Digital Technology and Culture

A blog for students and friends of Washington State University Vancouver's Digital Technology and Culture Program

Congrats to Peter and Christopher

DTC Faculty Peter Burr and Christopher Doulgeris performed last night at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC at the museum's "After Hours" event. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a Smithsonian museum considered to be a "leading voice for contemporary art and culture and . . . a national platform for the art and artists of our time." To see information about Peter and Christopher's performance, visit: http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/afterhours/.

Peter and Christopher's performance brings me to the topic of faculty duties and responsibilities, something seldom discussed with students but a topic important for you all to understand since WSUV is a Tier One Research Institution.

First, it is important to understand what a Tier One Research Institution is. It is a university whose mission is to focus on research, scholarship, and creative activity that lead to the production and development of new knowledge. It is not a vocational school. It is not solely a teaching institution. It is dedicated to teaching *and* research with the idea that the best teaching stems from scholarly and creative output of its faculty and the best research and creative output stem from sharing knowledge with one's students.

This means that faculty have two important jobs at WSUV: Research and Teaching.

To be a DTC good scholar or artist (or both), therefore, faculty must spend time producing work and sharing it with folks outside of the university. We do this because the idea is that if we share what we know with others, then someone may pick up the idea we put forth and enhance what we do, or build on it, or share it themselves elsewhere. It is how we build knowledge in the world. It is part of our job. We are EXPECTED to do it. In fact, Tier One Research Universities measure their excellence on the amount of research its faculty does. And to do research, we must travel to conferences, give performances, exhibit our work, give talks at other universities.

I am telling you all this because having faculty like Harrison exhibiting his work, or John mentoring a Fulbright scholar, or in this case, Peter and Christopher giving a performance at the Hirshhorn, one of the top museums in the US, is a mark of not only WSUV's excellence, but the DTC's as well.

And so, while their absence from class may be hard for you, it is important that they gave this performance since it provided an opportunity to show their art to others outside of the university. And think about this: People attending their performance will know that they are faculty at WSUV and represent the excellence of the DTC and its students. In this way, their success is our success.

I am sure you will all join me in welcoming Christopher back to campus next week and give him a round of congratulations for his achievement. And I hope you will also be aware of the creative work and scholarship that both Harrison and John are doing on our behalf as well.

--Dene Grigar

posted by: grigar at 22:06 | link | comments |

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