Humanities Hub
Recent News and Awards
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  Humanities Scholar Spotlight | Saba Mekuria, Richard Henage, Krisalyn MemeaLearn how being a Humanities Scholar impacted Saba Mekuria, Richard Henage, and Krisalyn Memea's first year at the University of Utah. 
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  Forensics Forecast: Tradition Meets Innovation at the University of UtahThe University of Utah’s John R. Park Debate Society is entering an especially exciting chapter—one that honors its storied history while creating new opportunities for students, faculty, and the community to participate in civic debate. 
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  Humanities Internship Spotlight: Ava Isaac | Jack Ongman | Lauren PettigrewLearn more about Ava Isaac's internship with Utah PGA, Jack Ongman's internship with Capitol Records/ Universal Music Group, and Lauren Pettigrew's internship with The New Heart for Life Community. 
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  Construyendo Latinidades: Continuing on Our Ancestors’ LegaciesThe Marriott Library, in collaboration with Ethnic Studies, celebrates the Construyendo Latinidad (Constructing Latinx identity) project. Dr. Ed Muñoz has been developing community-based digital collections since 2022. 
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  Humanities Internship Spotlight: Gabi Jones | Alexus Jordan | Sofia C. MagaldeLearn more about Gabi Jones's internship with Patent Law Works, Alexus Jordan's internship with Horrocks, and Sofia Magalde's internship with evolution35. 
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  Humanities Internship Spotlight: Jasmin Coreas | Marin O'Brien | Tate BrusaLearn more about Jasmin Coreas's internship with HNTB, Marin O'Brien's internship with KPCW, and Tate Brusa's internship with Bunzl. 
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  Great Books: Books to Call Home AboutGreat Books, a signature course from the College of Humanities now in its third year, is a one-of-a-kind course that challenges students to dive into foundational texts and contemporary analyses of social issues. 
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  Transfer Student Spotlight | Shae JohnsonLearn about Shae Johnson's experience as transfer students are the University of Utah. 
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  Transfer Student Spotlight | Hailey Edmonds and Joelle AnnenLearn about Hailey Edmonds's and Joelle Annen's experience as transfer students are the University of Utah. 
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  Transfer Student Spotlight | Zosia Colby and Meghan HardingLearn about Zosia Colby's and Meghan Harding's experience as transfer students are the University of Utah. 
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  Transfer Student Spotlight | Emmy Mallick and Takota LeeLearn about Emmy Mallick's and Takota Lee's experience as transfer students are the University of Utah. 
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  Transfer Student Spotlight | Elijah Current and Cecilia AyalaLearn about Elijah Current's and Cecilia Ayala's experience as transfer students are the University of Utah. 
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  Writing & Rhetoric Studies Professor Jenny Andrus Featured at Domestic Violence Advocacy EventJenny Andrus, professor and chair of the Department of Writing & Rhetoric Studies, was featured at a Domestic Violence Awareness Rally at the Utah State Capitol earlier this week. In Andrus' recent research on domestic violence, she listened to dozens of domestic violence survivors and their stories about why they stayed or left. 
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  Fall 2025 Undergraduate Research AwardsLearn about the undergraduates awarded research awards in Fall on 2025. 
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  Humanities Internship Spotlight: Christopher Viapiano | Dorothy McGinnis | Sami SnyderLearn more about Christopher Francesco Viapiano's internship with the National Museum of Military Vehicles, Dorothy McGinnis's internship with U Career Success, and Sami Snyder's internship with Liz Tate Interior Design. 
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  Middle East Center Director Chris Low Delivers Lecture in RiyadhMichael Christopher Low, associate professor of history and director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, presented a lecture at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies on the pivotal role of Prince Mohammed Al-Faisal, whose pioneering work in desalination during the 1970s helped reshape Saudi Arabia and secured its water future. 
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  Humanities Internship Spotlight: Griffin S Franz, Kyla Wagner, Seoyoon ParkLearn more about Griffin Franz's internship with Sterling Capital, Kyla Wagner's internship with Bering Finishes, and Seoyoon Park's internship in the Office of External Relations at the Utah Asia Campus! 
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  Assistant Professor Haoning Xue Awarded 1U4U GrantThe University of Utah has awarded Assistant Professor Haoning Xue a 1U4U Collaborative Seed Grant for her project, “Tailoring Conversational AI’s Communication Styles to Promote Colonoscopy Among At-Risk Women: A Patient-Centered Communication Strategy.” 
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  French Diplomat David Do Paço Visits U’s College of Humanities to Strengthen Academic TiesDavid Do Paço, academic cooperation attaché with the French Embassy in the United States, visited the University of Utah’s College of Humanities to meet with students, faculty, and administrators about future opportunities for collaboration between Utah and France. 
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  Celebrating the Long Legacy of Dr. Dorothy SnowThis fall, the Department of English is hosting a birthday party in celebration of Dr. Snow, who taught at the University of Utah from 1924 – 1970. 
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.