With the start of the current academic year nearly upon us, I am very pleased to announce the new location of the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere in 200 Walker Hall. I hope that this space will become fertile ground for collaboration among specialists in the humanities, scholars and students in related disciplines, and members of the community who would like to participate in this exciting undertaking and help build it from the ground up.
The Center has planned a busy year of activities and co-sponsored events, and the 2009-2010 season should be an especially stimulating one. At the current time, the Center is supporting lecture series, performances, and workshops on the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, experimental film-making, fear in antiquity, the state of the Russian economy, recycling in African art, intersections between religion and history, the state of the humanities, dialogues in European art about democracy, crisis in South Asia, and issues of race in Europe; the number of events will grow in the coming months. As in previous years, the Center will bring in noted scholars from around the world, foster interdisciplinary undertakings in the humanities and neighboring disciplines, raise awareness of issues of interest to the broader community, and of course highlight the work of University of Florida’s accomplished faculty and graduate students.
Besides the lectures and workshops listed on our calendar, I am pleased to announce three groups of library acquisitions sponsored over the summer by the Rothman fund in the fields of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, Late Antique and Medieval Studies, and Haitian and Creole Studies. During the year, the Center will also initiate a series of programs focused on preparing faculty and graduate students to apply for fellowships and grants in the humanities and allied fields. As the new director, I look forward to meeting members of the faculty, student body, and community, and I welcome feedback and suggestions regarding the Center’s current and future endeavors.
Early this fall, the Center will make its annual call for proposals for workshops and colloquia in 2010-2011 to be held with the support of monies from the Robert and Margaret Rothman Endowment for the Humanities and the Yavitz Fund. The Center will also continue its effort to enhance library collections in the humanities and sponsor a program to support team teaching across the disciplines. As I start the directorship, I look forward to my new responsibilities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida. Please accept my thanks (in advance) for your support of the Center.
beffros@ufl.edu
Bonnie Effros
Rothman Chair and Director
Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere
University of Florida
20 August 2009
beffros@ufl.edu