CU Boulder’s Center for Humanities & the Arts welcomes German delegation for latest in Difficult Dialogue Series

Late last month, a delegation from Germany joined scholars from the University of Colorado Boulder to discuss extremism, antisemitism and misinformation.

The discussion was organized by the CU Boulder Center for Humanties & the Arts (CHA) in collaboration with the  and with support from the U.S. State Department. It was the latest of the CHA’s Difficult Dialogue Series.

The six visiting delegates, representing various regions in Germany, asked not to be photographed or quoted but engaged in a structured discussion facilitated by CHA Director Jennifer Ho. Topics spanned antisemitism, media literacy and the global effects of extremism, reflecting the delegates’ interest in the CHA’s approach to fostering meaningful discussions around divisive issues.

The Difficult Dialogue series is designed to emphasize open-mindedness, respectful listening and personal storytelling. This approach enables participants to confront challenging topics and seek mutual understanding without pressure to agree.

During last month’s discussion, participants shared their perspectives on democracy, racial inequities and the historical issues that influence the present-day political landscape, such as what is happening in Gaza. The U.S. and German participants exchanged experiences and strategies for navigating division, demonstrating the CHA’s commitment to conversations that resonate across borders.

Through the Difficult Dialogue series, the CHA aims to connect people from diverse backgrounds, emphasizing that discussing challenging topics is essential to problem-solving and cultural understanding. By hosting this German delegation, the CHA continues to affirm its dedication to promoting respectful dialogue rooted in the humanities, the center stated.

The next event in the Difficult Dialogue series is scheduled for Nov. 13 and is titled “Is that a fact?!” The session will focus on how to find facts in a world filled with misinformation. This community conversation is co-hosted with Colorado Chautauqua and open to the public and will be held at 6 p.m. at the Chautauqua Community House Rocky Mountain Climbers Club room.

For more information, visit Chautauqua’s website: 

The University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) is known internationally for its Difficult Dialogue series, which fosters meaningful conversations about complex issues.

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Kamala Harris’ identity as a biracial woman is either a strength or a weakness, depending on whom you ask

Who is Kamala Harris?

Though Harris has had a very public life in politics for decades, speculation about who exactly she is and what she stands for has circulated across social media platforms and news stories for several years.

Many of these conversations focus on the , since she is a mixed-race, Jamaican and Indian woman who does not have biological children and who was born to two immigrant parents in Oakland, California.

Jennifer Ho is a professor of Asian American studies in the CU Boulder Department of Ethnic Studies and director of the Center for Humanities and the Arts.

As I’ve previously written about , some have questioned how  or Asian identities are. Interest in Harris’ familial background and race was reignited on July 31, 2024, when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump falsely suggested that Harris has misled voters about her racial and ethnic identity.

“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, ” Trump asked during an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago.

By saying this, Trump tapped into the long history of racism in America, where some white people have  and policed the boundaries of race.

More than  and likely see themselves reflected in Harris’ layered background. But many Republicans are also trying to use  against her.

For ardent Trump supporters, Harris may seem to represent all that they oppose, including woke politics and Democrats being “controlled by ,” as Trump’s running mate JD Vance has said.

For Democrats, Harris represents the U.S.’s multiracial, feminist future.

Which means, what people believe about Harris largely depends on the party they already plan to vote for more than who the Democratic presidential nominee really is.

Harris and her many firsts

Many political observers and  that  into the Democratic Party, precisely because she is a Black-South Asian woman. Many  see elements of themselves in Harris: the celebration of her ethnic cultures, her achievements as a person of color, and her unprecedented and pathbreaking model being a woman of color who is the nominee of a major party seeking the highest office in the country.

A  in July and August centered on the identities of those who support Harris.

, Black men for Harris, , white dudes for Harris, , LGBTQ+ people for Harris, among others, have all gathered in Zoom meetings that had tens of thousands of attendees—. These online gatherings have jointly  for Harris.

The number and diversity of people rallying for Harris shows her widespread appeal. Harris’ white male supporters – a key voting demographic for Democrats—also show how Harris’ candidacy is inclusive to many different kinds of people.

Inclusivity may be a keyword of Harris’ campaign, especially in opposition to her rival’s campaign. Vance’s  has spawned endless memes  of people who recognize the insensitivity and ignorance of such a remark.

Audience members cheer for Kamala Harris at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 23. (Photo: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Harris’ supporters have responded to the GOP’s critiques of her and turned them into  celebrating her identity, attesting to Harris’ popularity with a younger, media-savvy electorate.

Using Harris’ identity against her

Republicans, meanwhile, are questioning Harris’ qualifications precisely based on her ethnic and racial identity, calling her a “DEI” candidate. This is a reference to the term “diversity, equity and inclusion.” The , but in workplaces or school settings it can look like treating everyone equally and fostering a culture where all people, regardless of their background or identities, feel welcomed. DEI policies intend to respond to the historic oppression that marginalized people have faced.

As the scholar , “The term ‘DEI hire’ actually implies that only heterosexual, white men are qualified for such high leadership positions.”

Some in the GOP have renamed the DEI acronym .” U.S. Reps.  both have disparaged , with Hageman going a step further by saying that Harris is  of the barrel.”

The gender factor

Harris is the second woman major-party presidential nominee, following Hillary Clinton’s candidacy in 2016. So far, Harris doesn’t seem to be facing persistent questions about whether ,  did.

But Harris has faced both sexist and racist comments, particularly online.  found that 78% of disparaging sexist and racist comments on Twitter, now called X, during November and December 2020 were directed at Harris.

Some Republicans have continued making sexist attacks on Harris in this election campaign. In a , , the head of the group Pastors for Trump, called Harris a “ho,” or whore, riffing off a right-wing meme of “Joe and the Ho.”

Christian nationalist  took to social media on July 22 to call Harris a representative of the “spirit of Jezebel.” Other  have claimed that , citing an early relationship she had with Willie Brown, a prominent Democratic politician from San Francisco and later speaker of the California State Assembly, as the reason for her success.

This false story of Harris’ romantic past aligns with old , rooted in the rape of Black women by white slave owners during antebellum slavery.

And the tactic of questioning Harris’ authentic racial background could apply not just to Harris but to nearly all multiracial people.

Yet there are  and see in Harris their own story.

Top image: Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in West Allis, Wisconsin, July 23. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Jennifer Ho is a professor of Asian American studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the .

This article is republished from  under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

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Eminent German historian Paul Nolte will discuss whether the golden age of democracy is over or whether it can escape collapse and recover

One of Germany’s leading contemporary historians will present a research colloquium addressing the stage of crisis that liberal democracy has entered in the early 21st century—asking whether the golden age of democracy over and is on course for eventual collapse, or whether it can recover.

Historian will present the colloquium, titled “Crisis or Transformation? From Good-old Democracy to Rough Democracy, ca. 1970-2020,” which is jointly organized by the University of Colorado Boulder Program in Jewish Studies, the Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History and the Pacific Office of the German Historical Institute Washington in cooperation with the .

Historian Paul Nolte will discuss the crisis in liberal democracy at a research colloquium Tuesday.

It will be from 2-3:30 p.m. Tuesday in Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) E422. To receive the pre-circulated text on which the discussions will be based, please RSVP by email to cujewishstudies@colorado.edu.

At CU Boulder, the visit is co-sponsored by the Center for Humanities and the Arts; the International Affairs Program; and the Departments of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, History and Sociology.

As one of Germany’s leading contemporary historians, Nolte holds a chair in modern history with a special emphasis on contemporary history and international relations at the . His research areas include social, intellectual and political history of the 18th to 20th centuries, especially post-1945 Germany and the United States; transatlantic history of democracy; public intellectuals and social, economic and political concepts and mentalities; urban history and metropolitan cultures; religion and civil society in Western societies; and public history and cultures of memory. 

   What: Crisis or Transformation? From Good-old Democracy to Rough Democracy, ca. 1970-2020

  When: 2-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13

  Where: CASE E422

Nolte has written more than a dozen books and has served as a fellow or guest professor at Oxford University, Harvard University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Among his many transatlantic undertakings is chairing the academic advisory committee of the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies, which brings American PhD candidates to Germany.

His colloquium will focus on the current state of crisis in which liberal democracy exists, when they are under attack from neo-authoritarian ideas, movements and regimes, externally as well as from within. He will address what a potential recovery could look like, asking, “What if we were not witnesses to a crisis of democracy, but rather to its transformation, with the current predicaments being the new normal?”

Nolte will discuss how, from a historical point of view, “pre-crisis” democracy corresponded to social structures, cultural milieus and technological environments that will never return. Further, this longing often projects a relatively short period in the trajectory of democracy, participation and liberal society as an ideal state, while it was in itself full of shortcomings, rigid structures and privileges for the few.

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In response to public requests, CU Boulder experts will discuss range of topics in Arab-Israeli conflict at Wednesday forum, which is open to the community

A weekend cease-fire extension and the continuing release of hostages have raised some hopes, but the devastating war in the Middle East has also raised many questions.

Many members of the University of Colorado Boulder campus community have asked for expert insight into the conflict and its centuries-long history. In response, the Program in Jewish Studies will host “Explaining Conflict and War in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank: Community Discussions with CU Faculty Members” from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, in UMC 382-384.

Map of Israel and Palestine

The event, which is open to the public, is being organized by the Program in Jewish Studies and co-sponsored by the Center for Humanities and the Arts, the Department of English, the Department of History and the International Affairs Program.

It will follow an informal format and allow individuals and smaller groups of participants to discuss a specific sub-topic, ranging from antisemitism to the long history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with faculty experts, including:

• Janet J. Jacobs, professor of distinction in women and gender studies
• Zach Levey, Israel Institute visiting professor and visiting professor of international affairs
• Karim Mattar, associate professor of English
• Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History and interim director of the Program in Jewish Studies
• Eyal Rivlin, teaching associate professor of Jewish studies

The program will continue the discussions about the war, which is a significant escalation of the decades-long conflict. The war began with the terrorist attacks by Hamas, which killed 1,200 civilians on Oct. 7. Not since the Holocaust had this number of Jews been murdered in a single day. Israel’s response to the terrorism, an invasion of the Gaza Strip, has drawn criticism from some observers.

The Program in Jewish Studies sponsored a panel discussion last month, as well.

Wednesday’s event will offer another forum for these discussions. Many members of the CU Boulder campus community are directly affected by the war, given that they have family and friends in the region who have been hurt or killed.

For weeks, tensions have been running high on many U.S. university campuses, including CU Boulder, and many students feel threatened and unsafe. Social media continues to be saturated with inflammatory posts, partial truths and falsehoods.

For more information, please contact the Program in Jewish Studies at 303-492-7143 or CUJewishStudies@colorado.edu

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At a panel discussion co-sponsored by CU Boulder Center for Humanities and the Arts, literacy experts championed children’s access to literature

Though censorship and book banning are nothing new, the recent upswing in this censorship in public institutions has compelled many to protest these limitations on their access to diverse views.

During a panel discussion hosted at the Boulder Public Library Wednesday evening, co-sponsored by the University of Colorado Boulder Center for Humanities and the Arts, Adam Crawley, a CU Boulder assistant teaching professor of literacy studies and the discussion's moderator, led a conversation on the right to read in K-8 schools and libraries and the fundamental right to access literature.

Jo Currier, a fifth-grade teacher in the Boulder Valley School District and a mother of three, offered the perspective of a parent and an educator. Currier strongly supported “promoting access for all students and representation in the curriculum.”

Colorado author , who explores Asian American culture and identity in her picture books and middle school novels, said that as a second-generation Chinese American, she recognizes the importance of children being able to read books in which the characters are like them. “I write the books that I needed as a kid,” she said. “Everyone deserves to see themselves represented in a book.”

Panelists Adam Crawley (left), Jo Currier, Andrea Wang and David Farnan discuss frequently challenged children's books.

David Farnan, director of the Boulder Public Library who has extensive experiences dealing with censorship, noted that this current surge in book banning is due, in part, to the ongoing “culture war.” Mentioning the librarian code of ethics, Farnan emphasized that he “will not just oppose but resist censorship in all of its forms.”

Farnan said he believes the recent uptick in censorship is related, in part, to an “orchestrated attack primarily on LGBTQ authors and stories, and authors and stories about people of color.” He added that this attack is on “any type of curriculum having to do with a story that is not having to do with White hegemony.”

Wang added that this is also due to the “fear of the other,” and cited the “rising anti-Asian sentiment since the pandemic began.”

In response to the question of whether censorship might ever be appropriate, Currier noted how some curriculum can tend to favor one predominant perspective over less dominant ones, so educators face a challenging dilemma. Should they opt to substitute these materials with more diverse viewpoints, or should the original content be taught, but through a more critical lens? As difficult a question as that is, it is important to make sure that there is equal opportunity for representation, Currier said.

Another challenging aspect is the issue of self-censorship. Pointing to a few recent examples—including the being canceled at the Frankfurt Book Fair and, earlier this year, an author's decision not to publish a novel set in Russia following criticism from Ukrainian readers—Farnan said that these acts are “just solely inappropriate” and that it both “underestimates the power of books and overestimates it too."

“Books do not cause harm,” Farnan said. “They may represent viewpoints that are different. They may be offensive, they may be something that you find difficult to identify with, but you can choose not to read them. The point of books is, in some ways, to explore ideas and selves and identities and worlds that you cannot and do not live.”

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Jennifer Ho, director of CU Boulder’s Center for Humanities & the Arts, discusses the state of arts and humanities in higher education as the center prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary, and she champions the inherent value of the arts and humanities

The Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) at the University of Colorado Boulder turns 25 this year. 

To commemorate the quarter-century milestone, CHA is hosting a celebration from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) building’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), CASE E390. is recommended and can be completed . For more information on the event, visit the CHA website’s 25-year anniversary webpage. 

At the top of the page: A scene from the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's 2019 production of Twelfth Night. Above: Jennifer Ho, CHA director and ethnic studies professor, teaches courses on Asian American culture and Critical Race Theory at CU Boulder.

Jennifer Ho, CHA director and ethnic studies professor, said the celebration will offer an opportunity to look back on CHA’s successes and to discuss and plan how to promote, support and celebrate the arts and humanities. 

Ho recently participated in a five-question interview about the current state of arts and humanities in higher education, looming challenges for arts and humanities scholarship, strategies CHA employs as it strives to be an effective advocate for the arts and humanities, and more. Her responses follow below. 

Question: How has the situation for the arts and humanities in higher education changed over the last quarter century? 

Ho: I think there’s a tendency to lament the decline of arts and humanities, especially humanities, in higher education, because we see a declining number of arts and humanities majors and decreased funding. And that’s definitely a part of the narrative at CU Boulder and nationwide. 

However, there have also been more humanities and arts centers that have opened nationwide in the last 25 years—one at Brandeis just started up a year ago—and the scholarship and artistic productions by faculty, students, and staff have continued to flourish, on and off campus. 

One positive change that I’ve noticed is an opening up of what we consider to be valuable works of arts and humanities—showcasing both the artistry and scholarship of faculty of color on subjects that 25 years ago we wouldn’t have been seeing depicted in art and music or validated through scholarship such as transgender issues, addressing Islamophobia, centering Black joy, and using an equity, inclusivity and justice lens within arts and humanities—that’s definitely a positive change I’ve seen in the last 25 years. 

Question: What do you see as the immediate and looming challenge to arts and humanities scholarship generally and also at CU Boulder? 

Ho: Politics and money. These are the two most pressing challenges to arts and humanities nationally and perhaps at CU Boulder. Financially the CHA is fine, for now, though we rely on the generosity of the university for our budget—and if that changed, we wouldn’t be able to offer the grants, fellowships, awards and programs that make the CHA a vital hub on campus for arts and humanities. 

I’d love to be able to endow some of our programs; for example, to raise a million dollars so that we’ll always be able to fund graduate students with dissertation fellowships, summer awards and material grants for student artists. 

Politically, I believe things are fine for now at CU Boulder, but like most people I’m keeping my eye on what is happening in Florida. The book bans, the bills preventing people from teaching certain subjects, what’s happening at the New College of Florida—all of this is very concerning about the political climate in education that impacts those of us working in arts and humanities. 

In fact, next year at the CHA, we are hoping to take this up as a theme: Liberty, Freedom, Democracy and the Fight for Ideas. We often see words like “liberty,” “freedom,” “democracy” invoked by people who tend to be on the more conservative side of the spectrum, and I’d like to delve into what we mean when we use these terms and what freedom of thought and expression actually looks like relative to the work we do at the CHA in supporting arts and humanities. 

 

We don’t just need science; we need critical thinking skills of interpretation to think about these as human issues."

Question: If a student or parent asked you to explain the “value” of the arts and humanities, how might you respond? 

Ho: I love getting this question because it allows me to show my passion for arts and humanities, because the first thing I’d say is that arts and humanities give meaning to our lives. And then I’d say that they teach us how to think critically about our world. Art is literally and figuratively the color, sound, movement and texture of our world. 

When the pandemic had us sheltering at home, we turned to stories and art and music to alleviate our anxiety and provide solace in our uncertainty. And humanities courses don’t just teach us how to write better (which is what many people will say is the value of humanities)—humanities courses and books help us think better—they push us to critically examine the world and ask not just “what” is happening but “why” and “how.” 

If we didn’t have humanities scholarship, we wouldn’t be able to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems—because we don’t just need science; we need critical thinking skills of interpretation to think about these as human issues. 

Question: What strategies does the CHA employ as it strives to be the most effective advocate for the arts and humanities? 

Ho: I think and talk in terms of stories—and the stories that the CHA has to share about why arts and humanities are vital is the most effective way I know for us to advocate for arts and humanities. 

An audience gathered at a CHA event titled “Difficult Dialogues: Being Black in Boulder” in the Fall of 2022. The event included a film screening and then a panel discussion that featured Jennifer Ho as one of the panelists.

A story I tell about bridging the CHA to the greater Boulder County community involves a competition we held for CU Boulder staff, students and faculty to produce works of arts and humanities that engaged the theme of “resilience” in light of the Boulder King Soopers mass shooting. 

The entries we received were powerful and poignant—and the winning submission was by a CU Boulder undergraduate student who was a survivor and witness to that tragic day—who wrote a series of letters to March 22 (the day of the shooting). You can find them and the other winning entries on our website. 

We then had a community event at Chautauqua where the awardees spoke about their works. It was a powerful event—and a reminder that arts and humanities have the ability to do so much: to heal, to communicate, to inspire and to witness. 

The student who wrote her letters to March 22 did so because of our competition and it became part of her healing from this horrific event. This is one story among many about why arts and humanities are so crucial to our lives. 

Question: You hold three degrees in English. What drew you to this discipline, and how does your experience dovetail with the mission of CHA? 

Ho: Stories. Stories. Stories. That’s why all my degrees are in English. I taught myself to read when I was 5, because I didn’t want to rely on my parents reading to me—it’s among my first memories: being on my sofa and sounding out words and figuring out the stories in my picture book. 

Fiction is my first true love because it allowed me to travel to multiple worlds in different bodies—and it still does. Who tells stories to whom and for what purpose—this is a powerful tool to have. 

When I started college, I realized it wasn’t just the pleasure of reading novels that I wanted to explore, but the power of representation. The first time I read a book written by a Chinese-American author about Chinese-American experiences was when I was a first year student at UC Santa Barbara. 

That moment changed my life—because up until then, I didn’t think Chinese or Asian American people wrote books—because I had never been assigned a book by an Asian American person and never had a librarian direct me to any Asian American books, fiction or non-fiction. Seeing yourself reflected in stories is a powerful thing—and not seeing that is also powerful, because it means you don’t have a model of what you can be if you can’t see yourself reflected in narrative. 

At the CHA, we want everyone to be able to tell their own story—whether that’s in the form of scholarship, music, media, visual art, dance, drama, or so many of the other disciplines that inform humanities and arts. So, I think my love of stories and my desire to have people tell their stories and be inspired by the stories of others works well at the CHA.

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Today and in coming weeks, multiple events commemorate the mass shooting on March 22, 2021

Today is the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in Boulder. Events are scheduled today and in the coming weeks to help people observe and reflect on the event.

Today, the city of Boulder will hold a number of commemorations—all open to the public. These include:

• A patrol car will be parked in front of the Boulder Police Department (.) for individuals to leave their condolences if they so choose through the evening of March 22. Any items left in remembrance will be given to the family of Officer Eric Talley and/or saved at the department.
• A moment of silence wherever you are at in Boulder at 2:30 p.m. on March 22.
• Communitywide Day of Remembrance gathering at the from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on March 22.

At 2:30 p.m. on March 31, the University of Colorado Boulder will dedicate a tree on Farrand Field in memory of those lost.

Also appearing now through April 10, the is featuring an exhibit titled “.”

And on April 10, CU Boulder will host a panel discussion titled “” at 6:30 p.m. at Chautauqua Community House. There is no charge for tickets, but registration is required.

CU Boulder Chancellor Philip P. Distefano will make opening remarks. John-Michael Rivera, associate dean for arts and humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences, will moderate a panel discussion. Rivera’s research focuses on gun violence.

The event will include two CU Boulder faculty members and a student whose work in remembrance of the shooting was recognized by the Center for Humanities & the Arts. Their work can be seen at this website.

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New Lunch with Limerick discussion to examine what it means to maintain unity while confronting divided opinions

What does it mean to disagree?

Jennifer Ho

That is the central question of an upcoming Lunch with Limerick discussion event, to be held at noon on Nov. 20, featuring Jennifer Ho, the director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts and a professor of ethnic studies.

Lunch with Limerick is a virtual interview series held over Zoom that is hosted by the Center of the American West and moderated by Patty Limerick, the center’s director, that delves into current issues and a variety of topics relevant to the West and beyond.

Ho and Limerick will discuss questions such as: How do we maintain unity when we confront divided opinions? How can we respect one another while vehemently debating topics we feel passionate about? Is it possible to separate the person from the provocation?

Patty Limerick

"I have always felt fortunate to have Jennifer Ho as my colleague at CU, and there is no one whose company I would prefer over hers, when it comes to an energetic exploration of some of the most important issues confronting higher education today. Anyone who has been alarmed by reports and rumors that the expression of belief, principle and opinion has become constrained in universities today will have, with this program, a chance to see that academic discussion remains invigorating, robust, good-natured and, often enough, pretty darned funny!" said Limerick, who is also a professor of history at CU Boulder.

And Ho agrees:

“I can’t imagine that I’m going to be disagreeing too much with Patty, but I am confident that if I find myself disagreeing with her (or she me) that our mutual respect for one another as people but also as intellectuals will allow us to disagree robustly because our admiration for one another as great minds and debaters allow us to take on one another seriously. I hope others will see how disagreement can be a sign of respect.”

Event Details:

What It Means to Disagree, Admit a Degree of Uncertainty, and Maintain a Robust Friendship: A Dialogue

Event Date: Nov 20, 2020
Event Time: 12:00 PM

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Humanities & the Arts.

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Center to recognize recent faculty achievements at CU Boulder on Feb.10

From film to books to music, 32 faculty achievements will be celebrated at the University of Colorado Boulder next week.

The Center for Humanities & the Arts will host a faculty celebration of recent major works on Feb. 10 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Center for British and Irish Studies Room of Norlin Library (M549, fifth floor). The event is free and open to the public. Food and drinks will be provided.

Jennifer Ho

The center aims to inspire interdisciplinary collaboration at CU Boulder. On top of an annual fellowship competition for faculty specializing in the humanities and arts, the center also provides funding and fellowships to faculty and graduate students for research and scholarship.

Jennifer Ho, the center’s director, hopes this social event will be an opportunity for people to learn more about what the faculty have been working on. 

“I want the center to be a hub on campus for collaboration and community that draws in anyone interested in doing arts and humanities work or celebrating, enjoying, appreciating and finding value in arts and humanities scholarship and artistic production, humanistic inquiry,” Ho says. “I really see this as a place that can bring people together.”

Ho encourages everyone to attend, even those not directly involved in studying the arts and humanities. These fields of knowledge remind us of our humanity, Ho says.

Ho, a professor of ethnic studies, researches Asian American literature and culture, multiethnic and contemporary American literature, and discourse that focuses on or reflects racism and ethnicity.

She was appointed to lead the center last year and wants to prompt campus conversations about the importance of the arts and humanities. To that end, the center will also host faculty panel discussions on critical topics in a series called “Difficult Dialogues.” 

On March 3, the series’ first panel discussion will encourage discussions on race and offer strategies to address it. John-Michael Rivera of the Program for Writing & Rhetoric will moderate a discussion with Sam Flaxman of ecology and evolutionary biology, Tiara R. Na’puti of communication, and Celeste Montoya of women and gender studies.

More broadly, Ho hopes to herald the value of the arts and humanities. She puts it this way: 

“Arts and humanities give meaning to life. Without arts and humanities and without scholars researching and asking these really important questions and documenting history and exploring various world religions and teaching languages and introducing us to the literatures of other languages and cultures, we wouldn’t be able to really appreciate what it is about us that makes us human.”

The works to be celebrated next week include the following:

William Aspray

From Urban Legends to Political Fact-Checking: Online Scrutiny in America

Pubisher: Springer

Fake News Nation: The Long History of Lies and Misrepresentations in 

America

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Historical Studies in Computing, Information, and Society: Insights from the 

Flatirons Lectures

Publisher: Springer

Computing and the National Science Foundation

Publisher: ACM Books

David Boonin

Dead Wrong: The Ethics of Posthumous Harm

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Max Boykoff

Creative (Climate) Communications: Productive Pathways for Science, Policy 

& Society

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Andrew Cain

Rufinus of Aquileia, Inquiry about the Monks in Egypt

Publisher: The Catholic University of America Press

Brian Catlos

Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain

Publisher: Basic Books

Carol E. Cleland

The Quest for a Universal Theory of Life

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Bud Coleman

Theater Productions

Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim

Ellis Island:  The Dream of America by Peter Boyer

A Broadway Christmas Carol by Kathy Feininger

Jackson Crawford

The Wanderer’s Hávamál

Publisher: Del Rey

David Korevaar and Charles Wetherbee

Album

Longing - Chamber Music of REZA VALI

Three Violin Sonatas of Paul Juon

Patrick Ferrucci

Making Nonprofit News: Market Models, Influence and Journalism Practice

Publisher: Routledge

Holly Gayley

Inseparable Across Lifetimes: The Lives and Love Letters of Namtrul 

Rinpoche and Khandro Tare Lhamo

Publisher: Snow Lion

John C. Gibert

Euripides’ Ion: an Interpretation

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Eugene Hayworth

Black Earth: A Journey Through Ukraine

Publisher: Haus Publishing

Michael Huemer

Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism Publisher: Routledge

Marina Kassianidou

Exhibition

Spacing Rehearsal, solo exhibition

(In)visible Hand,  two-person exhibition with Joseph Coniff

Miriam Kingsberg Kadia

Into the Field: Human Scientists in Transwar Japan

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Daphne Leong

Performing Knowledge: Twentieth-Century Music in Analysis and Performance

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Henry Lovejoy

Prieto: Yorùbá Kingship in Colonial Cuba during the Age of Revolutions

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press

Tamara Meneghini

Elizabeth I – In Her Own Words

Publisher: Moonstone Publications

Nina L. Molinaro

The Art of Time: Levinas, Ethics, and the Contemporary Peninsular Novel

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CU Boulder’s Center for the Humanities and the Arts, funded by NEH, to explore new ways of preparing PhD students for a broader job market

Helmut Muller-Sievers, CHA director and Eaton Professor of Humanities and the Arts.

The (CHA) at the University of Colorado Boulder has been awarded one of 28 National Endowment for the Humanities planning grants to explore “The Next Generation Humanities PhD.”

With this grant, a representative group of faculty, graduate students, administrators and alumni will make proposals that envision the future of PhD programs for the next 10 to 20 years.

CU Boulder’s grant proposal focuses on four broadly conceived areas: training PhD students in digital research and data management; reconceiving the PhD dissertation; offering non-academic internships to graduate students; and establishing a network of CU alumni interested in supporting and mentoring PhD students.“We are glad to have received this very competitive grant,” said Helmut Muller-Sievers, CHA director and Eaton Professor of Humanities and the Arts.

“It is a recognition of our efforts to improve graduate education at CU Boulder, and a chance to join a wonderful group of private and public universities in a proactive discussion about the future of the humanities PhD in the US,” Muller-Sievers said.

Ann Schmiesing, interim dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for graduate affairs.

To address that shortcoming, Helmut-Sievers said, “This grant allows us to think about changing this model while at the same time improving the intellectual and educational experience of our students. Best of all, it puts us into close communication with 28 universities that have similar projects underway.”

The NEH concurs: “The academic-focused future we’re accustomed to training graduate students for is disappearing,” NEH Chairman William D. Adams said in a .

“If graduate programs wish to make a case for the continuation of graduate education in the humanities, they’re going to have to think about the professional futures of their students in entirely different ways.”

Ann Schmiesing, interim dean of the and vice provost for graduate affairs (and professor of German) congratulated the CHA on winning the grant:

“This exciting grant affirms the innovative and forward-looking approaches that CU Boulder humanities and arts disciplines are taking to graduate education.”  

The universities awarded this grant will form a consortium and meet in February 2017 in Washington, DC, to exchange ideas and experiences, and to discuss next steps.

Participants will then have the opportunity to apply for much-larger implementation grants.

The announcement of the awards and the list of participating institutions can be found . 

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