Speakers and Moderator

Dr. Carolyn E. Tate: Speaker

Carolyn E. Tate shares her knowledge of the ancient art of the Americas through museum exhibitions, teaching, and academic publications. Her book Yaxchilan: the Design of a Maya Ceremonial City (University of Texas Press) has been in print continuously since its 1992 publication. Her second book, Reconsidering Olmec Visual Culture: The Unborn, Women, and Creation (University of Texas Press, 2012) won “Outstanding Academic Title 2012” from the American Library Association as well as the President's Book Award 2013 from Texas Tech University . She organized the first major exhibitions of Olmec art to be shown in the US, The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, (Princeton University and Houston Museum of Fine Arts), and Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, (National Gallery of Art).

Dr. Robert M. Peaslee: Speaker

Robert Moses Peaslee is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Journalism & Electronic Media at Texas Tech University, where he teaches courses on film and television writing, popular culture industries, visual communication, and qualitative research methods. He also teaches Study Abroad courses in New Zealand, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. He earned his PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and also holds an MA in English Literature from The Citadel. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of numerous journal articles, scholarly volumes and journal special issues. He is supported in all things by his wife, Kate, and three children, Coen, Hazel and Nora.

Dr. Aliza Wong: Moderator

Aliza S. Wong is associate dean of the Honors College and associate professor in the Department of History. She serves as the Director of European Studies, served three terms as a senator on the Faculty Senate, one term as the Faculty Senate vice president, and one term as

Faculty Senate president. She is also the codirector and cofounder

of the Open Teaching Concept: Teaching Diversity Across the Curriculum Program at Texas Tech. She is a scholar of modern Italian history, a two-time Fulbright scholar, and an award-winning teacher.