College of Liberal Arts News

What happens when you combine thousands of pieces of clay shaped like a small, sweet and chewy gelatin-based candy? One of Jessica Smith’s unique ceramic sculptures of course.

The hints inside Dr. Richard Schellhammer’s crowded campus office aren’t subtle. They reveal personal secrets: who he is, what he adores, how he fills his days. History books bloat his bookshelves. Framed trinkets of his academic expertise -- pre-World War I Germany -- hang near the desk.

As a published poet and admirer of rhythmic verse, Dr. Eleanor Boudreau pairs the recollection of her first poem with a faint chuckle of self-deprecation.

When Dr. Lesa Shaul reclines in her chair, within arm’s reach are shelves of classic literature, the poetry of Percy Shelley, William Faulkner’s streams of consciousness, the brilliance of Robert Penn Warren. For a professor of English, the cramped space seems an oasis of calm, a few square feet bloated with printed words worthy of memorization.

A mixture of serendipity and archeology, with a pinch of salt on the side, is behind Dr. Ashley Dumas’ recent Fulbright Specialist Award and her upcoming trip to the University of Rzeszow in Poland.