HumanitiesCenter OtterbeinUniversity the at
2024-25
WearepleasedtosharetheOtterbeinUniversityHumanities Center’sinauguraldigitalyearbookwithyou!
TheHumanitiesCenter(HC)istheresultofaNationalEndowment fortheHumanities(NEH)challengegrantthatOtterbeinearnedin 1987.GiftsfromgenerousdonorswerejoinedwithanNEHawardto createannualfundstobolsterandenhanceteaching,learning,and researchintheHumanities.
Weseekinthisflipbooktoshowcasetheintellectualandcreative dynamismthatcharacterizestheHumanitiesatOtterbein.
MeettheFellows
Breanna is a junior English major with concentrations in Creative Writing and Film Studies and a minor in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies. She leads the creation of this flipbook and photographs Humanities events.
Breanna McCluskey
Documentarian &Photographer
Isabel is a senior Psychology and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies double major. They manage our social media presence on Instagram and Facebook, helping to keep everyone updated on all Humanities happenings.
Digitization &Archives
Julia is a junior History, Sociology, and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies triple major with minors in Philosophy, Art History, and Race & Ethnic Studies. They spend time in the library digitizing variousarchival materialsfromOtterbein’shistory.
Marlo is a senior English and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies double major with a concentration in Film Studies. She oversees event organization, ensuring everything runs smoothly from spreading flyers around campus to working directly with faculty and departmentshostingand sponsoringevents.
Julia Tenbusch
The
Humanities Center
Born from the love of students and the desire to provide spaces curated for their studies and love for the humanities, what was formerly the Humanities Advisory Committee is happy to present a renovated 2nd floor of TowersHall as ourbrand new Humanities Center.
After tireless work with the design team, the new Humanities Center is fit with a reimagined seminar room, suited with an advanced audio-visual system ideal for film screenings; a study lounge made to nurture and facilitate group collaboration complete with a mini-library of faculty favorites available for everyone to indulge in; and a study bar right in the center of it all for students to sit and work with the bustling ambience of the floor which is adorned by blackandwhite portraits of studentsby students.
CUTTING CELEBRATION R I B B O N
As an introduction to the spacefor students, a ribbon cutting celebration was held to ceremoniously openthese spaces for the year. Students, faculty, and administrators walked throughthe spaces: The HumanitiesCenter SeminarRoom, the Humanities Study Lounge, and the refurbished Humanities hallway corridor.
The celebration also consisted ofa Book Fair. Books donated by faculty filled the hallway corridor, and students walkedhome withbags of books--new additions to their personal libraries.
HUMANITIES
small
TALKS
THE HUMANITIES small TALKis a forum forfaculty to presentresearch in the humanities in an informal setting.Speakers pre-circulate aone-page description of their research. In their small TALK, speakers give abrief overview of their project and, after that, field questions and facilitate discussion.
Dr.JaniceGlowski
Director, The Frank Museum of Art & Galleries
Irreverent Iconographies
Contemporary Art & Identity in the Tibetan Diaspora
“Irreverent Iconographies: Contemporary Art & Identity in the Tibetan Diaspora” focuses on early works by three diasporic artists: Ang Tsherin Sherpa (1968 - ), Karma Phuntsok (1952 -), and Tulku Jamyang Gyatso (a.k.a. TJ, 1977 -). The irreverent images created by these artists between 2005-2018 function as dual-facing iconographies that, at once, point to an essentialized identity related to Tibetan Buddhism and an “identity of becoming,” which results from their emergent circumstances.
Dr.DanielCho
Department of Education
Genius After Psychoanalysis
“Genius After Psychoanalysis” explores a theory of genius through the example of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketch, “Coition of a Hemisected Man and Woman”. Leonardo’s bizarre drawing helps us understand what Freud means when he defines sublimation as the drive’s “power to replace its immediate aim by other aims which may be valued more highly and which are notsexual.” Leonardo’s sketch helps us to understand that genius is neither exceptionaltalent nor superior intelligence notions with a vexed history but, rather, the drive’s ability to aim at something other than satisfaction.
Dr.PattiFrick
Department of English
The Travel Writing of Maria Graham
“Beyond the Sickroom: Discourses of Illness in the Travel Writings of Maria Graham (1785-1842)” explores different ways in which Graham navigated her illness as a travel writer. Focusing in particular on Graham’s
Journal of a Residence in Chile During the Year 1822, the talk captures how Graham devised ways to incorporate her illness into her travel narrative by reinventing the typical concept of the “sickroom” from a static to a mobile space, and by reframing her role as an “invalid” to that of the more socially acceptable of a “nurse”.
HumanitiesCenterCo-Sponsored EventorActivityGrant
Thesegrantssupporthumanities-relatedeventsandprogramson campus.TheHumanitiesCentercoversuptohalfofthetotalbudgetfor theeventorprogram.Thesefundscan,forexample,helptopaythecosts ofbringingaspeakertocampus;partiallycoverthecostsofastudent publication;assistincoveringthecostsofafilmdiscussiongroupor bookclub.
Thiossane West African Dance Institute Workshop: September 2024
Book club on Frank Dobson's novel Rendered Invisible: September-October 2024.
LGBTQ+ Horror Movie Night: October 2024
ISFFO: International Sports Film Festival of Ohio (ISFFO): March 2025
Dr. Ariel Otruba, “Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement in Georgia’s Abandoned Soviet Spas”: March -April 2025
Dr. Dona Kercher
Dr. Dona Kercher presented her lecture, “Hispanic Hitchcock: How 'The Master of Suspense' Has Influenced Latin American and Spanish Cinema.” Kercher is professor Emerita and Chair of Spanish and Film Studies at Assumption University and the author of “Latin Hitchcock: How Almodóvar, Amenábar, De la Iglesia, Del Toro, and Campanella Became Notorious”(WallflowerPress, 2015).
BryanTaoWorra
Bryan Thao Worra presented his lecture, “American Laodyssey,” which focuses on the 50th anniversary of the Lao diaspora connected to the Vietnam War and the Laotian Civil War. Worra, a 1997 Otterbein graduate, was among the first of those to arrive in the US in the aftermath of those wars and much of his literary career has explored this community making the transition from a monarchy to democracy.
Faculty-StudentEnrichment Grants
Thesegrantssupportexperientiallearningopportunitiesforstudentsin theHumanities--forexample,off-campusfieldtripsand/orovernight traveltoconferencesandevents;andon-campusclassroomexperiences likeworkshops,films,orspeakers.ThisgrantalsosupportstheEarly Arrivaleventforincomingfirst-yearstudentsintheHumanities.
Jon Johnson takes Darkroom Photography (ART 1500) students to Columbus Museum of Art—October 2024
Patti Frick convenes a webinar with film scholar Stephen M. Hart for Latin American Cinema (FMST 3281) students— November 2024
Margaret Koehler takes Literature & Empire (ENGL 2215) students to Threepenny Opera at the Southern Theatre— November 2024
Tammy Birk takes Contemporary and Experimental Drama (ENGL 3381) students to Ohio Northern Univ. to see and speak with the cast of Sophie Treadwell's Machinal — February 2025
Magdalen Parasidis and Ajanae Dawkins invite Returning Artist Guild founders Aimee Weissman and Kamisha Thomas to speak on Art & Abolition to students in their Crisis & Protest class (INST 3016)— April 2025.
Anthony DeStefanis invites Dr. Carolyn Eichner's talk "Women, Misogyny, and Rock Music" for the students in his History of Rock and Roll (FYS 1054)— October 2024
Denise Hatter-Fisher, Grace McDaniel, and Frank Dobson advance collaborative facultystudent Research Project entitled Self Compassion and Perceived Well-being in Collegiate and Non Collegiate Black Men— Jan-June 2025.
FacultyProjectGrants
Thesegrantssupportfull-timefacultyresearchandcurricular developmentinthehumanities--forexample,facultytraveltoarchives, fieldworkabroad,orpublishingcostsassociatedwithimage reproductions.Thesegrantsalsosupporttravelcourseplanningand othercurricularinitiatives.
Dr.TammyBirk
The Feminist Professor Podcast
As both a highly popular media format and model of public scholarship, The Feminist Professor Podcast is committed to the personal and political relevance of key ideas in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The Feminist Professor consists of twenty--to-thirty-minute programs centered on a single idea (e.g., anger, ‘wokeness,’ benevolent sexism, uses of the erotic, compulsory sexuality, transpanic, etc.).
Dr.JaniceGlowski
Women’s Travel Art: A Study of Artist and Travel Writer
Maria Graham’s (1785-1842) Original Watercolors and Drawings.
“Women’s Travel Art” explores the more than 420 (largely unrecognized) visual impressions that Graham made during her travels to India, Italy, Chile, and Brazil. This project seeks to analyze the extant corpus of Graham’s original travel art to gain a clearer understanding of the role that visual documentation played inherrecordingsofthe culturesshe encountered.
Dr.AmyJohnson
Cultural Heritage Studies of Ancient and Contemporary Landscapes in the United Kingdom
“Cultural Heritage Studies of Ancient and Contemporary Landscapes in the United Kingdom” grapples with the question of how cultural heritage--in communities, public spaces, artworks, and heritage sites--shapes and informs our contemporary world. This project studies the ancient and traditional landscapes of the United Kingdom, where some of humankind’s oldest heritage sites survive alongside contemporary communities that rely on traditional craftways andglobal tourismin afragile and unique environment.
FacultySpeakers
Thesegrantssupporthonorariaforinvitedspeakersinsupportof individualclassesorprogramsintheHumanities,orinassociationwith departmentalormuseumevents.
Wes Jamison
WesJamison spoke to the studentsin an Advanced Lyric course (ENGL3320) and also gave a reading entitled “Teach Me ToBuryThis”fromtheirrecentlypublishedbook. Jamison is a graduate of Otterbein's English Department, an award-winning essayist, and professor at Del Mar College. They are the author of “Carrion” (Red Hen Press, 2024), winner of the2021 Quill Award; the chapbook, "and Melancholia" (Essay Press, 2015); and “Tasukete”(forthcoming).
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižekpresentedhis lecture, “The Parallax of Lack and Surplusin Politics.”
Žižekis one of the most distinguished philosophers writingtoday. His most recent booksare “Christian Atheism: Howto be a Real Materiralist” (Bloomsbury, 2024) and “Freedom:A Disease Without aCure” (Bloomsbury, 2023)
ConferenceTravel
Thesegrantssupportfacultyattendanceandparticipationatregional, national,andinternationalconferences,workshops,andsymposia focusedonthehumanities.
Dr. Patti Frick & Dr. Janice Glowski: The Colloquium on Travel Writing in India, University of Vivsa-Bharati, Santiniketan.
Dr. Megan Chawansky: 2025 Ukrainian Studies Interdisciplinary Conference--Notre Dame University.
Tim Christensen English Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture
Louisville, KY
Zhaolu Philosophy
Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Nature and Culture
Beijing, China
Carla Corroto Sociology Built Environments Conference Prague, Czech Republic
Ajanaé Dawkins English Furious Flower Conference
Jon Johnson Art & Art History College Art Association Conference
Harrisonburg, VA
New York, NY
Lu
Jon Johnson
Art & Art History Technology and Film Labour Conference
Amy Johnson Art & Art History Oxford Education Symposium at Queen's College
Amanda Kline Art & Art History Society for Photographic Education Conference
Margaret Koehler English
Language Association Conference
Abby Kulisz Religion
Kerry Strayer Communication Communication, Language, and Gender Conference Excelsior, MO
Rares Piloiu, Courtright Memorial Library Central and Eastern Europe(ans) in North America Conference Wrocław, Poland
Lu Zhaolu Philosophy Conference on Philosophy of Design Zhuhai City, China
William Manke Art & Art History College Art Association Conference
New York, NY
Lu Zhaolu Philosophy Radical Philosophy Association Conference
Salt Lake City, UT
Evan Thomas Philosophy
British Society of the History of Philosophy Conference Cambridge, UK
Alexandria WilsonMcDonald, Political Science
Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Conference
Boston, MA
Gayle Walker Music
American Choral Directors National Conference
Dallas, TX
Evan Thomas Philosophy Women Writing Natural Philosophy in Early Modern Europe Conference Exeter, UK
StudentResearchSupport
Thesegrantssupportstudentsundertakingresearchprojectsinthe fields/disciplinesthatbelongtotheHumanitiesatOtterbein.Applicants canseekfundsforactualexpenses(registrationatconferencesor symposia,traveltoarchives,purchaseofbooks&materials)ortocreate thetimetoexecuteandproducetheirresearchartefact.
AdamWillis EvieReed
Evieand Adamattendedthe 2025SigmaTau Delta convention, heldin Pittsburgh, PA, from March 19th-22nd. They attendedlecturesand panel discussions on literary genre, history, theory, and criticismrelated to their distinctionprojects.
Karina Streeter
In May 2024, Karina attended the Prismatic Film Festival in New York City-one of the premier festivals in the world devoted to experimental film. The experience informed her scholarly research project on the cinematic use of the erotic--in particular how the use of the erotic in filmmaking could be classified asexperimental.
In May 2024, Isaac attended the Prismatic Film Festival--one of the premier festivals in the world devoted to experimental film. At this festival, Jones met Antoinetta Angelidi, whose film Topos (1985) he had written a paper about in a Women Auteurs class. The experience deepened Isaac’s inquiry intofeminist cinema and psychoanalytic theory.
Isaac Jones
Olivia’s project studies how First Lady Frances Cleveland impacted the young women of Late-Victorian America through her personal image. This grant enabled her to travel to Chicago and meet with Jessica Pushor, collections manager of the historic costume collection at the Chicago History Museum. The award also funded a research trip to the National First Ladies’ Library in Canton, OH.
Olivia Sweet
StudentInternshipSupport
Thesegrantssupportstudentsinthefields/disciplinesthatbelongtothe HumanitiesatOtterbeinwhohavesecuredunpaidinternships. Applicantscanseekfundsforactualexpensesorto
JaneCook
Inthe summerof 2024, Cook completeda Marketingand Engagement internshipwith Columbus Children’sTheatre. Under the mentorship of CCT’sMarketingand Engagement Coordinator, BrookeStiles,she workedoneverything fromgraphicdesign and social media content, tocommunity engagement and event planning.
From September 2023to May 2024,Dalton completed aninternshipwith Spellbound Publishing LLC(https://www.spellboundpublishing.com).As anEditorialApprentice, hewas part of a team of other internsthat wouldbeassigned manuscripts of varying length(longform fiction, shortstories, novellas)and provide edits on them.
Inthe summerof 2024, Lillian completedan internship with SIMinMontevideo,Uruguay, workingina beforeandafter school program calledAtrévete aSoñarnearan underserved elementary school.Twogroups of students cameeverydayforabout fourhours each. With each group, shehelped with homework, workedonsupplementaryacademicactivities, toldstories, sang, andplayedlotsof games.
LillianMorgret
Overthe course of the 2024-2025 school year,Ava completed an internshipwith Planned ParenthoodAdvocates of Ohio (PPAO), leadingthe Health CenterAdvocacy Program (HCAP).Asan intern, she educated patients on the importance of Planned Parenthood heathcenters andhelped to train volunteers.
The CourtrightMemorialLibrary
Archives
Overthecourse of thepast year, Humanities
Fellow Julia hasbeen working to digitize the 1845 -1847collection of theReligious Telescope, the newsletterpublished weeklybyOtterbein University’s founding denomination,theChurch of the United Brethren. This workconsists of carefully scanning thepages of our bound copy of the periodical,transcribing and correcting transcriptions of the text, anduploading them tothe Digital Commons,as wellas sharing themwith thecontemporaryChurchofthe UnitedBrethren, situated inDayton.
“The Religious Telescope was the newspaper for the Church of theUnited Brethrenin Christ (known colloquially as the United Brethren Church). It wasfirst publishedin Circleville, Ohio in 1834 and later in Dayton, Ohio. Among its early editorswere Otterbeinfoundingfather and trustee William Hanby, and Milton Wright, the father of aeronautical pioneersOrville and Wilbur Wright. Afterthe merger of the United Brethren and Evangelicalchurches in 1947it was published underthe name TelescopeMessenger. This combinedpublication ended
its run in 1953. Otterbein does not own a complete set, but the Archives holds most editions from 1873 to 1952. Our goal is to digitize all of our existing copies, and work with other United Brethrenassociatedschools to fillin thegapsin the digitizedrecord.” Stephen Grinch,Archivist
ArtGalleries
TheFrankMuseum,MillerGallery,andFisherGalleryarevenuesinwhich thecriticalassessmentofartworksisenactedanddeepenedatOtterbein.
Talksbyartistsorcuratorsintroduceustothehistoryanddevelopmentof artisticformsandhelpusseehowthecreativemethodsandinsightsof artistscontributetoourunderstandingofspecificsocialorders,andthe livedexperienceofhumanbeingsinthem.
Gateway to Himalayan Art FrankMuseum
“Gateway toHimalayan Art”introduces the main forms,concepts, meanings, and religious traditionsofHimalayan art withobjects from thecollection of the RubinMuseum of Art, New York.The exhibition invites explorationof thediverse culturalspheres of thegreater Himalayan region--which encompasses Indian, Nepalese,Bhutanese, andTibetanculturesas well as interrelated Mongolian and Chinese traditions--throughexemplaryobjects presented in three thematicsections: SymbolsandMeanings, Materials andTechnologies, and Living Practices.
Against the Current MillerGallery
“Against theCurrent: Art, National Identity,and aModernist Critique” features thepaintings of eminent Nepali artistLain SinghBangdel. Born and raisedonateaplantation in Darjeeling, India, Bangdel went on to study visual artinKolkata (Calcutta)andParis, eventuallyserving in leadership positionsin theRoyalNepalAcademy, the NepalAssociation of Fine Art, andthe Nepal ArtCouncil.
FisherGallery
Only Abstract Will Do
Curatedby Audrey McCutchen (‘21), the fifty pieces from Otterbein’s permanent collection in this exhibition--spanningfive continentsand seventy years--exemplify the way abstract art creates auniversal (unifying) languageof humanexperience,ideas, andemotion, while conveying a completely personal meaning.
HumanitiesFellows and HumanitiesCenterchair (from left to right): Marlo Young, Isabel Elliot, BreannaMcCluskey, Julia Tenbusch,and Paul Eisenstein.
