Campus Humanities Calendar
Monday, August 31, 2026
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The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, based in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, convenes community organizations and architectural designers to create sukkahs—outdoor structures inspired by a Jewish architectural custom. Refreshments will be provided.
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory for our Fall 2026 Welcome Reception at Pizzeria Antica. The Director of the Unit, Dede Ruggles, will announce upcoming MCT speakers, Unit events, and more. All are welcome!
Thursday, September 3, 2026
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Join us for the Ebert Center’s first screening of the season: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), directed by Steven Spielberg and attributed as Stanley Kubrick’s final work. The film will be introduced by Ebert Fellows mentor Isaac Feldberg, critic at rogerebert.com. Food truck and concessions will be available at 6 p.m.
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Attend the Ebert Center's first film of the season—a free screening of "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" (2001), attributed as Stanley Kubrick’s final work. RogerEbert.com film critic and Ebert Fellows mentor Isaac Feldberg will introduce the film, which is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment...
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism and the Mellon Sawyer Seminar for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Chad Wellmon (Germanic Languages & Literatures, University of Virginia) on Theory in the University.
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
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Join us on the back patio to gather with the humanities community at Illinois.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
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Celebrate the launch of “Quinceañeras: Latinidades and Girlhood in Popular Culture” (University of Illinois Press). Edited by Jillian M. Báez (PhD ’09, communications and media, ICR), Diana Leon-Boys (PhD ’20, communications and media, ICR), and Institute of Communications Research Professor Emerita Angharad N. Valdivia (PhD ’91, communications and media, ICR).
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Prof. Keidrick Roy (Dartmouth College) speaks on the topic of his prize-winning book, American Dark Age: Racial Feudalism and the Rise of Black Liberalism (Princeton, 2024), showing how Black intellectuals challenged ideas of “racial feudalism” inspired by the medieval past...
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Danielle Chynoweth (Supervisor, Cunningham Township) on Democracy.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
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In 1968, Alejo Hernández, a resident of Stanislaus County, California, sued the USDA because the county failed to implement the Food Stamp Program.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Jonathan Rosa (Education, Stanford) on Semiotics.
Thursday, September 24, 2026
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Please join us for an opening reception to celebrate the acquisition of the first edition of Frankenstein and explore the life and career of Mary Shelley. Exhibit curator Lynne Thomas will give brief remarks, and refreshments will be served. This exhibit will be on display through Summer 2027.
Friday, September 25, 2026
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Readings in theme with "Up Against Erasure," with: Andrea Giugni + Malina Infante + Nathan Metz; Lisa Low.
Saturday, September 26, 2026
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Readings in theme with “Up Against Erasure,” with: Steven Bergmark + Mason McVeigh + Diana Towne; Gabriela Garcia.
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Lisa Saltzman (History of Art, Bryn Mawr) on Walter Benjamin.
Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Join us for an info session to learn more about the Humanities in Action program and receive insight into the application process.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Maryam Kashani (Gender & Women's Studies, UIUC) on Visual Theory.
Thursday, October 8, 2026
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“Staying with the Trouble of Preservation: The Ambivalent Politics of Deletion in Digital Societies.” Presented by Nanna Bonde Thylstrup (Art and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen).
Friday, October 9, 2026
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This is a panel discussion with artists and scholars on Everett’s Erasure. Each panelist will provide a different window into what’s beyond Erasure or what reading Erasure inspires (broadly conceived).
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by John Lurz (English, Tufts) on Poststructuralism.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
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Join us as we highlight the incredible work of each of Humanities Without Walls' Reciprocity and Redistribution Grand Research Challenge projects in four virtual showcases over the 2026-27 academic year. During each event, 2-3 teams will present their projects and share a bit about the centrality of reciprocal and redistributive methods to their work.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
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Professor Ángel García (English/Creative Writing) will read from his latest collection, Indifferent Cities.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Greta LaFleur (American Studies, Yale) on Gender.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Rob Rushing (European Languages & Transcultural Studies, UCLA) on Biopolitics.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
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Professor Gillen D'Arcy Wood (English and Earth Science & Environmental Change) will discuss his book, The Wake of HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Oceans’ Decline.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Chi-Ming Yang (English, University of Pennsylvania) on Orientalism.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
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Representatives from the HuMetricsHSS Humane Metrics Initiative will present on the values-based frameworks they’ve developed to guide all kinds of scholarly processes. The session will include time for audience questions.
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Thomas Davis (English, Ohio State) on Environmental Humanities.
Wednesday, December 2, 2026
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Join us as we highlight the incredible work of each of Humanities Without Walls' Reciprocity and Redistribution Grand Research Challenge projects in four virtual showcases over the 2026-27 academic year. During each event, 2-3 teams will present their projects and share a bit about the centrality of reciprocal and redistributive methods to their work.
Thursday, February 11, 2027
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Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights
Friday, February 19, 2027
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Following an introduction to the book proposal and publishing process, this presentation and panel will also cover recent experiences by faculty and editors in this important component of humanistic scholarship. Co-organized by the Humanities Research Institute and OVCRI’s Office of Research Advising and Project Development.
Thursday, February 25, 2027
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With Roderick Wilson (East Asian Languages and Cultures and History) and Anna Jungeun Lee (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
Wednesday, March 3, 2027
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More information is coming.
Thursday, March 4, 2027
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Patricia Owens Book Talk: Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men.
Thursday, March 25, 2027
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March 25-26, more information is coming soon. Part of the Up Against Erasure event series.
Friday, March 26, 2027
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March 25-26, more information is coming soon. Part of the Up Against Erasure event series.
Thursday, April 1, 2027
Thursday, April 15, 2027
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More info is coming.
Thursday, May 6, 2027
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Gather with us in community to celebrate this year's HRI research prize recipients and to mark the close of another academic year!