Columns:: Digest

since 12/15/98

Columns::October 20, 2003

Digest

Prof composes music for documentary
School of Music faculty member Steve Dancz composed the original score for National Geographic’s documentary Inside Mecca, which will be broadcast Oct. 22 and Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. on PBS.
Inside Mecca follows three Muslims from very different backgrounds as they embark on a five-day reaffirmation of faith and quest for salvation.
Dancz’s musical composition combines elements of Middle Eastern, Asian, African and American music, according to Anisa Mehidi, the film’s producer and director.
“Our subjects in Inside Mecca are from Malaysia, South Africa and Texas,” Mehidi says. “Steve wrote lines that evoked those places without any hint of stereotype. In the course of the pilgrimage, we move through religious observances, bustling markets, arduous yet energized travel scenes and profoundly personal revelations. To each of these moments, Steve Dancz brings respect and dignity, sprinkled appropriately with levity, funk, mystery and melancholy.
“Everyone on this project traveled a sort of pilgrimage of his or her own. It was a struggle, a journey, a quest,” Mehidi also says. “Steve had his moments of doubt and fear, too, just like the rest of us. And he pushed through to the great goal we all shared: a film that showed the humanity of Muslims on an honest search for themselves and their maker.”
This is Dancz’s 15th musical composition for National Geographic.

English professor wins Rockefeller grant
James Nagel, J.O. Eidson Distinguished Professor of American Literature, has been awarded a Rockefeller Foundation grant to spend a month at the international research center in Bellagio, Italy. He will be working on a book about American impressionism, extending the scholarly inquiry he did for an earlier book, Stephen Crane and Literary Impressionism. He will be in Bellagio during the month of November.
Nagel founded the scholarly journal Studies in American Fiction and edited it for 20 years. He is also the general editor of the Critical Essays on American Literature series, a program that now contains 140 volumes. He was one of the founders of the American Literature Association and serves that organization as its executive coordinator. Nagel is also a past president of the Ernest Hemingway Society. He has published more than 80 articles in scholarly journals, and he has lectured on American literature in 15 countries.

Network infrastructure process changes
The offices of Enterprise Information Technology Services and the Vice President for Research have announced an improved process for cable plant design and installation at UGA. The objective is to provide the campus community with professional, cost effective and convenient solutions for computer, telephone and television cable and network/equipment installation and to ensure the integrity and standards of the campus infrastructure.
The new process helps coordinate cable plant changes during renovation and remodeling projects as well as other cable plant moves, additions or changes initiated by various UGA units. It includes standardized pricing for telecommunications cabling installations, effective planning and tracking of network infrastructure installation projects, and the convenience of a single point of contact for all network infrastructure projects. A new “Cable Cost Estimator” also is available at www.ors.uga.edu/tec/.
The process was developed by the EITS Office of Network Operations and Infrastructure and by TEC Services, a service unit of the Office of Research Services. Guidance and cooperation were provided by University Architects for Facilities Planning, the Physical Plant Division, the Real Estate Foundation and other campus personnel.

UGA Today supports QuickTime, Flash, RealPlayer and Acrobat Reader (PDF files).
Download information about these plug-ins.
Affiliate icons for UGA Today

COLUMNS ] UGA Today ] Subscribe ] News Bureau ]
Office of Public Affairs Directory ] Photo Services ]
Broadcast, Video & Photography ] Master Calendar]
Columns ] Georgia Magazine ]Visitors Center ]
UGA Home ] Alumni ] Admissions ] UGA Directories ]
Sports ] Weather ] Search UGA sites ]

Columns is produced by the UGA News Service, a unit of UGA Public Affairs.
Beth Roberts: Columns editor, Juliett Dinkins: Columns managing editor,
Janet Beckley: Columns art director. Peter Frey: Columns photo editor

Questions or comments should be directed to columns@uga.edu