Campus Humanities Calendar

Diane Kelly, the Louis Round Wilson Distinguished Professor in the School of Data and Information Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present "From Finding Information to Feeding the Machine: A Brief History of Interfaces for Online Information Search Systems." A reception will follow the lecture in room 126.

Join us for the Reproductive Justice Symposium: a space for conversation between leading scholars of reproduction and the campus community.

Please join us for presentations by recent CAS Fellows. At 11am, Nicholas Jackson (Chemistry) discusses Designing Polymers in the AI Era and at noon, Stefan Vogler (Sociology) presents Police Consciousness and the Potential for Reform.

CSGGE Lunch Series, "Gender Equity in an Inequitable Era" will host Shaimaa Khanam, Graduate Student in the Department of Communication. Her talk, "Audiences interpretations of gender problems based on Netflix show, Adolescence”, will take place on October 8th at 12pm in person at 306 Coble Hall and virtually. Lunch provided for in-person attendees.

“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).

Join us for a reading by poet Philip Metres! Philip Metres (he/him) grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, the grandchild of Lebanese refugees and migrants and the descendent of Irish famine survivors. Metres has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.”

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).

CAS Professor of Psychology Brent Roberts draws from the science of personality development to discuss the following questions: How important are my genes for my personality? What effect did my parents have on who I am? Does my personality matter for love, work, and health? And “am I stuck with my personality or can I change?" A reception follows this CAS Annual Lecture.

The Education Justice Project is hosting a "reentry simulation" on Saturday October 10, followed by a panel of system-impacted individuals who will share their experiences of reentry and discuss the complex systems and barriers that can impact reentry after incarceration.

Join Kathryn Koca Polite for a special tour of In Search of a Future. Explore the exhibition through the curator's perspective and gain insight into the themes, selected works, and ideas that shaped the presentation. This guided conversation offers a unique opportunity to engage more deeply with the exhibition and ask questions along the way.

Japan House's annual Fall Open House resumes on Sat, Oct. 10 featuring Professor Emeritus Kimiko Gunji and Director Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud along with a preview of the Ogura-Sato Annex! At 12pm, they will present on the history of Japan House from its origins in the sixties to the current building's establishment and what the future holds with the Ogura-Sato Annex.

Graduate students interested in community-engaged research (CER) and leadership are invited to join CSGGE and the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute for a panel discussion.

Please join us for the Women in Science Lecture Series! October 13 from 12 - 1 pm hear Kelli Trei (B.S. Microbiology, 1999, and MLIS, 2012), Associate Professor and Biosciences Librarian, University of Illinois, discuss her background in microbiology and work as liaison to the Schools of Life Sciences and IGB.

Higher Education Under Attack. Panelists include: Sean McDonald, co-founder of Digital Public, where he focuses on data governance design; Shawn Gilmore, a Teaching Assistant Professor in English and co-author the the recent AAUP report; and Terri Barnes Professor in the History and Gender & Women's Studies Departments.

Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by John Lurz (English, Tufts) on Poststructuralism.

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.

Join Krannert Art Museum and Family Service of Champaign County for a Creative Aging Art Tour and Memory Café, a guided tour of the museum’s collection for seniors, those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s, and care partners, followed by refreshments, artmaking activities, and conversation.

Join us to celebrate the new books of three history PhD alumni: Latinx Encounters: How Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans Made the Modern Midwest by Juan Ignacio Mora (PhD, ’21, history); White, Black, Brown: Becoming Puerto Rican in Chicago by Michael Staudenmaier (PhD, ‘16, history)...

CSGGE Lunch talk with Dr. Tingting Zhang, School of Labor and Employment Relations, "Pushed out and Boxed In: Gendered Silence and Exit Orientation in China's Tech Industry". She argues that silence in such environment is not a uniform response to constrained institutional conditions, but it shaped by the gendered social positions workers occupy.

Professor Ángel García (English/Creative Writing) will read from his latest collection, Indifferent Cities.

In this year of the 250th anniversary of our nation, Dance at Illinois celebrates collaboration as the key concept of democracy. Paige Cunningham Caldarella creates a new work for the mighty first-year undergraduate students of Dance at Illinois.

This lecture traces the emergence of Mizrahi Jews as go-betweens within the shifting political, linguistic, and cultural geographies of the modern Middle East.

How does privacy change as AI becomes more powerful, pervasive, and autonomous? Join the Informatics Program at the iSchool for a conversation at the intersection of technology, law, & society.

Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Greta LaFleur (American Studies, Yale) on Gender.

Interested in conducting research abroad? This workshop introduces the fundamentals of writing a successful fellowship proposal for international research. Learn how to identify funding opportunities, communicate the significance of your overseas research, and craft persuasive application materials that stand out in competitive review processes. Lunch at 12pm w/registrati

Please join us for the Game Studies and Design October Town Hall. This month's guest speaker is Amber Holkenbrink, Principal Experience Designer on Apex Legends at Respawn Entertainment. She has worked in the game industry for over 16 years and has contributed to the art, animation, and design of more than 30 titles, including Call of Duty: Warzone.

In this CAS/MillerComm presentation, GAM Visiting Scholar Professor Sangaré (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales - INALCO) treats Islam in France as a case study in the state management of minority religion in a secular republic. Hosted by the Department of History.

Join us for a professional development presentation from a visiting literary agent! Rayhané Sanders will give a glimpse at the nuts and bolts of publishing, working in publishing, query letters, and other aspects of the literary trade. This will include some do's and don'ts and plenty of time for questions and answers.

Following the election, this panel examines the results and their significance for Brazil's future. Speakers will analyze voting patterns, political shifts, and the potential impact of the election on governance, public policy, and democratic institutions.

Join the Education Justice Project for an author talk with Rebecca Neusteter, author of 911, What’s Your Emergency? She will discuss the 911 system, its impact on communities of color, and the challenges of relying on police as the default emergency response. Dinner and copies of the book will be provided. For questions or accessibility requests, email policy@educationjust

The techniques for making texts have changed across multiple media and historical contexts since antiquity, but a regular feature of the work of authors and scholars through all those changes is the reliance on helpers or amanuenses. Dr. Ann Blair (Harvard) will discuss the factors that have made them both invisible and occasionally visible, and the kind of work they did.

Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Rob Rushing (European Languages & Transcultural Studies, UCLA) on Biopolitics.

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.

Youssouf Sangaré (George A. Miller Visiting Scholar) will examine the case of Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara and the Ançar Dine movement in Mali as a window into the dynamics of contemporary African Islam.

Professor Xiao Su presents innovative electrochemical approaches for addressing environmental challenges and improving water purification technologies. The lecture explores emerging research that advances sustainable solutions for water treatment and environmental remediation.

Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Chi-Ming Yang (English, University of Pennsylvania) on Orientalism.

Taiwanese artist Yao Jui-Chung and critic Kao Chien-Hui engage in a conversation about Yao's practice within Taiwan's layered histories of migration, colonialism, martial law, and contested boundaries. A reception precedes the talk at 4:00 PM. Presented in tandem with Ink Shower: Contemporary Taiwanese Artists Reimagine Tradition at the Krannert Art Museum.

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.

Join us for a reading by Illinois Alumni, Chekwube Danladi, Chris Vanjonack, and Weston Morrow!

Professor Stefania Chiarelli explores representations of water, rivers, and aquatic environments in Brazilian literature. Drawing on examples from Brazilian prose, the lecture examines how aquatic imagery shapes narratives, cultural memory, and literary interpretations of place and identity.

The Lemann Center Grad Forum showcases research conducted by graduate students whose work engages with Brazil. Through presentations and discussion sessions, participants share emerging scholarship, exchange ideas across disciplines, and strengthen connections within the Brazilian studies community at Illinois.

Please join us for this community building event! We will share information about the new MS in Game Development, and showcase games we are building and playing right now. We will also hear from our guest speaker Jeremy Moncauskas, Senior Level Designer at WB Games.

Emblematica (Illinois) and Compositor (U. of Birmingham) are databases that use digital technologies to explore the early modern text-image interface. Join Dr. Hazel Wilkinson (Birmingham) to learn how historical readers used “emblem-literacy” to engage with ornamented books in ways previously unaccounted for in scholarship.

"Elizabeth Vartkessian works with criminal defense teams as a mitigation specialist. She isn't part of the Innocence Project; her clients are often legally guilty, and often of terrible crimes. Rather, her job is to spend hundreds of hours per case talking to the parents, siblings, teachers, and neighbors of a defendant, situating their crimes in context.

Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Thomas Davis (English, Ohio State) on Environmental Humanities.

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.

Join us for our December Town Hall with special Guest Speaker Shad Bradbury, Animator with Pixar Animations Studios. Shad Bradbury has worked in animation for over 20 years at studios like Pixar, Sony, Tippet, and Rhythm and Hues. His credits include, "Elio", "Coco", "Finding Dory", "Inside Out", "Hotel Transylvania", and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2".

The Fall 2026 Game Studies and Design Showcase is a day for student gamers to share their new games, designs, and game components. Join us for a day of play-testing and fun!

Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights

Join us for a reading by author Carmen Maria Machado! Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House, the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods, and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties.

At the February Town Hall we will speak with VFX Artist Lisa Starc, Principal VFX Artist, at Monumental. Lisa Starc is a highly technical real time VFX artist with 20+ years of experience in the video game industry. She has worked as a VFX artist at Netflix Games, Boss Fight Entertainment, Amazon Games, and High Voltage Software.

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.

With Roderick Wilson (East Asian Languages and Cultures and History) and Anna Jungeun Lee (East Asian Languages and Cultures)

More information is coming.

Patricia Owens Book Talk: Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men.

Please join us for a presentation and discussion with Mitch Cronin, Senior Tech Producer, Santa Monica Studio. Mitch Cronin is a Senior Producer and Release Manager with nearly 19 years of game development experience. He's worked on the development side as well as publishing. Over his long career he has worked on many AAA titles as well as indie titles.

March 25-26, more information is coming soon. Part of the Up Against Erasure event series.

Join us for a reading by author Brandon Hobson! Dr. Brandon Hobson is a 2022 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. His novel, Where the Dead Sit Talking, was a finalist for the National Book Award.

More info is coming.

“Once Upon a Time in the Jazira: Archaeology and the Mass Graves of the Armenian Genocide”. Professor Lori Khatchadourian, Departments of Near Eastern Studies & Anthropology, Cornell University. Director, Cornell Institute of Archaeology & Material Studies.

The Spring 2027 Game Studies and Design Showcase is a day for student gamers to share their new games, designs, and game components. Join us for a day of play-testing and fun!

Gather with us in community to celebrate this year's HRI research prize recipients and to mark the close of another academic year!