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ACTIVITIES, PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS                                         (Top of Page)
2001-2002   2000-2001  1999-2000   1998-1999    1997-1998  1996-1997
2001-2002
  • "The Latino Romeo and Juliet:  Baz Luhrmann, Robert Wise, and  Cantinflas." BRICHA, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. (April 2001)
  • "False Lives:  The Shakespeare Films of Orson Welles." Medieval-Renaissance Conference, The University of Virginia's College at Wise, Wise, VA. (September 2001)
  • "Hamlet and the Self-Reflective Eye:  Showing the Inner Hamlet in Film Versions of the Play." Popular Culture Conference, Atlantic Beach, FL. (October 2001)
  • "Sam Peckinpah and the South of the Border Western." Congress of the Americas Conference, Puebla, Mexico. (October 2001)
  • "Images of Mexico in American Culture." Presentation to the College, Colby-Sawyer College, NH. (November 2001)
  • Interview with Mr. Edward James Olmos for WUNCP (November 2001)
  • "Macbeth." for The Orson Welles Encyclopedia (2002)
  • "Othello." for The Orson Welles Encyclopedia (2002)
  • "Chimes at Midnight." for The Orson Welles Encyclopedia (2002)

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2000-2001
Richard Vela was a Reader at the Folger Shakespeare Library, researching filmed versions of Shakespeare's plays.  He traveled in England, visited Shakespeare’s birthplace and the New Globe Theater in London, and spent a week in Paris. He was also named to the editorial boards of Literature/Film Quarterly and Postscript: the Journal of the Philological association of the Carolinas.

He presented seven conference papers: "The Idea of Boundaries in the Work of Alberto Ríos." BRICHA. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC; "Shakespeare’s ‘Rude Mechanicals’: Interpreting the Role of Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream." Medieval-Renaissance Conference, University of Virginia’s College at Wise, VA; "Going Indian": the Role of the Go-Between In Hollywood Westerns." Western Literature Association, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; "Shakespeare and The Uses of Violence in Henry V." Literature/Film Conference. Ocean City, MD; "Crossing the Border: Mexico as Emotional Boundary in American Films." Film and Literature Conference. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL; "The Blue Angel Figure in Recent Academic Novels." Philological Association of the Carolinas, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC; "Romeos and Juliets: Ten Adaptations of Shakespeare’s Play." Southwest Popular Culture Association. Albuquerque, NM. He chaired one of the Shakespeare sessions at the Literature/Film conference and a session on modern British literature at the BRICHA conference.

His article on New Formalist Mark Jarman appears in Pembroke Magazine and articles on Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Cymbeline, and As You Like It are in The Encyclopedia of Stage Plays into Film.

He also gave the commencement address for the Winter 2000 graduation at UNCP.

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 1999-2000
 Richard Vela won the Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence and was promoted to Professor at UNC-Pembroke, where he directs the composition program and is a contributing editor for Pembroke Magazine.  He presented "Bilingual Humor in the Works of Julia Alvarez" at the Blue Ridge International Conference of the Humanities and the Arts at Appalachian State University, NC; "The Representation of Public and Private Space in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet" at the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Conference; "Into the Past:  The Separation of Experience and Understanding in Film Noir" at the Film and Literature Conference at Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, "The Party at the Capulet's in Eight Filmed Versions of Romeo and Juliet," at the Southwest/Texas Popular culture Conference, and  "Shakespeare Comic Endings" at the Philological Association of the Carolinas Conference at Winthrop University, SC.

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1998-1999
Richard Vela won the UNC-Pembroke Outstanding Teacher Award and, in May 1998, had a grant to study filmed versions of Shakespeare's plays in the Library of Congress.  Conference papers included:  "'Things Which Cannot in Their Huge and Proper Life Be Here Presented':  The Relationship Between Language and Action in Henry V" at the Medieval-Renaissance Conference in Wise, VA; "Breaking the Skin:  Construction and Destruction in Dystopian Films" for the Film and Literature Conference at Florida State University in Tallahassee FL; and "The Subject of the Poem:  Religion, the Everyday World, and the New Formalism in the Poetry of Mark Jarman" at the PAC Conference in Wilmington, NC.  His paper "Daughter of Invention:  The Poetry of Julia Alvarez" was published in Postscript.

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1997-1998
Richard Vela presented "Shakespeare's Comic Codas" at the Medieval-Renaissance Conference at Clinch-Valley College of the University of Virginia, Wise, VA; "The Translator Device in Films About Native Americans" at the Conference on Film and Literature at Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL; and "Daughters of Invention:  The Poetry of Julia Alvarez" at the Philological Association of the Carolinas Conference in Spartanburg, SC.  He also co-authored "Happiness Through Insanity:  The Function of Outrageousness in Screwball Comedy," for Film and Philosophy.  His poem, "Custody Battles," appeared in the Summer 1997 issue of Puerto Del Sol.

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 1996-1997
Richard Vela attended the Sewanee Writers' Conference at the University of the South, Sewanee, TN, where he studied with Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet Donald Justice and Mark Jarman, Vanderbilt Professor and winner of several awards for his poetry.  He presented "Hamlet’s ‘Have You Eyes?’: Visual Signals and the Problem of Proof in Hamlet." for the Medieval-Renaissance Conference. Clinch Valley College of Virginia. Wise, Virginia.  He published four poems, "Being There," "Medication," "Winding Up," and "Working for My Father," in the Chicano Issue of Riversedge (University of Texas-Pan American).

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