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In Brief
A monthly update of publications, recognitions and accomplishments
Recent News and Awards
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A Conversation with Author Carmen Maria Machado
In modern-day America, books that explore the lives of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, queer, or transgender characters, or are written by individuals from these communities, make up the bulk of the American Library Association's annual list of the most frequently censored books in libraries and schools. According to Machado, bans on books restrict access to valuable literature and hinder students from gaining a deeper understanding of themselves and others.
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U American West Center Hosts Cartoonist, Navied Mahdavian, for Book Reading and Discussion
Navied Mahdavian, author and New Yorker cartoonist, will be presenting his book, “This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America,” Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. in the University of Utah’s Art Building, room 158. The event is hosted by the Department of Art and History, the Department of English, and the American West Center.
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Danielle Olden, “Racial Uncertainties” at the Tanner Humanities Center
The Tanner Humanities Center is proud to welcome back former fellow, Danielle Olden, as part of the Author Meets Reader Series, Sept. 20, 2023, at 1 p.m. in The Obert C. & Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center Jewel Box. Olden will be discussing her book and ongoing research of historical racial construction and desegregation.
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The University of Utah honors scholar Greg Sarris with Award in Environmental Humanities
As chair of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Greg Sarris, distinguished chair emeritus of Native American Studies at Sonoma State University, has an extensive body of humanities work that spans media and genres: novels, memoir, film, theater, and more. In recognition of the work he has done to protect Indigenous knowledges, lands, and peoples, Sarris will receive the 2023 Utah Award in the Environmental Humanities from the University of Utah’s Environmental Humanities Graduate Program.
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Ten Humanities Undergrads Awarded Research Funding for Fall 2023
Undergraduate students, supported by a faculty member, submit a research proposal to the Office of Undergraduate Research and if selected receive a stipend for 120 hours of research work. Ten humanities students were selected for the fall 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and the college looks forward to seeing their research come to fruition.
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Departure of Professor Erika George as Director of Tanner Humanities Center
Erika George, director of the Tanner Humanities Center and Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law has stepped down from her role as of August 31, 2023. After four years of leadership, Geroge believes it is time to return the reins to faculty members within the Humanities.
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Humanities Students Excel Over Summer Break
Humanities students spent their summer break attending workshops, conference presentations, internships, and learning abroad.
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Dean’s Welcome Message
Welcome students, faculty, staff, and post docs to an exciting Fall 2023 semester in the College of Humanities! We have an exciting menu of new courses, initiatives, communities, and events on our schedule, enriching our established and excellent academic and student programming that continues to be offered by departments, centers, and programs.
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Remembering John Warnock, 1941-2023
John Warnock, University of Utah alumnus, philanthropist, inventor and co-founder of Adobe Systems, Inc., passed away on Aug. 19, 2023. Although he was best known for his development of some of the fundamental techniques behind computer-generated images and desktop publishing that made him a luminary in the tech world, he was also a philosopher and book lover.
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Future Environmental Leaders at the U Supported by Grant Renewal
The Environmental Humanities Graduate program at the University of Utah trains the next generation of environmental leaders and thinkers, positioning them to study climate change, resilience, advocacy and environmental justice in preparation for changing the world.
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The U and SLCC Partner to Host MLA Institute
In June, the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies at the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College's Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies successfully co-hosted the first-ever Salt Lake Modern Language Association Summer Institute on Reading and Writing Pedagogies at Access-Oriented Institutions.
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Elizabeth Clement: History of Drag in Utah
In 1870, the word “drag” began being used as theater slang for “women’s clothing worn by men” in refence to the long skirts trailing on the floor. Today, drag shows refer to a combination of creativity, performance, community and celebration that offers a unique space for self-expression, entertainment and connection allowing everyone – both performers and attendees – to embrace their individuality and celebrate diversity.
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Helene Shugart Named as New Associate Dean for the Graduate School
The University of Utah Graduate School announced Monday that Dr. Helene A. Shugart has accepted the position of Associate Dean for the Graduate School, effective July 1, 2023. Dr. Shugart will provide leadership and direction for the Graduate School in her new role.
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Where There’s Smoak: Gregory Smoak’s Legacy as the Director of the American West Center
July 1, 2023, marks the end of an era for the American West Center. Gregory Smoak, associate professor of history, will step down as the center’s director, a position he has held since 2012. Over the course of his 11-year tenure, Smoak has accomplished a great deal on behalf of the center and the people it serves. “I first began working at the American West Center in 1988 and so when I assumed the directorship in the summer of 2012 [the center’s] history of success weighed on my shoulders.” he wrote in the introduction of his 2021 book “Western Lands, Western Voices
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Cold Case Journalism: Exploring, Investigating & Reporting on Unsolved Cases
Journalism students at the University of Utah may not expect to investigate murders as part of their curriculum, but that’s exactly what they did last semester in COMM 5850: Cold Case Journalism. Throughout spring semester, students participating in the class used investigative techniques to explore a string of homicides in Salt Lake City from 1978 where all victims were part of the LGBTQ+ community. Together, they developed the results of their efforts into an in-depth article recently published by the Salt Lake Tribune.
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A Global Partnership with Qatar Debate Center
The University of Utah’s College of Humanities has joined the Qatar Debate Center’s Arabic debate program to promote the culture of debate, open dialogue and enhance the Arabic language in the U.S. The U – in partnership with the Middle East Center and the John R. Park Debate Society – was one of the first U.S. universities to join the program.
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Pilar Pobil Legacy Foundation Creates Scholarship for Humanities Students
The Pilar Pobil Legacy Foundation has committed $100,000 to establish the Pilar Pobil Humanities Scholarship in the College of Humanities at the University of Utah.
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History of Utah Pride
Elizabeth Clement, associate professor of history and gender studies, and J Seth Anderson, historian of sexuality in the American West and U grad, spoke to Doug Fabrizio on KUER’s RadioWest about the history of the LGBTQ+ experience in Utah.
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Professorship in Buddhist Studies
The University of Utah has been awarded the 2023 Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation New Professorship in Buddhist Studies. The grant program, administered by the American Council of Learned Societies, ACLS, provides four years of seed funding to institutions of higher education to support new teaching positions in Buddhist studies.
In Brief
October 2022
- Joy Pierce, associate professor of writing and rhetoric studies, published a chapter Studies in Symbolic Interaction. The special issue: “Festschrift in Honor of Norman K. Denzin: He Knew His Song Well” includes world-renowned qualitative research scholars. Pierce’s chapter is titled “Fishing with the GOAT: Honoring Norman K. Denzin.”
- Brandon R. Peterson, associate professor (lecturer) of philosophy, published an article, “Rahner and the Cross: What Kind of Atoning Story Does He Tell?” in the latest issue of Philosophy & Theology.
- Maile Arvin, associate professor of history, created a podcast, Relations of Salt and Stars. Our ancestors traveled through salt and stars, and so do contemporary Pacific Islander communities today. Relations of Salt and Stars is a new podcast produced by the Pacific Islands Studies program at the University of Utah, and hosted by faculty members Arvin (Native Hawaiian) and Angela Robinson (Chuukese).
November 2022
- Kevin Coe’s (professor of communication) book, “The Ubiquitous Presidency: Presidential Communication and Digital Democracy in Tumultuous Times” (coauthored with Joshua Scacco, University of South Florida) received the 2022 Roderick P. Hart Outstanding Book Award from the Political Communication Division of the National Communication Association.
- Jeff McCarthy, director of Environmental Humanities, organized a climate change roundtable at the Modernist Studies Association Conference titled "Modernist Salvage / Salvaging Modernism."
December 2022
- Hollis Robbins, dean of the College of Humanities, published “Examining Phillis Wheatley” in the LA Review of Books.
- Joy Pierce, associate professor of writing and rhetoric studies, was nominated, then chosen to participate as part of the inaugural cohort in the Leadership Institute for a New Academy 2023 (LINA), a new ACLS initiative made possible by the Mellon Foundation. The 2023 spring semester-long initiative will conclude with a four-day meeting in New York this July.
- Joy Pierce, associate professor of writing and rhetoric studies, has been invited to conduct a half-day workshop (solo) on digital qualitative research with an emphasis on data collection and ethics for the International Qualitative Research Network at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. The workshop will take place in June 2023.
- Eric Herschthal, assistant professor of history, published a review-essay in The New Republic titled, “How the Right Turned 'Freedom' Into a Dog Whistle.”
- Nadja Durbach, professor of history at the University of Utah, along with Tammy M. Proctor of Utah State University will serve as co-editors of the Journal of British Studies. Their five-year term will begin July 1, 2023.
- Alexis M. Christensen, associate professor/lecturer of Classics in world languages & cultures, is starting a new archaeological field school – the Libarna Urban Landscapes Project (LULP) – in conjunction with Professor Katherine V. Huntley of Boise State University. The field school is an opportunity for students to get hands-on archaeological experience at the site of a Roman colony. Libarna (2nd century BCE - 5th century CE) was an important settlement in northwest Italy where Gallic, Etruscan and Roman cultures came into contact. In the summer of 2023, LULP will begin excavations exploring part of the city occupied by private houses and workshops.
January 2023
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Danielle Endres, professor of communication, quoted in Newsweek, “Putin’s Poseidon and the Radioactive Tidal Wave of Death.”
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Avery Holton, professor of communication, interviews on Fox 13, “Do You Know Who’s Writing your News?”
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Isabelle Freiling, assistant professor of communication, gave an invited talk, “Communicating science in a social media world: The risk of (not) intervening against “misinformation,” German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment.
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Chrisoula Andreou, professor of philosophy, published “Choosing Well: The good, the bad, and the trivial” with Oxford University Press.
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Jeff McCarthy, director of Environmental Humanities, published an Op-Ed in the Salt Lake Tribune titled “The Climate Crisis and the Threat to Democracy.”
February 2023
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James Tabery, professor of philosophy, published “Victims of Eugenic Sterlisation in Utah: cohort demographics and estimate of living survivors,” in The Lancet Regional Health Americas, Feb. 15, 2023
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Cindi Textor, assistant professor of world languages and cultures, with co-translator Lee Soo Mi, published a volume of four novellas by Korean-Japanese author Lee Yangji. “Nabi T'aryŏng and Other Stories” is available from Seoul Selection as part of a series of English translations of Korean literature in diaspora.
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Joy Peirce, associate professor of writing and rhetoric studies, received the James McCune Award of Veneration at the U’s 2023 Black Faculty and Staff Awards.
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Rachel Griffin, associate professor of communication, received the Malcolm X Award of Social Justice at the U’s 2023 Black Faculty and Staff Awards
- David Roh, professor of English, was awarded an Honorable Mention in Litarary Studies by the Association for Asian American Studies for Minor Transpacific: Triangulating American, Japanese, and Korean Fictions (Stanford)
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Blair Bateman, adjunct professor of world languages and cultures, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Utah Foreign Language Association "in recognition of a lifetime of service to our profession, our students, and our multilingual world."
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Jackie Osherow, distinguished professor of English, published her ninth collection of poems, “Divine Ratios,” was published by LSU Press, Feb 15, 2023
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Chris Low, assistant professor of history, had the Turkish translation of his book, “Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj” (Columbia University Press, 2020), published by Telemak Kitap (Istanbul) in February 2023. It was the winner of the Middle East Studies Association's Albert Hourani Book Award.
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Chris Low, assistant professor of history, delivered the Paul A. and Marie Castelfranco Lecture for the Department of Religious Studies at University of California-Davis. The talk title was: "Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj."
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Jeff McCarthy, director of Environmental Humanities, presented a paper at the Conference on Environmental, Cultural, and Social Sustainability at the University of Ljubljana titled “The Climate, the Possibility, and the Environmental Humanities.”
March 2023
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Isabelle Freiling, published “Science and Ethics of “Curing” Misinformation,” in the AMA Journal of Ethics, March 2023
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Hugh Cagle, director of the International Studies program and associate professor of the history of science, won a fellowship at the National Humanities Center where, during the summer of 2023, he will be conducting research for his next book, an environmental history of the Brazilian Amazon.
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Jeff McCarthy, director of Environmental Humanities, edited the essay collection “The Anthropocene Ocean” along with USC law professor Robin Craig, and it will be published in March by the University of Utah Press.
June 2023
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Joy Pierce, associate professor of writing and rhetoric studies, was invited to give a workshop at The Qualitatives Annual [pre]Conference in conjunction with Couch-Stone Symposium in British Columbia, Canada.