News

All News

December 10, 2024

Modern Language Association
Associate Professor Kate Heslop (Scandinavian) Receives Prestigious MLA Award for "Viking Mediologies"

The Division of Arts & Humanities is proud to announce that Associate Professor of Scandinavian Kate Heslop has been named a co-recipient of the sixteenth Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures. The prestigious award, presented biennially by the Modern Language Association (MLA), recognizes her groundbreaking work, Viking Mediologies: A New History of Skaldic Poetics, published by Fordham University Press.

The MLA prize committee praised Viking Mediologies for its transformative impact, stating:

December 6, 2024

Grace Erny (Ancient Greek & Roman Studies) Discovers New Insights on Ancient Greek Archaeology

Assistant Professor Grace Erny in the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies has recently published groundbreaking research offering fresh perspectives on ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Her studies draw on extensive archaeological surveys in Greece and Crete, revealing unexpected patterns of settlement and industrial activity in antiquity.

August 19, 2024

10 New Faculty Join the Division of Arts & Humanities for Fall 2024

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome 10 professors in the departments of Art Practice, Comparative Literature, English, German, Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures, Philosophy, Scandinavian, and Spanish & Portuguese as of July 1, 2024. 

August 13, 2024

Arts of the Border: Debarati Sanyal’s Guggenheim Year and the Exploration of Migrant Resistance through Smart Border Technologies

Each year, the Guggenheim Foundation awards approximately 175 fellowships to “exceptional individuals” to enable “scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.” Applications for 2025 are due in mid-September 2024.

Reimagining the Human Experience: Four Scholars Lead the Arts and Humanities in Psychedelic Studies

A major scholarly inquiry into the cultural, historical, and societal implications of psychedelics, the Psychedelics in Society and Culture program is a joint effort between UC Berkeley and Harvard University led by the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Psychedelics (BCSP), the Art and Humanities’s (A&H) Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (CICI) and Harvard University’s Mahindra Humanities Center.

July 19, 2024

17 Faculty Awarded More Than $400,000 in Mellon Project Grants for Research in Arts & Humanities

This year, the division awarded seventeen Mellon Project Grants (MPG) to faculty in the East Asian Languages and Cultures; English; Film and Media; French; German; History of Art; Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures; Music; Spanish and Portuguese; and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies departments. The grants are designed to support professors undertaking significant research projects, particularly those that involve collaboration, publication, exhibition, performance, public humanities projects, or hosting conferences or symposia. 

December 29, 2023

Prof Jeroen Dewulf's book, Afro-Atlantic Catholics: America's First Black Christians, awarded 2023 John Gilmary Shea Prize
Afro-Atlantic Catholics: America’s First Black Christians by Jeroen Dewulf, Queen Beatrix Professor in Dutch Studies and director of Berkeley's Institute of European Studies, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 John Gilmary Shea Prize by The American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA). This esteemed award, established in 1945, is one of the highest honors bestowed by the Association, recognizing outstanding contributions to the field of American Catholic history.

August 23, 2023

Associate Professor Weihong Bao appointed to prestigious chair in China studies

Weihong Bao, associate professor of Film & Media and East Asian Languages & Cultures, has been appointed to the Pamela P. Fong and Family Distinguished Chair in China Studies. Bao's appointment marks the first time the chair has been awarded to a faculty member from a humanities discipline.

August 2, 2023

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.