University of Maryland College of Arts and Humanities

05/27/2026

Two of our own have earned one of UMD's highest honors.

Congratulations to Professor of History Richard Bell and Professor of Linguistics Valentine Hacquard, named 2026 Distinguished Scholar-Teachers at the University of Maryland!

The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program, established in 1978, recognizes faculty who have shown exceptional achievement in both scholarship and teaching. At UMD, the two go hand in hand.

Richard Bell is a historian of early America whose prize-winning new book, "The American Revolution and the Fate of the World" (2025), repositions the nation's founding as a global event. A public historian, Carnegie Fellow and recipient of more than a dozen teaching awards, he brings the past to life in the classroom and beyond.

Valentine Hacquard works in linguistic semantics, exploring how grammar shapes meaning and how children acquire the language of belief, desire and possibility. Over two decades at Maryland, she has mentored more than 10 Ph.D. students, all of whom have gone on to careers in linguistics, philosophy, computer science or developmental psychology.

Read the full story: https://arhu.umd.edu/news/richard-bell-and-valentine-hacquard-named-2026-distinguished-scholar-teachers

UMD Department of History

Professor of History Richard Bell and Professor of Linguistics Valentine Hacquard have been named 2026 Distinguished Scholar-Teachers at the University of Maryland.

05/27/2026

At graduation ceremonies across the country this spring, the Class of 2026 has been booing commencement speakers who bring up AI.

UMD's own Fabrizio Cariani, chair of the philosophy department, and the professor behind our course "AI and the Human Experience," offered some thoughtful perspective to USA Today on what those boos actually mean.

His take is that students have real questions about AI's impact on jobs, the environment, academic integrity and what authenticity even means anymore.

Meanwhile, ARHU's own commencement this year looked a little different. Our speaker was award-winning author and ARHU alum Jason Reynolds. He delivered a speech that moved the room in all the right ways, with a lot of heart.

This is exactly what we believe arts and humanities education does: It gives people the tools to ask the hard questions about technology, society and what it means to be human, and to do something meaningful with the answers.

🔗 Read the full USA Today piece:

Multiple college graduations were marked by booing at featured speakers, who came to realize they had "struck a chord." What set the crowd off?

05/04/2026

Two innovative courses from the University of Maryland College of Arts and Humanities are among those selected for 2026–27 course development grants from the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland.

“Embodied AI Studio: Installation, Performance and Intelligent Media Through Reflective Making,” developed by Immersive Media Design Lecturer Jonathan David Martin and Computer Science Assistant Professor Huaishu Peng, brings together students across art, design and engineering to explore AI through physical experience. From wearables to responsive environments, students will prototype interactive, portfolio-ready projects while examining the ethical and social dimensions of embodied AI.

In the University of Maryland Department of English, Associate Professor Lillian Yvonne-Bertram’s course, “Surfing the Model: The Creative Practice/Critical Literacy of Writing with AI,” invites students to move beyond the hype. Through hands-on experimentation and critical analysis, students will explore how large language models shape reading and writing, while interrogating their limitations, biases and broader societal impact.

Together, these courses highlight the vital role of the arts and humanities in shaping how we understand, question and create with AI.

College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences - Univ. of Maryland

Read more at the link in the comments.

05/04/2026

What does it mean to use communication for good?

A new course at the University of Maryland is showing students exactly how. Housed in the UMD Department of Communication, this class teaches Terps how to turn ideas into action by developing, pitching and funding projects that make a real difference.

Students identify causes they care about, present their ideas and vote on which initiatives will receive “mini Do Good grants” to bring them to life. Along the way, they build practical skills in public speaking, persuasion and civic engagement.
It’s a powerful example of how UMD’s Do Good campus mission is preparing students to lead with purpose.

Read more at the link in the comments.

05/01/2026

Congratulations to Professor of History Richard Bell, whose book “The American Revolution and the Fate of the World" is a finalist for the 2026 American Battlefield Trust Prize for History. The award recognizes the most outstanding and accessible work of early American military history published in calendar year 2025. The prize winner and two runners-up will be honored in October.

Learn more about Bell's book through the links in the comments.

UMD Department of History

04/30/2026

Congratulations to Janelle Wong on being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious scholarly societies.

Wong, a professor in the Department of Government and Politics and the Department of American Studies at University of Maryland and director of the Asian American Studies Program, was recognized for her influential research on race, immigration and political participation. Her work uses multi-ethnic, multilingual surveys to examine public opinion, religion and the civic engagement of immigrant communities, helping to reshape how we understand Asian American experiences and political life.

She is the author and co-author of foundational books on immigration and Asian American political identity, and has led major national research efforts including the National Asian American Survey. Beyond academia, she collaborates with community organizations and contributes to public conversations on issues such as affirmative action and social justice.

Wong joins Darryll J. Pines, president of the University of Maryland, who was also elected this year for his leadership in higher education.

We are proud to celebrate Professor Wong’s scholarship, leadership and public impact, as well as this recognition of excellence across the University of Maryland community.

Darryll J. Pines, Janelle Wong to Be Inducted for Educational Leadership, Study of Asian American Experience

04/30/2026

Congratulations to Michael Lavery, assistant professor of Russian in the UMD School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, on receiving a 2026 fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies.

Lavery is one of 63 scholars selected from more than 2,000 applicants for this highly competitive award, which supports six to 12 months of full time research and writing in the humanities and social sciences.

His project, Translating the Blazing Continent: Latin American Fiction and Soviet World Literature, explores how writers such as Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, and Carlos Fuentes were translated into Russian beginning in the 1960s, and how their work reshaped Soviet ideas of world literature and socialist internationalism during the Cold War. Drawing on archival research, literary criticism, and interviews, the project examines how translators, critics, and state officials negotiated the introduction of Latin American fiction into Soviet culture.

We are proud to celebrate this recognition of Professor Lavery’s scholarship and its contribution to understanding how literature moves across languages, cultures, and political systems.

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has awarded a 2026 ACLS Fellowship to Michael Lavery, assistant professor of Russian in the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. The program is the organization’s longest running program and supports outstanding scholarship in the humani...

04/23/2026

Learn more: https://go.umd.edu/YiddishVoices

04/23/2026

This National Poetry Month, Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz, director of the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies and a leading scholar of the 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic Rumi, reflects on the importance of poetry and what we can learn from Rumi.

Born in Shiraz, Iran, Keshavarz is the author of multiple acclaimed books on Persian literature, including “Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi.” She also shares the connection between poetry and everyday life on Instagram at .0 .

04/22/2026

Thanks to all who joined us for the inaugural Douglass Dialogues!

Students, faculty, staff and community members gathered at The Driskell Center on April 20 to consider “What to Us Now is the Fourth of July?.” Inspired by Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?,” the event invited people to explore our outlook on the United States as the country observes its 250th anniversary this year.

Students interspersed throughout the audience read excerpts from Douglass’ speech to help set the tone. Situated among the poignant artworks included in the “America Will Be” exhibition, the event opened with remarks by Driskell Center Director Jordana Moore Saggese, Provost Jennifer King Rice, ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan and Government and Politics Chair Antoine Banks.

In a wide-ranging conversation between Christopher Bonner (associate professor of history), Janelle Wong (professor of American studies and government and politics) and Larry Thompson (professor in corporate and business law at the University of Georgia), moderated by Douglass Center Director Quincy Mills, the panel explored topics including voting rights, birthright citizenship, the business and moral imperative of diversity, equity and inclusion and the health of our evolving and still young democracy.

Explore more University of Maryland events reflecting on the 250th anniversary of the United States at the link in the comments.