In Brief: Black History Month, Love Data Week
From left to right: Morgan Rhett, Roy Thompson and Aaliyah Thompson-Mazzeo model the new Black History Month merchandise available at the University BookStores. Photo by Drew Bourland/Marketing and Brand Management
"UPROOTED," a new documentary celebrating jazz dance, will screen Feb. 10 at the Stevie Eller Theatre.
The Research Data Challenge will call on students to use the Planet Labs' Cube Satellite Earth Observation platform to tackle a specific challenge.
Celebrate Black History Month with music, dance and art activism
Black History Month continues at the University with a dance performance, a film screening, a talk about art activism and more.
Upcoming events are listed below.
Film Screening: "UPROOTED" | Friday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m. | Stevie Eller Dance Theatre
The Hanson FilmTV Institute will present a screening of "UPROOTED," a feature-length documentary celebrating the history, lineage and future professions of jazz dance. The free screening will be followed by a Q&A session with filmmakers.
Douglass Day Transcribe-a-Thon | Tuesday, Feb. 14, 10 a.m. | CATalyst Studios, Main Library
See the "Love Data" story below for more information on this event.
Arizona Women's Basketball vs. Utah | Friday, Feb. 17, 7 p.m. | McKale Memorial Center
The game will feature a performance by Movement Culture, a Tucson dance studio.
Social Art-ivism: Black Panther Culture, From Oakland to the World | Tuesday, Feb. 28, 6:30 p.m. | Helen S. Schaefer Building, Dorothy Rubel Room
Art activist, art historian and curator Pamela Mays McDonald explores Black culture and activism through language, music, visual and performing arts, literature, poetry, fashion, ritual and spiritual expression. The free presentation is part of the Tucson Humanities Festival spring series, presented by the College of Humanities and Department of Africana Studies.
Faculty guest DJs on KXCI | Each week in February, 3 p.m.
Each week in February, faculty members from the Department of Africana Studies will be guest DJs on KXCI Community Radio's "Home Stretch" program, which airs weekdays at 3 p.m. Each will select a topic to discuss and play related songs. You can hear the program on 91.3 FM or stream it online. The guest DJs are:
- Thursday, Feb. 9: Bayo Ijagbemi, Professor of Practice
- Friday, Feb. 17: Tani Sanchez, Professor of Practice
- Friday, Feb. 24: Yuxuf Abana, Lecturer
The University has also launched a line of merchandise with new Black History Month artwork. Apparel, notebooks and other products featuring the new designs are available for purchase through the BookStores. A portion of the sales will go to African American Student Affairs to benefit students. The designs were created by Joel Harris, assistant director of digital and creative services for the W.A. Franke Honors College.
Read more about how the University has recognized Black culture and contributions throughout the year on the UA@Work website.
'Love Data' with events at University Libraries
Love Data Week, observed internationally during the week of Valentine's Day Feb. 13-17, celebrates the role of data in making changes that improve society. The University will be celebrating with a data challenge, a "dataset roulette" and more.
Planned events are listed below.
Douglass Day Transcribe-a-Thon | Tuesday, Feb. 14, 10 a.m. | CATalyst Studios, Main Library
University Libraries will take part in a national "transcribe-a-thon" celebrating the day recognized as abolitionist Frederick Douglass' birthday. Each year, thousands of participants around the United States transcribe handwritten materials of Black scholars during the Douglass Day event. This year's scholar is Mary Ann Shadd Cary, one of the first Black women to found a newspaper and attend law school in the United States.
Research Data Challenge Kickoff Event | Wednesday, Feb. 15, 10 a.m. | Main Library, Room 112
The inaugural Research Data Challenge for undergraduate and graduate students will call on participants to use data from Planet Labs' Cube Satellite Earth Observation platform – which provides high-frequency satellite data and analytics to businesses, governments and research institutions – to tackle a specific challenge, which will be revealed on Feb. 14. The kickoff event will feature workshops on how to access and use the Planet Labs data. The competition runs through April 10, with winners announced April 21. The winning undergraduate and graduate teams will each receive $1,000. Learn more about the University's new partnership with Planet Labs in the next edition of Lo Que Pasa, coming out Feb. 22.
Dataset Roulette | Wednesday, Feb. 15, 4:30 p.m. | Virtual
Dataset Roulette is an informal opportunity to see how data professionals actually deal with data. Working with a dataset that they've never seen before, a data scientist/engineer/wrangler/enthusiast will explore, analyze and visualize data using open-source software. In this session, Jeff Oliver, data science specialist with University Libraries, will work on a surprise dataset. There will be wrangling, plotting and maybe even a little salty language.