Division and Alumni News

Alumnus' comic book series surpasses 10th anniversary Kickstarter goal; movie in works

"There hasn't been a superhero like El Peso Hero," TWU Visual Arts alumnus Hector Rodriguez III says. "A hero that transcends cultures and borders for Texas and Mexico." 

The creator of the celebrated comic book series, who is a fifth-grade bilingual teacher for McKinney ISD, wears a lot of hats. He's also the co-founder of Texas Latino Comic Con, a publisher and CEO, and development director of a lucha libre multimedia company. Coming soon: the movie.

National Endowment for the Humanities awards grant to TWU faculty

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced that it awarded a Humanities Connections Grant of $99,426 to Texas Woman’s University. The grant will support the very first interdisciplinary and experiential learning initiative to integrate the history of Quakertown into courses at TWU. It will also enable the future development of a digital humanities archive of Quakertown-related research and reflection, which the project co-directors aim to connect to a public platform that will promote community engagement with Quakertown’s history for decades to come.

In Memoriam: Jana C. Perez (1966-2021)

Former Department of Visual Arts professor Jana C. Perez passed away earlier this year. Jana taught graphic design at TWU for ten years, from 2007-2017, and was a professional artist, designer and photographer.

Visual Arts alumna Kalee Appleton (MFA '14) named 2021 Carter Community Artist

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art recently announced its 2021 Carter Community Artists: Kalee Appleton, Brenda Ciardiello, Michelle Cortez Gonzales and Kasey Short. Every year, the Carter selects four local artists to assist with planning and leading programs on-site, off-site and virtually. Throughout 2021, these Carter Community Artists will bring their distinct points of view to events and projects as they make connections to the museum’s expansive collection, exhibitions and rich history with the local community.

Appleton is a Fort Worth-based artist and assistant professor of photography at Texas Christian University. She earned her BFA in Photography from Texas Tech University (2005) and MFA in Art from Texas Woman’s University (2014). Kalee is an experimental artist whose work deals with digital technologies and their effects on society, as well the theoretical aspects of contemporary landscape photography.

Roses, votes and iron-jawed angels: TWU professor co-founds tribute to suffragists

As the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage approached, Texas Woman’s University professor Meg Griffiths wondered what her contemporaries thought about the right to vote.

She workshopped an idea with a friend and fellow photographer, Frances Jakubek, director of exhibitions and operations at the Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York City. What if they invited their female peers — fine art photographers — to train their lenses on a subject connected to the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in August 1920.