Institute for the Humanities 2024-25 Annual Report by University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities

Report

LETTER from the director

dear friends of the Institute,

I write to you now as I conclude my inaugural year as director of the Institute for the Humanities. I am indebted to my predecessor, Peggy McCracken, who served brilliantly during her tenure as director. In her final letter to our community, published in the 2024 edition of the Annual Report, Peggy noted that she was leaving her post “in a time of intense turmoil.” Writing in the midst of a heated presidential campaign that put on daily display an array of cultural fissures that threatened to rip our national fabric, she predicted that “higher education will certainly be reshaped by current events since cornerstones of our collective project…are under siege.” Despite these dire predictions, few could have imagined just how thoroughly the political and cultural landscape has shifted in the past year. Humanities-related research, teaching, and programming face significant challenges in the current moment. The National Endowment for the Humanities is facing stark cuts to its budget that have had a rippling effect at the state and local level as well as at U-M.

In this environment, I recognize the need for a greater commitment to the humanities. Indeed, the Institute for the Humanities has long been a critically important space for interdisciplinary scholarship, programming, and exhibitions at U-M and in the larger region of Southeast Michigan. This year’s programming has emphasized the crucial importance of the humanities as a resource for addressing the most pressing concerns of our time. In the pages that follow, you will learn about the newly formed Humanities Alumni Network, the H♥ART mobile humanities project and much more. Our gallery has hosted stellar exhibitions touching on critical questions related to disability, immigration, sustainability, and Artificial Intelligence. Through our public programming and engagement initiatives, the Institute for the Humanities is committed to community outreach and engagement as a way of making our work more accessible, more legible, and more

connected to the larger community. Our undergraduate interns have brought the humanities alive in a series of dynamic programs. And, as always, our fellows have filled the halls of the institute with truly astounding and groundbreaking research and presentations.

The institute continues to emphasize the crucial importance of creative, critical engagement, driven by a spirit of open inquiry and freedom of expression.

In this way, the institute continues to emphasize the crucial importance of creative, critical engagement, driven by a spirit of open inquiry and freedom of expression. But we do not do this work alone. The staff, students, and fellows that comprise the institute have worked together in a spirit of collaboration that is further amplified by the meaningful connections that we have with other units across the campus.

I look forward to extending the institute’s mission to enhance collaborations between the humanities, the arts, and the larger university and to find new ways to work in and with the broader communities that support us. Many of the most pressing issues facing us today demand the kind of robust and generative initiatives that have long been a hallmark of the Institute for the Humanities.

Thank you for all of your support this year. And look out for an exciting slate of events next year!

Best wishes,

–Jason R. Young, director Mary Fair Croushore Professor of the Humanities

NANDI COMER SPEAKS

We kicked off fall semester with the 2024 Marc and Constance Jacobson Lecture featuring Nandi Comer, Michigan’s 202324 Poet Laureate. The event showcased Comer’s evocative poetry, which delves into themes of identity, culture, and the human experience. Joining her was Stella Ruby Hughes, a then-senior at Hamtramck High School and youth poet with Inside Out Literary Arts in Detroit. The lecture and reading provided attendees with a moving exploration of contemporary poetry and highlighted the value of nurturing literary talent across generations.

I was so honored to be given the opportunity to read alongside the Michigan Poet Laureate, Nandi Comer, last fall at the University of Michigan. As a young female poet from the Detroit area, I look up to Nandi Comer as one of my role models...Standing up in front of Nandi Comer, my family, and a room full of college students and sharing my poetry with all of them was a special moment I will cherish and remember forever.

- Stella Hughes, poet and rising first-year student at the U-M Residential College

WORLDS WITHIN

Exploring the Intersection of Humanities, Medicine, and the Arts

Can a background in humanities enhance the abilities of a medical student and doctor? Do the teachings of the humanities offer insights into the human condition that are applicable to medical professionals?

This spring, the Institute for the Humanities brought together medical students, undergraduate pre-med and humanities students and scholars to explore the connections between medicine and the humanities. Led by the Public Humanities Interns, the evening featured a talk by Dustin Cummings—a Michigan alum, general surgeon, poet, and sci-fi author—followed by a conversation with Joel Howell, professor emeritus of medical history, internal medicine, and history, and the former director of the Medical Arts Program.

The discussion illuminated how storytelling, history, and the humanities can deepen empathy, enhance communication, and enrich medical practice. Students and faculty alike were inspired to consider how a humanistic perspective can inform both patient care and professional identity.

The event fostered cross-disciplinary

dialogue and community-building, underscoring the university’s commitment to life-changing education and human health and well being. A lively reception followed, giving attendees the chance to connect and continue the conversation in a more informal setting.

Stella Hughes

Nandi Comer

Dustin Cummings (L) and Joel Howell

H ♥ART

This year, the Institute for the Humanities launched H♥ART, a collaborative project with Michigan State University’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design. H♥ART is a functional minivan transformed into a mobile humanities project that connects students, artists, and community partners across Michigan. Designed to increase access to exhibitions, community spaces, and creative resources, the project underscores the power of mobility in education and public engagement.

H♥ART debuted in April 2025 as part of Banned, Bold, and Brave, a series of events headlined by acclaimed young adult author Leah Johnson. Inspired by Johnson’s novel You Should See Me in a Crown—which has faced censorship despite its empowering message—H♥ART doubled as a mobile, free-banned-books library. It served as a vibrant call to protect expression and champion inclusive storytelling.

With support from the U-M Arts Initiative and in partnership with community organizations including the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership and Black Stone Bookstore, this project reimagined the university as an open, collaborative learning community on the move.

Banned, Bold, and Brave in Detroit was a testament to what’s possible when academic institutions and community leaders stand shoulder to shoulder. Together, we opened the door to deeper understanding, ignited necessary dialogue, and celebrated the freedom to read as a fundamental right—not a privilege.

–Leona Medley, executive director of the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership

EVENTS

• “Banned, Bold, and Brave in Detroit,” a talk by Leah Johnson at Detroit’s Joe Louis Greenway.

• Family Day at the MSU Broad Art Museum with Leah Johnson and MSU students.

• Jill S. Harris Memorial Lecture: “Banned, Bold, and Brave,” Leah Johnson in conversation with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Associate Professor of Education.

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Banned books given out at Banned, Bold, and Brave events

Above: Leah Johnson

Below: Leah Johnson (L) and Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

Above left: Michigan State art students work on the book display

Above right: The H♥ART van at MSU Broad Art Museum

Below: Leah Johnson (R) with visitors to Banned, Bold, and Brave at the Joe Louis Greenway in Detroit

faculty FELLOWS

STEPHEN BERREY

HELMUT F. STERN FACULTY FELLOW AMERICAN CULTURE AND HISTORY

“Race, Memory, and the Invention of Small-Town America"

UMAYYAH CABLE

RICHARD & LILLIAN IVES FACULTY FELLOW; AMERICAN CULTURE, FILM, TELEVISION, & MEDIA, “The Act: Performativity and Imperial Homophobia in Transnational Arab Culture Wars"

MELISSA PHRUKSACHART

JOHN RICH FACULTY FELLOW FILM, TELEVISION, & MEDIA, “Archives of Embarrassment: Playing Asian on Cold War U.S. Television"

GAYLE RUBIN

JEAN YOKES WOODHEAD FACULTY FELLOW; WOMEN'S & GENDER

STUDIES, “The Feminist Sex Wars: A Retrospective Exploration”

JENNIFER HSIEH

HUNTING FAMILY FACULTY FELLOW ANTHROPOLOGY, “The Hearing Subject: Noise and Sociality in Urban Taiwan”

JACOB LEDERMAN

NORMAN FREEHLING VISITING FELLOW; U-M FLINT SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, CRIMINAL JUSTICE, “Join the Conversation!: How Placemaking Conquered Community Development”

NILOOFAR SARLATI

JOHN RICH FACULTY FELLOW ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE, COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, “Suspicious Gifts and Speculative Translations: Persian and English Exchange in the Long Nineteenth Century”

ALYSSA PAREDES

STEELCASE FACULTY FELLOW ANTHROPOLOGY,“The Karmic Ecologies of Plantation Capitalism in Asia's Banana Republic”

PAOLO SQUATRITI

HELMUT F. STERN FACULTY FELLOW ROMANCE LANGUAGES & LITERATURES, “The 'Material Eucharist' in Early Medieval Europe”

EMILIA YANG

HUNTING FAMILY FACULTY FELLOW ART & DESIGN, “Rebellious Memories: Expanded Archives and Technologies in the Americas”

The variety of seminar topics helped to broaden horizons and thus intangibly facilitated thinking and writing. The constant reminder of writing as process (in the weekly papers) was also a facilitator of my writing work.

–2024-25 Faculty Fellow

ALYSSA PAREDES

2024-25 Steelcase Faculty Fellow

a different way of doing anthropology

Being a faculty fellow at IH helped me rediscover the artist in me. I am an anthropologist doing research on plantation agriculture and supply chains in the Philippines and Japan. My work looks at systems of accountability for the excesses of “Big Ag,” like chemical pesticides, food waste, and water effluent. When I received news about the fellowship, I knew that it would help me complete my book.What I didn’t know was how profoundly the community of scholars I would meet would move me to experiment with a different way of doing anthropology.

Every week, I was inspired by the work my peers do curating museum exhibits, organizing art-making workshops, managing citizen-centered archives, making documentary films, and producing music in ways that link their scholarship in Ann Arbor with the rest of the world. The institute’s staff infuse art into every corner of South Thayer and bring to campus artists who show how various media can communicate important messages about queerness, disability, and racial and cultural identity.

Immersed in this ecosystem, I found myself emboldened to try my hand at cyanotype and silk screening, which—I discovered—were provocative print media techniques for an environmental anthropologist working on chemical pesticides. In a sense, so I would learn, the cyanotype image is chemical contamination—an image produced through the manipulation of photosensitive chemistry, light, surfaces, and botanicals. But the medium can also be leveraged to speak against the realities of chemical contamination, testifying to environmental injustices like those I observed in the Philippines.

Merging anthropology and art practice helped me rekindle a side of myself that I had tucked away to become an academic writer. I’m grateful to the IH community for showing me that bringing that side back to the foreground can make me a more dynamic version of both.

–Alyssa Paredes is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology

THE HEAR, HERE SERIES

Sparking Dialogue Around Emerging Humanities Research

“Hear, Here: Humanities Up Close” is an annual lecture series that offers faculty fellows an opportunity to share their in-progress research in a supportive public forum. Each faculty fellow presents a short talk drawn from their current fellowship project, followed by an open Q&A. For the audience, it's a chance to engage directly with ideas in the humanities and get a glimpse into the creative process behind scholarly work.

2024-25 Hear, Here Lectures

“Living Downstream of Yourself on the Mindanao River,” Alyssa Paredes

“Race, Memory, and the Invention of Small-Town America," Stephen Berrey

"Join the Conversation!: How Placemaking Conquered Community Development,” Jacob Lederman

“Rebellious Memories: Expanded Archives and Technologies in the Americas,” Emilia Yang

“Suspicious Gifts, Skeptical Words: (Semi)Colonial Speculations in AngloPersian Encounters,” Niloofar Sarlati

“The Feminist Sex Wars," Gayle Rubin

"Holy and Unholy Bread in Early Medieval Europe,” Paolo Squatriti

“The Act: A Documentary Film InProcess,” Umayyah Cable

“Lossy Governance: Technologies of Postauthoritarian State Apprehension,” Jennifer Hsieh

“Archives of Embarrassment: Playing Asian on Cold War U.S. Television,” Melissa Phruksachart

SAMANTHA ADAMS

2024-25 James A. Winn Graduate Fellow

three vignettes from the institute for the humanities

September, North Quad

At 9:00 am on Wednesday, September 4th, I walked onto North Quad, hair only about halfway air-dried, some of my cat’s hair clinging to my black blazer despite the lint roller, and my heart fluttering in my chest, an unruly hummingbird. I was equal parts nervous and excited for my first day as a graduate fellow at the Institute for the Humanities, and we dedicated that morning for individual and group photos. Each person I met that day was an entire body of knowledge unto themselves—from staff, to faculty fellows, to my fellow graduate students. We gathered onto the steps facing Rackham and readied ourselves for the flash, and the 10 months of fellowship to come.

November, Institute for the Humanities Seminar Room + Lobby Asma, our lovely administrative coordinator, was moving about the lobby preparing for the building-wide clothing swap following our Thanksgiving seminar. She’d had the genius idea to have Cuppy’s Best Soul Food cater our lunch, and each of us had our fill of fried chicken thighs, macaroni and cheese, yams, and other things of that delicious nature. The weight of the 2024 presidential election was palpable, but I believe our circumstances made us all the more insistent upon gathering. We shuffled around the pop-up clothing exchange—a mohair sweater here, a fabulous pair of boots there. Each of us holding the impossible magnitude of the moment together.

April, Miss Kim

Our chapters had been drafted and revised, rich talks had been given, and the workshops had been at once gentle and rigorous. We gathered once more at Miss Kim, trading the circulation of papers for that of kimchi, carrot salad, and cloud-like slices of mango and chocolate cake. We marveled at how remarkable this group had been: generous, engaged, kind. We gathered in front of Asma’s camera with our matching IH jean jackets, styled to perfection, and readied ourselves for the flash.

Samantha Adams is a PhD candidate in English and Women's & Gender Studies

SAMANTHA ADAMS

JAMES A. WINN GRADUATE FELLOW ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE, WOMEN'S & GENDER STUDIES, “A Body of Water Inside Me: Water Shaping Black Life and Literature Beyond the Atlantic"

PRAGYA KAUL

MARY FAIR CROUSHORE GRADUATE FELLOW; HISTORY, “Refugees in Empire: Jewish Refugees and British India, 1921-1951"

JAHNABI CHANCHANI

RICHARD & LILLIAN IVES GRADUATE FELLOW; ASIAN LANGUAGES & CULTURES, “Animals Like Us: Interspecies Relationships in the Sanskritic Literary Imagination in Early India"

JANAKI PHILLIPS

RICHARD & LILLIAN IVES GRADUATE FELLOW

ANTHROPOLOGY, “Divining Uncertain Futures: A Comparative Study of Contemporary Tarot Practice”

graduate student FELLOWS

YUN CHEN

MARY FAIR CROUSHORE GRADUATE FELLOW; ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIAL WORK, “Monopsonizing Experimentation: Making Persons and Orders Through Social Work in China's Anti-Drug Field"

JOSEPH SONG

JAMES A. WINN GRADUATE FELLOW ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE, “Race Event (!): Tracing Uncertainty and Racial Triangulation in Contemporary Asian American Cultural Production from 2008 to Present”

LUIZA DUARTE CAETANO

SYLVIA 'DUFFY' ENGLE GRADUATE FELLOW; COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, “Revolution, Violence, and Literature: Restaging the French Revolution”

ANDREA VALEDONTRAPOTE

WILLIAM & SALLY SEARLE GRADUATE FELLOW; HISTORY, “Crafting the Mongol Sovereign: Merging the Qa'an and Huangdi in the Yuan (1271-1368) Court"

faculty fellows SUMMER 2025

SALLY CLEGG

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

ART & DESIGN, “The Town With One Side”

CHARLES H.F. DAVIS III

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

EDUCATION, “Imagined Futures of Black Faculty”

JOSHUA KUPETZ

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE, Two articles focusing on poetic and narrative form as they relate to disability aesthetics

RAYMOND M c DANIEL

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

SWEETLAND CENTER FOR WRITING, Book-length project currently titled "NEMO"

KELLY HOFFER

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE “ Tactile Poetics”

LING HSU

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

FILM, TELEVISION, & MEDIA, Short documentary about Raoul Wallenberg

VEERENDRA PRASAD

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

FILM, TELEVISION, & MEDIA, “Writing the Ensemble Film”

DAVID WARD

SUMMER FACULTY FELLOW

ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE, “little search parties”

AN EVENING WITH ANEESA STRINGS

As a part of our Public Programming and Engagement initiative, musician Aneesa Strings joined us in March. She performed a 12-song set interwoven with storytelling that explored American history through song. The storytelling interludes enriched the experience while the intimate setting of the Kerrytown Concert House proved to be the perfect backdrop. She also spent an afternoon with orchestra and jazz band students at Cass Technical High School in Detroit.

Students at Cass Technical High School perform for Aneesa Strings

PARABLE OF THE NOW

Supporting Interdisciplinary, Community-Engaged Work

Created by artist and Stamps School of Art & Design Assistant Professor Quinn Alexandria Hunter, “Parable of the Now” was an afternoon of performances and readings intended to hold space as the community grappled with change in the wake of the 2024 general election. The event centered around the November 6th, 2024 entry in Octavia Butler's science fiction novel Parable of the Sower that coincided with the day after a general election in the book and the day after our own 2024 general election. Performances took place every hour, punctuated by reading of chapters from the book, all leading up to the final reading of the November 6th chapter by award-winning writer Nnedi Okorafor.

THE HUMANITIES ALUMNI NETWORK HIGH STAKES CULTURE

The institute’s involvement [with the Parable of the Now] created the conditions for an environment of trust, responsiveness, and professional rigor. Their capacity to manage operational details with consistency and efficiency allowed me to remain focused on the artistic and curatorial dimensions of the work, confident that the logistical and financial components were in expert hands. Parable of the Now would not have been possible without the Institute for the Humanities’ support and I am deeply appreciative of their commitment to supporting interdisciplinary, community-engaged work.

At the beginning of each fellowship year, we hope our fellows grow to see the institute as a second home on campus. As the fellowship year comes to a close, fellows often report that they’re not yet ready to leave the institute behind. Though our doors have always been open, they are now wide open!

The fellowship community has been a consistent source of inspiration and support, and we are thrilled to offer a new platform that will enhance these connections. Through the Humanities Alumni Network (HAN), we aim to keep former fellows connected to the institute, to provide numerous opportunities to engage with the humanities across campus, and to develop new personal and professional bonds.

In February 2025, we held the inaugural HAN reception. Former fellows shared with us the joy they felt at seeing old cohort members, meeting new and interesting colleagues, and learning about the research happening in various disciplines. We also received requests to hold similar events in the future, provide updates on current research, advocate for the crucial role of the humanities in our current climate, and develop service and engagement opportunities.

We’re excited to see where HAN will take this community!

In the last few years, a series of “culture wars” have been ignited across the country. Activists from all points of the political spectrum are turning to beloved cultural objects to stake a claim for their differing beliefs in a politically fraught moment. What is at stake in these conflicts? This year’s two High Stakes Culture events, presented in collaboration with the U-M Humanities Collaboratory, brought humanities perspectives to bear on current debates.

2024-25 High Stakes Culture Events

• Olympic Patriotism V. Election Patriotism Panelists: Kate Wroblewski (History), Silke Weineck (German, Comparative Literature), Ketra Armstrong (Women’s and Gender Studies, Kinesiology), and moderator Matthew Countryman (Afroamerican & African Studies, Music)

• Patriotism and Country Music: Who Owns What? Panelists: Mark Clague (Music), Dean Hubbs (Women's and Gender Studies, Music), Lydia Kelow-Bennett (Afroamerican and African Studies), and moderator Matthew Countryman (Afroamerican & African Studies, History)

–Quinn Alexandria Hunter, assistant professor of art and design

(Top to bottom) writer Nnedi Okorafor, artist Quinn Alexandria Hunter, student Kate Goldman, artists Marcela Torres and Izayo Mazehaulli

Humanities alumni at the inaugural reception

(L to R) Ketra Armstrong, Silke Wineck and Kate Wroblewski

students registered to attend Public Humanities Interns' events

PUBLIC HUMANITIES INTERNSHIP

Since its launch in 2021, the Public Humanities Internship has offered undergraduate students a chance not only to explore ideas, but to put those ideas into practice. Each year, eight undergraduate students are selected to spend two semesters immersed in the intellectual life of the institute.

What sets the program apart is its focus on doing. Interns are responsible for creating original public-facing projects that engage their peers with the humanities. From initial concept to final execution, students take the lead—developing events and projects that explore questions and spark conversations.

“This internship was my first professional experience where I really got to learn and apply critical thinking, creative thinking, and communication skills. Being involved in projects and having a seat at the table during our weekly meetings gave me the opportunity to listen to others’ ideas, contribute my own, and learn how to communicate thoughtfully and effectively. As an intern, it meant a lot to be part of real conversations and planning, not just observing from the sidelines.”

–2024-25 Public Humanities Intern

The internship is structured around community-building. The program connects students with scholars, curators, artists, and alumni. These conversations give interns a rare window into humanities careers and a deeper sense of what public scholarship can look like in the world beyond the classroom.

Throughout the year, students gain concrete skills in event programming, marketing, collaboration, communication, and leadership. They also leave with something less easily measured: a sharpened sense of purpose, and a broader understanding of what it means to bring the humanities into public life.

2024-2025 public humanities

intern

PROJECTS

HUMANITIES TRIVIA

Leads: Vasudha Patil and Yuchen Wu

“Iconic Moments in the Humanities” trivia brought dozens of students into the building to test their humanities knowledge, learn about the institute, and win prizes.

CARILLON TOUR

Leads: Meghan Wysocki and Emily Luo

Interns, fellows, and staff gathered for an introduction to carillons and tour of the Charles Baird Carillon in Burton Memorial Tower with intern and carillon student Meghan Wysocki.

WORLDS WITHIN: EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION OF HUMANITIES, MEDICINE, AND THE ARTS

Leads: Luna Alkassem and Meghan Wysocki

A thought-provoking lecture and discussion on the connections between medicine and the humanities—how they shape, influence, and enrich each other. See page 7 for details.

FINALS FUEL STATION

Leads: Leah Haw and Luna Alkassem

This event held during study days was an opportunity to welcome students to the institute and promote our events and programs while offering a comfortable space for students to prepare for finals.

MONTHLY CRAFT CORNER

Leads: Lucian Van Fleet, Claude VanValkenburg, Leah Haw, and Yuchen Wu

These events featured short presentations about the history of each craft along with a tutorial and supplies for attendees to try their hand at weaving, bookbinding, and more.

LOST AND NEWFOUND: EXPLORING THE ART OF ERIKA LOPEZ

Leads: Lucian Van Fleet and Claude VanValkenburg

Students were invited to dive into the work of artist Erika Lopez with an exclusive curator-led tour of the exhibition and a hands-on workshop employing the artist’s methods of making punch needle art.

COLLAGING THE FUTURE: A HANDS-ON WORKSHOP INSPIRED BY

THE ART OF RASHAAD NEWSOME

Leads: Yuchen Wu and Luna Alkassem

Artist Rashaad Newsome’s use of collage was the inspiration for this workshop that included an introduction to the conceptual and technical use of collage in art.

PIZZA, POLAROIDS, AND POEMS

Leads: Vasudha Patil, Leah Haw, Lucian Van Fleet

The interns invited students to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a polaroid photo booth, supplies for crafting cards, live typewritten poetry, and pizza.

DJ

AND DONUTS DANCE

PARTY

Leads: Lucian Van Fleet and Yuchen Wu

Second-generation Cambodian-American Hunny Hach (DJ Hunny) spun the tunes and served as emcee for this event, which highlighted how Cambodian communities celebrate through Romvong and music. Artist Phung Huynh also attended.

HUMANITIES AT MICHIGAN NEWSLETTER

Leads: Meghan Wysocki and Emily Luo

Through this monthly newsletter, the interns inform students of all things humanities on campus and beyond–from event announcements and highlights of uncommon courses to academic resources and professional opportunities.

EXPRESSIVE ARTS AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Leads: Claude VanValkenburg and Yuchen Wu

This roundtable discussion featured five panelists from diverse fields who shared their unique practices and discussed the empowering role of expressive arts in individual healing, community change, and social justice.

Panelists:

• Rogério Meireles Pinto, University Diversity & Social Transformation Professor and Professor of Social Work, Theatre & Drama, and Art & Design

• Deborah Gordon-Gurfinkel, Founding Director of Telling It and Lecturer II at the Residential College

• Becca Pickus, Lecturer in the Social Theory and Practice (STP) Program

• Megan Holmes, Professor Emerita of Art History and on the Faculty of the U-M Prison Creative Arts Project

• Kelly Kundrat, Lead Social Worker of Telling It and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker

HUMANITIES IRL

Leads: Leah Haw and Emily Luo

This panel discussion explored the humanities beyond the classroom, highlighting real-world applications and career paths, and challenging the idea that the humanities is purely an academic discipline.

Panelists:

• Gina Balibrera, writer for LSA Magazine and novelist

• Michael Hickok, lecturer in History and former FBI Special Agent

• Jason Young, Professor of History and Institute for the Humanities Director

• Amanda Krugliak, Arts Curator and Assistant Director for Arts Programming

public humanities INTERNS

LUNA ALKASSEM

MAJOR: COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

LEAH HAW

MAJORS: ENGLISH, POLITICAL SCIENCE

EMILY LUO

MAJORS: HISTORY, PPE (PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS)

CLAUDE VANVALKENBURG

2024-25 Public Humanities Intern

VASUDHA PATIL

MAJORS: ECONOMICS, ENGLISH

LUCIAN VAN FLEET

MAJORS: ENGLISH, CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS

MINOR: INTERDISCIPLINARY

ASTRONOMY

CLAUDE

VANVALKENBURG

MAJORS: USER EXPERIENCE, ARTS AND IDEAS IN THE HUMANITIES

YUCHEN WU

MAJOR: ART & DESIGN

MINORS: GENDER, RACE, AND NATION; COMMUNITY ACTION & SOCIAL CHANGE; THEATRE DESIGN & PRODUCTION

MEGHAN WYSOCKI

MAJORS: ANTHROPOLOGY, MUSIC

finding unexpected connections

Before the Public Humanities Internship, the humanities were an abstract concept to me; a distribution requirement I was looking forward to completing but not truly understanding. Over the past year, though, I’ve come to know the humanities as a storytelling process grounded in critical thinking, information management, and human interaction. Through collaborating with others on meaningful programming and learning valuable insights from the Institute for the Humanities community, I have experienced this irreplaceable human ability to respond to the world around us. I now feel more hopeful than ever about finding a fulfilling career and learning all that I can from the odd jobs and experiences I encounter along the way.

It was a pleasure to work with different peers on unique events throughout the year. Not only was it exciting to hear fresh perspectives and geek out over shared interests, but it was also a fruitful challenge to adapt to different work and communication styles. I would take on certain roles depending on the strengths and preferences of my co-lead, developing well-rounded proficiency in detail-oriented event planning. I now find myself entering “Event Coordinator” in the Indeed search bar after seeing how impactful this programming can be, both for the attendees and the organizers.

This internship has deeply influenced all aspects of my post-grad job search. Instead of being weighed down by the obligations and finality of it all, I look forward to the possibilities and inevitable curveballs. This mindset shift is largely thanks to the enlightening anecdotes shared by faculty, fellows, and community members. I carry with me the importance of engaging in interdisciplinary conversations and experiences, creating and defining our own practices, and sticking to our values. It has been very special to work in a place where we can be candid about our hopes and woes, and feel supported when we enter the office. I do not take this privilege for granted and hope to find this type of work environment again. I am grateful for the institute and this internship and look forward to keeping up with the gallery and future programming! Moving forward, I will lead with curiosity, enjoy the process, and lean into the urge to find unexpected connections.

-Claude VanValkenburg graduated in the spring of 2025 with a dual degree in User Experience Design and Arts & Ideas in the Humanities

GALLERY

Innovative Exhibitions and Arts Programming

For 27 years now, the Institute for the Humanities Gallery has been a unique meeting place for the exchange and interchange of ideas.

The gallery hosts 4-5 nationally and internationally recognized artists yearly in short-term residence. Each of these exhibitions serves as a starting point for collaboration and critical inquiry, introducing new perspectives to the institute and actively engaging the campus and broader community with the humanities. Scheduled class visits bring in hundreds of students from campus as well as local high schools. Faculty are encouraged to integrate our exhibitions in their syllabi as teaching opportunities to enhance their curriculum. The Public Humanities Interns engage with the artists and their work, planning innovative and welcoming events that foster exploration and conversation with their peers.

The 2024-25 lineup featured four exhibitions in the main gallery and two pop-ups in the Osterman Common Room with over 45 organized engagements like class visits and events, a testament to the institute’s commitment to making the humanities accessible, relevant, and alive through visual culture.

The Curating Scholarship workshop has been, hands down, one of the most exciting, encouraging, and interesting experiences in my eight years at the University of Michigan.

–Curating Scholarship workshop participant

THE BUTCH CLOSET

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

In the multimedia installation The Butch Closet, artist Phranc illustrates her life stories as a queer artist, Jewish lesbian folksinger, and "cardboard cobbler." By meticulously re-creating personal objects and pieces of clothing out of paper, cardboard, thread, and paint, she revisited her own history, contextualizing her experiences as an iconic performer and maker, constructing, reconstructing, and re-imagining her image against a larger historical context of second-wave feminism and queer activism. As part of the installation, visitors could peer into a closet built in the center of the gallery designed by the artist.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Phranc is a Jewish lesbian folksinger and queer artist who uses song, painting, and sculpture to champion personal identities and illustrate the struggle, survival, and victory of the queer individual. She is also an internationally acclaimed and award winning performer.

Phranc’s work integrates humor and a butch lesbian aesthetic.

Her current project, Phranc Talk: The Butch Closet, is a multimedia memoir that spans her 40-year career. Phranc lives and works in Santa Monica, California and Vancouver, British Columbia.

RELATED EVENTS

• "Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventure in Plastic" Film Screening with Phranc, filmmaker Lisa Udelson, curator Amanda Krugliak, and Leslie Raymond, executive director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival

• Penny Stamps Speaker Series: "PhrancTalk" with Phranc

• Opening Reception with Phranc

• Phranc in Flint: Butch Essentials

• Bow-Tie Making Workshop

• Seven class visits to the exhibition

Phranc was the 2024 Jean Yokes Woodhead Visiting Artist.

(L to R) Phranc, Holly Hughes, and Amanda Krugliak

8' x 8' x 4' closet constructed in the gallery for Phranc's exhibition

touchable artworks in Ericka Lopez's exhibition