The “Humanities Across the University” lectures are designed to highlight ways that humanities disciplines enter into meaningful conversation with scholars working in other fields. Usually, a scholar from some other college at BYU presents a lecture or else joins in a roundtable discussion with members of the College of Humanities.
2022-23
Steve Richardson, Associate Professor of Computer Science: “Machine Translation: Hype vs. Reality” Conversations meeting, February 16, 2023.
Steve addressed how machine translation has evolved over the course of its existence, and how society has responded to it. He addressed ways that humanities students can develop skills to be excellent translators in partnership with machine translation. His comments were timely and connected to the recent explosion of generative AI.
2015-16
Clint Whipple, Assistant Professor of Biology: “No Newton of the Blade of Grass: Evolutionary Development and the Return to Form.” Conversations meeting, February 19, 2016.
Our discussion with Professor Whipple, plant biologist at BYU, examined the implications of Evo Devo (a subfield that extends the scope of evolutionary inquiry to reconsider developmental causation, non-environmental constraints upon the possible evolution of forms) for traditionally humanistic fields. The implications of Evo Devo for humanistic study, as discussed during the hour, are rich. In literary studies, one might account for the emergence of genres less by consideration of contextual social factors, or even the idiosyncratic genius of a literary inventor, but by the constraints and possibilities latent in the form of imaginative literature itself.
2013-14
Robert V. Bullough, Professor of Education: “Higher Education and the Neoliberal Threat: Fast Time, Place, and Identity.” (Talk given as part of the Annual Symposium, March 21.)
Nathan Furr, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Marriott School, in conjunction with this year’s theme, “Innovation and the Humanities.” Nov. 7th, 3-4pm, JFSB 4186.
Office of Digital Humanities Symposium:
Bruce Schaalje (from Statistics) will discuss the outcomes of an experiment in which a computer “read” several decades worth of General Conference addresses to determine whether a correlation exists between the mood of talks and particular global events, like the state of the economy. Thursday from 11-11:50 in JFSB B135.
2012-13
Steven Peck, Associate Professor of Biology: “Conjuring the Natural World out of Digital Fictions: The Role of Narrative in Complex Ecological Computer Simulation” (Talk given as part of the Annual Symposium, March 22.)
[…] Humanities Across the University […]