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August 2, 2023

Mark Csikszentmihalyi will be Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

The Division of the Arts & Humanities is pleased to announce that Mark Csikszentmihalyi will be Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, as of July 1, 2023. 

Anne Nesbet will be Chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

The Division of the Arts & Humanities is pleased to announce that Anne Nesbet will be Chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, as of July 1, 2023. 

Nesbet is a professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and in the Department of Film and Media. Her research focuses on silent and early sound film in France, Germany, and Russia as well as early Soviet culture. A current project centers around Soviet cinema and the construction of architectural space. 

Duncan MacRae will be Co-Director of the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce Professor Duncan MacRae as co-Director of the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, effective July 1, 2023. 

Justin Davidson will be Director of the Program in Romance Languages and Literatures

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce Professor Justin Davidson as Director for the Program in Romance Languages and Literatures, effective July 1, 2023. 

Eric Falci will chair the Celtic Studies Program

The Division of the Arts & Humanities announces that Eric Falci will chair the Celtic Studies Program, as of July 1, 2023. Falci is professor and chair for the English department and specializes in Irish and 20th and 21st century British poetry. 

Professor Ethan Katz has been appointed as Director for the Center for Jewish Studies

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce Professor Ethan Katz as the new Director for the Center for Jewish Studies, effective July 1, 2023. 

Henry Ravenhall joins the Department of French as Assistant Professor

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities welcomes Henry Ravenhall as of July 1, 2023. Ravenhall is an assistant professor in the Department of French with specializations in medieval French literature and manuscript culture. 

Darian Longmire joins the Department of Art Practice as Assistant Professor

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Darian Longmire as of July 1, 2023. Longmire is an assistant professor in the Department of Art Practice where he utilizes his artwork to articulate the dichotomy of Blackness through invisible matter, black holes and time warps. With years of experience studying mediums like digital processes, drawing, printmaking and design, Longmire considers himself a "remixer," utilizing his skills to create a world of abstraction. 

Accordionist and Ethnomusicologist Marié Abe joins the Department of Music as Associate Professor

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Marié Abe as of July 1, 2023. She is an associate professor in the Department of Music and focuses on the intersection between improvisation and composition.

Nicholas Baer joins the Department of German as Assistant Professor

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Nicholas Baer as of July 1, 2023. He is an assistant professor in the Department of German and specializes in film and digital media, aesthetics, critical theory and intellectual history. 

Mohamed Wajdi Ben Hammed joins the Department of Comparative Literature as Assistant Professor

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities is pleased to welcome professor Mohamed Wajdi Ben Hammed as of July 1, 2023. Ben Hammed is an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and specializes in modern Arabic literature, with a particular focus on how pre-modern Islamic concepts of time negotiate postcolonial transformations within the region’s political economy. 

Iggy Cortez joins the Department of Film & Media as Assistant Professor

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities is pleased to welcome professor Iggy Cortez as of July 1, 2023. Cortez is an assistant professor in the Department of Film & Media and specializes in world art cinema; digital media ecologies; queer theory; comparative critical race studies; and American independent film.

Timmia Hearn DeRoy joins the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies as Assistant Professor

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Timmia Hearn DeRoy as of July 1, 2023. DeRoy is an assistant professor in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, where she focuses on Caribbean theater practice and how to use this practice more broadly in community-oriented and social change focused theater. 

16 New Faculty Join the Division of Arts & Humanities for Fall 2023

On July 1, 2023, the Division of the Arts & Humanities welcomed 16 new faculty: 

Marié Abe, Department of Music: Marié Abe joins the division as an associate professor in the Department of Music and focuses on the intersection between improvisation and composition.

Verónica Gómez Sánchez joins the Department of Philosophy as Assistant Professor

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities welcomes Verónica Gómez Sánchez as of July 1, 2023. Gómez Sánchez is an assistant professor in the campus Department of Philosophy, where she focuses on metaphysics of science and philosophy of cognitive science.

July 26, 2023

Art Practice
Art Practice Summer Abroad visits the coastal city of Eleusis, Greece

This July, the Department of Art Practice hosted its first Summer Abroad course in the coastal city of Eleusis, Greece. For four weeks, a group of 21 Cal students lived in Eleusis while participating in a summer Art 160 course called “Artmaking, Community, and Social Impact” led by Professor Jill Miller.

June 16, 2023

The British Academy
Our volatile and confusing world needs the humanities more than ever

Given its location in a part of the world known for sunshine and optimism, the University of California, Berkeley, seems like a fitting place to provide some bright news for the global humanities community.

June 14, 2023

UC Press Blog
UC Press Blog: Judith Butler Explores Fury and Justice in the Humanities

We are very proud to publish “Fury and Justice in the Humanities” by Judith Butler in the new issue of Classical Antiquity.

June 8, 2023

California Magazine
California Magazine: Berkeley Bucks the Trend in Humanities

Early into his tenure as chancellor, Clark Kerr had a realization: Berkeley’s humanities were in crisis.

He’d had suspicions, as a graduate student and then a faculty member. But a few years after he became chancellor in 1952, an exchange with a visiting professor confirmed it. When Kerr asked Gerald Holton, a physicist from Harvard, what brought him to Berkeley for the summer, Holton quipped, “I am from Athens; I thought I better take a look at what Sparta was doing.” 

June 7, 2023

California Magazine/Light the Way
Sugata Ray’s book 'Climate Change and the Art of Devotion' explores the impacts of climate change

Sugata Ray, Associate Professor of History of Art and South and Southeast Asian Studies

What can 16th-century India teach us about 21st-century California? Sugata Ray’s book Climate Change and the Art of Devotion explores the impacts of climate change on art, architecture, and religion in northern India during the repeated monsoon failures of the 16th through 19th centuries.