FALL 2015
newsletter
Intersections 2015-16
DIRECTOR’S LETTER by Antoinette Burton
IPRH is on the move, literally and figuratively. By the time you read this annual newsletter, we will (hopefully!) have relocated from the 805 W. Pennsylvania Avenue building to our new location on the fourth floor of the Levis Faculty Center, at 919 W. Illinois. Our new premises are part of a larger re-design of that space
of Utah. An accomplished scholar of landscape and architectural
and represent a huge improvement over our old precincts,
history, Dianne brought her signal intelligence and her ambitious
which, while ample, have been insufficient to our needs for
vision for the humanities to bear on all aspects of IPRH’s
quite some time. Taking up space in Levis means that we will
operations. I won’t rehearse her many accomplishments here. But
be more centrally located—closer to the heart of campus life,
we must acknowledge that under Dianne’s leadership IPRH has
where humanities faculty, students, and the vibrant work they do
been doing more than surviving in tough times: It has been at the
belong. We are also shifting in other ways, namely from our home
heart of institutional conversations at all levels about the future
in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to the Office of the Vice
of humanistic inquiry at Illinois. As she said so memorably in her
Chancellor for Research. There we join a host of other campus
interview for the job seven years ago, Dianne is a student of place
research units—like the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science
and the built environment: She sees things structurally, spatially,
and Technology and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic
and she is as aware of what is invisible or occluded as she is of
Biology—in a move that signals the centrality of humanities
what extends and protrudes. This training and the intellectual
research and humanities faculty, wherever they reside, to the
commitments it fostered in her own work and career enabled
mission of the University of Illinois. Our relocation reflects larger
her to locate IPRH not just at the intersection of the arts and
ambitions for humanities at Illinois; for more information see
humanities but at the very interstices of the restructuring going
the report of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Working Group
on today at one of the nation’s leading public universities.
at http://go.illinois.edu/humanities_report. Meanwhile, we thank LAS Dean Barb Wilson for her ongoing support and Vice Chancellor for Research Peter Schiffer for his assistance in making this organizational change happen.
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These are big shoes to fill. As I take up my position as interim director this year, I am frankly amazed by what Dianne has built, and I am genuinely excited about the intellectual and programmatic work that IPRH is doing, both on campus and in
As with so much else that has gone on at IPRH in recent years,
a variety of national conversations about the fate of humanities
these moves are in large part a consequence of the thoughtful
research and teaching in the 21st century. The pages that follow
stewardship of Dianne Harris, who recently left her director job to
are brimming with evidence of the energy and boldness of Illinois
become the Dean of the College of Humanities at the University
students and faculty, who persevere with their world-class
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
iprh.illinois.edu
scholarship and practice at a very challenging moment in
Keep an eye peeled as well for some new ventures: There
the history of Illinois. Clearly the nature and character of the
will be several events organized around the rubric Questions
humanities as we have understood that domain is changing
in Common@Illinois and Critical Digital Humanities@
under the pressure of local, regional, national, and global
Illinois. And in addition to our ongoing work with the Mellon
forces. The ideas and innovations we witness every day in
Foundation-funded Humanities Without Walls consortium,
the labor of our humanities colleagues are both responses to
we will be launching another initiative, also generously
these challenges and calls to be vigilant about the framing of
funded by Mellon, called Emerging Areas in the Humanities
the questions themselves. In addition to the deep knowledge
(see page 5). The first related research group, in Bio-
and scholarly habits of mind we cultivate on a daily basis,
Humanities, launches in fall 2016 and will be led by Professor
this watchfulness, and the mindfulness it requires, is one
Samthana Frost (Gender and Women’s Studies and Political
of the many contributions we make to the vibrancy of
Science), whose intellectual leadership at the intersection of
intellectual, cultural, social, and political life at Illinois.
biological science and humanities research is sure to make
Meanwhile, I am thrilled by all the intellectual activity that
this project the talk of the campus, and beyond.
this IPRH newsletter archives. As to the future, we anticipate
Though I have just stepped into the role of interim director,
a particularly exciting year of events and programming in
I am already grateful for the work Nancy Castro, Stephanie
the context of our 2015–16 theme, “Intersections.” Highlights
Uebelhoer, Kelly Delahanty, and Jason Mierek do every day
include a reading by the poet, musician, and author Joy
to make IPRH and its many projects run so well. Our thanks,
Harjo in September—our first big kickoff event of the year.
too, to Anita Chan for organizing a lively set of blog posts last
We are hosting the chairman of the National Endowment
year (these can be found at iprh.wordpress.com). Do read on
of the Humanities, William “Bro” Adams, on his campus
to see what we have been up to, and keep abreast of current
visit in October, part of our participation in the NEH’s 50th
events at IPRH through our website and on Twitter. But
anniversary celebrations across the country. And in late
please also come and see us in our new quarters! My door is
spring, we look forward to a presentation by Juan Felipe
always open.
Herrera, recently named the Poet Laureate of the United States. For a more complete list of upcoming events, please see our calendar on pages 8–9.
Annual Theme 2016–17: PUBLICS IPRH is pleased to announce that the theme for the 2016–17 IPRH Fellowship year will be “Publics.” Ideas about the public (for example, as a constituted body, as an abstract idea, as a spatial realm, as a collective “audience” of discourse or performance) are in constant flux, and in constant circulation. Who is “the public?” How is a public, or how are multiple publics, defined, articulated, shaped, enacted? How is the public domain configured, and how has the meaning of public domain shifted according to the demands of the market and a range of other forces? Who belongs in public space, and whither the public sphere? What rights define public life in various places and times? How is public
How is a public, or how are multiple publics, defined, articulated, shaped, enacted?
life defined in relationship to its opposite? How has the notion of the public changed over time? What constitutes acceptable forms of public life now and in the past? How are ideas about the public tied to various notions of citizenship and belonging, or exclusion and discrimination? How may changing modes of circulation shape the social space of discursive publics? How are various forms of social media shifting ideas about what constitutes public life, and public performance? And who is the “public” we imagine when we consider the “public humanities”? IPRH welcomes applications from all disciplines and departments with an interest in humanities and humanities-inflected research. We invite applications from faculty and graduate students that focus on any aspect of “Publics.” The theme also provides an opportunity for artists to consider the relevance of “Publics” in their creative practice. IPRH is especially interested in fostering interdisciplinary work.
Applications are due December 4, 2015. iprh.illinois.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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The past year has been filled with accomplishments for establishing the Humanities Without Walls consortium. We built the administrative infrastructure for the consortium and created a YouTube channel to disseminate videos of our August and September 2015 Global Midwest workshop presentations. In fall 2015, video highlights from the summer Pre-Doctoral Workshops will also be available there. A team of three prominent humanists and scholars invited from outside the consortium reviewed a pool of 47 Global Midwest proposals and selected 14 projects for funding. These cover a breadth of topics and proposed outcomes, including a documentary film about Hmong immigrants, an oral history of Muslims in the Midwest, a journal of contemporary art in the Midwest, and a collective of performing artists who seek to incubate collaborative research. The full list of awarded projects may be found on our website. Applications for the second round of Global Midwest funding will be due October 15, 2015. The response to our call for applications for the Pre-Doctoral Summer Workshops was equally robust. Following internal competitions on their own campuses, our 15 partner institutions forwarded a total of 51 pre-doctoral fellowship nominees for consortial review. From these, a cohort of 30 Pre-Doctoral Fellows were chosen to participate in the first round of Pre-Doctoral Workshops held in Chicago this summer. Our partners at the Chicago Humanities Festival put together a comprehensive, educational, transformative, and exciting schedule for this summer’s workshop. To see this schedule and a list of the summer 2015 HWW Pre-doctoral Workshop Fellows, please visit our website. It has been an exciting and successful year for this unprecedented cross-institutional experiment in humanities collaboration. We gratefully acknowledge our partners across the consortium, as well as our University of Illinois collaborators at the Office of Sponsored Projects and Grants & Contracts; Janelle Weatherford (Office of Foundation Relations); and Suzi Harmon, Paula-Baucum-Williams, J. Stephen Downie, and Derek Faux at the Graduate School of Library and information Science. We remain particularly grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the funding that makes this project possible.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HUMANITIES WITHOUT WALLS CONSORTIUM AND THESE INITIATIVES, AND TO VIEW VIDEOS OF PAST EVENTS, PLEASE VISIT:
humanitieswithoutwalls.illinois.edu.
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
iprh.illinois.edu
ANDREW W. MELLON FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM: EMERGING AREAS IN THE HUMANITIES Fellowships to support work in Bio-Humanities, Environmental Humanities, and Legal Humanities. In January 2015, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a grant of $2,050,000 to IPRH to support the development of emerging areas in the humanities. The funds will be used to support fellowships for Illinois faculty and graduate students, and undergraduate interns. The grant also provides support to bring post-doctoral fellows to the university, creating robust research groups in three areas: Bio-Humanities, Environmental Humanities, and Legal Humanities. These complex areas of inquiry require applications of historical, literary, and visual thinking to advance knowledge across cultures and time. These fellowships will permit both artists and humanists to engage in research that more firmly links them to studies of the biological/medical world, in-depth intellectual involvement with ecological and environmental issues, and the intersection of the humanities with the law.
appointed through competitive processes in the lead up to the 2016–17 academic year. Working together, these inter-generational and multi-disciplinary groups of scholars and students will form new intellectual partnerships that bridge traditionally understood areas of expertise. The grant provides opportunities for the research groups to engage with the exceptional resources of our campus to advance research and pedagogical practices in the three defined areas, and to contribute through their collaborative endeavors to the formation and broader understanding of these trans-disciplinary fields in the humanities and arts. These groups will also serve as models for cross-generational collaborations, and will create new curricular opportunities for undergraduates on the Illinois campus to engage in these areas of the humanities inquiry through the creation of undergraduate certificate programs.
The new initiative will launch in the fall of 2016. The first cohort of fellows and interns will be
Learn more about these fellowships at iprh.illinois.edu/fellowships/mellon.
Bio-Humanities Bio-Humanities is an emerging field distinguished by its critical and creative appropriation of findings in the biological sciences for the purpose of reimagining and reconfiguring our sense of human being and of the meaning and significance of human undertakings. To learn more about post-doctoral fellowships, predoctoral fellowships, and undergraduate internships in the IPRH-Mellon Bio-Humanities Research Group, visit iprh.illinois.edu/fellowships/mellon.
Mellon Faculty Fellow in Bio-Humanities, 2015–18
Samantha Frost
To learn more about Professor Samantha Frost, Mellon Faculty Fellow and director of the Bio-Humanities Research Group visit iprh.illinois.edu/people/fellows.html.
Gender and Women’s Studies and Political Science
iprh.illinois.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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IPRH Faculty Fellows Ikuko Asaka History “Geographies of Black Freedom: Climate, Intimacy, and Empire in the Anglo-American World, 1775–1879”
Mimi Nguyen Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies
Eric Calderwood
“The Promise of Beauty”
Comparative and World Literature “‘The Daughter of Granada and Fez’: Al-Andalus in Spanish Colonial Morocco (1859–1956)”
Anita Chan Media and Cinema Studies and Institute of Communications Research “Civic Technoscience, Digital Pedagogies, and Intersectional Research Practice Beyond Innovation Centers”
Rana Hogarth
John Randolph History “When I Served the Post as a Coachman: Empire and Enlightenment in Russia’s Eighteenth Century”
Maria Todorova History “Life in the Times of Utopia: The Lost World of Early Socialists at Europe’s Margins”
History “Blackness in Transit: Medicine and the Making of Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780–1840”
2015 IPRHRagdale Fellow
IPRH-Ragdale Residential Creative Fellowships
Alex Shakar
IPRH is pleased to announce a new fellowship opportunity at Ragdale for Illinois tenure-track and tenured faculty who hold full-time positions in Creative Writing, Art + Design, Music, Dance, Theatre, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture. Ragdale is a non-profit artists’ community in Lake Forest, Illinois, that offers more than 150 residencies and fellowships annually. Ragdale is one of the largest interdisciplinary artists’ communities in the country; each session provides 13 artists-in-residence with uninterrupted time for their work in a supportive environment.
Creative Writing, English
For more information about this fellowship, including eligibility and application guidelines, visit iprh.illinois.edu/fellowships/ragdale.html.
IPRH-Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellows
Chunghao Pio Kuo
Jeannie Shinozuka
Nili Belkind
(Ph.D., Chinese History, New York University, 2013), “Animal Matters: Epidemic Diseases, Public Hygiene, and Food Safety in China (1700–1900)”
(Ph.D., History, University of Minnesota, 2009), “Biotic Borderlands: Constituting Race in Transnational Public Health and Agriculture, 1880–1945”
(Ph.D., Ethnomusicology, Columbia University, 2014), “Music in Conflict: Palestine, Israel and the Politics of Cultural Production”
Graduate Student Fellows
John Musser English “Radiant Divas: In Pursuit of the Queer Sublime”
S. Moon Cassinelli English
Stephanie Rieder
“‘We are Here Because You were There’: Kinship and Loss in 20th- and 21stCentury Korean American Narratives”
IPRH-Nicholson Fellow*
Sociology “Missions of Biomedicine: Transnational Conflicts of Morality, Technology, and Care”
Bryce Henson Institute of Communications Research
Zachary Sell
“Produsing Diaspora: Cultural Politics of Race and Hip-Hop in Salvador da Bahia”
History “Slavery Beyond Slavery: The American South, British Imperialism, and the Circuits of Capital, 1833–1873”
Milos Jovanovic History
Devin Smart
“Bourgeois Balkans: World-building in Belgrade and Sofia (1840–1912)”
*
IPRH-Nicholson Fellow*
History “Exchanging Meals: Capitalism, Labor Migration, and Food History in Kenya since the Nineteenth Century”
Through the generous support of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) and the Nicholson Endowment Fund, two of the graduate fellowship recipients have been designated as IPRH-Nicholson Fellows. The Nicholson Endowment is a gift of Grace W. Nicholson (1906–1998), who pursued undergraduate studies in LAS, and Professor Emeritus John A. Nicholson (1891–1986), a faculty member in the Philosophy Department at Illinois for 33 years. The Nicholson Endowment, which was established in 1999, provides support for the academic programs in LAS and excellence in the study of the humanities on campus.
iprh.illinois.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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UPCOMING EVENTS AND DEADLINES September
9 IPRH Opening Reception
16 INTERSECTIONS–Creative Writers Showcase: Reading by JOY HARJO
A lecture by Gregg Lambert (English, Syracuse) with respondents: Nancy Abelmann (Associate Vice Chancellor for Research - Humanities, Arts, & Related Fields), Jonathan Inda (Latina/Latino Studies), Mark Steinberg (History)
(Creative Writing, English), with Gabriel Solis (Musicology)
21 NEH 50–Questions in Common @Illinois: “What Is the Work of Scholarly Expertise in a Rapidly Changing World?” A panel discussion with Carla Cáceres (Director, School of Integrative Biology; Animal Biology), Waïl S. Hassan (Director, Center for Translation Studies; Comparative and World Literature / English), Craig Koslofsky (History), Ruby Mendenhall (Sociology / African American Studies), and Renée Trilling (English)
October
1 Critical Digital Humanities@ Illinois: Women in Print, ValueAdded E-books, and New Digital Collaborations A panel discussion with Paul Arroyo (U of I Press), Valerie Hotchkiss, (Editor -in-chief; Rare Book and Manuscript Library), Chloe Ottenhoff (Library), John Randolph (History), and Brad Tober (Graphic Design, Art + Design) Co-sponsored by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Reception to follow, hosted by RBML and the University of Illinois Press.
7 Critical Digital Humanities@ Illinois: Scholarly Commons Brown Bag Workshop “Teaching with Digital Humanities,” led by Harriett Green (English / Digital Humanities Librarian) Co-sponsored by the Scholarly Commons of the University Library.
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
iprh.illinois.edu
15 NEH 50–Questions in Common@Illinois: “Is the Humanities a Collaborative Enterprise?”
15 IPRH-Ragdale Residential Creative Fellowship application deadline
29 NEH 50: Public Address by WILLIAM ADAMS (Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities). Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Spurlock Museum. A reception will follow the lecture.
November
1 Lecture by CARA FINNEGAN (Communication). “A Presidency in Pictures.” Co-sponsored by the Chicago Humanities Festival. See page 10 for more information.
6 Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowships in BioHumanities application deadline 12 INTERSECTIONS: Screening of The Search for General Tso Followed by a discussion with filmmaker Ian Cheney and Martin Manalansan (Asian American Studies / Anthropology) Co-sponsored by Asian American Studies, East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the Spurlock Museum.
Adams
Harjo Herrera
For full event information, please visit iprh.illinois.edu. For other For full event information, humanities and arts events on the U of I campus, please check the please visit iprh.illinois.edu. Campus Humanities Calendar in our website’s News & Events section.
December
January
15 Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellowships in BioHumanities application deadline
21 Grand Challenge Learning: Piloting Interdisciplinary Teaching
4 IPRH Campus Fellowships application deadline
April
March
1 Mellon Undergraduate Internship in Bio-Humanities application deadline
8 INTERSECTIONS: Lecture by MELISSA E. SANCHEZ
8 IPRH Research Clusters application deadline
11 Lecture by Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow JEANNIE SHINOZUKA
22 Lecture by Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow CHUNGHAO PIO KUO
With respondent James Watson (Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society / Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, Harvard University) Date to be determined.
10 Critical Digital Humanities@ Illinois: Scholarly Commons Brown Bag Workshop
24 NEH 50–Questions in Common@Illinois: What Do You See When You See a Cell Phone?
With respondent Sharon Traweek (History and Gender Studies, UCLA)
“Text Analysis Methods and Tools,” led by Eleanor Dickson (Visiting HathiTrust Research Center Digital Humanities Specialist) Co-sponsored by the Scholarly Commons of the University Library.
15 Prizes for Research in the Humanities application deadline
A panel discussion with Lauren Goodlad (Director, Grand Challenge Learning Pilot; Office of the Provost / English), Jamie Jones (English), Ruby Mendenhall (Sociology / African American Studies), Terri Weissman (Art History, Art +Design)
February
28 INTERSECTIONS: Reading by U.S. Poet Laureate JUAN FELIPE HERRERA Co-sponsored by the Chancellor’s Inclusive Illinois Lecture Series, the Creative Writing Carr Lecture Series, and the Departments of English and Latina/Latino Studies.
May
2 IPRH Prizes for Research Ceremony and Reception
(English, University of Pennsylvania) “Erotic Accountability in John Donne’s Lyrics”
iprh.illinois.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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IPRH AT THE CHICAGO HUMANITIES FESTIVAL 2015 THEME
Photo by Della Perrone
Tickets go on sale September 8 to CHF members, and September 14 to the general public. The full schedule and ticket details can be found at www.chicagohumanities.org. IPRH is honored to partner with the Chicago Humanities Festival to co-sponsor the following presentation by Illinois professor Cara Finnegan.
HOTO CREDIT for headshot: Della Perrone Cara Finnegan is an award-winning writer, teacher, and historian whose work explores the role of photography as a tool for public life. An Associate Professor of Communication and Conrad Humanities Professorial Scholar at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, she is the author of Making Photography Matter: A Viewer’s History from the Civil War to the Great Depression (Illinois, 2015) and Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs (Smithsonian, 2003). Her ideas about photography have appeared in a variety of popular media outlets, including Chicago Public Radio’s “Odyssey.”
A Presidency in Pictures Sunday, November 1
1:00 p.m. | Art Institute of Chicago | 111 S Michigan Ave | Rubloff Auditorium The Obama White House regularly uses Flickr and other social media sites to disseminate intimate snapshots in real time, shifting the relationship between photography and the broader image of a US presidency. This careful attention to images—and the technology used to share them—has a long political history. From Abraham Lincoln to today, pictures of the presidency provide a compelling lens for examining the history of the medium. Drawing on her work in progress, The Camera Politic: American Presidents and the History of Photography from the Daguerreotype to the Digital Revolution, Cara Finnegan of the University of Illinois explores photography’s role in shaping American public life and the power of its presidency.
2015–16 Research Clusters
The IPRH Research Clusters initiative enables faculty and graduate students in the humanities and arts from the University of Illinois campus to develop questions or subjects of inquiry that require or would be enhanced by collaborative work. Borders and Migration in the Americas Gilberto Rosas (Anthropology and Latina/Latino Studies) Mireya Loza (History and Latina/Latino Studies) Indigenous Languages in Diaspora Jenny Davis (American Indian Studies) Ryan Shosted (Linguistics) New Directions in Queer Studies Martin Manalansan (Anthropology and Asian American Studies) Chantal Nadeau (Gender and Women’s Studies) Siobhan Somerville (English and Gender and Women’s Studies) Richard Rodríguez (English and Latina/Latino Studies) Public History and Student Research Daniel Gilbert (School of Labor and Employment Relations) Kathryn Oberdeck (History)
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Recovering Prairie Futures: Midwestern Innovation and Inter-disciplinary Digital Developments Anita Say Chan (Media & Cinema Studies Department and Institute of Communications Research) Michael Twidale (Graduate School of Library & Information Science) Youth in Creative Cities (“Imagining America” Cluster) Tyler Denmead (Art Education) Jennifer O’Connor (Art Education and Clinical Experience)
For full descriptions of this year’s research clusters, visit iprh.illiniois.edu.
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THE YEAR IN REVIEW 5
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This past year was an exciting one for IPRH. Craig Williams delivered the Fifth Annual IPRH Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities. Mabel Wilson and Swati Chattopadhyay spoke to us about architecture in the U.S. and India. We heard about the future of the Illinois Library from Dean of Libraries John Wilkin, and the Digital Public Library of America from its executive director Dan Cohen. Seth Denbo (AHA) and Kathleen Fitzpatrick (MLA)
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joined GSLIS’s own Maria Bonn in a discussion about the future of scholarly communications. John Paul Christy (ACLS) met with graduate students to discuss fellowships for graduate students and
Latina. Alive to debates on and off campus, we hosted panels
presented on the ACLS Public Fellows program, which provides
on academic freedom across the disciplines and on AAUP
opportunities for humanities scholars outside the academy. The
censure. We ended the year with a reading from fifth inaugural
third year of the Inside Scoop series for undergraduates was a
poet and civil engineer Richard Blanco and our annual
success, thanks to the help of Campus Honors and La Casa Cultural
Research Prize awards ceremony.
Videos of these and other IPRH events are available on our site at: iprh.illinois.edu/resources/videos. 9
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1. Craig Williams 2. John Wilkin 3. Dan Cohen 4. Mabel Wilson 5. Richard Blanco 6. Swati Chattopadhyay 7. John Paul Christy 8. Maria Bonn, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, and Seth Denbo 9.–10. Jim Hicks and Richard Blanco at IPRH Inside Scoop events with Undergraduate students 11. IPRH Director Dianne Harris and undergrad prize recipient Nicholas Millman
iprh.illinois.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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FAREWELL, DIANNE! It is with mixed feelings that IPRH bids a fond farewell to outgoing IPRH Director Dianne Harris. Dianne has dynamically served the University of Illinois in a myriad ways since joining the Urbana campus 19 years ago. Appointed IPRH Director in 2008, she is the longest-serving IPRH Director to date. Numbers cannot begin to capture the full extent of Dianne’s contribution, but to give a taste: Under her seven-year leadership, IPRH hosted more than 60 visiting speakers, sponsored a total of 107 internal and external fellows, and brought in more than $6 million in grants to support the humanities and arts at the Urbana campus and to establish a fifteen-member consortium of humanities centers across the midwest. As we begin a new chapter at our new location in the Levis Faculty Center, we look back in appreciation at where she has brought IPRH and wish her every success in her new role as Dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Utah, which she began on July 1st.
Education Justice Project The Education Justice Project (EJP) offers for-credit courses and other educational programs to men incarcerated at Danville Correctional Center, a state prison about 35 miles east of the Urbana-Champaign campus. In 2014–15, EJP was housed in IPRH’s Pennsylvania Avenue building, where it received overhead and modest financial support from IPRH. In 2014–15, EJP launched several promising new initiatives that serve individuals and families impacted by incarceration, populations sometimes referred to as the “collateral victims” of imprisonment. These projects work alongside EJP’s existing educational programs at Danville Correctional Center to further expand access to higher education, demonstrating that the benefits of college-in-prison extend far beyond the prison classroom itself. Several of these new initiatives grew from ideas first raised at alumni meetings, gatherings in Chicago of former EJP students, their loved ones, and allies that provide an important locus for networking and mutual support. These meetings are also a site of ongoing, critical discussions about criminal justice, prison reform, and the needs of returning citizens and the neighborhoods into which they are released. For instance, EJP alumni identified the need for family members who have incarcerated loved ones to receive more information about the conditions of incarceration, how to work effectively with the Department of Corrections, and related matters. In response, EJP developed the family workshop series. Through these workshops, to be offered first in Chicago and Champaign and then potentially at other locations across the state, trained facilitators will provide information and support to those coping with the incarceration of a loved one. Professor Helen Neville, head of the division of Counseling Psychology in the College of Education, is leading the training team that is working with EJP alumni and others to prepare these workshops.
The IL Re-entry Manual initiative also emerged from the alumni meetings. There is currently no comprehensive guide for individuals released from the custody of the Department of Corrections. Men and women often struggle to identify resources available to them. In August 2015, with help from members of the College of Law, EJP will release the first edition of its new re-entry manual, prepared with the assistance of formerly incarcerated people who know firsthand the needs of people returning home. This document, which will be available in paper and digital versions, will be distributed widely throughout the state. The Ripple Effect was also launched this year and marks EJP’s first program in Urbana-Champaign. It responds to local community members who urged U of I to support families who struggle with the challenges of incarceration, especially children who have incarcerated parents. A committee of community members and EJP members developed Reaching Inside Prisons with Purpose and Love—or the Ripple Effect, to suggest the reverberating impacts that strategically placed, well-designed interventions can produce. Currently, the Ripple Effect meets monthly in Champaign to experience a judgment-free zone, share a meal, and write cards and letters that EJP sends to individuals in prisons throughout the state. This year EJP also became a founding member of the Illinois Coalition of Higher Education in Prison Programs (ICHEPP). This association advocates for expanded access to higher education for incarcerated individuals throughout the state, and supports the healthy development of Illinois’ college-in-prison programs. With the possible return of Pell Grants for incarcerated students, this appears to be an area of higher education that will expand greatly in coming years.
PICTURED: EJP student speaking at national conference, at the Danville prison.
Odyssey Project valedictorian Sekani Reed at the Odyssey graduation ceremony.
The Odyssey Project IPRH is very pleased to be able to partner with the Illinois Humanities Council, Urbana Adult Education, and U of I faculty to administer the nationally renowned Odyssey Project. In 2014–15, the Odyssey Project orchestrated an impressive ninth year with the U of I. This is also the first full year that Odyssey has collaborated with Urbana Adult Education, a community based organization that serves educational and occupational needs of residents in Champaign County. The Odyssey Project has followed the Bard College Clemente Course model—offering six credits of humanities classes in Philosophy, Literature, US History, Art History, and Critical Thinking & Writing to students who fall at or near the poverty line. Instructors for 2014–15 were Dr. Dale Bauer (Director of Odyssey Project, Literature), Dr. Malaika McKee-Culpepper (Philosophy), Samuel Byndom (US History), and Adrienne Johnson (Art History). This past academic year, for the first time, our Urbana campus Odyssey Project participated in a consolidated graduation on May 23rd with the Odyssey programs throughout Illinois. More than 50 students participated in this Chicago ceremony at the National Museum of Mexican Art. Our valedictorian and student speaker was Sekani Reed, who gave an inspirational speech about her path to Odyssey and her journey to complete the program. Chris Abani, the author of Graceland, provided the keynote for the evening. The 2015–16 year ahead will mark the tenth year of this immensely successful public-engagement effort, supported in large part by the generosity of the Provost’s Office, the Illinois Humanities Council, and IPRH. We are continuing our collaboration with Urbana’s Adult Education Center to coordinate University research on education and poverty with a variety of Champaign-Urbana community programs. The tenth year will include some new plans along with the successes of the present model: continued exchange between the university and the surrounding communities, and the continued investment in community education. As importantly, we will continue to invest in life-long learning,
given that Odyssey’s students range in age from 19 to 70, and in research on community values, outreach, and education. The Odyssey Project brings the resources of a world-class university to the greater community and allows for dialogue with working-class citizens about issues of income inequality. TEACHING ODYSSEY in 2015–16 Dale Bauer: Literature (English) Samuel Byndom: US History (Education Policy, Organization and Leadership; Director of Odyssey Project & Urbana Adult Education) Adrienne Johnson: Art History (Education Policy, Organization and Leadership) Malaika McKee-Culpepper: Philosophy (African American Studies) Desiree McMillion: Critical Thinking and Writing (Education Policy, Organization and Leadership; Graduate Coordinator, Odyssey Project)
Through the Odyssey Project my…critical thinking, my self-esteem, and confidence levels have improved. —Odyssey Student, Class of 2015
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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INFORMATION Established in 1997, the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign promotes interdisciplinary study in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. IPRH serves as the primary locus for and promotes endeavors related to these fields on the University of Illinois campus and beyond. IPRH plans and hosts lectures, symposia, and panel discussions on a wide variety of topics, bringing distinguished scholars from the United States and around the world to our campus; grants fellowships to Illinois faculty and graduate students and to post-doctoral scholars to support their research and scholarly activities; provides awards that recognize excellence in humanities research on our campus; awards grants to support collaborative research; and coordinates faculty and graduate-student reading groups.
The Odyssey Project Samuel Byndom Director Inquiries: odysseyproject@illinois.edu 217-384-3530
Education Justice Project Rebecca Ginsburg Director Inquiries: info@educationjustice.net 217-300-5150
IPRH Advisory Committee 2015–16 Jonathan Ebel Religion Stephanie Hilger Germanic Languages and Literature, and Comparative and World Literature
IPRH Staff
Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi History and Sociology
Antoinette Burton Interim Director aburton@illinois.edu, 217-244-3344
Erik McDuffie African American Studies and History
Nancy Castro Associate Director ncastro@illinois.edu, 217-244-7913
Isabel Molina-Guzmán Media and Cinema Studies
Kevin Hamilton Coordinator of Digital Scholarly Communication kham@illinois.edu, 217-244-2369
Justine Murison English
and Latina/Latino Studies
Stephanie Uebelhoer Office Support Associate suebelho@illinois.edu, 217-244-3344
David O’Brien Art History D. Fairchild Ruggles Landscape Architecture
External Advisory Committee
Kelly Delahanty Communications Coordinator iprh_coordinator@mx.uillinois.edu, 217-300-2028
Jane Hays
Jason Mierek Humanities Without Walls Project Manager hww-manager@mx.uillinois.edu, 217-300-3711
Ann Merritt
Allison Holladay Business Manager holladay@illinois.edu, 217-244-0336
David Prindable
Richard Powers
Dan Whaley
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
iprh.illinois.edu
We are grateful to our donors, whose generous gifts help make our activities possible. Thank you for your investment in IPRH.
Giving to IPRH is a robust hub of humanities and arts-related activities that benefit the campus, the Champaign-Urbana area, and the broader scholarly community. Please consider making an investment in our future by making a gift of any kind to support our programs. • Donations can be made by contacting the IPRH Director at
Donations may support: • Named annual lecture
• Named lecture hall or seminar room
• Faculty or graduate- student fellowship awards
• Named award for faculty or student achievement
• Post-doctoral fellowship award in a designated area of the humanities
• Facility improvements • Creation of an endowment for IPRH
Special giving opportunity: Please consider making a gift specifically in support of our new offices and lecture hall, which are located on the fourth floor of the Levis Faculty Center. Your gift can support:
• Named lecture hall • Named seminar room
• Named IPRH office suite • Named fellows offices
• Many companies will match even double or triple your gift to the
iprh@illinois.edu or (217) 244-3344, or by calling the College of
college. Simply request and complete the Matching Gift Form from
Liberal Arts and Sciences Office of Advancement at (217) 222-
your company’s Human Resources Office, then mail it along with
7108. You can also donate online through the IPRH website at
your gift check. See if your company has a matching gift program at
iprh.illinois.edu/giving.html. The Office of Advancement can
http://www.uif.uillinois.edu/matching.
also provide information about making a multi-year pledge, naming opportunities, or planned gifts.
I’ve learned countless lessons ranging far beyond my own field. The topics covered by these events have spanned a map as large as human endeavor. —Richard Powers National-Book-Award-Winning novelist
iprh.illinois.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Levis Faculty Center, Suite 400 919 West Illinois Street Urbana, IL 61801
IPRH STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM In the context of AAUP censure, IPRH remains true to the principles of academic freedom, free speech, and shared governance that are central to the maintenance of both excellence and the pursuit of critical inquiry in university life. We continue to be committed to our mission of facilitating exchange and debate among faculty, students, and members of our community, and to our obligation to promote engaged conversations about all topics, including the most challenging and difficult issues of our time. We welcome open dialogue about the contributions that humanities research and teaching practices make to conversations about what it means to be scholars in and citizens of the contemporary world.
IPRH on the web For the most up-to-date information about IPRH, please go to our website, where you can find our detailed calendar of events, news items related to the humanities at Illinois, podcasts and video captures of past events, the IPRH Blog, guidelines about our fellowship and grant competitions, and more. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
iprh.illinois.edu
You can also contact us at: T (217)244.3344 F (217)333.9617 E-mail iprh@illinois.edu Twitter @IPRH_UIUC Facebook facebook.com/IPRH.illinois