Honors Professors to Lecture on Upcoming Campus Art Project

Photo by Timothy Hursley

Professors Edmund Harriss and Carl Smith have collaborated before to create an intervention in a walnut grove planted almost a century ago by Noah Drake, a professor of geology at the University of Arkansas.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Honors students will begin transforming the courtyard of Gearhart Hall on the University of Arkansas campus during an upcoming Honors College Signature Seminar, “Place in Mind.”

Edmund Harriss, a clinical assistant professor of mathematics in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, and Carl Smith, an associate professor of landscape architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, will present a free public lecture on the project at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in Gearhart Hall Auditorium, room 26. All are invited to attend. 

The students will take on the project during an intensive, two-week intersession course next August.

“We’ll start off with the immediate experience of the site – how does it make you feel?” Carl Smith said.

“We’ll also analyze the geometry of the space,” Edmund Harriss added. “Let’s use math not as a tool for answers, but as a tool for perception.”

Honors students from many different disciplines will bring diverse perspectives to the task and will use both drawing and mathematical analysis to capture their experience of the site.

“The days of an engineer working in a silo apart from an ecologist, or a mathematician working in a silo away from an artist, those patterns are breaking down now,” Smith said. “As a university, we’re lucky that we have the opportunity to lead the charge.”

The two-week course will generate several design directions for the courtyard, which some of the students will continue to refine through independent study projects and possibly, honors theses.

“Our ultimate goal is to develop a set of proposals, share them with the campus community, and then build,” said Lynda Coon, dean of the Honors College. “Interdisciplinary work is one of Chancellor Steinmetz’ guiding principles for the university – we’re excited to support a project that invites cross-disciplinary collaboration through design.” Fundraising has already begun to realize the final project.

Cutting-Edge Topics

This public lecture serves as a preview for the Honors College Signature Seminar “Place in Mind,” scheduled for August 2018. Previous Signature Seminars, designated HNRC 4013H in the university’s Catalog of Studies, have addressed topics ranging from the evolutionary tales told by fossil teeth to the tensions between privacy and efficiency posed by the internet.

Harriss and Smith’s August intersession course will be followed by three Signature Seminars next fall:

• “Bad Medicine,” taught by Tricia Starks, associate professor of history,
• “Free Speech,” taught by Mark Killenbeck, a Distinguished Professor who holds the Wylie H. Davis Endowed Chair in the School of Law
• “Water Scarcity,” led by Eric Wailes, a Distinguished Professor who holds the L.C. Carter Endowed Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness.

Deans of each college may nominate professors to participate, and those who are selected to teach will become Dean’s Fellows in the Honors College. Over time, the Honors College plans to bring in leading scholars from other institutions to teach some of these courses as well.

Honors students must apply to participate, and those selected will be designated Dean’s Signature Scholars. The course applications are posted online on the Signature Seminars web page.

About the Professors

Edmund Harriss is a mathematician and mathematical artist, driven by a passion to communicate the beauty and utility of mathematical thinking beyond the discipline. His mathematical research is in discrete geometry studying the structure of tilings and patterns, themes that also influence his artwork. His work has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nature and the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Carl Smith is an associate professor of landscape architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. He is also a Chartered Landscape Architect in the United Kingdom. His primary research focuses on the implementation of sustainable design and development, and the experience and communication of place. Smith is primary author of the book Sustainable Residential Landscapes: A Checklist Tool, and he has been widely published in scholarly journals and professional publications. 

About the Honors College: The University of Arkansas Honors College was established in 2002 and unites the university’s top undergraduate students and professors in a learning environment characterized by discovery, creativity and service. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $70,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students’ academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. Fifty percent of Honors College graduates have studied abroad – three times the national average – and one hundred percent of them have engaged in mentored research.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines.