to students engage with the material and come to me with a question I’d never thought of before, or a new perspective.”

Now, in addition to her own research interests — currently, she is working on a book titled No More Auction Block for Me: African Americans and the Problem of Property — Thompson brings her natural inquisitiveness to the classroom, where she tries to find fresh ways to talk about historical events that will make them resonate with her students.