University at Buffalo Humanities Institute

05/22/2026

https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2026/05/marie-curie-fellow.html

Art historian Ilenia Pittui will conduct research at UB on the iconography of the Ottoman and Safavid worlds.

05/19/2026

https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2026/05/creeley-symposium.html?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=uc_ubnow&utm_content=employee_051926_2

The two-day event celebrates the centenary of the former UB faculty member who was one of the most revered poets of the 20th century.

05/18/2026

[CORRECTION: This event is at 6pm. Editing original post now.]
Tue., May 26 | 6 pm at Fitz Books | Book Launch for 2019-20 HI Faculty Fellow Andrew Lison’s 100% Utilization

100% Utilization Computation and Labor After Moore's Law A wide-ranging analysis of how the material limits to discrete, silicon-based computing power impact employment and automation. Andrew Lison is Associate Professor of Media Study at the University at Buffalo, SUNY.

05/13/2026

May 21 & 22: Join for two evenings of talks, art, films, food, memories—and poetry—to celebrate the centenary of Robert Creeley (b. 1926)!

In collaboration with the Poetry Collection, the UB Art Galleries, the Buffalo AKG, and Black Rock Arts, the Poetics Program will hold an evening symposium on May 21 & 22.

Follow the link below to RSVP.

Studies in Creeley: Performances, Artist Books, Editions, Films 

05/08/2026

Congratulations to University at Buffalo Department of English alumni Sara DiNatale and Juliana Spahr on earning 2026 Pulitzer Prizes! This is a remarkable achievement that reflects the power of a liberal arts education and the impact of storytelling across journalism and poetry. 🌟 ✍ 📖

DiNatale shares the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting with her colleagues at the San Francisco Chronicle for their series, “Burned,” while Spahr earned the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection "Ars Poeticas."

The College is proud to celebrate their extraordinary accomplishments and the impact of our alumni on the world.

Read more: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/news-and-events/recent-news/2026/pulitzer-winners.html

05/01/2026

TODAY!

04/24/2026

HI New Publications Celebration
Friday, May 1, 5 p.m. | Fitz Books + Waffles (1462 Main St.)

Please join the Humanities Institute in celebrating the recent publications by UB faculty whose work has been supported by our research programs including Faculty Fellowships, VPRED/HI Research Funding in the Arts and Humanities, and the VPRED/HI Publication Support Fund.
Hearty snacks and beverages will be provided at this free and open-to-the-public event.

04/17/2026

Wednesday, 4/22 | 1pm
UB Center for the Arts Atrium

Featuring talks from Seneca historian Dr. Randy John (Seneca, Turtle Clan) and writer and historian Dr. Alicia Puglionesi (Johns Hopkins University).

04/13/2026

Friday, Apr. 17, 4 p.m. |Scholars@Hallwalls: Trina Hyun
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center - FREE and PUBLIC

Join us for Scholars@Hallwalls! Complimentary beverages and light fare are served for a brief, pre-talk mingling session.

“Writing Speechlessness: Thomas Traherne’s Fetal Poetics” presented by Trina Hyun (Asst. Prof., English)

In “Dumnesse,” the seventeenth-century poet and theologian Thomas Traherne takes infancy—in both its biological and etymological valences as early human life and the inability to speak (from the Latin, infāntia)—as the ideal ground of spiritual knowledge. This talk situates Traherne’s poem among the systematic, experimental language projects of his time—John Wilkins’s plan for a universal written character, and John Wallis’s pedagogies in sign language and mathematics—that invested in the possibilities of non-phonetic writing. These prescient imaginings about the untapped potential of speechlessness are not merely quixotic fantasies of immediacy but early revelations about the paradoxes of disembodied communication.

Trina Hyun is currently working on her first book, Media Theologies, 1615-1668, which investigates how post-Reformation English poets, preachers, and natural philosophers (often three-in-one persons) counterintuitively reimagined and theorized the spiritual practices of prayer and devotion as processes of media and communication. An essay from the project was published in ELH. Her research has been generously supported by the Huntington Library, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the New York Public Library. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2023 and was awarded the Theron Rockwell Field dissertation prize.

12/07/2025

Monday at Hallwalls! 🎶

UB Composers
Monday, December 8 at 7:30PM
Free | Hallwalls Cinema

Hallwalls Music Program and the University at Buffalo Music Department present a series of Monday night concerts showcasing the work of composers, faculty and performers studying and working in Buffalo. Join us for an exciting evening of new music.