Humanities Hub
Categories
- Awards
- Course Features
- Dean’s Message
- Events
- Faculty Features
- Humanities Radio
- In the News
- Internships
- Publications
- All Items
In Brief
A monthly update of publications, recognitions and accomplishments
Recent News and Awards
-
Exceeding the Traditional Bounds of Literary Analysis: Faculty feature with Crystal Rudds
In the summer of 2009, Crystal Rudds took an internship with the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights. She was stationed in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green Rowhouses, a public housing project that was facing demolition. That summer, she stood alongside tenants to protest the demolition of the development. It was an experience that would shape the rest of her academic career.
-
The Intricacies of Communication: Faculty feature with Kevin Coe
Kevin Coe, professor of communication at the University of Utah, explores how messages matter. After growing up in Tacoma, WA, Coe moved to Illinois to complete his doctorate and then taught at the University of Arizona for five years. After spending time in the desert, he was searching for water, trees and mountains — so, in 2013, he moved to Salt Lake.
-
The Role of Gender in Indigenous Peoples Experience with Climate Change
The Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah is proud to announce that Whyte, associate professor of philosophy at Michigan State University and an expert in environmental philosophy and indigenous knowledge systems, will be speaking at the UMFA Dumke Auditorium, April 4, 2023, 7 p.m. Whyte will discuss some of his research on Climate Change through an Intersectional Lens and the role of gender in indigenous peoples climate change experience.
-
Blending German Studies and Environmental Studies: Faculty feature with Katharina Gerstenberger
As editor of the prestigious German Studies Review, Katharina Gerstenberger, professor of German at the University of Utah, uses the opportunity to foster an international community within the German Studies discipline.
-
Bridging Science and Humanities: Faculty Feature with Stephen Downes
Science and the humanities seem to be the oil and water of academia. In a black-and-white world, these two fields are opposites, two fields of study with not just a picket fence dividing them but a concrete wall. A man crossing this divide and blurring these lines is Stephen Downes, professor of philosophy and adjunct professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah.
-
Can Science Fiction Fuel Social and Political Change in our Ecological Crisis?
The Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah is pleased to host award winning science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson for The Tanner Lecture on Human Values Thursday March 16, 2023, at 7 p.m. at Kingsbury Hall.
-
Mark Bergstrom Awarded Western States Communication Association Lifetime Achievement Award
Associate Professor Mark Bergstrom was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western States Communication Association. The WSCA Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Western States Communication Association.
-
Great Books Not Textbooks
When first-year students at the University of Utah step inside the classroom of HUM 1500: Great Books in the Humanities, they will not only begin to explore seven global texts that have changed minds and influenced generations, but they will also learn how each of these books has been interpreted and understood by scholars from seven different disciplines. A team of leading professors from the departments of communication, English, history, world languages and cultures, linguistics, philosophy, and writing and rhetoric studies will lead first-year students in close reading of transformative books from each of these fields, offering students a unique opportunity to engage across the humanities.
-
How the American West Center and Utah Humanities are Working Together to Improve People’s Lives
Utah is home to several organizations whose missions prioritize education, research, and community outreach, but the long-standing partnership between the American West Center (AWC) and Utah Humanities (UH) in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution’s Travelling Exhibitions Services (SITES) Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program, has been especially fruitful. By combining their individual strengths, they have cultivated an approach to “doing history” that not only demonstrates the discipline’s importance, but also its ability to help people and communities more meaningfully connect to the past, each other, and to their own time and place.
-
Coping with Climate-Anxiety in Extreme Climate Crisis with Britt Wray
Living in Salt Lake City, you’ve probably heard The Great Salt Lake is rapidly drying up and its disappearance could cause immense damage to Utah’s public health, environment, and economy. What you may not have heard is there’s a name for that overwhelming feeling of dread; climate anxiety. Britt Wray’s acclaimed book, "Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis" (2022), blends scientific knowledge with emotional awareness to help make sense of the mental health impacts amid the ecological crisis.
-
John R. Park Debate Society Dominates Western States Communication Association Invitational Tournament
In a brief break from the winter weather, the John R. Park Debate Society traveled to Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona for the Western States Communication Association Forensics Tournament on February 17-19. The tournament, which is part of the Western States Communication Association Conference, allowed students to engage in both forensics competition and conference presentations. At the tournament, the team had 15 final round appearances, winning six of the 12 events and closing out 3/4 of the semifinal round of open IPDA debate to secure the top spot for the tournament and reclaim the Best of the West Perpetual Traveling Trophy. In addition to graduate coach, Averie Vockel, serving as the Forensics Activity Coordinator for the conference and tournament, undergraduates Adelyn Kobe and Javier Tejeda, and graduate coaches Frankie Gigray and Ashton Poindexter, presented at the conference.
-
Humanities Students Represent College at Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research
The University of Utah hosted the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. Students from all over the state showcased their research and learned from each other. The College of Humanities was delighted to host a networking breakfast for humanities students and faculty from across Utah. The College of Humanities is thrilled to have many undergraduate students presenting at the conference about their research in the humanities and other areas.
-
The Human Experience can’t be Found in a Lab
This week, James Tabery, professor of philosophy at the University of Utah, made international news with his article, “Victims of Eugenic Sterilisation in Utah,” published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, in which he sought to uncover the moral consequences of Eugenics laws in Utah. His research revealed at least 830 men, women and children were coercively sterilized in Utah, approximately 54 of whom may still be alive. They were victims of a sterilization program that lasted for fifty years in the state and targeted people confined to state institutions.
-
Survivors of Utah’s Eugenic Sterilization Program Still Alive in 2023
At least 830 men, women and children were coercively sterilized in Utah, approximately 54 of whom may still be alive. They were victims of a sterilization program that lasted for fifty years in the state and targeted people confined to state institutions. Many were teenagers or younger when operated upon; at least one child was under the age of ten.
-
Sara Yeo Joins National Academies’ Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication
Sara Yeo, associate professor of communication, was recently selected a member of the National Academies’ Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication. She and her cohort of scholars and practitioners – who come from diverse scientific and health fields, communities and networks – will serve a three-year term and join current committee members to continue work in fostering increased collaboration between researchers and practitioners and providing leadership to help advance the field of science communication in ways that are equitable, inclusive and evidence based.
-
Gregory Smoak: Coming to Terms with Agriculture in the West
Gregory Smoak, associate professor of history and director of the American West Center, was recently on KUER’s Radiowest discussing agriculture, water policy and the Great Salt Lake. Smoak joined guests Joel Ferry, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and farmers from Box Elder County.
-
Andy King: Why Visual Misinformation Online can be Tough to Stop
Andy King, associate professor of communication, was recently interviewed on Marketplace Tech about how technology, specifically photos, memes and video, can easily spread misinformation. “The way that people process visual content generally is different than how they process verbal content. And so, for visual misinformation, people will process it differently, they’ll be able to access it differently and how they integrate that information into their existing mental models of how the world works will be affected differently...”
-
2023 Jannese Davidson Memorial
The John R. Park Debate Society continued its Spring 2023 season with a small contingent of competitors at the Jannese Davidson Memorial Tournament hosted by Concordia University-Irvine. Over the weekend, members of the Debate Society competed against 28 colleges and universities from eight states, including Bradley University, George Mason University, San Diego State University, the University of California at Berkley, and Point Loma Nazarene University. For their efforts, competitors competed in elimination rounds in 12 events, and every member of the team brought home an award. Senior Ryan Knippel also won the Ninja-Pixie Individual Sweepstakes Award, given to the student who earns the most points across debate and individual events. The Debate Society will continue its season on February 4-5 at the Gaske Memorial Invitational hosted by San Diego State University.
-
Sports Internship Program with Utah Hockey
The College of Humanities and Department of Communication are proud to announce a partnership with Utah Hockey to offer internships in Sports Media Production, Broadcast, and Creation.
-
John R. Park Debate Society Hosts Spring Season Opener
The John R. Park Debate Society opened its Spring 2023 competitive season at home by hosting the Great Salt Lake Invitational and the UTEP Classic with tournament cohosts, the University of Texas-El Paso. The "swing" tournament allows schools attending to compete in two tournaments on the same weekend, doubling opportunities for students.
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
-
Danielle Endres, professor of communication, quoted in Newsweek, “Putin’s Poseidon and the Radioactive Tidal Wave of Death.”
-
Avery Holton, professor of communication, interviews on Fox 13, “Do You Know Who’s Writing your News?”
-
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.
-
Chrisoula Andreou, professor of philosophy, published “Choosing Well: The good, the bad, and the trivial” with Oxford University Press.
-
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
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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)
-
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."
-
Jackie Osherow, distinguished professor of English, published her ninth collection of poems, “Divine Ratios,” was published by LSU Press, Feb 15, 2023
-
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.
-
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."
-
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
-
Isabelle Freiling, published “Science and Ethics of “Curing” Misinformation,” in the AMA Journal of Ethics, March 2023
-
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.
-
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
-
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.