Think clearly. Act well. Appreciate life.
For the past decade, I have taught a semester-long prep course for undergraduates with PhD aspirations. At one of our meetings we discuss a subject I title “What’s Hot? What’s Not?” Its aim is to help prospective scholars understand a little better how to choose long-term research projects that are more likely to strike a …
From popular crime narratives such as the Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer” to the podcast “Serial,” modern-day sensation narratives have recently spiked in popularity. Similar to the sensational reports published in nineteenth-century newspapers, these narratives dramatize real life while trying to maintain integrity to facts. Yet, by nature of narrative, whether fiction or nonfiction, stories …
The following post was written by Dee Gardner, a Faculty Fellow at the Humanities Center. One of our remarkable human endowments is the ability to learn and store words and their meanings. This is a process that continues throughout our lifetimes, and there appears to be no limit to how many words we can learn. …
Utah has become a model for dual language immersion programs around the country—and around the world. The state of Utah currently offers 38 immersion programs in Chinese, 19 in French, 2 in German, 6 in Portuguese, and 73 in Spanish, for a total of 138 schools participating in dual language immersion. And why are these …
The following post was written by Ed Cutler, a Faculty Fellow for the Center. Rocking the world of physics earlier this week, a team of scientists confirmed that they have directly observed gravitational waves, the so-called ripples in the very fabric of spacetime Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity had predicted a hundred years ago. Because …
As an English major I have had the opportunity to study literature in connection with many other disciplines including history, religion, math, psychology, philosophy, science, film, trauma studies, and adaptation studies, to name a few. Studying these fields in conjunction with literature is one of my favorite parts about being an English major. I learn …
The Anthropocene is a term proposed by some geologists to redesignate the current geological epoch in which we live. The argument for this reclassification highlights the profound and lasting impact humans have had as a species on the planet from the beginning of agriculture to the “great acceleration” of industrial and private resource consumption from …
The following post was written by Heather Belnap Jensen, a Faculty Fellow at the Center. “Academics: forget about public engagement, stay in your ivory towers,” blasted the headline from an opinion piece published in The Guardian last month. While James Mulholland, an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University, is convinced specialization can …
All Colloquia will take place in JFSB 4010 at 3:00pm unless otherwise specified. January 14 Jeremy Browne (Digital Humanities) & Matt Wickman (Humanities Center Director, English) What are the public humanities? No, really, what are they? January 21 James Swensen (Art History) Place and the Photographic Medium February 4 Sergio Waisman (Spanish and International Affairs; …
As I’ve reflected on the past in preparation for a new year, I have thought carefully about my academic pursuits during graduate school, and my thoughts have been poignantly centered on the phrase “never forget.” I started out 2015 taking a theory class focused on trauma and memory, taught by BYU professor Trent Hickman. In …
