February 4, 2019
Oakland University’s Soundings Series will return on Wednesday, Feb. 13 with a “Nuts and Bolts” session led by Kathleen Pfeiffer, Ph.D., a professor of English and Creative Writing at OU.
From 3-4:30 p.m. in the Ambassador Rooms at the Oakland Center, Pfeiffer will be discussing how storytelling can be a powerful strategy for engaging an audience about research, and how any scholar can use storytelling to communicate the value of their work, particularly to non-specialists.
“I will offer some case studies of scholars from various disciplines who use storytelling effectively, and I will offer practical strategies for how to find the best and most compelling story to tell about your research,” Pfeiffer said.
Since 1997, Pfeiffer has taught courses at OU in American and African-American literature, American studies, biography and memoir and creative nonfiction. Her early academic research focused on racial identity and individualism in American literature and she has been responsible for bringing important but out-of-print novels from the Harlem Renaissance, such as Holiday by Waldo Frank, back into print.
In 2012, Pfeiffer won the Kresge Arts Fellowship and in 2018 she was named a winner of the Michigan Writers Cooperative Press (MWCP) Chapbook Competition for her memoir, Ink, in which Pfeiffer chronicles memories of her brother Gerry, who died at age 11 after a seven-month battle with brain cancer.
“I wrote (Ink) as a way to make meaning out of loss, and to take an experience of grief and turn it into an opportunity for growth and empowerment,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s also a story about particular times and particular places — what it’s like growing up in the late ‘70s and going to college in the mid-‘80s, and also what it’s like trying to forge a career as a writer and professor during the time I’m in now.”
To RSVP for this Soundings Series session, email Leanne DeVreugd, program coordinator for Women in Science, Engineering and Research (WISER), at [email protected] or use this form.
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| Roop Raj |
The Soundings Series will continue on Monday, March 4 with another “Nuts and Bolts” session — “You’re on TV! Now What?” — featuring Fox 2 News anchor Roop Raj.
From 8-10 a.m. inside Founders Ballroom A at the Oakland Center, OU faculty members can learn the secrets of great TV, radio and print media interviews with Raj, who will lead this hands-on session about interviews and interacting with anchors and the media.
Raj currently anchors the 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. evening newscasts at Fox 2 Detroit. He began his career in TV at the age of 14 when he created, produced and hosted his own public affairs talk show on the government access station in Troy, Mich.
While attending Michigan State University, Raj worked at the CBS and ABC affiliates in Lansing and by age 23 was anchoring the weekend news in Flint, Mich. He also spent seven years as the morning anchor/reporter at the NBC station in New Orleans before returning to the Detroit area in 2009 to join Fox 2 News.
“We’re thrilled to have Roop Raj do this with us,” said Dr. David Stone, OU’s chief research officer. “This kind of hands-on media training is the kind of thing often reserved for very competitive fellowship programs that are designed for future leaders in higher education. This is a great opportunity for our faculty.”
To RSVP for this Soundings Series session, email Leanne DeVreugd at [email protected] or use this form.
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| Thielen |
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| Rodriguez |
Also in March, the Oakland University Soundings Series will present “Discover Who’s Talking about Your Research with Altmetrics,” a “Nuts and Bolts” session let by Joanna Thielen, an assistant professor, research data librarian and science librarian for biological sciences, chemistry and physics; and Julia Rodriguez, an associate professor and nursing, health sciences and scholarly communications librarian.
From 3-4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 28 in the Nyberg Room (242) at the Kresge Library, Thielen and Rodriguez will be teaching OU faculty how to harness the power of Almetrics for analyzing and measuring the broader impact of their research.
To RSVP for this Soundings Series session, email Leanne DeVreugd at [email protected] or use this form.
Coffee and light refreshments will be provided at all sessions. Find more information about these and other Soundings Series events.