Spring Humanities and Arts Research Forum

New Horizons for Research in the Humanities and the Arts

Friday, March 29, 2019 | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
15 Seminary Place, East Wing
New Brunswick, New Jersey

a hand reaching for a bookA one-day Research Forum sponsored by the Office of Research and Innovation gathered faculty from across the many schools and departments at Rutgers–New Brunswick to showcase new scholarship and chart a future for the Humanities and Arts on campus. The forum was a precursor to establishing a flourishing and forward-looking research commons at Rutgers, engaging with our mission as scholars and artists, introducing us to new colleagues, and reacquainting us with our strengths.

Agenda of Roundtable Discussions

10:00–10:15 a.m. Welcome and Introduction: Henry Turner (Associate Vice Chancellor for Research in the Humanities and the Arts)

10:15–11:30 a.m. Public Writing: Forms, Challenges, and Opportunities for the Humanities

  • Chair: Jonathan Potter (Dean and Distinguished Professor of Communication, School of Communication and Information)
  • T.J. Jackson Lears (Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History; Editor, Raritan)
  • Alex Guerrero (Henry Rutgers Term Chair and Associate Professor of Philosophy)
  • David Orr (Professor of Poetry and the Practice of Criticism, English; NYTimes)
  • Khadijah White (Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies)

11:30–11:45 a.m. Coffee break

11:45 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Race and Region: New Work on Identities, Institutions, and Territories

  • Chair: Michelle Stephens (Dean of Humanities and Professor of English and Latino and Caribbean Studies, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Allan Punzalan Isaac (Associate Professor of American Studies and English, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Nelson Maldonado-Torres (Professor of Comparative Literature, Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Chie Ikeya (Associate Professor of History, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Kali Nicole Gross (Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of History, School of Arts and Sciences)

1:00–1:45 p.m. Lunch

1:45–2:00p.m. Peter March (Executive Dean, School of Arts and Sciences), Jean Baum (Vice Dean of Research and Graduate Education, School of Arts and Sciences)

2:00–3:15 p.m. Environmental Humanities: Texts and Design in an Age of Planetary Crisis

  • Chair: Laura Lawson (Dean of Academic Programs, Landscape Architecture, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences)
  • Karen O’Neill (Associate Professor of Human Ecology, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Anette Freytag (Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences)
  • Jorge Marcone (Associate Professor Comparative Literature and Spanish and Portuguese, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Dana Luciano (Associate Professor of English, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Tamara Sears (Associate Professor of Art History, School of Arts and Sciences)

3:15–3:30 p.m. Coffee break

3:30–4:45 p.m. Arts of Research: Creating Ideas Across Media and Audiences 

  • Chair: Gerry Beegan (Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Art and Design, Mason Gross School of the Arts)
  • Carter Mathes (Associate Professor of English, School of Arts and Sciences)
  • Steven Kemper (Assistant Professor of Music, Mason Gross School of the Arts)
  • Natalie Bookchin (Associate Professor of Art and Design and Visual Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts)
  • Thomas Lennon (Director, Documentary Film Lab, Rutgers Filmmaking Center, Mason Gross School of the Arts)

5:00–6:00 p.m. Reception and collective discussion