College of Arts and Sciences

The TWU Department of Dance hosted its first virtual dance concert, "1200 Seconds," April 24. The online event featured 20 60-second dance solos, showcasing students addressing and expressing the unique challenges of life under lockdown by choreographing in their living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, garages and backyards. They used the limitations of social distancing and stay-at-home orders to inspire new and creative possibilities in dance.

TWU music education alumna turned music therapist Jennefer Dixon is serenading patients at Faith Presbyterian Hospice’s T. Boone Hospice and Palliative Care Center. “It’s a very intimate space you walk into, but you never know what they’re going to ask for as far as music goes,” Dixon said. “The caveat is your first visit with that family may be your last visit. So you have to do the very best you can to create that space for them, whatever that space is.”

TWU Multicultural Women's & Gender Studies alumna Edyka Chilomé (MA '13) was featured in the Dallas Morning News' Art in the City project. Chilomé, a poet and activist, shared work inspired by the COVID-19 shutdown.

Professor of history Jacob Blosser, Ph.D., launched a new YouTube series, "Moment for History," to educate and engage virtual viewers. The daily videos provide captivating snapshots of historical events that have taken place on the same date.

The TWU Department of Biology is supporting local COVID-19 testing by supplying Denton County Public Health with tubes of virus transport media (VTM) and nasal swabs for specimen collection. “This has been a group effort by the biology department, with faculty members Juliet Spencer, Christopher Brower, Lionel Faure and Amy Jo Hammett all participating in the project. “They are standing by to make more supply kits as needed,” said Abigail Tilton, dean of the TWU College of Arts and Sciences. “We are happy to be able to contribute in some small way to local management of this global pandemic.”

Biology alumna Jennie Wojtaszek (MS '13) works in an infectious disease testing laboratory. “Every day we handle patient samples from all over the U.S. and our COVID-19 positive rate has jumped from 3% to over 8% in under 3 weeks. It is scary,” said Wojtaszek. “We have lab staff working in areas they have never worked before learning new skills, and laboratory scientists working all hours of the night analyzing results and closing reports so we can get the needed information to our client providers and to our patients as quickly as possible. We know that we are making a difference, and yet wish we could do more.”

Students in Amy Jo Hammett’s microbiology lab are learning how serological testing is used to diagnose infectious disease. “Given what we are all experiencing, it made sense to include the different diagnostic tests that are currently available in the U.S. for COVID-19, including real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) and those based on IgG and IgM antibody detection. The students are very interested to know about the testing and it is a great opportunity to teach the science behind these tests and how they are performed,” said Hammett.

Students in the TWU Informatics Program are learning to apply telehealth concepts and practices to the coronavirus pandemic. Their lessons include a review of the state department of health services web statistics for cases and deaths per county, the identification of the number of hospital beds by county and city, and questions to be addressed for managing the coronavirus pandemic.

In a joint effort, Nila Ricks, TWU Department of Social Work chair; Annie Phillips, executive director of international affairs; and William Munson of facilities management worked together to open the TWU food pantry for a day in order to meet students' critical food needs.

"Nila and I pooled some personal funds to buy fresh veggies and meat for them. So I made a run to the store this morning and then William and I went to the campus to pack up some of the non-perishable items in the pantry," said Phillips. "We were able to give each student four full bags of items. Three of the students have families they are feeding, so I the effort was definitely worth it." 

Jessica Smartt Gullion's novel “October Birds: A Novel about Pandemic Influenza, Infection Control, and First Responders” is part of a collection of COVID-19 and pandemic-related content that is currently free and open access. Gullion serves as associate professor of sociology and associate dean of research for the College of Arts and Sciences. 

TWU psychology associate professor Ronald Palomares-Fernandez discussed the Texas Psychological Association's pro-bono COVID-19 mental health services with ABC KVUE. The group is offering up to two free hours for people with or without insurance.