College of Arts and Humanities at UMD

People walk on McKeldin Mall on Sept. 2, 2025. (Sam Cohen/The Diamondback)

What role do you think humanities play in addressing today's challenges? dbknews.com/2025/11/20/r...

Join the UMD Libraries on Thursday, November 6th, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in McKeldin Library room 4109 as Dean Stephanie Shonekan discusses their work Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Sorrow Tears and Blood. www.lib.umd.edu/research/eve...

New episodes of our "Rhyme and Reason” podcast are here!

From Black barber shops to Haitian cinema to immigrant political life, these conversations reveal how the arts and humanities help us see beyond headlines, connect past and present and support communities.

Listen now: umd-arhu.podbean.com

An 1863 engraving from Harper’s Weekly titled “The Emancipation of the Negroes, January 1863—The Past and the Future” by Thomas Nast. The illustration contrasts slavery and freedom in a large circular composition labeled “Emancipation.” Inside the circle, a freed Black family gathers warmly around a stove in a comfortable home, children playing and elders smiling. Surrounding scenes outside the circle depict the horrors of slavery on the left—whipping, auction blocks, and despair—and scenes of freedom and opportunity on the right—education in a public school, paid work, and family reunification. At the bottom, a small circular vignette shows an angel freeing a shackled enslaved person, symbolizing deliverance and hope.

UMD’s Freedmen and Southern Society Project has received a $300k grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support its landmark book, “Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867,” chronicling one of the most consequential moments in U.S. history. go.umd.edu/241s

Graphic for an event titled “Disability and Accessibility at UMD,” moderated by ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan. The text is centered on a dark blue gradient background with glowing white and peach lettering. Event details read: Thursday, October 23, 2025, Discussion: 4:00–5:00 PM, Taliaferro Hall Library (Room 1126). In the lower right corner, a white box with red and yellow arrows contains the logo “ARHU Pop Up Discussion.”

As part of Disability Awareness Month, join ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan and panelists for a conversation on disability and accessibility at UMD. Open to UMD students, faculty, and staff. Oct 23, 4–5 PM, Taliaferro 1126.

Dean Stephanie Shonekan unveiled ARHU’s Timely & Timeless strategic plan at our annual assembly as we celebrated 2025 Service Award winners—with music, poetry, and student reflections on the four commitments.
arhu.umd.edu/news/arhu-20...

Illustrated Persian manuscript spread from the Khamsa of Nizami, showing text in black ink on cream pages. The right page features a colorful miniature of Khusrau on horseback gazing at Shirin, who sits beneath a tree on green grass. The scene includes vivid blues, reds, and greens, bordered by Persian calligraphy. The aged pages have visible wear and small tears. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago collection.

UMD’s Roshan Institute for Persian Studies received a major gift to establish the Dr. Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Persian Digital Library, the first open-access, scholar-vetted archive of Persian texts.

today.umd.edu/roshan-insti...

Join the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies on Wed, Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. for the launch of Technocreep and the Politics of Things Unseen—a feminist take on why our ties to tech often feel “creepy.”

go.umd.edu/technocreep

Promotional graphic for an event titled “Being Human in the Age of A.I.” Moderated by ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan. Text reads: “Thursday, October 9, 2025. Round Table Discussion: 3:30–4:30 PM. Taliaferro Hall Library (Room 1126).” Bottom right corner features the ARHU Pop Up Discussion logo with a red, white, yellow, and black arrow design. Background is dark blue fading to black with glowing white and cyan text.

Join ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan and panelists this Thursday, Oct. 9, 3:30–4:30 p.m., to explore how the College of Arts and Humanities examines AI through humanistic and social science perspectives—examining its impact and creatively using its tools. arhu.umd.edu/events/arhu-...

The HPV vaccine prevents cancer—but uptake remains far below national goals.

Professor of Communication Xiaoli Nan has earned a $2.8M NIH grant to lead an interdisciplinary team developing an AI-powered chatbot to support parents in making informed choices.

Read more: arhu.umd.edu/news/umd-res...

Who was Jane Austen’s best heroine? These experts think they know We’re pitting her much-loved heroines against each other in a battle of wit, charm and sass

Have you voted yet for your favorite #JaneAusten heroine? @umdhistory.bsky.social Prof Julie Taddeo takes part in @uk.theconversation.com #FightClub! @umd-arhu.bsky.social

theconversation.com/who-was-jane...

In honor of Jacob Lawrence's birthday, we're throwing it waayyy back to 2011 when The David C. Driskell Center hosted a survey exhibition of his prints from 1963-2000. Check out the installation shots of the exhibition, or explore pieces in the permanent collection go.umd.edu/21wx.

Who was Jane Austen’s best heroine? These experts think they know We’re pitting her much-loved heroines against each other in a battle of wit, charm and sass

In honor of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, Dr. Julie Taddeo and other Regency era scholars were featured in The Conversation UK's "Jane Austen Fight Club." Continue reading to learn who Dr. Taddeo chose as her ultimate Jane Austen heroine! theconversation.com/who-was-jane...

Technocreep | KPFA Many new and emerging smart technologies are characterized as creepy. What’s the basis for these claims, and how should we respond to them? Neda Atanasoski and Nassim Parvin consider creepy technologi...

What makes smart tech creepy?

Professor Neda Atanasoski, chair of @wgss-umd.bsky.social, recently joined KPFA's "Against the Grain" to unpack surveillance, ethics and the politics of "technocreep."

Support students at Hollywood Elementary with the ARHU Staff Council's annual School Supply Drive! We're collecting backpacks, pencils, notebooks, and more. Drop-off locations on campus. Find out how you can help: go.umd.edu/arhuschooldr... #UMD #ARHU #CommunityService #SchoolSupplyDrive

Historian: “Hamilton” the Ultimate Teachable Moment Professor Travels Country Parsing Popular Musical’s Merits

Ten years ago, a new musical changed Broadway forever. We're revisiting this article about UMD history professor Richard Bell, an expert in the American Revolution, who shares what "Hamilton" gets right—and wrong—about our founding fathers. brnw.ch/21wUIss #Hamilten

Mythic Capital (w/ Lee Konstantinou) Podcast Episode · The Entmoot Podcast · 07/21/2025 · 1h 6m

If you want to hear a podcast featuring me talking about Tolkien and the far right, have I got something for you.

SPAN448M: Contemporary Puerto Rican Musicality: From Plena to Bad Bunny explores lyrics, performance, and the impact of genres like bomba, plena, salsa, reggaetón and more.

📚 Prof. Quintero-Herencia
🗓️ Fall 2025
📍 UMD Spanish & Portuguese
🔗 app.testudo.umd.edu/soc/202405/S...

Drawing from black avant-garde poetic traditions and led by Marissa Parham, the “Remixed Poetry towards Computational Literacies”workshop put remix skills and digital literacy at the forefront.

In a session on Embodied Teaching as Radical Practice. Tamisha Ponder, owner of Sankofa Yoga and Wellness, shared this Thomas Merton quote. Ponder studies the physiological responses of those doing organizing and activism to the stress of the work. She considers educators as activists.

“We are not authoritarian figures in the classroom. Students are not passive. Authority is shared.” - Tony Louis on “Cultivating Joy: Centering Ecstasy and Pleasure in the Classroom.”

“The journey is also to the teacher and beyond. It’s always a path to the heart.” -bell hooks

Dr. Tamisha J. Ponder led the group in a grounding and centering exercise and shared that bell hooks was inspired by Thich Nat Han. hooks said: “He met rage with loving kindness.”

The institute, called “Teaching To Transgress,” is convened in the spirit of bell hooks, who said that the classroom remains the most radical space in the academy.

“To be a leader you have to be grounded in a study of the humanities” - Dr. Quincy Mills at the Third Annual Maryland Humanities Summer Institute organized by the Frederick Douglass Center For Leadership Through The Humanities. Happening now!

arhu.umd.edu/news/fall-20...

Leadership updates from Dean Stephanie Shonekan:

🎓 Christina Hanhardt - Chair, American Studies
🎶 Jared Rawlings – Director, School of Music
🎨 Justin Strom – Art, Chair
more updates & thanks to outgoing leaders!
🔗 Full story in first comment ⬇️

Looking for your next summer read? 📚 Terp alums from @umdenglish.bsky.social and American studies are making waves—from Hamptons fiction to feminist TV critique to YA thrillers. Check out new books by Brooke Foster, Vincent Stephens, Meg Eden, & Allison Stine! #UMD #TerpAuthors

AIM Seed Grants Support 22 AI Research Projects | College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences | University of Maryland From developing futuristic packaging that guards food freshness and safety, to improving speech therapy for neurodive

Congratulations to the ARHU awardees whose #artificialintelligence research projects were among those funded through a new #UMD seed grant program. Their projects span developing sea ice monitoring techniques, to improving speech therapy for neurodiverse people and more go.umd.edu/aim-grants-25

WATCH: University of Maryland history analyzes the new American Pope Leo XIV Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland, Dr. Piotr Kosicki, analyzes the historical impact of the new Pope Leo XIV.

Piotr Kosicki, associate professor of history, speaks to WJLA about the historical impact of the new Pope Leo XIV. Watch the interview.
wjla.com/news/local/w...