Indexes:
Homepage
Professional Index
Personal Index

E.'s Campus Involvement:
UNT / SLIS
LIT Group
TxCDK
Digital Storytelling Group
Beta Phi Mu
UNT Faculty Senator

E.'s National/State Organization Involvement:
Storytelling Association
SHE-SIG
ASIST
ACM
TLA
ALA
ALISE
MLA

Associate Editor:
Storytelling, Self, Society

E.'s Publicly
Available Resources: ¹
Storytelling
Websites

Information Access and Retrieval Resource Websites

History and Culture of Youth Information Services Websites

Graphic Novels &
Comics Websites

LIS Employment
Resources

Terminology Resources
for LIS Professionals

Citation/Bibliographic
Resources

Interviews and Stories

Storytelling Concerts

Go West
Spring 2004
Storytelling Concert

Stores from the Heart
Mini-Mester 2004
Storytelling Concert

Campfire Tales
Spring 2005
Storytelling Concert

Funny Bone
Mini-Mester 2005
Storytelling Concert

Creature Features
Spring 2006
Storytelling Concert

JourneyTales
Summer 2006
Storytelling Concert

Heroes & Heroines
Spring 2007
Storytelling Concert

Ripples and Waves
Spring 2008
Storytelling Concert

I am Woman
Summer 2008
Storytelling Concert

Wild Tales
Spring 2009
Storytelling Concert

Tell Me  Heroes Tale
Mini-Mester 2009

¹ Websites publicly available; additions/corrections
are welcomed.

Photo/Image: 
"Map of the Internet"
 from The Opte Project

Provost Wendy Wilkins

Dr. Elizabeth Figa 2009 Recipient University of North Texas Provost's Award for Extraordinary Professional Service to the University of North Texas For Service on the UNT Evaluation of Teaching Committee

Hello!

I am known as "E." or "Dr. E." by my students and colleagues who call me that because I sign all of my emails and course postings that way. Some of them say that "E." also stands for "electronic" because they claim I live online. That may be true, but only during my waking hours! Although, if I could find a way to work online while sleeping ... I think that would be really cool and I'd write a research paper about it!

I am also known as Elizabeth or Lizzie to family and friends in my journey through life. My time in Texas is now almost 10 years in the making and I love the weather, the outdoor sports that are for the most part 12-months accessible, and the joys of making new friends. The roadways are crazy, everything is BIG here, and Texas has a style is all its own -- this has become my home but it is also my launch pad. My sense of place has been widened greatly by the new opportunities that my research and teaching have afforded for international and national involvement and collaborations.

Here's my story: Hailing from Massachusetts, I was the one five children born to my extremely intelligent working class parents who instilled in me a strong work ethic and love of learning. My mother was an opera buff, an avid reader, and loved a good story. My father was an outdoorsman and sports aficionado. It was always obvious to me that their love of dancing and card games was what brought them together! I therefore developed this mixed up love of both the arts and athletics. A 4-year full scholarship to a private liberal arts college in the midwestern USA set me on a trajectory from health care, to health education, to librarianship, to higher education administration. The pursuit of the doctorate to support my authenticity toward a "deanly" position, sent me back into the field of library and information science (LIS) at the University of Illinois. I considered anthropology, sociology, and education, but the LIS  field's lovely depth and breadth of interdisciplinarity allowed me to pursue my heart's desire: to research storytelling and the oral tradition and its applications as a form of information science. Toward the end of my doctoral program, things took an unexpected turn when I taught storytelling at the University of Illinois and had the "Ah ha!" moment of my life: My calling was not administration but in fact teaching and research. Thus, I arrived to my faculty position in Texas parting (for a little while) from my family and friends for this wonderful career adventure.

I love what I do as a teacher and researcher ... I am so proud to be a member of the faculty at the University of North Texas.  In May 2007, my application for Associate Professor with tenure was approved.  Life is good.   

So, hello again, and whether you are a current or incoming student, a friend, or an internet tourist -- I wish you great journeys and great stories!

Always,                      
 E.                      

"We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive ...
and part of the living, incarnate cosmos."  D. H. Lawrence