2020-21
YEAR IN REVIEW
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ARTS FOR ALL: The new campuswide initiative creates opportunities for students to fuse the arts, technology and social justice.
PUBLISHER
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LANGUAGE LEARNING TOOL: The National Foreign Language Center’s Lectica app helps high school agedstudents and adult learners brush up their skills.
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HARRIET TUBMAN DAY: UMD’s first annual celebration of the day featured Ernestine (Tina) Wyatt, a descendant of Harriet Tubman and a UMD alum.
CONTENTS
University of Maryland’s College of Arts and Humanities
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ARHU HIGHLIGHTS
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ARTS FOR ALL INITIATIVE
Bonnie Thornton Dill Professor and Dean
EDITORIAL AND DESIGN STAFF
6 UNDERGRADUATE & GRADUATE EDUCATION
Nicky Everette, Assistant Dean for Marketing and Communications
7 FACULTY & STAFF NEWS
K. Lorraine Graham, Assistant Director, Digital Experience
8 RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP & CREATIVITY
Piama Habibullah, Assistant Director, Creative Strategy Jaye Nelson, Art Director, Print
10 INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH & INITIATIVES
and Web Services Sarah Snyder, Assistant Director, Communications
11 INNOVATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Jessica Weiss, Writer/Editor “ Year in Review” is published
12 ADDRESSING EQUITY, INCLUSION & SOCIAL JUSTICE
by the Office of Marketing and Communications in the College
14 CREATING GLOBAL CITIZENS
of Arts and Humanities. Letters to the editor are welcome. Please email information to
15 GIVING
meve@umd.edu. To receive additional copies of this publication, please contact the
16 ALUM DISTINCTIONS
Dean’s Office at 301.405.2090
FIND MORE INFORMATION
17 LEADERSHIP
arhu.umd.edu
18 UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS CONNECT WITH US twitter.com/umd_arhu facebook.com/arhu.umd instagram.com/umd_arhu go.umd.edu/ARHUlinkedin
ON OUR COVER Clockwise from top: Associate Professor of American Studies La Marr Jurelle Bruce’s book “How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind” sheds light on various manifestations of madness in the face of anti-Blackness; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation continues to support the development of software capable of creating digital texts from Persian and Arabic books; Elizabeth DeLoughrey Ph.D. ’99, English, was awarded a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship; The UMD Art Gallery’s online photo show “The Skinwalker Ranch Portfolio” featured images from photographer Christopher Bartel that document the eastern Utah ranch, long associated with UFOs and other paranormal activity; the Arts for All initiative expands arts programming across campus and bolsters interdisciplinary offerings; the BlackLight Summit convened Black, Indiginous, people of color and LGBTQ+ dance artists from across the country. | Y E AR I N R EV I EW 202 0 –2 1
FROM THE DEAN
BLENDING THE ARTS + TECH + SOCIAL JUSTICE
FROM ZOOM, TO ISADORA, TO PYTHON, IT’S BEEN A YEAR OF IMMERSION IN TECHNOLOGY. Whether combining drums and oral histories to tell a local Black community’s story, using code to analyze and create poetry, or inviting the public to transcribe and preserve documents related to African American art, in the College of Arts and Humanities technology helps to expand access and to spark dialogue, understanding, problem solving and action. In the largely virtual environment of the past year, staff found “sensory-friendly” ways for youth with autism to engage with the performing arts. Students had virtual internships and study abroad. Faculty shared their expertise on issues of systemic racism, inequality and social justice through a yearlong virtual colloquium and conversation series— and so much more. In April, I listened enthusiastically as UMD President Darryll J. Pines announced the Arts for All initiative, which broadens arts programming across campus through the combined power of the arts, technology and social
justice (Page 4). I am looking forward to collaborating with President Pines and our colleagues across the arts and humanities and in the sciences, technology and beyond to provide interdisciplinary arts offerings for every student at Maryland. As I prepare for the final year in my term as dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, I have no doubt that the future is one in which the arts and humanities can lead us all toward a more just, interconnected and beautiful world. As you read through the 2020–21 Year in Review, I expect that you’ll share these feelings. Sincerely,
Bonnie Thornton Dill Professor and Dean, College of Arts and Humanities
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ARHU HIGHLIGHTS
14
21
ACADEMIC UNITS
RESEARCH CENTERS
142
132
Professors
46
Associate professors
COLLEGE PROFILE Source: reports.umd.edu
279
Assistant professors
Instructors and lecturers
216 Staff
PROFESSIONAL TRACK
TENURED/TENURE-TRACK
STAFF
DIVERSE ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT GRADUATE PROGRAM RANKING
12TH RANKINGS
best American Literature Before 1865 program
#1
#2
university in the country for graduating African American students with doctoral degrees in area, ethnic, cultural, gender and group studies as well as in foreign languages, literatures and linguistics.
for graduating African American students with doctoral degrees in visual and performing arts.
TOP
6
for graduating African American students with bachelor degrees in foreign languages, literatures and linguistics.
$23,328,542
4.22 INCOMING FRESHMEN
AVERAGE GPA
FUNDING
EXTERNAL RESEARCH AWARDS
2,888 UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS
89
CURRENT STUDENTS
Students elected to Phi Beta Kappa
15
National scholarship and fellowship award winners
40% Students of color
32%
Underrepresented students of color
ARHU FACULTY HAVE STRONG PARTICIPATION IN GENERAL EDUCATION, TEACHING THE FOLLOWING AT MARYLAND:
48%
41%
40%
30%
Diversity courses at the university
Fundamental studies
Distributive studies
I-series
FACULTY
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66 ANTIRACISM SERIES SPEAKERS
OVER $12 MILLION IN MELLON FOUNDATION GRANTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF DIGITAL HUMANITIES AND BLACK AND CULTURAL STUDIES
The Department of English’s Center for Literary and Comparative Studies’ yearlong Antiracism Series convened emerging, early- and mid-career scholars and teachers with the goal to imagine and create just and equitable institutions actively working to dismantle systemic racism. The Antiracism Series featured 21 events and registered over 3,000 people from 13 countries. As a result of the series, work by seven faculty and alums from the Department of English was featured in an issue of the literary journal Los Angeles Review of Books focused on antiracism.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation continues to make major investments into research projects in the College of Arts and Humanities or involving ARHU researchers. Since 2016, the foundation has provided over $3 million to fund the African American Digital Humanities initiative at Maryland. Recent awards include:
$100,000 to Assistant Professor of Persian Literature and Digital Humanities Matthew T. Miller to support the continued development of optical character recognition tools and services for Arabic scripts.
$1.4 MILLION to expand the reach of Enslaved.org, a database containing records on hundreds of thousands of individuals living in the era of the historical slave trade, co-led by then-Associate Professor of History Daryle Williams.
$790,000 to the David C. Driskell Center to fund the creation of a new sculpture and the identification, cataloging, preservation and digitization of prominent archives in the field of African American art.
$4.8 MILLION to fund the Digital Inquiry, Speculation, Collaboration, and Optimism (DISCO) network, which includes Assistant Professor of Communication Catherine Knight Steele.
$650,000 to continue the work being done by the Humane Metrics for the Humanities and Social Sciences initiative, an international partnership committed to establishing more humane indicators of excellence in academia, co-led by Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities Bonnie Thornton Dill. A RHU.U MD. EDU | 3
ARTS FOR ALL INITIATIVE “ The Arts for All initiative seeks to ensure that the arts are woven into the very fabric of life at the University of Maryland ... so the Terrapin identity is writ large and forged strong.” —DARRYLL J. PINES President, University of Maryland
UMD President Darryll J. Pines has made a bold commitment to the arts at the University of Maryland. In his April inauguration address, Pines announced a new initiative to expand arts programming across campus and bolster interdisciplinary offerings. Arts for All creates new opportunities for students to fuse the arts, technology and social justice to collaboratively address grand challenges. ARTS.UMD.EDU
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>> L OOKING FORWARD
T he new immersive media design major exemplifies how the Arts for All Initiative links together the arts and STEM fields. A joint offering from the Department of Art and the Department of Computer Science, the major, which launches in Fall 2021, teaches students to use technologies like virtual and augmented reality, computer graphics, coding for new ways of displaying art virtually, 3D modeling and more. T he Maya Brin Institute for New Performance, housed in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, will advance the school’s role as an innovator in design and performance, and prepare graduates to launch careers in emerging media formats such as webcasts, immersive design technology and virtual reality performance. This fall, a newly hired assistant professor of lighting, a visiting assistant professor of digital humanities in performing arts and a multimedia technologist join the institute. The Brin Institute’s fall production is playwright Lauren Yee’s “Hookman,” directed by Nathaniel P. Claridad ’04 in November.
A n expanded NextNOW Fest, presented by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, will occur in venues across campus as well as in the College Park community in September. A s part of NextNOW Fest, Music for All Terps, a series of pop-up music performances presented by the School of Music across campus, will launch and continue throughout the semester.
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UNDERGRADUATE & GRADUATE EDUCATION U NDERGRADUATE ACCOLADES
GRADUATE ACCOLADES
Andrew Forschler ’21, history with a minor in secondary education, was named one of the University of Maryland’s Undergraduate Researchers of the Year for 2021. As a student in the History Honors Program, Forschler conducted archival research focused on gender, sexuality and performance and produced original research on marginalized or forgotten figures, including obscure suffragists and male impersonators, or “drag kings.”
Lisa W. Carney, who completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in 2020, won a 2021 Charles A. Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award for her dissertation that explored the stories told about dreams in Kichwa, a Quechuan language spoken in Ecuador.
Nataliya Stepanova ’21, a double-degree student in mathematics and computer science with a minor in linguistics, won a Marshall Scholarship, one of the most prestigious academic awards available to college graduates. She is UMD’s sixth Marshall Scholar. She will seek a Master of Science degree in speech and language processing at the University of Edinburgh. Undergraduate playwright Emily Zhou ’22, theatre and economics with a minor in statistics, was selected to present her original play “You Are a Pirate” at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 2.
As the dramaturg for the Teens Behind the Scenes program at the National Theatre, Ph.D. student Jared Strange, theatre and performance studies, created a series of microsites documenting key moments and figures in the National Theatre’s history.
Ph.D. student Patricia OrtegaMiranda, art history and archaeology, curated the UMD Art Gallery’s online exhibition “Breath & Delirium,” a collection of videos by the Cuban-born, Madrid-based multimedia artist Glenda León that explored the relationship between the body, nature and the imagination. Max Lasky M.F.A. English ’21 won a 2021 Academy of American Poets University and College Poetry Prize for his poem “Ghost Ride.”
>> LOOKING FORWARD
1,205
N EW DUAL MASTER’S DEGREE. In a collaboration between ARHU and the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the historic preservation and American studies dual master’s degree program combines diverse perspectives on social justice, diversity, inclusion, culture, heritage and built environment history to create a deepened interdisciplinary study of public humanities and historic preservation in the United States.
Degrees conferred
987 B.A. 128 M.A. 90 Ph.D.
2020 PLACEMENTS Despite the global pandemic, our graduates found jobs and continued on to graduate school.
VOLUNTEER/SERVICE PROGRAM: 1% UNRESOLVED: 6%
MILITARY SERVICE: 1% STARTING A BUSINESS: 2%
NO DATA: 11%
UNPLACED: 2%
EMPLOYED PART-TIME: 6%
TENURE TRACK: 14% NON-TENURE TRACK: 16%
OTHER: 8%
MUSEUM ARCHIVE: 4%
CONTINUING EDUCATION: 14%
GRADUATE
UNDERGRADUATE
*P lus or minus 2% due to rounding *S ome departments have incomplete data on their graduates; this can include either graduates without placement and/or unreported.
GOVERNMENT: 1% PRIVATE SECTOR: 17% EMPLOYED FULL-TIME: 68%
NONPROFIT: 3% EDUCATION: 18%
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POST-DOC: 9%
FACULTY & STAFF NEWS ACCOLADES History Professor Richard Bell was selected as part of the 2021 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He received a $200,000 stipend to support research for his forthcoming book, “The First Freedom Riders: Streetcars and Street Fights in Jim Crow New York.” Erich Sommerfeldt, associate professor in the Department of Communication, was selected to be a 2021 Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He worked as an adviser to the U.S. Department of State to provide expertise in policy decisions for U.S. public diplomacy around the globe. Jared Mezzocchi, associate professor of dance/theatre design and production, was listed in The New York Times among the top five theater artists for the way he is “advocating and agitating, connecting and inventing” through theater during the pandemic. Professor of Linguistics Colin Phillips, director of the Maryland Language Science Center, was named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in recognition of research that has deepened the world’s understanding of language acquisition and processing—and broadened appreciation for linguistic insights across a range of other disciplines. At the opening for his sculpture “Maze of Knowledge” at the National Building Museum, Professor of Art Foon Sham was honored with a 2021 Outstanding Educator Award from the International Sculpture Center. The award recognizes artist-educators who have excelled at teaching sculpture in institutions of higher learning and who are masters of sculptural history, theory, processes and techniques. Marketing Communications Coordinator Kate Spanos Ph.D. ’16 received a grant from Maryland Traditions, the traditional arts program of the Maryland State Arts Council, to work with Becky Hill, a third-year M.F.A. student in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, on traditional Irish dance repertoire and style.
OUTSTANDING NEW FACULTY Top row L-R: Cecilia D. Shelton (English), Eva Hageman (American Studies and the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Fabrizio Cariani (Philosophy) | Middle row L-R: Gretchen Horlacher (Music), Kendra Portier (Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies), Maria Beliaeva Solomon (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), Marisa Parham (English, AADHum), Anny Gaul (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures) | Bottom row L-R: Melinda Baldwin (History), Rion Amilcar Scott (English), Robin Giebelhausen (Music).
NOTABLE FACULTY BOOKS Distinguished University Professor of English Robert S. Levine’s “A Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson” received starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews. Professor of English GerShun Avilez’s book “Black Queer Freedom” was named on The Seminary Co-op Bookstores 2020 Notable Books List. Associate Professor of History Christopher Bonner won the 2021 James H. Broussard Best First Book Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic for his book “Remaking the Republic: Black Politics and the Creation of American Citizenship.” Maryl B. Gensheimer, associate professor of Roman art and archaeology, was awarded the Council of Graduate Schools’ 2020 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities for her book “Decoration and Display in Rome’s Imperial Thermae: Messages of Power and Their Popular Reception at the Baths of Caracalla.” Assistant Professor of English Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes was awarded the BOA Short Fiction prize by BOA Editions, a publisher of poetry and other literary works, for her book of stories “Are We Ever Our Own.”
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RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP & CREATIVITY STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS ARHU faculty maintain close relationships and hold leadership positions with:
American Comparative Literature Association: Sangeeta Ray, president
In partnership with UMD’s Center for Global Migration Studies and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the “Making African America” symposium brought together scholars, journalists, activists, curators, filmmakers and writers to discuss how immigration has shaped and is continuing to reshape what it means to be Black in the United States. Faculty from the Maryland Language Science Center and the Department of English helped shape Planet Word, a new museum in Washington, D.C., that seeks to inspire and renew a love of words, language and reading in people of all ages. Faculty continue to collaborate with the museum on research and other initiatives. Associate Professor Anita Atwell Seate, Professor Brooke Fisher Liu and Assistant Professor Jiyoun Kim from the Department of Communication are working with the National Weather Service to improve how forecasters communicate severe weather threats across the nation. The project is funded by a $368,675 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. The Department of Philosophy established an arrangement with the University of Maryland Medical System to have philosophy graduate students and recent Ph.D. graduates serve on a hospital ethics committee. Two students, along with Department of Philosophy Professor and Chair Samuel Kerstein, provide consultations on issues including withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments, do-not-resuscitate orders and medical futility.
College Band Directors National Association: Michael Votta, vice president
Society for Music Theory: Gretchen Horlacher, vice president
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication: Linda Aldoory, vice president (president-elect)
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SCHOLARSHIP 1. | During the flare-up of IsraeliPalestinian violence this past spring, Visiting Professor of Israel Studies and Jewish Studies Scott Lasensky spoke on a panel organized by HBO and the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at UMD about past American attempts to resolve the conflict, why they failed and steps the Biden administration could take going forward. The event was part of a screening and discussion of the HBO film “Oslo,” a diplomatic thriller about the 1993 Oslo Accord, and drew a global audience of scholars and academics. 2. | Philip Resnik, professor of linguistics, is applying machine learning techniques to social media data in an attempt to make predictions about important aspects of mental health, including the risk of suicide.
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3. | Associate Professor of American Studies La Marr Jurelle Bruce’s book, “How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind” explored the Black radical creativity of artists like Nina Simone, Richard Pryor, Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar to shed light on various manifestations of madness in the face of antiBlackness. Bruce’s research is situated in the emerging, interdisciplinary field of mad studies, which interrogates the social construction of psychiatry and mental illness—and illuminates lived experiences of “madness.” 4. | Jordana Moore Saggese, associate professor and associate chair in the Department of Art History and Archaeology and current editor-in-chief for the College Art Association’s Art Journal, oversaw the first issue in the journal’s 80-year history to focus explicitly and exclusively on “Blackness.”
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS A new mural in Cole Field House, home to the David C. Driskell Center, honors the life of the late David C. Driskell, renowned artist and scholar of Black American art and Distinguished University Professor of Art. Designed by Assistant Professor of Art Brandon Donahue, who was formerly the Driskell Center artist-in-residence, the 9-foot-tall, 35-footwide mural honors Driskell’s own background and bold, colorful art. Three undergraduate art students helped Donahue paint the mural over the course of several months.
TEACHING New School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies’ faculty members Sam Crawford, a sound and media technologies specialist, and Marielis Garcia, dance artist-in-residence, taught “Exploring and Creating Virtual Performance,” which guided students through an exploration of virtual performance, including video game design, short comedies, stop motion animation, dance for the camera and video essays.
Renowned conductor Marin Alsop was appointed the firstever music director of the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, a program of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Alsop will innovate programming, conduct multiple concerts and mentor emerging musicians.
The University of Maryland Art Gallery’s online photo show “The Skinwalker Ranch Portfolio,” featured 80 images from photographer Christopher Bartel that documented the eastern Utah ranch, long associated with UFOs and other paranormal activity. Bartel donated more than 1,500 images to the gallery.
In “Feminist Reconceptualizations of Knowledge,” Assistant Research Professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Jessica Lee Mathiason partnered with Wikipedia Education to design modules to teach students how to write, format and publish their own Wikipedia articles to address gaps in feminist, LGBTQ+ and POC history by restoring the legacies of historical figures, groups and/or events. In “Ancient Slavery and Its American Impacts,” Assistant Professor of Classics Katherine Wasdin used texts, artworks, archaeological material and comparative evidence to lead students in an interrogation of how slavery permeated the ancient Mediterranean societies of Greece and Rome. Students then spent time reading about how both abolitionists and advocates for slavery in the United States used ancient societies to bolster their cases.
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INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH & INITIATIVES The Department of English’s Center for Literary and Comparative Studies and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center, along with the Office of International Affairs and Global Classrooms, sponsored an event to celebrate “Her True-True Name,” the trailblazing 1989 collection of stories by women writers from across the Caribbean. The event was moderated by Grenadian writer and Professor of English Merle Collins, who retired from UMD in the spring, and who was among the 31 writers published in the original anthology.
Ph.D. students Erika Exton, Madison Buntrock and Kathleen Oppenheimer from the Maryland Language Science Center are working with researchers from the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences and a faculty member from the University of Maryland, Baltimore to study how different view settings in a remote learning environment—such as on Zoom— impact children’s learning. The prediction is that gallery view, where students see the rest of the “class,” provides more opportunity for social engagement with peers but also more opportunities for distraction. Xiaoli Nan, professor of communication and director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication, was part of a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore that received $98,432 from the MPowering the State initiative to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 in Maryland and beyond. Their research aims to help understand why African Americans, who suffer disproportionately from the adverse health and economic impact of the pandemic, might accept or reject the COVID-19 vaccine. 10 | Y E A R I N R EV I EW 202 0 - 2 1
Several School of Music students participated in a music aerosol research study co-led by Jelena Srebric, UMD professor of mechanical engineering. One of the purposes of the study was to find ways to play music safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school quickly implemented the study’s scientific recommendations for in-person music. These included using modified instrument masks and bell covers to help contain aerosols. Associate Professor of Violin Irina Muresanu is working with Cornelia Fermüller, an associate research scientist at the Center for Automation Research at UMD’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, to develop artificial intelligence technology to assist in violin teaching. The project was awarded a $115,000 Maryland Technology Development Corporation Maryland Innovation Initiative Award, a partnership between the state of Maryland and five Maryland academic research institutions.
INNOVATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
INNOVATION More than 400 music majors received Zoom Q2N-4K recorders, tripod stands and recording accessories to capture and upload high-quality recordings of auditions, lesson assignments, performances and research, thanks to a Teaching Innovation Grant awarded by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost and matched by the School of Music.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT >> LOOKING FORWARD T he National Foreign Language Center developed a free language learning app, Lectica, aimed at helping high school aged-students and adult learners brush up on their language skills. The 420 lessons in seven languages feature authentic source material and are prepared by native speakers. It will be available this fall through the Apple Store. During her 2020-21 Long Fellowship, Associate Professor of English Kari Kraus developed the course “Storytelling With Code,” which will be offered by the Department of English beginning in Fall 2021. It will introduce undergraduate English majors to the ways that code—the “language” behind computer software, apps and websites—can be used both to analyze literature as well as to create it.
Through a mix of percussion, oral history, electronic sounds and traditional hymns, the story of the historically Black College Park neighborhood of Lakeland was interpreted by the musical trio Lineage Percussion, recipients of a 2020-21 NextLOOK residency. Timpanist and percussionist Lauren Floyd, a doctoral student in the School of Music, is a founding member of Lineage Percussion. The “Shadows of Lakeland” piece was presented by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and Joe’s Movement Emporium. A crowdsourcing project led by the College of Information Studies and the David C. Driskell Center will engage scholars, historians, artists and the public to help transcribe and preserve the works of the late African American artist, scholar, curator and Distinguished University Professor of Art David C. Driskell. The project initially includes about 1,200 digitized works from the Driskell Papers collection, all ready for transcription and review by anyone who wishes to participate. Award-winning author and social justice scholar Monique W. Morris discussed her documentary, “PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools,” as part of the 202021 Arts and Humanities Dean’s Lecture Series. This fall, Dean’s Lecture Series speaker Vijay Gupta, a violinist and social justice advocate, will discuss the role of the arts and music to heal, inspire, provoke change and foster social connection.
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ADDRESSING EQUITY, INCLUSION & SOCIAL JUSTICE The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s inaugural BlackLight Summit convened Black, Indiginous, people of color and LGBTQ+ dance artists from across the country for conversations, workshops and performances. The Clarice also launched “Vital Signs: Creative Arts for Black Lives Mini-Grants,” in collaboration with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy, Black Terps Matter and NextNOW Fest student curators, to award grants to artists in the UMD community who are creating projects that affirm Black life and vitality and interrogate white supremacy and anti-Blackness.
Distinguished University Professor Ruth Enid Zambrana, professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, co-authored “Equity and Inclusion: Effective Practices and Responsive Strategies,” a guidebook for college and university leaders who are committed to promoting equity, inclusion and success for traditionally and historically underrepresented minority faculty in their institutions. The guidebook drew from lessons learned during a national summit held at the University of Pennsylvania entitled “Changing the National Conversation: Inclusion and Equity,” convened in partnership with Swarthmore College and the Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity at Maryland, of which Zambrana is the director.
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The Clarice formed a cross-departmental team to explore how to make the arts more welcoming and comfortable for patrons with autism, sensory sensitivities and other disabilities in the virtual environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. These “sensory-friendly” events include components like comprehensive “Know Before You Go” materials, interactive conversations with the performers and guides with instructions on computer controls and keyword definitions.
As part of an ongoing research project in the Department of Linguistics that looks at gender representation in linguistics, doctoral students Hanna Muller and Phoebe Gaston began modeling a more inclusive approach to gender research by reframing the project in ways that are less reliant on assumptions of a gender binary—acknowledging that gender-nonconforming and nonbinary individuals experience additional harms that may impact their participation in the field. The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies hosted its first annual celebration of Harriet Tubman Day in March to mark the department’s name change. Speakers included Ernestine (Tina) Wyatt, a descendant of Tubman and a UMD alum, as well as faculty and students who have been inspired to draw on Tubman’s courageous anti-racist and suffragist legacy. Amid an increase in anti-Asian hate during the coronavirus pandemic, Professor of American Studies Janelle Wong examined nine sources and four types of data about anti-Asian hate incidents, including from the reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate, Pew Research, as well as official law enforcement statistics. Her widely cited analysis found major contradictions in the prevailing narrative around perpetrators, victims and the general environment of racism. For instance, while media coverage perpetuated the idea that the violence was committed mostly by people of color, Wong’s analysis showed the majority of attackers were white.
As part of a new collegewide campaign to address racism, inequality and social justice in curriculum, scholarship, programming and community engagement, ARHU launched the yearlong Dean’s Colloquium Series on Race, Equity and Justice, featuring faculty expertise on issues of systemic racism, inequality and justice. The events, hosted by Dean Bonnie Thornton Dill, were free and took place virtually. A 21-person Committee on Race, Equity and Justice was also created to advise the dean.
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CREATING GLOBAL CITIZENS Language students connected to teachers of the Mayan language K’iche’ in Guatemala, thanks to an intensive two-week virtual program offered by the Maryland Language Science Center. Six ARHU students completed virtual global internships in Barcelona, Dublin, Florence, London and Sydney through a partnership between Education Abroad, the College of Arts and Humanities and CAPA: The Global Education Network. The Department of Communication’s 2021 Grunig Lecture, co-chaired by the Institute for Public Relations, the University of Maryland and the Council of Public Relations Firms, focused on global public relations and featured UMD alums working in South Korea, Hong Kong, China and Australia. Katherine Murdock, professor of viola, presented a master class for the global music and educational organization LyreIran via Zoom. To be accessible to musicians in and from Iran, Murdock’s instruction was translated into Farsi. The event was facilitated by alumna and LyreIran co-founder Kimia Hesabi D.M.A. ’19, viola.
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NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS
FULBRIGHT AWARDS
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1
CRITICAL LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIPS
4 BOREN SCHOLARSHIPS
2 BENJAMIN A. GILMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP
1 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP
1 MARSHALL SCHOLARSHIP
1 PUBLIC POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FELLOWSHIP
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GIVING
$77.8M RAISED TOWARD
The Fearless Ideas Campaign
The College of Arts and Humanities exceeded its $70 million campaign goal and has currently raised $77.8 million toward the university’s Fearless Ideas Campaign. The campaign empowers and inspires students to take on the grand challenges of our time, from poverty to racial injustice to climate change. Among this year’s impactful gifts: Nancy H. Clarvit ’78 and Charles I. Clarvit are advancing the University of Maryland’s Arts for All initiative through a $2.25 million gift to the Department of Art. The gift will support scholarships, educational programming in the arts, research, renovated studios and a courtyard on campus.
Mathematics Professor Emeritus Michael and Eugenia Brin and the Sergey Brin Family Foundation established the Maya Brin Institute for New Performance in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies to boldly reimagine the future of education in the performing arts. The $9 million gift adds courses, expands research and funds new teaching positions, undergraduate scholarships, classroom and studio renovations, and instructional technology. Farshid Assemi continued his support of visiting faculty member Mohammad Navid Bazargan in the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies with a $240,000 gift. Bazargan is a scholar of Persian literature, as well as a painter and a calligrapher, with full training in Iran. He also teaches community classes to the Iranian American community.
A RHU.U MD. EDU | 15
ALUM DISTINCTIONS Elizabeth DeLoughrey Ph.D. ’99, English, was awarded a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship. DeLoughrey, a professor in the English Department and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, is the founder of the UCLA Postcolonial Literature and Theory Colloquium and coeditor of the interdisciplinary open access journal Environmental Humanities. Erek Barron ’96, English, was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as U.S. attorney for Maryland.
Honors Humanities student Megha L. Rajagopalan ’08, journalism, was part of a BuzzFeed News team that won a 2021 Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s highest honor, in the International Reporting category.
Kyla McMillan ’11, art history and archaeology, became director of David Zwirner, one of the largest galleries in the world with locations in New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong.
Noelle Roy ’16, public relations and theater, got a shout-out at the Oscars for her work as a publicist for the short film “If Anything Happens I Love You,” a moving depiction of grief in the aftermath of gun violence that won Best Animated Short Film.
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LEADERSHIP DEAN’S OFFICE
DEPARTMENTS
Dean Bonnie Thornton Dill
American Studies
Communication
CHAIR
CHAIR
Psyche WilliamsForson
Shawn Parry-Giles
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research Linda Aldoory
English Art
CHAIR
CHAIR
Amanda Bailey
The Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies (JWST)
School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (SLLC)
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR
Maxine “Max” Grossman
Juan Uriagereka
School of Music
Brandon Morse Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Ralph Bauer Assistant Dean of Development Laura Brown Assistant Dean of Technology and Personnel Management, and Staff Equity Kathleen Cavanaugh Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Audran Downing Assistant Dean for Marketing and Communications Nicky Everette Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration Julie Wright Director of Facilities Lori Owen
Linguistics
DIRECTOR
CHAIR
Gregory E. Miller
INTERIM CHAIR
Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Steven Mansbach
CHAIR
CHAIR
Neda Atanasoski
Samuel J. Kerstein
Art History and Archaeology (ARTH)
William Idsardi
Philosophy
DIRECTOR
Classics CHAIR
History
Eric Adler
CHAIR
Maura Keefe
Philip Soergel
CENTERS Center for East Asian Studies (SLLC)
Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity
Maryland Center for Humanities Research
National Foreign Language Center
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR
Kathy Kilday
Minglang Zhou
Ruth Enid Zambrana
Linda Aldoory
Center for Global Migration Studies (History) DIRECTOR
Colleen Woods
Center for Health and Risk Communication (Communication)
David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora
Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities DIRECTOR
Xiaoli Nan
DIRECTOR
Tita Chico
Mark and Heather Rosenker Center for Political Communication & Civic Leadership (Communication)
Potomac Center for the Study of Modernity (ARTH) DIRECTOR
Joshua Shannon
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Maryland Language Science Center
Roshan Institute for Persian Studies (SLLC)
Curlee Holton
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR, ROSHAN
Colin Phillips Herman Maril Gallery (Art) GALLERY ADVISER
Center for Literary and Comparative Studies (English)
LEAD DIRECTOR
Trevor Muñoz
DIRECTOR
For the most up-to-date information, please visit arhu.umd.edu.
School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
Justin Strom
DIRECTOR
Paul Scham
DIRECTOR
Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center
Shawn Parry-Giles
DIRECTOR
Isabella Alcañiz
PERSIAN STUDIES
Fatemeh Keshavarz Maya Brin Institute for New Performance CO-DIRECTOR
The Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies (JWST)
INSTITUTE CHAIR IN
Jared Mezzocchi
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center ACTING EXECUTIVE
CO-DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR
Kendra Portier
Erica Bondarev Rapach
Michelle Smith Collaboratory for Visual Culture (ARTH)
University of Maryland Art Gallery
DIRECTOR
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Quint Gregory
Taras Matla
Nathan and Jeanette Miller Center for Historical Studies (History) DIRECTOR
Karin Rosemblatt A RHU.U MD. EDU | 17
University of Maryland 1102 Francis Scott Key Hall 4282 Chapel Lane College Park, MD 20742 arhu.umd.edu
UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS Major |
Minor |
Certificate Program
American studies Arabic
Greek language and culture Hebrew studies
Persian studies Philosophy
History
Philosophy, politics, and economics
Art history
Humanities, health and medicine
Portuguese language, literature, and culture
Arts leadership
Immersive media design
Professional writing
Black women’s studies
Israel studies
Central European, Russian and Eurasian studies
Italian language and culture
Religions of the Ancient Middle East
Arabic studies Archaeology
Chinese Chinese language Cinema and media studies Classical languages and literatures
Religious studies
Italian studies
Rhetoric
Japanese
Romance languages
Jewish studies
Russian language and literature
Korean studies Latin American studies Latin American and Caribbean studies
Classical mythology
Russian studies Spanish heritage language and Latina/o culture
Communication
Latin language and literature
Creative writing
LBGTQ studies
Dance
Linguistics
East Asian studies
Middle East studies
English language and literature
Music and culture
Spanish literature, linguistics, and culture
Music education
Studio art
Music: Liberal arts Program
Theatre
French language and literature French studies German studies Germanic studies
Music performance Music: Professional Program
Spanish language, culture, and professional contexts Spanish language, literatures, and culture
U.S. Latina/o studies Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies