Glasscock Center 2022-23 Annual Report

Susanne and Melbern Glasscock

MISSION & HISTORY

The Glasscock Center is dedicated to fostering and celebrating the humanities and humanities research among the community of scholars at Texas A&M University and in the world beyond the academy.

The Glasscock Center awards residential fellowships, research fellowships, grants to co-sponsor events, funding for working groups, publication support, and other awards for independent and cross-disciplinary research in the humanities. Fellows and grant recipients are integral to the Center’s ongoing programs and activities through their faculty and graduate colloquia, visiting scholar activities, and lecture series. Additionally, the Glasscock Center develops research initiatives, and annually recognizes outstanding scholarship with an international book prize, the Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship, which is accompanied by a guest lecture from the recipient and a community event. Coordinated by the Glasscock Center, the Mary Jane and Carrol O. Buttrill ’38 Endowed Fund for Ethics supports activities and events for faculty and students on the investigation of ethical issues.

Growing from the Interdisciplinary Group for Historical Literary Studies, founded in 1987, the Board of Regents of Texas A&M University created the Center for Humanities Research in 1999. In 2002, Melbern G. Glasscock ’59 and Susanne M. Glasscock bestowed a naming endowment for the Center. Their extraordinary gift constitutes a sustaining endowment, which enables the Center to support high-caliber humanities research.

The Glasscock Center is a unit of the College of Arts & Sciences and is located on the third floor of the Glasscock Building on the Texas A&M University campus.

Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship

Fallon-Marshall Lecture Series

Humanities: Land, Sea, Space

Series

© 2023 The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research

A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

This year marked a series of changes for the Glasscock Center and Texas A&M. The College of Liberal Arts, in which the Glasscock Center played a key part, merged with the colleges of Science and Geoscience to form the College of Arts & Sciences, which serves roughly 20,000 students (about 28 percent of the total at the university). An unintended consequence of this and other restructuring has meant something of a diaspora for the humanities at Texas A&M, as departments split or migrated to existing or new colleges and schools. The result is reflected in our Faculty Advisory Board, which consists of members from six different colleges and schools at Texas A&M. Now more than ever, the Glasscock Center is pursuing its mission to serve the humanities across the university as a whole.

Amidst this changing landscape, we launched a number of new programs and funding opportunities, notably our graduate residential fellowships, which provide dedicated time and space for doctoral candidates to write their dissertations, and short-term visiting fellowships, which seek to bring leading scholars from around the world to the Glasscock Center for a week of engagement. We also launched the Glasscock Research Initiatives, an externally peer-reviewed granting program that provides multi-disciplinary teams of Texas A&M and external scholars $150,000 of funding over three years to develop a humanities research initiative in the Center. The first, which starts in September 2023, is The Humanities and the Anthropocene.

In January, welcomed a new Associate Director, Jessica Ray Herzogenrath and later celebrated the promotion of Amanda Dusek to the Center’s first Assistant Director. Notably, both of them received college-level awards for excellence (Early Career Teaching Award and Outstanding Staff Achievement Award, respectively), as did our graduating Student Coordinator, Kate Girvin.

We awarded the 23rd Susanne M. Glasscock Book Prize to Nadia Y. Kim for Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA (Stanford University Press). Kim visited campus in February to accept the prize and give a public lecture. Over the summer months, a small cadre of faculty members, graduate students, and local teachers worked to create the shortlist for the next prize.

Later in spring, the Glasscock Center was tasked with reviving the legacy College of Liberal Arts Fallon-Marshall Lecture Series. Established nearly thirty years ago by Mary Marshall, the series highlights faculty research excellence in the humanities and social sciences via public-facing lectures. Both Joshua DiCaglio’s enriching examination of scale in the sciences and humanities and Brian Rouleau’s dive into Korean War comic books drew on their recent books, much to the delight of audiences. We also awarded the inaugural Melbern G. Glasscock Undergraduate History Research Paper Prize to Lauren Currie for her paper on “Polio, Disability Rights, and the ADA.”

Our Humanities: Land Sea Space initiative, started by former director Emily Brady in 2018, has continued to thrive under the leadership of AJ Baginski, who joined the Center last summer for a two-year postdoctoral position. Baginski facilitated a number of events, ranging from a film screening at the historic Queen Theater in Bryan, Texas, to an early-career scholar symposium that brought together emerging scholars in the humanities from Texas A&M and across the country to share their research.

Our twenty-plus working groups thrived with a myriad of activities, including panel discussions, workshopped papers, guest speakers, and film screenings. The Center’s longstanding Colloquium Series at which faculty and graduate students who received research funding from the Glasscock Center share and discuss their work once again highlighted the diversity of humanities research at Texas A&M. Our Undergraduate Summer Scholars Program offered three faculty-led seminars, which launched a dozen students on the path towards producing original humanities research projects.

Serving as interim director of the Glasscock Center this past year has been a true joy, born from a combination of engaging daily with the great humanities research being pursued here and around the world and being in a position to support it meaningfully, thanks to the generous naming endowment provided over two decades ago by Melbern and Susanne Glasscock.

Troy Bickham Interim Director and Professor of History

OUR TEAM

LEIGH STANISLAW PROGRAM ASSISTANT

KATE GIRVIN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT COORDINATOR

TROY BICKHAM INTERIM DIRECTOR AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

AJ BAGINSKI POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

JENNIFER WELLS GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT

MEGAN BODILY GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT

AMANDA DUSEK ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

ANGELA MAYORGA BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

SUDIKSHA PAI UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ASSISTANT

JESSICA RAY HERZOGENRATH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND INSTRUCTIONAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

FACULTY

ADVISORY BOARD

VALENTINA ADUEN | PH.D. CANDIDATE COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM

MARIAN EIDE | PROFESSOR ENGLISH | WOMEN’S & GENDER STUDIES

SIDE EMRE | ASSOC. PROF. HISTORY

NANCY KLEIN | ASSOC. PROF. ARCHITECTURE

ALAIN LAWO-SUKAM | ASSOC. PROF. GLOBAL LANGUAGES & CULTURES

NANCY PLANKEY-VIDELA ASSOC. PROF. | SOCIOLOGY

DAWNA SCHULD | ASSOC. PROF.

SCHOOL OF PERFORMANCE, VISUALIZATION, & FINE ARTS

HEIDI CAMPBELL | ASSOC. PROF. COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM

LEONARDO CARDOSO | ASSOC. PROF.

SCHOOL OF PERFORMANCE, VISUALIZATION, & FINE ARTS

TAZIM JAMAL | PROFESSOR RECREATION, PARKS, & TOURISM SCIENCES

ARCASIA JAMES-GALLAWAY ASSIST. PROF. | TEACHING, LEARNING, & CULTURE

EMMA NEWMAN | PH.D. CANDIDATE ANTHROPOLOGY

CLARE PALMER | PROFESSOR PHILOSOPHY

KRISTI SWEET | ASSOC. PROF. PHILOSOPHY

SHELLEY WACHSMANN | PROFESSOR ANTHROPOLOGY

THE SUSANNE M. GLASSCOCK HUMANITIES BOOK PRIZE FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY

SCHOLARSHIP

The Susanne M. Glasscock Book Prize, first awarded in 1999, originated by the Texas A&M Center for Humanities Research and was permanently endowed in December 2000 by Melbern G. Glasscock ’59 and his wife Susanne M. Glasscock, for whom the prize is now named. Nominated books are informed by research and expertise, yet are concerned with and appeal to audiences beyond academia. In celebration of the Prize, we hold annual events including the Prize-winning author’s lecture, and an associated community event.

23 Annual Book Prize rd

This year’s book award was presented to Dr. Nadia Kim for her book, Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA (Stanford University Press, 2021). Dr. Kim visited Texas A&M in February to receive her prize and participate in various activities. The Race and Ethnic Studies Institute (RESI) hosted a community conversation with Dr. Kim preceding her public lecture and award presentation with the Glasscock Center.

Book Prize Lecture and Presentation

February 28, 2023

Community Conversation

February 27, 2023

Refusing Death examines race, class, gender, and citizenship with respect to the growing social phenomenon of marginalized and unauthorized immigrants -- especially women and youth -– making political inroads by way of grassroots activism, at times sidestepping the need for formal political channels. By way of nearly four years of ethnographic observation, in-depth interviews, and documents analysis of Asian American and Latin@ environmental justice activism in the industrial-port belt of Los Angeles, Kim finds that these mostly female immigrant activists view their work as much more than an effort to spare their children’s lungs from the grey plumes of cargo ships and oil refineries; they are also redefining notions of politics, community, and citizenship in the face of America’s nativist racism and its system of class injustice, defined by disproportionate pollution and neglected schools, surveillance/deportation, and political marginalization. By inventively dovetailing all of these dimensions, the women show that they are highly conscious of how environmental and educational harms are an assault on their bodies and emotions; hence, they center embodied and affective strategies to uniquely challenge the neoliberal state’s neglect and betrayal and, ultimately, to refuse death.

THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES PRESENTS THE FALLON-MARSHALL LECTURE SERIES

The Fallon-Marshall Lecture was established in 1994 by Mary Marshall as an event to discuss current issues in the humanities and social sciences. Named after Marshall and former dean of the legacy College of Liberal Arts Daniel Fallon, the annual lectures provide the opportunity to share the outstanding scholarship happening within the College. The Glasscock Center hosts the series on behalf of the College of Arts & Sciences.

Science has Transformed you: Scale Between Science and the Humanities

Joshua DiCaglio | English

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Comic Book Panels and the 38th Parallel: The Korean War in American Popular Culture

Brian Rouleau | History

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

HUMANITIES: LAND SEA SPACE

Humanities: Land, Sea, Space (HLSS) is a transdisciplinary research initiative that explores a range of environmental issues and challenges by applying humanistic methods of scholarship. In the spirit of the Glasscock Center’s mission to foster interdisciplinary humanities research among the community of scholars at Texas A&M University and in the world beyond the academy, HLSS aims to benefit and impact a broad intellectual community and to have significant reach by exploring not only concerns especially relevant to the state of Texas, but also global issues. The Glasscock Center launched HLSS in 2018, and programming has explored topics such as oceans and seas (2019) and the plant humanities (2021). As a complement to Texas A&M’s new designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), HLSS programming in 2022 and 2023 focused on the relationship between space and place in Latinx and Latin American environmentalisms.

Humanities and social science scholars have long-studied land, but ongoing catastrophes due to climate change have shifted many discussions, raising geopolitical, environmental, and social justice issues. New transdisciplinary work has emerged that addresses diverse topics including water and food insecurity, energy cultures, coastal and island communities, the Anthropocene, deep time, extinctions, and ecological loss. Literature and the arts are motivating creative and imaginative work that explores nature-society interactions.

In addition to the events listed, HLSS has also hosted a Reading Group and a blog on Environmental Humanities.

Learn more: tx.ag/HLSS

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

FILM SCREENING

GATHER

March 8, 2023

Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political, and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.

Gather follows Nephi Craig, a chief from the White Mountain Apache Nation (Arizona), opening an indigenous café as a nutritional recovery clinic; Elsie Dubray, a young scientist from the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation (South Dakota), conducting landmark studies on bison; and the Ancestral Guard, a group of environmental activists from the Yurok Nation (Northern California), trying to save the Klamath river.

The screening was presented by the Humanities: Land, Sea, Space initiative, the Indigenous Studies Working Group, and the Native and Indigenous Student Organization.

AWARD SPOTLIGHT

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

Dr. Hoi-eun Kim, a recipient of a 2023 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Faculty Award, is an Associate Professor in the History Department at Texas A&M University. His research examines modern Germany and modern East Asia, with a focus on transnational exchanges. In 2017, Dr. Kim received an Internal Faculty Fellowship from the Glasscock Center to support his research on Japanese doctors in colonial Korea from 1910 to 1945.

By documenting their practice location, birthdate and place, medical school information, licensing details, and specialties, Dr. Kim’s findings became the basis for his NEH application. Dr. Kim’s inspiration for this project evolved from lingering questions related to his first book, Doctors of Empire: Medical and Cultural Encounters between Imperial Germany and Meiji Japan (2014).

Dr. Kim builds on his first book by charting the career paths of Japanese doctors after acquiring a license to practice. He uses underexplored sources—published physician directories—to trace how medical professionals crisscrossed the Japanese Empire and beyond.

An image of a directory featuring Japanese physicians

Glasscock funding was really crucial in getting this project off the ground.

- Dr. Kim

Story by Jennifer Wells ‘10

AWARDS SPOTLIGHT

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Dr. Jessica Ray Herzogenrath , our Associate Director, received the Early Career Teaching Award

Amanda Dusek , our Assistant Director, received the Outstanding Staff Achievement Award

Kate Girvin , our Student Coordinator, received the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award

In the spring semester, the College of Arts & Sciences celebrated its inaugural class of awardees -- exceptional faculty, staff, and students honored for their accomplishments in academics, teaching, research, and service across 15 categories.

Among those awardees were three members of the Glasscock Center team – one in each division of student, staff, and faculty.

PUBLIC HUMANITIES SPOTLIGHT

TODAY’S SUPREME COURT IN CONTEXT

The Law and Society Working Group held eight roundtables (four each semester) in its series “Today’s Supreme Court in Context.” Each event featured three faculty panelists from different departments discussing a recent or pending Supreme Court case from the perspective of their discipline.

Topics included abortion, the First Amendment (both speech and religion), the Second Amendment, voting rights, environmental regulation, student loan forgiveness, and affirmative action. Short presentations by each panelist were followed by energetic Q&A sessions with the audience.

FEATURED PANEL

Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Presented under the Public Humanities initiative

Panelists:

Michael K. Young , Bush School and TAMU School of Law

Rachel Lim , History

Michael Z. Green , TAMU School of Law

Moderated by Katherine Unterman , History

PUBLICATIONS SPOTLIGHT

SUPPORTED BY GLASSCOCK PROGRAMS

Boundaries of Belonging: English Jamaica and the Spanish Caribbean, 1655-1715 (University of North Pennsylvania Press, 2023)

April Hatfield

Internal Faculty Residential Fellowship

[The fellowship] afforded me the time and space to think about how I wanted to set up this project in its early stages.

-

Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South (University of North Carolina Press, 2023)

Sarah McNamara | History

Publication Support Grant

Poetics and the Gift: Reading Poetry from Homer to Derrida (Edinburgh University Press, 2022)

Adam Rosenthal | Global Languages & Cultures Faculty Research Fellowship

Transforming Family: Queer Kinship and Migration in Contemporary Francophone Literature (University of Nebraska Press, 2022)

Jocelyn Frelier | Global Languages & Cultures

Publication Support Grant

Dr. Hatfield

| History

SOCIETY FOR PHENOMENOLOGY AND EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHY SIXTIETH ANNUAL MEETING

SPEP is the second largest philosophical organization in North America, and the premiere international venue for work in continental European philosophy.

Organized by Kristi Sweet, Philosophy

KEYNOTE LECTURE

The Politics of Articulation and Strategic Multiplicities

Michael Hardt | Duke University

October 13, 2022

The Center’s support of our organization is of major significance not only to SPEP members but also to the larger community of professional philosophers.

- Dr. Shannon Sullivan, Executive Co-Director of SPEP

FACULTY & GRADUATE COLLOQUIUM SERIES

The Glasscock Center hosts colloquia of works-in-progress throughout the year, offering our fellows an opportunity to discuss their research with colleagues from different disciplines. Colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is designed to be informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.

Allegra Midgette, Psychological & Brain Sciences | ACES Fellow

Learning How to Care: Taking a Psychological Approach

Evan Haefeli, History | Internal Faculty Residential Fellow

Toleration, Empire, and Quakers: The Origins of Pennsylvania

Brandon Wadlington, Philosophy | Graduate Research Fellow

Virtue and Reason in the Iliad

Victoria Green, Philosophy | Graduate Research and Residential Fellow

Habituating Wild Primates: Ethics of the Researcher-Subject Relationship and its Implications for Field Research Methodology

Christopher Menzel, Philosophy | Internal Faculty Residential Fellow

A Brief History of Nonexistent Objects: Precursors to the Possibilism-Actualism Debate

AJ Baginski, Glasscock Center | Postdoctoral Research Associate

Between Historical Captivity and Mythic Freedom: U.S. and Mexican Exceptionalism’s Place in Contemporary Border Literature

Leonardo Cardoso, School of Performance, Visualization, & Fine Arts | Faculty Research Fellow

Presidential Remarks, Criminal Probes, and Political Crises in Contemporary Brazil

Rachel Lim, History | ACES Fellow

Itinerant Belonging: Korean Diasporic Migration to and from Mexico

Cinthya Salazar, Educational Adm. & Human Resources Development | Faculty Research Fellow

Where do I go from here? Examining the Transition of Graduating Undocumented College Students

OVERVIEW OF GRANTS & AWARDS

$363,658 Total Funding Awarded

Program Grants

Research Support Grants

IMPACT

“The fellowship gave me some much needed time to catch up on my own research and finish off some of the many projects I have begun over the previous several years but did not have a chance to finish… Altogether, the Glasscock Fellowship was crucial in allowing me to build the momentum that made it possible to complete and send out thirteen articles for publication and complete a rough draft

of my book manuscript within one academic year. This has been an immensely productive and rewarding time for me as a scholar, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity it offered me to catch up on and finish off so many different strands of my research in order to share it with the wider public.

I am deeply grateful for the Glasscock Center’s support; this Publication Support Grant enabled me to excel and complete my book in a timely fashion. Thank you.

- Dr. Heidi Craig Publication Support Grant

Because of the funding we received, we were able to help attract student scholars from a wide array of backgrounds and communicative expertise.

- Nance Heise Notable Lecture Grant

- Dr. Evan Haefeli Internal Faculty Residential Fellowship

This fellowship made it possible for me to complete my dissertation in a short timeline. I was able to dedicate my time fully to my dissertation and was able to complete all the writing required during this semester. In addition, the office space facilitated a productive, quiet work environment. I am so grateful for this fellowship. It truly made a positive impact on the final stages of my dissertation.

- Victoria Green Graduate Residential Fellowship

Glasscock funding was crucial to the success of this event... It gave our students and faculty an opportunity to listen to new research on border issues normally not covered on this side of the US-Mexican borderlands.

- Dr. Sonia Hernández Symposium and Small Conference Grant

This program offered a unique opportunity to bring in a scholar not only to give a public lecture, but created the space for faculty and students to consult with and learn from him in different and varied ways. The time of covid-19 really interrupted regular academic networking and collabo -

ration opportunities. The chance to bring in a well-known scholar and allow diverse groups people to interact with him in formal and informal ways was a real gift.

- Dr. Heidi Campbell Faculty sponsor for Dr. Scott Thumma’s Short-Term Visiting Fellowship

INTERNAL RESIDENTIAL FELLOWS FACULTY

Recipients of the annually awarded Internal Faculty Fellowships receive a semester-long teaching release in the fellowship year, a $1,000 research bursary, and an office in the Glasscock Center for the fellowship year.

EVAN HAEFELI Professor Department of History

CHRISTOPHER MENZEL Professor Department of Philosophy

…in the comfortable space of my office at the Center, I was able to think through the structure and content of my project — and I realized that I really needed to start writing from scratch, drawing upon old material as needed. Without the grant, I don’t believe I would have had the confidence to proceed in this way, but it proved to be rocket fuel for the project. It gave me the motivation, energy, and clarity of mind to make the progress noted and instilled great confidence that I would be able to see the project through to completion. I am deeply grateful to the GCHR for providing me with this opportunity!

- Dr. Christopher Menzel

INTERNAL RESIDENTIAL FELLOWS GRADUATE

The inaugural cohort of Glasscock Graduate Residential Fellows received a monthly stipend during their semester of residence, coverage of tuituion and fees, a $1,000 research bursary, and office space in the Glasscock Center to focus their efforts on writing their doctoral dissertations.

The financial support provided by the Glasscock Center significantly alleviated teaching burdens, enabling me to focus on my research and writing. Most importantly, it granted me the time to complete the final body chapter of my dissertation, which would have been unattainable without the fellowship this semester. This accomplishment has greatly expedited my overall progress, and as a result, I am now on track to graduate next semester instead of waiting until Spring 2024.

- Janet Cho

JANET CHO

Ph.D. Candidate

Department of English

VICTORIA GREEN

Ph.D. Candidate

Department of Philosophy

RESEARCH FELLOWS FACULTY

These fellowships are designed to address research funding needs to complete a book project, major article or series of articles, or other research project that makes an impact in the recipients’ field. Fellows receive a $5,000 research bursary.

SARAH MCNAMARA Assistant Professor Department of History

Assistant Professor Department of Educational Administration & Human Resource Development

CARA WALLIS

CINTHYA SALAZAR Associate Professor Department of Communication

This research wouldn’t have been possible without the Glasscock Center’s support. Projects like this show the power and importance of Public History. I’m proud of what this project became.

- Dr. Sarah McNamara

RESEARCH FELLOWS GRADUATE

The Glasscock Center annually funds a number of Graduate Research Fellowships at $3,000 each. The fellowships support research that will directly advance the student’s doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis, although the Glasscock Center will consider proposals for research at any stage.

VICTORIA GREEN

Ph.D.

Candidate

Department

of Philosophy

Not only did [the fellowship] allow me to improve my research, it also allowed me to connect with scholars I would not have been able to connect with otherwise. I also enjoyed being able to present my work as part of the Glasscock Colloquium series.

- Brandon Wadlington

BRANDON WADLINGTON

Ph.D.

Candidate

Department

of Philosophy

SHORT-TERM VISITING FELLOWS

The Glasscock Center Short-Term Visiting Fellowships bring distinguished scholars, artists, and performers to Texas A&M University. Both individuals and groups of the Texas A&M faculty may nominate Visiting Fellows who will contribute to the Glasscock Center’s mission to foster and celebrate the humanities and humanities research at Texas A&M.

Fellows’ visits typically last five days, during which they are expected to give a public presentation of their work as well as engage with faculty and students via such activities as workshops and classroom visits.

SCOTT THUMMA

Professor of Sociology of Religion and director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research

Nominator: Heidi Campbell, Professor Communication & Journalism

Reimagining Religious Community, Institutions and the State of Christianity in a Post Pandemic World

Public lecture | March 8, 2023

Dr. Thumma was in residence at Texas A&M during the week of March 6, 2023.

NICHOLAS DE GENOVA EDUARDO CADAVA

Professor and Chair of the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Houston

Nominator: Sergio Lemus, Assistant Professor Anthropology

Human Mobility and the Vexations of Anthropology: Reflections on Racial Capitalism, Migrant Labor, Borders, and Global Space

Public lecture | March 23, 2023

Dr. De Genova was in residence at Texas A&M during the week of March 20, 2023.

Philip Mayhew Professor of English at Princeton University

Nominator: Alberto Moreiras, Professor Global Languages & Cultures

“Training History to Read”: Fazal Sheikh’s The Erasure Trilogy

Public lecture | April 20, 2023

Dr. Cadava was in residence at Texas A&M during the week of April 17, 2023.

UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER

The program, supported by the Glasscock Center, the University Writing Center, and LAUNCH

Undergraduate Research, expands undergraduate research in the humanities by providing an intensive summer research experience in which students are introduced to important research questions, trained in methods of research and analysis, and guided in the development of critical thinking, independent learning, and communications skills.

Summer scholars enroll in a two-week intensive seminar taught by their respective Faculty Directors and attend 8 weeks of writing workshops created especially for this program through the University Writing Center.

Students then develop individual research thesis proposals to the LAUNCH Undergraduate Research Scholars thesis program for projects that they will complete during the academic year under the guidance of their Faculty Director. Participation in UGSS sharpens students’ research and writing skills, positioning them for competitive applications for graduate and professional school.

Three seminars were held in the 2023 summer session.

SCHOLARS PROGRAM

ETHICS AND POLITICS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming human existence. It predicts what will draw our interest (Netflix and Amazon), analyzes more data faster than humans can (financial and x-ray analysis), and even generates text, images, and code (ChatGPT, DALL-E, GitHub Copilot). Yet not all predict a new “Golden Age.” Its tremendous promises are accompanied by serious concerns over social disruption, privacy, deception, crime, and even the “obsolescence” of humans. Some argue that the predicted impact is exaggerated and the present is “peak hype.” This seminar subjected AI to a critical analysis. The cohort sought to understand how different kinds of AI work in order to anticipate and evaluate its social, ethical, epistemic, and legal implications. Possible lines of research include exploring practical concerns—e.g., ethics of the principles behind its design, when and how to use and regulate it responsibly—as well as its effect on the human condition.

FACULTY DIRECTOR

Glen Miller

Instructional Associate Professor | Philosophy

SCHOLARS

Maddy Kennedy | SEAL/University Studies

Uma Sarkar | Computer Science

UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER

THE HISTORICAL IS PERSONAL

This seminar emerged from the concept that history is personal. In this course, students learned how to conduct research and write academically-sound scholarship that questions the people and places they hold most dear. Whether a student wished to examine and research histories of community and nation, politics and law, or civil rights and social movements, this seminar provided students the flexibility to blaze their own trails as they gave voice and scholarly attention to lives and moments that are often overlooked. During two weeks of immersive instruction, students read histories of Latinx, immigration, labor, women, gender, and sexuality as they dove into historical research methods such as archival research and oral history methodology.

FACULTY DIRECTOR

Sarah McNamara Assistant Professor | History

SCHOLARS

Madison Black | History

Miriam Chen | History

Camila

Isabel Espinosa | Political Science

Jacqueline Juarez | International Studies

Avery Jaclyn Rodriguez | Philosophy

SCHOLARS PROGRAM

THE RIGHT TO VOTE

Universal adult suffrage has been the exception rather than the rule in American history. The questions of who can vote and how they can vote have long been debated. Race and sex are only two of a long list of characteristics that have determined Americans’ access to the ballot. In this seminar, the cohort examined the right to vote from both historical and philosophical perspectives. They traced the various expansions and restrictions of the right to vote over the course of American history and evaluated historical arguments and justifications for granting, denying, making easier, and making harder the ability to vote. In addition, they examined questions surrounding the current state of voting rights in the United States. What is the value of a right to vote? Who remains excluded, how, and why? And what does it say about the state of our democracy when so many Americans today feel that their vote does not matter?

FACULTY DIRECTORS

Linda Radzik Professor | Philosophy

Katherine Unterman

Associate Professor | History

SCHOLARS

America Jimenez | Philosophy

Ty Pargmann | History

Colin Peek | International Studies

Diego Sepulveda-Allen | Philosophy

Cameron Smelser | Political Science

CULTURAL ENRICHMENT & CAMPUS DIVERSITY ACTIVITIES

The purpose of this grant is to enhance the campus climate by nurturing collegiality, diversity, pluralism and the uniqueness of individuals through a range of activities. The grant is open to applicants across the university, including undergraduate student organizations.

We Talk: Black Women Poetry

February 24, 2023

Organized by: Alexa Hurtado | Global Languages & Cultures

Cultural Leadership Festival

February 23, 2023

Organized by: Olivia Braden | MSC ALOT

Homeward to My Heritage: Speech Contest

November 30, 2022

Organized by: Christiana Salone | MSC WBAC

FUNDED EVENTS

SYMPOSIA & SMALL CONFERENCES

The Glasscock Center supports the humanities at Texas A&M University by providing support for symposia and small conferences that showcase and promote scholarship and research in the humanities.

Shared Histories in the Borderlands

Historias Compartidas en una Región Fronteriza

November 16-17, 2022

Organized by: Sonia Hernández | History

13th Annual HGSO Conference: Between Conflict and Connection

February 17, 2023

Organized by: Regan Murr | History; the History Graduate Student Organization

The HGSO conference witnessed one of its largest turnouts, with an estimated 130 attendees. It served as a means of recruiting new graduate students, provided a forum for scholarly discussion and debate, and received praise from attendees across the nation.

- Regan Murr

The Marvelous Diversity of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Darcie Little Badger, Keynote Address

April 14, 2023

Organized by: Rich Cooper | English

OTHER GRANTS & AWARDS

BUTTRILL ENDOWED FUND FOR ETHICS

With the goal of fostering discussion in a field of inquiry he valued, Carrol O. Buttrill ’38 established a fund that promotes ongoing investigations into ethical questions of significance to the Texas A&M community. This spring, the Glasscock Center partnered with the Department of Philosophy to enhance research as well as graduate and undergraduate student success in the field of ethics. The inaugural Mary Jane and Carrol O. Buttrill ’38 Graduate Summer Research Award was awarded as the first phase of advancing the fund’s objective.

Mary Jane and Carrol O. Buttrill ’38 Graduate Summer Research Award

Pak Him “Ethan” Lai, Ph.D. Candidate | Philosophy

Participating in:

VDP Summer School 2023: Ethics and Inclusivity

The Sixteenth Cologne Summer School in Philosophy

MELBERN G. GLASSCOCK UNDERGRADUATE HISTORY RESEARCH PAPER PRIZE

The Glasscock Center partnered with the Department of History to award the inaugural prizes for exceptional research papers written by undergraduate History majors. The top 3 awardees receive a cash prize.

First Place

Lauren Currie

Polio, Disability Rights, and the ADA: A Rolling Movement by Polio Survivors for Accessibility and Basic Civil Rights

HIST 481 with Dr. Katherine Unterman

Runners-Up

Miriam Chen

Anna May Wong: Performances of Chinese American Identity, Perception, and Representation in Hollywood

HIST 481 with Dr. Sarah McNamara

Meredith Sheets

Female Integration into Rodeo and the Changing Roles of Women: How the Cowgirl Got Her Fame

HIST 481 with Dr. Jason Parker

PUBLICATION SUPPORT GRANT

The Glasscock Center offers awards of $1,500 to support the costs of publishing a humanities-related manuscript. This grant is intended to cover costs for substantive enhancements to the manuscript which are required for publication, such as graphics, maps, tables, permissions, figures, and translation costs.

Jordan Pratt

Ph.D. Candidate | Anthropology

Current Perspectives on Stemmed and Fluted Technologies in the American Far West

Cinthya Salazar

Assistant Professor | Educational Adm. & Human Resource Development

Empowered and Educated: How an Immigration Service-Learning Course Influenced Students’ Paths Toward Critical Consciousness

Roger Reese

Professor | History

Why Stalin’s Soldiers Fought: The Red Army’s Military Effectiveness in World War II

Marcelo López-Dinardi

Assistant Professor | Architecture

Architecture from Public to Commons

Weiling He

Associate Professor | Architecture

Space Within and Around: Visual Abstraction, Linguistic Analogy, and the Return to the Origin

Bryce Henson

Assistant Professor | Communication & Journalism

Emergent Quilombos: Black Life and Diasporic Cultures in Brazil

Don Deere

Assistant Professor | Philosophy

Genealogía y colonialidad en La hybris del punto cero

HUMANITIES WORKING GROUPS

The Glasscock Center encourages innovative interdisciplinary research and scholarship by providing up to $1,500 in annually renewable support to self-constituted groups of faculty and students engaged in exploration of thematically-related research questions in the humanities. Participants share the goal of stimulating intellectual exchange through discussion, writing, film screenings, work-in-progress presentations, field trips, readings, and other activities that further their inquiries into common scholarly concerns.

Care Studies

Convenors:

Allegra Midgette | Psychological & Brain Sciences

Joan Wolf | Sociology and Women’s & Gender Studies

Caribbean and Atlantic Studies

Convenor:

Evan Haefeli | History

Community Food Security and Food Justice

Convenor:

Sarah N. Gatson | Sociology

Critical Childhood Studies

Convenors:

Charles Carlson | Economic Development & Community Impact

David Anderson | Teaching, Learning & Culture

Early Modern Studies

Convenors:

Dorothy Todd & Lindsey Jones | English

Immigration, Migration, and Ethnicity

Convenors:

Sophia Rouse & Patrick Grigsby | History

Indigenous Studies

Convenor:

Angela Pulley Hudson | History

Language Matters

Convenor:

María Irene Moyna | Global Languages & Cultures

Latinx Cultural Production

Convenors:

Rodrigo de los Santos| Global Languages & Cultures

Raul Carrillo | Philosophy

Latinx Studies

Convenor:

Arely Herrera | Communication & Journalism

Law and Society

Convenor:

Katherine Unterman | History

Medieval Studies

Convenors:

Katayoun Torabi & Noah Peterson | English

New Modern British Studies

Convenors:

Shawna Ross & Janet Cho | English

Science and Technology

Convenors:

Martin Peterson | Philosophy

Patricia Thornton | Sociology

Andrew Morriss | International Affairs

Science Fiction Studies

Convenors:

Jeremy Brett | University Libraries

Francesca Marini | Performance, Viz. & Fine Arts

Apostolos Vasilakis | English

Social, Cultural, and Political Theory

Convenors:

Daniel Conway & Firooz Jafari | Philosophy

South Asia Studies

Convenors:

Jyotsna Vaid | Psychological & Brain Sciences

Gisele Cardoso de Lemos | Honors Program

Teaching Matters

Convenors:

Sonia Hernández & Kaitlyn Ross | History

Literacy Studies

Convenors:

R. Malatesha Joshi, Emily Cantrell, & Kay Wijekumar |

Teaching, Learning & Culture

War, Violence and Society

Convenors: Adam Seipp & Casey Ellisen | History

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2023-2024

The Humanities and the Anthropocene

Adam Rosenthal, Lead Faculty

New Glasscock Research Initiative

The Ethics of Plurality: Art, Interpretation, and Truth

Haley Burke

Graduate Research Fellow

Who Claims that Climate Change is a Religion and Why?

Robin Veldman

Internal Faculty Residential Fellow

The Social Death of the Environment in Nigeria

Omolade Adunbi

Short-Term Visiting Fellow

Identity Politics and Ethnic Pandering in South Texas

Diego Sepulveda-Allen

Undergraduate Summer Scholar

Literary Representations of the Haitian Independence Debt

Christopher Bonner

National Humanities Center Summer

Residential Fellow

Global Pneumatics

Susanneh Bieber

Faculty Research Fellow

Climate Change

Energy Humanities and the Global South

Carmela Garritano, Lead Faculty Emerging Research Cluster

Pin-Wen Chen Graduate Arrival Fellow

Shipwrecks in the Seas Around Taiwan

Chaitanya Lakkimsetti Internal Faculty Residential Fellow

Rape Vigilantism, State Violence, and Impunity in Contemporary India

Anand Datla Graduate Research Fellow

Deconstructing Water Governance Through Lived Experiences

Tristan Krause Graduate Research Fellow

The Search for the Missing and the American Encounter with Nazi Crimes

Elizabeth Carlino Graduate Research Fellow

Policy and Water Rights in South Africa