News

Congratulations to all of our CCS majors and minors who graduated last week! We are especially proud of CCS major Alex Williams (B.A. CCS with minors in Classical Studies, History, and Museum Studies), our Outstanding Senior for spring 2025 and the Standard Bearer at graduation on Friday! Alex Williams with the CAL standard at graduation. Alex's two awards. CCS faculty at graduation (Dr. Galante, Dr. Pratt, Dr. Woods,…

The department of Comparative Cultural Studies requires internships or fieldwork experiences in several our programs, including our B.A. in Comparative Cultural Studies, our B.S. in Arts & Cultural Management, and in the  Museum Studies minor program requires our students to complete fieldwork or internship experience to enhance their career readiness by learning from professionals on site. Our students gained hands-on career experience in more than 30 internships over the course of the academic year in Flagstaff and Sedona. Student interns…

On May 1st, CCS celebrated its students at the annual awards dinner. We awarded 4 scholarships, 5 Junior Book Prizes, our inaugural Ambassador Award, and our Outstanding Senior Award. Learn more about the different scholarships offered by CCS here. The Junior book prize is awarded to a junior in each area (Art History, Asian Studies, Humanities, Museum Studies, and Comparative Study of Religions) who show outstanding academic promise. The inaugural Ambassador Award seeks to recognize a student that goes above…

CCS is celebrating the 15 Comparative Cultural Studies students who presented at the 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium held on April 25! Below are photos of all our fantastic students with their posters or oral presentations as they present their original research. [caption id="attachment_3101" align="alignright" width="464"] Ronit Patel and Miles McCoy (Advisor: Dr. Gioia Woods): “1966’s Star Trek and American Counterculture” Henry Magill (Advisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulacsi): “EARLY EXPEDITIONARY PHOTOGRAPHY: The Building of the Lo Archive of…

On April 11th, Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges, Associate Teaching Professor of Museum Studies and Public Humanities, discussed her curatorial role for the "A Sense of Place" exhibition at the Clara M. Lovett Art Museum. The presentation discussed how the exhibition explores identity, community, and geography on the Colorado Plateau through contemporary art.

Dr. Paul Donnelly, Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions and the Associate Chair of CCS, presented his research on Hinduism, Buddhism & the Feminine Divine to an audience of faculty and students on April 10th. The event was sponsored by the Asian Studies Program.

At this year's College of Arts and Letters "CAL in Action" event, Comparative Cultural Studies was well-represented by three teams from the department! Each team demonstrated CCS's dedication to not only community engagement and interdisciplinarity, but also projects that bring together faculty and students beyond the classroom. The CCS presentations and tables are listed below. The James J. Hanks Repeat Photography Storymap: James J. and Dorothy Hanks Endowed scholars Laura Barclay and Ben Osborn; Project Supervisors are Professors Becky Pratt-Sturges…

Dr. Danya Epstein, Assistant Professor of Art History On Friday, March 28th, Hopi-Tewa artist Duane Koyawena came to my class, ARH 361: Modern and Contemporary Native American Art. I first met Duane in 2019 at the Hopi Heritage Festival at the Museum of Northern Arizona, where there was a lot of buzz about his painting that took 2nd place in show. Six years later, I was thrilled to connect with Duane again as a guest speaker in my upper-level art…

Come visit all the fantastic CCS students at the 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium! The event is on Friday, April 25th at the High Country Conference Center. This year we have 14 students presenting in poster sessions and 1 student in the oral presentations!! The full schedule of presentations and their locations are below. Don't miss the chance to learn about the amazing research of CCS undergrads at the Symposium this year! Presentations: Gracie Price (Advisor:  Dr. Jason BeDuhn): "Soteriology &…

Congratulations to Dr. Diana Coleman, Associate Teaching Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions and the Internship Coordinator for Comparative Cultural Studies, for receiving the College of Arts and Letters 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year Award! Awardees receive $500 in faculty development funds and a recognition plaque. Congrats to Dr. Coleman for this well deserved recognition of her dedication to her students both in CCS and beyond!

The Clara M. Lovett Humanities in Action Fund supports Public Humanities programming that advances the professional development of students and is community focused. Thanks to a generous grant from past NAU president Dr. Clara Lovett (1993-2001), the department of Comparative Cultural Studies will award two annual grants to teams of NAU faculty and students  engaged in community-based public humanities projects. Two grants for up to $2000 each will be awarded each year. The deadline for submission is April 11, 2025…

Dr. Alexandra Carpino, Professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, will give her lecture "Quintessentially Etruscan: Art, Architecture + Mythology" at the Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco on February 22 from 2-3pm, hosted by the Ancient Art Council. According to Dr. Carpino: "This lecture highlights works that are quintessentially Etruscan in form and content, with a special focus on engraved bronze mirrors. Etruscan art stands out for its sophisticated…

Comparative Cultural Studies Department Chair and Professor of Humanities, Dr. Gioia Woods and Cline Librarian, Tracy Glau both celebrate 25 years at NAU this year!

Dr. Deborah Galante's article "The Column by Adrian Paci" was published just this month in the journal Friction. The article explores Adrian Paci's short film that follows a group of Chinese laborers as they sculpt a marble column destined for France. As Dr. Galante describes in her work, the "piece opens discussions on some of today’s critical concerns: globalisation, labour outsourcing, Western exploitation of migrant workers and a voracious consumer appetite for material goods." Congratulations Dr. Galante!

Interested in the CCS summer NAU in Italy Study Abroad program? Come to one of the information sessions to learn more! The two sessions are listed below. The application deadline for the program is February 15th. See here for more information about the program. Session #1: Thursday, January 23, 4-5 pm, in the Blome (CIE) Conference Room Session #2: Monday, January 27, 5-6 pm, on Zoom: https://nau.zoom.us/j/87871322816?pwd=OO9RxGySekrUakCxxYb49omcK8Uvci.1 

Congratulations to several CCS students on their state and national internship awards! Arizona Legislature Internship Program, Spring 2025 [caption id="attachment_3013" align="alignleft" width="210"] CCS minor H.J. Lemon, CCS in Italy study abroad program H.J. Lemon, B.A. History, minor in Museum Studies Korryn Penner, B.S. History, minors in Museum Studies and Public Administration CCS minor Korryn Penner, The Washington Center Intern, Summer 2024 The Arizona Legislative Internship Program is an 18-week legislative internship experience offered during the spring…

Dr. Marco Cabrera Geserick, the Latin American Studies Program Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Humanities, was recently invited as a keynote speaker for the Napoleonic Historical Society conference this year, which was held in Mexico City at the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico. The event began at the Mexico City campus of the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (the Mexican version of MIT), where speakers were welcomed by masked students (pictured below). There, Dr. Cabrera Geserick participated in a public panel…

Arizona Philharmonic is a professional regional orchestra based in Prescott, AZ. AZ Phil is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to embody artistic excellence and inspire the growth of symphonic music through diversity in genre, programming, collaboration, audiences, and musicians. AZ Phil is excited to offer an internship opportunity to students at NAU for 1, 2, and 3 credit enrollment. Although this is a non-paid internship, students will be offered gas reimbursement for traveling to in-person events. NAU students…

CCS Associate Teaching Professor of Public Humanities and Museum Studies, Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges is scheduled to speak at a panel of humanities scholars on "Creative Technology and Artificial Technology." The FREE event will be held on Thursday, December 12 at 6:30-7:30pm at the Coconino Center for the Arts. In addition to Dr. Pratt-Sturges, the panel also includes Jaewook Lee and student representatives and will be moderated by Chris S. Johnson. According to the Coconino Center for the Arts: "Panelists will…

As part of the week-long Dia de los Muertos celebrations at NAU this year, CCS Assistant Professor of Humanities Dr. Anabel Galindo and Future Faculty Fellow of Human Rights Dr. Pedro Gonzalez Corona held flower-making workshops at the Cline Library. In an interview with The Lumberjack, Dr. Galindo said, “It’s part of learning and building community within NAU.... Some students don’t know each other when they come in, but now they’re talking with each other and getting to know one…

Join the Museum Studies Club for a movie night with The Monuments Men! The film explores the true story of art and artifact theft and recovery during World War II. CCS art historian, Associate Teaching Professor of Museum Studies, and the Museum Studies Program Coordinator Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges will precede the film screening with an introduction exploring Nazi-era art restitution. The event is free and open to the public! Thursday, November 21st: 6:30-9:00pm in the Cline Library Assembly Hall

A senior with a dual major in Comparative Cultural Studies and History and a Museum Studies minor, Alexandra Williams, curated the exhibition currently on display in the Cline Library, "TIMBER! Northern Arizona's Logging Legacy." Williams led the curation of this exhibition as part of her Elizabeth and P. T. Reilly Internship during the summer of 2024  at the Cline Library. Williams's personal research interests in the environmental humanities, her future goals continuing research in museum studies, and experience as the…

CCS held our semester pizza party for our student interns and teaching assistants to meet each other, win raffles prizes, and enjoy pizza, treats, and more on Oct. 28! The event was hosted by Dr. Diana Coleman, our internship coordinator, Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges, our Museum Studies coordinator, and Dr. Gioia Woods, chair of CCS. Each semester, CCS supervises interns completing fieldwork experience at institutions such as the Fort Tuthill Military Museum, Riordan Mansion, the NAU Art Museums, Creative Flagstaff, and…

The Museum Studies Club presents a talk with NAU alum Terra Smith, Associate Registrar at the Musical Instrument Museum on Friday, Nov. 8 at 11:30 a.m. in Cline Library room 249. Learn about careers in museums, graduate & post graduate planning, and how to maximize your education for the career you want. Terra graduated from NAU in 2018 with a B.S. in History and a minor in Museum Studies before completing an M.A. degree in Art History, Curatorship, and Renaissance…

Professor of Art History and Asian Studies, Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulacsi will be sharing her sabbatical research she conducted as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, NJ in Spring 2024 on Thursday, October 31st at 4:30pm in Liberal Arts room 136. The lecture is entitled "Sacred Waste along the Medieval Silk Roads: Buddhist, Christian, and Manichaean" and will uncover Dunhuang's story through religious art and text from the Tang China period. This event is free and open…

Associate Teaching Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions, Dr. Diana Murtaugh Coleman recently published her article “Suspended in al Barzakh” in the August volume of Sargasso: A Journal of Caribbean Literature, Language, & Culture, “Camps, (In)Justice, & Solidarity.  Her essay draws on the religio-philosophical concept of al barzakh as a liminal time/space, intentionally using a framework internal to Islam. This multivalent concept is rooted in Qur’anic verses and Hadith passages, and prominent in Islamic philosophy, literature, and thought. A…

Join Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin American Studies at the Cline Library to celebrate Día de los Muertos all week long October 28th-November 1st! All week you can visit the Día de los Muertos altar and read Calaveritas poetry on the first floor of the Cline Library. A flower making workshop will be offered on Tuesday, October 29th at 4pm and Calaveritas Stamping workshop will be on Wednesday, October 30th at 5pm, both in the MakerLab in Cline. Mexican hot…

Hispanic Heritage Month has just finished up for 2024 and The NAU Review "Views from NAU" blog series featured Comparative Cultural Studies' own Dr. Marco Cabrera Geserick! Dr. Cabrera Geserick is not only an Assistant Professor specializing in Latin American history and cultural history, but also the Coordinator for the Latin American Studies Program at NAU. See the full post on "Views from NAU" here to hear from Dr. Cabrera Geserick about his experience as a Latin American immigrant himself…

Interested in gaining hands-on experience with a world-renowned organization? Join us for a Virtual Internship Info Session with the Smithsonian Institution on Friday, Nov. 1 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. MST on Zoom. This opportunity is open to all NAU students and alumni. Learn about year-round internships and fellowship opportunities available across Smithsonian museums, offices, and departments. This is your chance to explore diverse career paths and advance your career journey! https://tinyurl.com/8k5pvmhv. Join Zoom Meeting https://nau.zoom.us/j/85452184317?pwd=wEviHoHFnCHa0Mi40EufVkBnzuIaws.1   Meeting ID: 854 5218 4317 Password: 387903

Join the department of Comparative Cultural Studies and the Martin Springer Institute for the fourth installment of Let's Anime!, a series of film screenings and lectures offered each semester (and with snacks)! On October 10th, Let's Anime! presents a screening of "Barefoot Gen" (1983), a powerful story that explores a young boy's struggle to survive the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The screening includes a discussion of "Barefoot Gen" and "Grave of the Fireflies" with Dr.…

Internship announcement! The Fort Tuthill Military Museum in Flagstaff is seeking interns for the fall semester. Non-paid Internship Vacancy Number: 2024-09 | Fort Tuthill Military Museum Position Overview The Fort Tuthill Military Museum (FTMM) invites applications for Fall 2024 Internships. The interns will collaborate closely with the General Manager and FTMM staff to maintain, catalog & preserve artifacts, develop and update current/future exhibits for the museum. This internship is an opportunity for students to conduct research, design, maintain, create, and…

Internship announcement! Email Senior Curator Ty Miller at ty.miller@nau.edu as soon as possible if you are interested. Position: Assistant Preparator Intern Hours and Compensation: The NAU Art Museums will work with interns to create a schedule that fits the needs of both the students and the department. The internship is unpaid, but the student may earn credit hours towards his/her degree through his/her home department. The internship is available for up to 3 credit hours per semester, but the student…

Apply to study abroad with CCS in the "Art and Life in Tuscany" program with Professor of Art History, Dr. Alexandra Carpino! The program offers an immersive experience in the medieval city of Siena. Spend 5 weeks (May 22-June 28, 2025) in Tuscany and gain insights into Italian art and culture through course instruction, cross-cultural activities and excursions to Florence, Lucca, Pisa and more. Students will learn some Italian language, travel along an ancient pilgrimage road and learn how to…

Dr. Diana Murtaugh Coleman presented a paper and chaired a panel at the Second Graz/Puerto Rico International Conference on Human rights from an Inter-American Perspective: Camps, Carceral Imaginaries, and Critical Interventions at the University of Graz in Austria this summer. Her paper, “I Pity the Country, I Pity the State”: The Encamped, the de-Camped, and the Uniformed Through Lines” sketched connections between labor camps, protest encampments, detention camps, and encampments of the displaced/unhoused in the Americas through intersecting lines of extraction,…

Assistant Professor of Humanities Dr. Cabrera Geserick recently published his articles "Mercenaries and Filibusters in 19th-Century Latin America" in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History (June, 2024) and "Cultural Imperialism in Latin American Newspapers: Costa Rican and Mexican Press on the Cuban Reconcentración (1896-1898)" in Sargasso: A Journal of Caribbean Literature, Language, & Culture, an issue on "Camps, (In)Justice, & Solidarity" (August, 2024).

Assistant Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Dunja Jelesijevic recently published the chapter essay "The Serpent Dancer: Multiple Identities and Competing Rituals in Noh Play Dōjōji" in the anthology Premodern Monsters: A Varied Compilation of Pre-modern Judeo-Christian and Japanese Buddhist Monstrous Discourses (Vernon Press, 2024).

Applications are accepted year round for internships at Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff, Arizona. Interns are selected through a competitive process. Application deadlines: Summer internships: January 31st (applicants will be notified by March 1) Fall semester internships: February 28th (applicants will be notified by April 1st) Spring semester internships: Sept 30th (applicants will be notified by Nov 1) Goal of Internships: To provide Public History, Museum Studies, Arts and Cultural Management, Parks and Recreation Management and other students in appropriate fields…

The College of Arts and Letters McDonald-Anderson Scholarship is now available for CAL students each semester who meet the following criteria: An undergraduate major in one of the following departments: Comparative Cultural Studies, English, Global Languages and Cultures, History, and Philosophy Has expenses incurred from one of the following: attending a Professional Development Conference or presenting at a Scholarly Conference (students presenting as individuals rather than as members of a group have priority) Amount of Support Two awards of up…

Apply today! Application will close once 5 qualified students are identified. This internship opportunity is for "Casta Paintings: Colonial Peoples' Classification and Its Repercussion on Modern Mexico," and is a NAU Student-Faculty Public Humanities Project with the department of Comparative Cultural Studies and the Martin-Springer Institute. Dr. Pedro Gonzalez Corona (Future Faculty Fellow with CCS and Criminology/Criminal Justice) and Dr. Bjorn Krondorfer (Director of MSI) will mentor students for the exhibit. During the Spanish colonial rule in the New Spain—and…

CCS represented at the CAL Lumberjack welcome last Friday! We are ready for a fabulous fall semester!   Left to right, front to back: Dr. Carli Anderson, Dr. Kent Linthicum, Dr. Eric Breault, Dr. Jason BeDuhn, Dr. Anabel Galindo, Dr. Diana Coleman and CCS major student ambassador Gracie Price. Left to right, front to back: Dr. Anabel Galindo, Dr. Gioia Woods, Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges, Dr. Danya Epstein, Dr. Katrina Magguilli, Dr. Jason BeDuhn, Dr. Kent Linthicum, Dr. Eric Breault, Dr.…

Welcome back CCS Jacks! The department is excited to kick off the fall semester at our fall welcome event on Friday September 6 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. in the atrium of the third floor of the Riles building. Come hang out with fellow CCS majors and minors, meet CCS faculty, play games, and enjoy some snacks!  

The Museum Studies Club will be at one of NAU's most exciting and anticipated events of the year, Lumberjack Club Fair, today! Explore club and student organizations' involvement opportunities, connect with other students, and create meaningful memories. Club Fairs are open to all NAU students! The fair today will also feature free food, a photo booth, a rock-climbing wall, and other fun activities! Can’t attend the club fair? Join the Museum Studies Club and other student organizations at https://nau.campuslabs.com/engage/. Dates,…

CCS presented a digital poster session featuring the work of our student interns for spring 2024 on May 3. The students shared about their internship experiences on campus and in our community with partners such as Riordan Mansion, Creative Flagstaff, the Arizona Memory Project, and the Museum of Northern Arizona in a public session organized by internship coordinator Dr. Diana Coleman and Museum Studies coordinator Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges with support from CCS program coordinator Avi Callan and hosted by Cline…

Joce with their research poster at the 2024 NAU Undergraduate Symposium. CCS was pleased to recognize the achievements of graduating senior Joce Dolezal with the Outstanding Senior award for spring 2024 at our awards ceremony last week. Congratulations Joce! Joce will graduate with a B.A. in CCS with an emphasis in Public Humanities and minors in Art History and Museum Studies. Their dedication to excellence in their education and commitment to career readiness has been evident…

CCS Assistant Professor of Humanities Dr. Marco Cabrera Geserick presented this week on the topic of Memory and the Filibuster War in Costa Rica this May. Sponsored by the Secretary of Culture of the government of Costa Rica, he talked about "The Rise and Fall of May 1st: Commemoration and Politics in the Memory of the Filibuster War" at the Cultural Historical Juan Santamaria Museum, in Alajuela, on May 3rd, and at the Museum of Popular Culture, in Barva, on…

Congratulations to CCS Regents' Professor Dr. Björn Krondorfer on his recent co-authored article with Katya Tolstay, "Holocaust***Gulag: Repressing, Rescuing, and Regulating Recalcitrant Legacies," an expanded review of the 2023 symposium of the same title published in the journal Eastern European Holocaust Studies (2024). Learn more and download the article at https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/eehs-2024-0025/html. Abstract: Is it possible to bring into conversation two different traumatic legacies that occurred in the twentieth century in Europe? How can we engage in productive conversation about two…

Congratulations to our junior book prize winners for spring 2024! CCS faculty, graduating seniors and scholarship and book prize winners gathered for our spring awards ceremony last week to celebrate our students and their achievements. The Junior Book Prize is awarded annually to a junior in each area (Art History, Asian Studies, Comparative Study of Religions, Public Humanities, and Museum Studies) who shows outstanding academic promise. Ella Connor at the CCS Spring 2024 Awards Ceremony. Ella…

Congratulations to our scholarship winners for spring 2024! CCS faculty, graduating seniors and scholarship and book prize winners gathered for our spring awards ceremony last week to celebrate our students and their achievements. Ella Connor at the CCS Spring 2024 Awards Ceremony. Ella Conner, Gary Kane Study Abroad Scholarship and John Acker Scholarship Ella is a major in Comparative Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Art History with minors in Museum Studies and Italian as well…

Congratulations to graduating senior and Museum Studies minor Zadie Henthorn! Zadie was accepted to the Master of Science in Library and Information Science program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a focus on Rare Books and Archives. They recently began their career through a student position in Cline Library Special Collections and Archives and a cataloguing internship at Creative Flagstaff. They intend to pursue a career in collections management for a library or archive. Zadie…

Students in Dr. Anabel Galindo's CCS 201 Indigenous Cultural Expression explored a wide variety of topics throughout the semester, including science, history, environment, cosmology, arts, language, and food through lectures, guest speakers, and hands-on activities to gain better understand the complex and vibrant Indigenous world. Two classes featured activities to support their understanding of the challenges of preserving Indigenous cultural traditions and learning about the significance of food in different societies. During one session, students had the opportunity to paint…

Eleven CCS students presented their research at the spring 2024 NAU Undergraduate Symposium on Friday April 26! [caption id="attachment_2775" align="alignleft" width="300"] Laura Barclay Laura Barclay (B.A. in Anthropology with minors in Humanities and Museum Studies) presented the poster The First Women Archaeologists: How to Dig Your Way through Sexism, Homophobia & Exclusion. Laura created a digital exhibit on the history of women archaeologists for HUM 395 Digital Humanities with Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges in fall 2023. Her research included conducting archival research,…

Congratulations to CCS Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions and director of the Martin-Springer Institute Dr. Bjorn Krondorfer and Professor of Art History and Associate Dean Dr. Alexandra Carpino on their recent award for outstanding Undergraduate Artistic or Creative Work Mentorship in recognition of their work with students on the Gino Parin physical and digital exhibits!

Author Luis Alberto Urrea presented the Cline Community Lecture in the Humanities on April 21.  This spring marks 40 years for the Cline Lecture Series, which was established and endowed by Platt Cline, Flagstaff and NAU Historian and newspaper editor, bringing speakers of international stature to Flagstaff.  Guggenheim Fellow, and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Luis Alberto Urrea, delivered the thought-provoking lecture, "The Typewriter in My Kitchen: One Writer's Fable," a true tale of life, death, and…

Join CCS for a showcase of student research at the NAU Undergraduate Symposium on April 26 at the High Country Conference Center. Learn more about the symposium at https://nau.edu/undergraduate-research/undergraduate-symposium/. CCS student posters and presentation schedule Oral presentation 2:25 P.M. Ella Conner Intersecting Art and Identity: Postcolonial and Post-Soul Aesthetics in Contemporary African and African American Art Room: Grandview Posters 9:00-11:00 a.m. Kailey Cooper Mapping Religious Communities in Flagstaff. 30D Joce Dolezal Coptic Tunics and Accessing God: The Historical Context and…

About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Margaret Hettel Weiss Museum with a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art and the Clara M. Lovett Museum which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern Arizona, the Art Museums emphasize the diversity of voices found in both the past and present and…

On March 21, Assistant Teaching Professor of Environmental Humanities Dr. Katrina Maggiulli was an invited speaker at the Race, History, and Rock Creek: Invasive Rhetoric panel, hosted by the Rock Creek Conservancy and the National Park Service (Washington, D.C.), which brought together science communication scholars and invasive plant managers to discuss the intersections of language, framing, and botany and "why the words we use to talk about invasive species matter."

CCS Assistant Professor of Humanities and Latin American Studies Dr. Marco Cabrera Geserick recently presented with Chilean artist Dr. Francisco González Castro for the opening of the exhibit "FRANCISCO GONZÁLEZ CASTRO: BODIES, LIMITS & TRANSGRESSIONS" at the Coconino Center for the Arts on April 15, 2024. The presentation  discussed the artist’s philosophy, which confronts the body, people who reject the body, and how the body is approached as subject and identity in his creative practice that utilizes video, performance art,…

Join the Museum Studies Club for a virtual chat about museum education with Ellie Closen and Kreshaun McKinney from the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art tomorrow at 12 p.m. MST on Zoom. Link in the QR code or here. Questions? Email the club at mstclub@nau.edu.

Congratulations to CCS major Angela Brauer, one of the College of Arts and Letters first McKenzie fellows! The McKenzie Endowment for Democracy provides support for seniors working on capstone and/or independent study projects that address aspects of politics and citizenship through fellowships. CAL awarded 3 fellowships this semester to outstanding students. Angela Brauer is pursing a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities degree in the department of Comparative Cultural Studies. She will research the political origins and Marxist leanings of…

About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Margaret Hettel Weiss Museum with a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art and the Clara M. Lovett Museum which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern Arizona, the Art Museums emphasize the diversity of voices found in both the past and present and…

About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Margaret Hettel Weiss Museum with a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art and the Clara M. Lovett Museum which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern Arizona, the Art Museums emphasize the diversity of voices found in both the past and present and…

About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Margaret Hettel Weiss Museum with a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art and the Clara M. Lovett Museum which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern Arizona, the Art Museums emphasize the diversity of voices found in both the past and present and…

Join the Museum Studies Club for an afternoon discussion with CCS Associate Professor and art historian Dr. George Speer tomorrow Friday April 5 at 1 p.m. in Riles 113 about his education and career as former Curator of the Luce Foundation Center for American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the former Director of the Clara M. Lovett Art Museum. Be sure to bring questions for discussion!

AZ Central recently featured CCS alum Avi Callan (B.A. in CCS with an emphasis in the Comparative Study of Religions and Asian Studies, 2019) in a podcast about about the Martin-Springer Institute exhibit Resilience: Women in Flagstaff's Past and Present. Read more and listen to the podcast (at the end) here.

The Museum Studies Club, Student Activities Council, and the department of Comparative Cultural Studies present the 2006 film "Night at the Museum" on April 25, 2024 at 7 p.m. in Cline Library Assembly Hall. Join us for movie night and free raffle & fun prizes! Enter for a chance to win vouchers to the Museum of Northern Arizona, Lowell Observatory, and more. Questions? Contact the Museum Studies Club at MSTclub@nau.edu.

The Martin-Springer Institute exhibit "Disappearance: Portraits of Absence" was recently featured on JackCentral and in the Arizona Daily Sun. CCS majors and minors contributed to the research and curation of the exhibit under the supervision and guidance of CCS faculty Regents' Professor Dr. Bjorn Krondorfer and Martin-Springer Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Pedro Gonzales Corona.

Join the College of Arts and Letters for an evening with moderator CCS Associate Professor Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges and recent CAL grads Terra Smith (Associate Registrar at the Musical Instrument Museum, History and Museums Studies alum) and Jessica Kanzler (Senior Copywriter at StackCommerce, English, Rhetoric, and Writing & Digital Media Studies Alum) on April 18 at 6 p.m. MST on Zoom. 

Join Career Development for a series of workshops in April! These events are brought to you by CAL/CEFNS/SBS career coordinators to help you manage the art of  building a career. April 2, 6 p.m. MST Zoom 21st Century Workplace: Managing Your Career April 4 12 p.m. Riles 206 Internship Basics: Applying for an Internship April 8 10 a.m. SBS Castro Rm 225 Landing Your First Job: Job Searching Tips April 10 3 p.m. MST Zoom Managing Your Career as a…

CCS majors Ella Conner and Joce Dolezal at the CAL in Action Showcase 2024 Congratulations to CCS majors Ella Conner (focus in Art History with minors in Italian and Museum Studies) and Joce Dolezal (focus in Public Humanities with minors in Art History and Museum Studies)! Both students will present their research at the SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Art History Symposium in April. Senior Joce Dolezal will present their paper "Coptic Tunics and Accessing God: The…

Congratulations to CCS alum Erin Carter (B.A. in Art History, 2013) on her new job as the Libraries Assistant Manager in Special Collections and Archives in Cline Library at NAU! Erin will hire, supervise, and mentor the archives’ student employees with a focus on honing their career-ready skills. She will also process archival collections, digitize primary source materials, provide research assistance and more. After graduating from NAU in 2013, Erin completed two graduate degrees, a Master of Library & Information…

The Museum Studies Club presents an evening with Dr. Pratt (Associate Professor of Museum Studies) to watch the PBS documentary Mystery of Masterpiece and then a discussion about art fakes forgeries from 5:30-7 p.m. in Cline 249 on March 28. About the documentary: In October 2007, a striking portrait of a young woman in Renaissance dress made world news headlines. Originally sold nine years before for around $20,000, the portrait is now thought to be an undiscovered masterwork by Leonardo…

Internship announcement! Non-paid Internship Vacancy Number: 2024-01 | Fort Tuthill Military Museum Position Overview The Fort Tuthill Military Museum (FTMM) invites applications for two Spring/Summer 2024 Internships. The interns will work closely with the General Manager and FTMM staff to develop exhibits related to Arizona’s military history from 1865-present.  This internship is an opportunity for the intern to research, design, and create/complete two physical exhibits for the 2024 season which runs from May through October. The museum is located in…

Join us for the Cline Community Lecture in the Humanities on April 21 at 7 p.m. in Cline Assembly Hall! This spring marks 40 years for the Cline Lecture Series, which was established and endowed by Platt Cline, Flagstaff and NAU Historian and newspaper editor, bring speakers of international stature to Flagstaff.  Previous Cline Lecturers include Juan Felipe Herrera, Luis Valdez, Rebecca Solnit, Sherman Alexie, Sarah Vowell, and T.C. Boyle. Cline Lecturers are asked to answer the broadly conceived question of…

The department of Comparative Cultural Studies presents Electrifying Mexico: Technology and the Transformation of a Modern City, a talk by Dr. Diana Montaño (Associate Professor of History, Washington University at St. Louis) on April 11 at 6 p.m. in Liberal Art room 136. This event is free and open to the public. Learn more about visitor parking at https://in.nau.edu/university-transit-services/guest-parking/.    

Latin American Studies presents "Disrupting Mining in Honduras: Hegemony, Territorial Struggles, and Contradictions of the Neo-Liberal Mafia-State," a talk by Nate Edenhofer (University of California Santa Cruz) on March 21 at 6 p.m. in Liberal Art room 136. This event is co-sponsored by the department of Politics and International Affairs and the department of Comparative Cultural Studies. This event is free and open to the public. Learn more about visitor parking at https://in.nau.edu/university-transit-services/guest-parking/. Anti-mining movements have put extractivism on the…

CCS students and faculty represented the department at the CAL in Action Showcase on March 7, 2024! Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges, Dr. Diana Coleman, and Dr. Gioia Woods set up and worked our table filled with swag and flyers with CCS majors Joce Dolezal and Ella Conner as well as CCS intern Colin Grosvenor. Dr. Woods also moderated the featured panel, Entangled Spaces: Past, Present, & Future with the CAL 2023-2024 Arts & Humanities Fellows, which included CCS Assistant Teaching Professor…

Join the College of Arts and Letters for a series of career workshops in March! These are designed to support students with essential skills for their professional journey at NAU and beyond. The workshops will cover a variety of topics critical to career readiness and success, including resume building, interview preparation, networking strategies, and more. Learn more at https://nau.edu/college-arts-letters/events/workshops/.  March 6 Networking and Your Personal Narrative 3 p.m. SBS Castro Room 225 March 18 Internship Basics: Applying 1 p.m. Zoom…

The Clara M. Lovett Humanities in Action Fund supports Public Humanities programming that advances the professional development of students and is community focused. Thanks to a generous grant from past NAU president Dr. Clara Lovett (1993-2001), NAU's Department of Comparative Cultural Studies will award two annual grants to teams comprised of NAU faculty and students who are engaged in community-based Public Humanities projects. Two grants for up to $2000 each will be awarded each year. The deadline for submission is…

The Martin-Springer Institute (MSI) is offering a stipend for one qualified NAU graduate or advance undergraduate student to pursue a research-based project at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington D.C. Application deadline: Friday April 5, 2024 (noon)  The MSI provides financial support of up to $4,000 to cover expenses for one NAU student spending a minimum of 10 weekdays in the USHMM archives and library in Washington D.C. The stipend is meant to cover expenses for airfare,…

CCS Museum Studies minors often complete internships with the Martin-Springer Institute each semester. Several students contributed this last semester to the planning of the exhibit "Disappeared: Portraits of Absence" at the Coconino Center for the Arts, which opened this past Thursday. Missed the opening? Check out the exhibit March 2-23 in the Project Gallery. Learn more here.

Dr. Björn Krondorfer, Regents’ Professor and Director of the Martin-Springer Institute, was awarded the invitation to participate in a 2-day seminar on  “Borders/Borderlands and the Holocaust” at the University of Texas, Austin (February 18-19, 2024). Regionally organized by experts from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M/San Antonio, it was supported by the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University.

The department of Comparative Cultural Studies presents a special screening of the film Demon Mineral on Wednesday March 6 at 4 p.m. in Liberal Arts room 120. This event is free and open to the public. CCS alum Hadley Austin's debut feature tackles the dangers of uranium mining for America's indigenous people. Demon Mineral is an account of life in the wake of uranium mining on sacred lands. Shot over the course of four years with Diné (or Navajo) community oversight…

Join the College of Arts and Letters for an evening celebrating collaborative learning, impactful scholarship, creative activity, and community engagement at the first annual CAL in Action Showcase on March 7 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in Ashurst Auditorium. During the first and final half hours of the event, faculty and students will be on hand to discuss and demonstrate some of the work that is contributing to the college’s academic, creative, and artistic footprint and outreach to the NAU & Flagstaff…

🎥 Next up in the Spring 2024 CAL Film Series: SHE SAID March 5 📍Location is the Cline Library Assembly Hall! 🗣 Each film is preceded by a short intro from NAU faculty (including CCS Professor Dr. Paul Donnelly!) and followed by a community discussion. 👉More details and the full Spring 2024 lineup: http://nau.edu/college-arts-letters/events/film-series

Great opportunity for a CCS major or minor, especially for students interested in museum studies, digital humanities, curation, and the environmental humanities! Deadline is March 11. Cline Library invites applications for the 2024 Elizabeth M. and P. T. Reilly Internship. The intern will work closely with Special Collections and Archives staff to develop an exhibit that explores the relationship between forests, forestry, and the city of Flagstaff.The intern will research, design, and create both a physical display and a virtual…

Bring a laptop for a workshop on resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, and more on Thursday Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. in Cline 249 with the Museum Studies Club and the College of Arts and Letters Career Development Coordinator Gokcen Ciflik Chamberlin!

Join the department of Comparative Cultural Studies for the third installment of Let's Anime!, a series of film screenings and lectures offered each semester (and often with snacks)! On March 28, Let's Anime! presents "The Wind Rises," a fictionalized biography about the life of aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi produced by Studio Ghibli in 2013, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in Liberal Arts room 120.  Prior to the screening, Associate Professor of Practice Carter McCormick (NAU School of Communication),  Associate Teaching Professor of…

The deadline for NAU in Tuscany: Nature, Culture, Sustainability has been extended. You have until March 1 to complete your applications. Only a few spots left! See the attached flyer for more information. Apply at nau.edu/education-abroad today! Questions? Email Gioia.Woods@nau.edu (faculty leader) and Tricia. Sherrard@nau.edu (program advisor).Looking for financial help? You can find numerous scholarship opportunities here: https://nau.edu/education-abroad/scholarships/

Join the College of Arts and Letters for a series of career workshops in February! These are designed to support students with essential skills for their professional journey at NAU and beyond. The workshops will cover a variety of topics critical to career readiness and success, including resume building, interview preparation, networking strategies, and more. Resume, CV, & Cover Letter Basics Feb. 13 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Riles 206 and Feb. 28 6-7 p.m. on Zoom LinkedIn 101: Personal…

The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) recognized Assistant Teaching Professor of Humanities Dr. Kent Linthicum as their Scholar of the Month for February 2024. Learn more about Dr. Linthicum and his work in the environmental humanities in their feature here.

Join the Martin-Springer Institute for the opening of their latest exhibition, "The Disappeared: Portraits of Absence," with receptions on Thursday Feb. 29 at the Coconino Center for the Arts from 6-8 p.m. and Monday March 4 in the Riles building (3rd floor) on the NAU campus. The reception in Riles includes a presentation in Spanish with live translation with Araceli Salcedo. This public humanities project exhibits photographs of victims and family members of disappeared individuals in Mexico collected by the…

Latin American Studies presents "Disrupting Mining in Honduras: Hegemony, Territorial Struggles, and Contradictions of the Neo-Liberal Mafia-State," a talk by Nate Edenhofer (University of California Santa Cruz) on February 8 at 6 p.m. in Liberal Art room 136. This event is co-sponsored by the department of Politics and International Affairs and the department of Comparative Cultural Studies. Anti-mining movements have put extractivism on the defensive in Honduras.‌ Why did mining production fail to expand in Honduras despite some of—if not…

Join the NAU Art Museums for the opening reception of their latest exhibit on February 15 at 5-7  in p.m. Ashurst Auditorium in Old Main and for a curator talk from 3-4:30 p.m. on February 20.       Joella Jean Mahoney’s abstract paintings convey the poetic essence of the Colorado Plateau, illuminating the enigmatic spaces of its landscapes with incandescent light and color. Her luminous paintings reveal her spiritual communion with nature that transcends time and place.‌ In 1951…

Great opportunity for a CCS alum with a focus in environmental humanities!   Are you interested in a new challenge and making a difference in sustainability? Consider applying to be a volunteer with AmeriCorps through the NAU Office of Sustainability. Currently, there are openings for a Sustainability in Research Labs Coordinator and an Environmental Justice and Inclusion Coordinator. These positions are a great opportunity to expand one's involvement in the sustainability world, leadership, and team-building skills, as well as project…

Finding free and interesting things to do during college is hard, but the CAL Film Series is here to help every other Tuesday night!  This season, the film series is focusing on journalism in the movies. Each film shows a unique perspective on the power of journalism and the media: some use it to create, while others abuse it to destroy. In one feature, All the President's Men, audiences follow the journey of the two reporters who broke the news…

Congratulations to CCS alum Dr. Jennifer Hunter (B.A. in Religious Studies, 2010) on her appointment as the Assistant Director of the Institute of Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University! After graduating from NAU, Dr. Hunter completed a Master of Theological Studies in the Comparative Study of Religion in Late Antiquity at Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Near and Middle Eastern Studies with a graduate certificate in Feminist Studies, Gender, Women, and Sexuality at the University of…

The Museum Studies Club will meet from 5:30- 7p.m. on Thursdays throughout the spring semester in Cline 249. Join the club for fun events, networking opportunities, and a community of close-knit museum lovers! They meet twice a month and are always looking for new members! Join at NAU True Blue Connects, follow the club on Instagram @mstclubnau, and/or join their GroupMe (QR code on the image below). Spring Meeting Dates January 25 February 8 February 22 March 7 March 28…

Join the Martin-Springer Institute for an event in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2024. MSI presents "Schindler's List, Apartheid's Legacy: From Poland to South Africa" by Tali Nates, Founder and Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Center, South Africa on Tuesday January 30, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in Cline Auditorium on the NAU Flagstaff Campus.

Many students in CCS programs intern at the local historic state park Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff, Arizona. The deadlines for applications are: Summer February 1 Fall April 1, Spring October 1 Applications are accepted year round and interns are selected through a competitive process. To apply, submit the following to Park Manager Nikki Lober at nlober@azstateparks.gov. If you have any questions, please email or call 928-779-4395. Letter of Interest: include availability, area of interest, reasons for wanting to intern, and…

National Internship Announcement! The National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) invites applications for its eight-week, paid Summer Undergraduate Internship Program. Designed for current undergraduate students with little to no previous museum experience, the program introduces interns to museum work as they concentrate on one assigned department compatible with their interests or career goals. Interns are matched with one of the museums’ departments: Advancement (Development and Membership) Collections Management (Archives, Collections Management, Imaging and Photographic Services) Curatorial (Curatorial, Library, Scholarly Programs…

National Internship Announcement! Latino Museum Studies Program with the National Museum of the American Latino (Smithsonian) https://latino.si.edu/learn/internships-and-fellowships/latino-museum-studies-program LMSP Undergraduate Internship The LMSP Undergraduate Internship is a program providing hands-on training opportunities for undergraduate students, focusing on the areas of conservation, museum education, digital culture, and exhibition design. With generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, LMSP partners with select universities to diversify opportunities in museum studies and practice. Participation is free and includes:  Accommodations in Washington, D.C. for the duration of the 12-week program Round-trip travel to Washington, D.C. from within the U.S. (including Puerto Rico) A $533 weekly stipend…

Intern with the Arizona Philharmonic next semester! Arizona Philharmonic is a professional regional orchestra based in Prescott, AZ. AZ Phil is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to embody artistic excellence and inspire the growth of symphonic music through diversity in genre, programming, collaboration, audiences, and musicians. AZ Phil is excited to offer an internship opportunity to students at NAU for 1, 2, and 3 credit enrollment. Although this is a non-paid internship, students will be offered gas reimbursement…

The NAU Art Museums is now accepting applications for internships in Digital Outreach for spring semester 2024!  About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Margaret Hettel Weiss Museum, a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art, and the Clara M. Lovett Museum, which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern Arizona,…

The NAU Art Museums is now accepting applications for internships in Collections Management for spring semester 2024!  About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Margaret Hettel Weiss Museum with a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art and the Clara M. Lovett Museum which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern…

Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Paul Donnelly presented a paper, “The Buddhist Goddess Kurukullā and her Rituals of Subjugation” at the 51st Annual Conference in South Asia in Madison, Wisconsin last month. Abstract: The tantric Buddhist goddess Kurukullā is perhaps the most important of the tantric deities of subjugation (vaśya, vaśīkaraṇa). Kurukullā has been propitiated across the tantric Buddhist world and is especially important in Tibetan cultural areas, with all four of the major sects practicing her rituals.…

The Museum Studies Club and Anthropology Club are co-hosting Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) Night! Join us this Thursday, November 30th at 7 pm, in Room 249 at Cline Library. Guest speakers include: - Sacha Siskonen, Education Manager and Internship Program Coordinator - Signe Valentinsson, Collections Manager - Anthony Thibodeau, Director of Research and Collections - Hanna Person, Registrar - Kat Leddy, a work-study student They will discuss their careers and answer any questions. Our guests from MNA are actively…

Please join CCS for a celebration of our student interns at our virtual fall 2023 Internship Showcase from 3-4 p.m. MST on Dec. 8, 2023! The showcase will feature presentations from CCS majors and minors with internships at the Museum of Northern Arizona, NAU Art Museums, Riordan Mansion, and more. Contact the CCS Internship Coordinator Dr. Diana Coleman to RSVP or for any questions. Join Zoom Meeting: https://nau.zoom.us/j/82398046893?pwd=dzU4RU5rUFZNc1VOQ08vdjBWcHA4UT09 Meeting ID: 823 9804 6893 Password: 609951

Join the department of Comparative Cultural Studies for a showcase of student research for HUM 382 The Climate Project on Wednesday Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. in the Health and Learning Center room 3108. This event is free and open to the public! This culminating event will feature brief presentations, light snacks, and radical hope!

CCS Professor and Director of the Martin-Springer Institute Dr. Björn Krondorfer will reflect on ways of "seeing" objects and photography in violent-traumatizing contexts in his lecture "The Aesthetics and Ethics of Representation" at the Coconino Center for the Arts on Thursday November 30 at 6:30 p.m. The talk is part of the current exhibition (in partnership with the Martin-Springer Institute): El Sueño Americano / The American Dream, on display until December 23, 2023.  https://coconinoarts.org/exhibitions/tom-kiefer-el-sueno-americano/

CCS IGP major Beyoncé Bahe (White Mountain Apache) received the highest honor awarded to an undergraduate student at NAU for fall semester 2023. Beyoncé will graduate from the Honors College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian Studies and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Science and a minor in Chemistry. During her time at NAU, she studied abroad for a year in Japan, won two competitive scholarships (Cobell and Udall) and conducted research on the creation of…

  Matty Wolfe at the Moondance Gala for the Heard Museum in 2023 Congratulations to CCS alum Matty Wolfe on her recent appointment as the Development Event Coordinator and Communications for the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona! Matty graduated from NAU in 2017 with a B.A. in Art History with minors in Museum Studies, Studio Art, and Italian. She is a small business owner of her own art brand, Matty Malone Studios (since 2012) and previously…

CCS Professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters Dr. Alexandra Carpino gave an invited lecture titled "Marketing Motherhood: Etruscan Case Studies" at Northern Illinois University on Oct. 11 and at the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago on October 12, 2023. She discussed how one class of household artifacts – engraved bronze mirrors – depict mothers in particular, in the fourth century BCE. Marketing Motherhood: Etruscan Case Studies Representations of mothers are everywhere in…

Assistant Teaching Professor Dr. Katrina Maggiulli presented their paper “Containing Hybrid Threat & Controlling Genetic Futures: Policing Species Borders in Threatened & Endangered Conservation” at the 2023 Society for Literature Science and the Arts “Alien" conference in Tempe, Arizona. While scientists will typically agree that species boundaries and definitions are difficult (if not impossible) to definitively mark—the processes of evolution producing inherent flux which problematizes their discernibility—nevertheless conservation will often treat species as if they are clearly delineated and actively…

Congratulations to CCS alum (B.A. Art History, 2009) Rachel Sadvary Zebro on her new appointment as the Associate Curator of Collections at the Phoenix Art Museum! Rachel will curate exhibitions of the modern, contemporary, and European art collections as well as manage all collection-focused projects and acquisitions. She previously worked at PAM from 2013-2022 in the positions of assistant registrar, curatorial associate, and assistant curator as well as at the Di Donna Galleries in New York City as the Head…

The department of Comparative Cultural Studies and the Asian Studies program present two curators in conversation on Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. in Liberal Arts room 120 for "Art in the Atomic Age: Japan, the Pacific Islands, and North America." This lecture features Gabrielle Decamous, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, and  Shawn Skabelund, an artist working to reveal the complex issues, ecologies, and cultural histories of and in specific landscapes. …

Join the department of Comparative Cultural Studies and the Latin American Studies program for a celebration of Dia de Los Muertos next week! Between Oct. 30 and November 3, visit the ofrenda table near the information desk at Cline Library and on November 2 make paper flowers and enjoy free hot chocolate and cookies from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Makerlab.

Congratulations to CCS Professor of Asian Studies and Art History Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi on her recent invited presentation at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, on Oct. 17, 2023! Dr.  Gulácsi's presentation, "The Life Cycle of the Sacred: Manichaeans Artifacts and their Curious Preservation at Buddhist Archaeological Sites across Medieval East Central China," focused on a unique body of text and art that was produced for the purposes of Manichaean communities between the mid 8th and early 11th centuries…

Congratulations to CCS Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods on her recent invited presentation at the Italian Cultural Institute in the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C. on Oct. 19, 2023! The discussion featured faculty from four universities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Italo Calvino and the enduring relevance of his writing in the twenty-first century. The panel engaged in a conversation about Calvino's insights and wrestled with topics such as A.I., the role of literature, and the urban and…

The popularity of anime television shows like Naruto (2002-2007) and Demon Slayer (2019) highlight the longevity and continued impact of anime across the globe. So, it might come as a bit of surprise to discover that the origins of anime are in the centuries old practice of kabuki theater in Japan, an influence that still informs anime today. Incredible showmanship, elaborate costumes, and exaggerated performances are long standing characteristics of kabuki theater and manifest in the the bright colors, high fashion,…

Interested in a free interactive movie-watching experience or iconic films? The 2023 College of Arts and Letters Film Series is the perfect event for you. Every other Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. the Cline Library screens one of the British Film Institute’s decennial list of the Greatest Films of All Time. These films were voted on by over 1,600 qualified individuals, ensuring that each one is a must-watch experience. NAU professors, Dr. Paul Helford and Dr. Paul Donnelly, host a…

Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods published the article "'The Scope of an Epigram': Quickness, Magic, and Marcovaldo's Environmental Eye" in California Italian Studies volume 12 on October 15. The special issue on Italo Calvino marks the centenary of his birth. Read the article. Abstract: "Quickness", the second lecture collected in Six Memos for the New Millenium, is an essential value linking the old and new millennium.  In this essay, I examine how "quickness" is deployed in Italo Calvino’s celebrated Marcolvaldo stories,…

Join the department of Comparative Cultural Studies for another Let's Anime!  lecture on October 26 at 5:30 p.m. in Liberal Arts room 120. Professor of Japanese Christopher Smith (University of Florida) will present "Staging Anime: Performance and Gender in Kabuki Adaptations of Anime." This event is free and open to the public.

The Martin-Springer Institute at NAU presents a forum about Israel and Gaza on Tuesday Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Liberal Arts room 136. The session will be a student-centered discussion with faculty panelists, which include: Emily Schneider, Criminology and Criminal Justice Paul Lenze, Politics and International Affairs Bjorn Krondorfer, Martin-Springer Institute and Comparative Cultural Studies Leah Mundell, Anthropology and Sustainable Communities Moderated by Julie Piering, Philosophy The forum will start with short reflections shared by the panelists. They will…

CCS major and MST minor Joce with her poster at the NAU Undergraduate Symposium in April 2023 We wanted to hear more from our students about why they are a part of the department, so we interviewed a student about their experience! Q: What is your name, year, and major/emphasis in CCS? A: My name is Joce. I'm a senior in Comparative Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Public Humanities and minors in Museum Studies and…

Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Jason BeDuhn will present an invited public lecture, "Rethinking Asceticism through the Example of the Manichaeans" at The Catholic University of America on Oct. 11, 2023. Abstract: Manichaeans and Christians share many ascetic practices and common ideals of the disciplined, perfected body.  Yet the respective motivations and purposes of these ascetic regimes differ significantly between the two traditions, calling into question whether they belong to a common “asceticism” of late ancient religious culture. …

Assistant Teaching Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Diana Murtaugh Coleman and Regents' Professor Dr. Björn Krondorfer will both present public talks in November 2023 as part of the exhibit Tom Kiefer: El Sueño Americano / The American Dream at the Coconino Center for the Arts. His work is a photographic documentation of the personal belongings carried by migrants and those seeking asylum that were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at a processing facility near the artist’s…

Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Dunja Jelesijevic recently presented the paper “Implements of Dissent: Resisting Family Structures in the Noh” at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs in September. Abstract: The 14th century Nō plays Kanawa and Kinuta take as the subject matter marital relationships, betrayal, and abandonment. In Kanawa, husband takes a mistress, upon which his wife seeks to exact revenge by ritually transforming into a demon, with an iron trivet –…

Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Dunja Jelesijevic recently presented the paper “Walking the Suffering: Travel Sequence as Path to Enlightenment in Onnamonogurui Plays” at the European Association for Japanese Studies in August. Her paper analyzed michiyuki – travel sequences – in two “mad women” Noh plays arguing that depictions of travel and landscapes create symbolic language which articulates the protagonists’ frantic wandering as a metaphor for Buddhist Path while simultaneously subverting the very…

Regents' Professor and Director of the Martin-Springer Institute Dr. Björn Krondorfer was recently invited to the leadership of several organizations, including the Honorary Committee for the establishment of the Social Museum of Jewish History and Heritage of Kielce in Poland, the Board of Directors of the Genocide Awareness Week at Arizona State University, and the “Content Advisory Group” of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society’s Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center to assist with developing the future Holocaust education museum in Phoenix.…

Love museums? Interested in a career in museums? Join the Museum Studies Club during the last Thursday of every month in Cline Library room 249 at 7 p.m.!

Join HUM 382 The Climate Project on Wednesday Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. in HLC room 3108 for "The Energy Humanities" featuring a presentation by CCS Assistant Teaching Professor Dr. Kent Linthicum. Our lives are suffused with fossils fuels—from the gasoline in our cars, to the asphalt we drive on, to the plastics that shape everything from our clothing to our computers, and even (in many cases) the electricity we use to charge our phones or light our rooms. Fossil…

Learn more about the CCS study abroad program in Italy at the information session on Oct. 24 at 5:00 p.m. at the Center for International Education! Summer Program with Dr. Woods in Siena Tuscany: Nature, Culture, and Sustainability May 27-June 28, 2024 Led by Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods gioia.woods@nau.edu Medieval hill towns, ancient castles, iconic cuisine, and stunning landscape are part of the charms of Italy’s Tuscan region. The home of Michelangelo’s David and the birthplace of gelato,…

Many find it difficult to grasp that prejudiced views against Jews continue to exist in the present-day world. However, many Hispanic and Latinx community members fear the increase of antisemitic propaganda that has appeared in Mexico’s news outlets. Pedro Gonzalez Corona, a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, illuminates this issue. He has been deeply involved in researching the resurgence of antisemitic propaganda in Mexico. Dr. Gonzalez Corona is the 2023-2024 Martin-Springer Institute…

Regents’ professor in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies and director of the Martin-Springer Institute Dr. Björn Krondorfer wrote a reflection on his forty years in the U.S. for The NAU Review after moving from Germany in 1983. Read the article here. Dr. Björn Krondorfer studies religion, gender and culture and post-Holocaust and reconciliation studies; his scholarship helped define the field of critical men’s studies in religions. He is the author of Unsettling Empathy: Working with Groups in Conflict, Reconciliation in Global Context: Why it…

CCS Professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters Dr. Alexandra Carpino has been invited to give a lecture titled "Marketing Motherhood: Etruscan Case Studies" at the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago on October 12, 2023. She will discuss how one class of household artifacts – engraved bronze mirrors – depict mothers in particular, in the 4th century BCE.

Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods recently presented the paper, “Reclaiming the Italian Commons,” at the joint Association for the Study of Literature and Environment and Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences conference in Portland, Oregon in July 2023. Her talk sought to understand and problematize historic and contemporary practices and representations of the commons in Italy and the Italian peninsula. Dr. Woods explored how land use practices—from the latifundia to the mezzadria— appear in literature and visual art, in…

Join the Martin-Springer Institute for a talk by Dr. Pedro J. Gonzalez Corona, the 2023-2024 MSI Postdoctoral Scholar. He will present his inaugural lecture, "Echoes of Racial Fantasies: The Politics of Mexican Antisemitism" on Thursday Sept. 28, 2023 at 7 p.m. in the Liberal Arts building, room 120. His current research focuses on Mexican antisemitism and the phenomenon of forced disappearances. He will also teach a course on this topic in spring 2024, HUM 382 Cultures of Disappearance on Mondays…

Summer Sustainability Program with Dr. Woods in Siena Tuscany: Nature, Culture, and Sustainability May 27-June 28, 2024 Led by Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods gioia.woods@nau.edu Medieval hill towns, ancient castles, iconic cuisine, and stunning landscape are part of the charms of Italy’s Tuscan region. The home of Michelangelo’s David and the birthplace of gelato, Tuscany boasts many treasures—chief among them the millennia-old relationship between nature and culture. This 6-unit program explores that relationship as it's embodied in Tuscany's art, architecture, agriculture,…

Congratulations to the Martin-Springer Institute on the completion of their digital exhibition "Stories of the Spanish Civil War." The project featured student interns from across campus and several from CCS major and minor programs under the direction of CCS Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions and director of the Martin-Sprinter Institute Dr. Bjorn Krondorfer. About the exhibit: What can a simple fan tell us about war? Explore with us the Spanish Civil War through a fan signed in 1938…

Call for works! 2024-2025 Juried Two-Dimensional Art Exhibition "A Sense of Place: Identity, Community & Geography on the Colorado Plateau (Oct. 15, 2024-April 11, 2025) at the Clara M. Lovett Art Museum at Northern Arizona University and curated by NAU Art Museums Senior Curator Ty Miller and Associate Teaching Professor Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges. Learn more and read the full prospectus here.

Assistant Teaching Professor of Humanities Dr. Katrina Maggiulli recently published an essay in the Routledge Handbook of Ecomedia Studies titled "Fear and Loathing in Ecomedia: Channeling Fear through Horror Tropes in Invasive Species Outreach." Read her chapter in the open access version of the book.  

Megan graduated from CCS in 2018 with a B.A. in Comparative Cultural Studies with an emphasis in the Comparative Study of Religions and a minor in History. Megan will attend graduate study for a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Arizona this fall. Congratulations Megan!

About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Marguerite Hettel Weiss Museum, with a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art, and the Clara M. Lovett Museum, which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern Arizona, the Art Museums emphasize the diversity of voices found in both the past and present and,…

About the NAU Art Museums: Our internship program gives students interested in a museum career meaningful, real-world experience working with museum professionals on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University. The Art Museums feature the Marguerite Hettel Weiss Museum, with a permanent collection containing historical artifacts and art, and the Clara M. Lovett Museum, which exhibits contemporary works. As cultural leaders in northern Arizona, the Art Museums emphasize the diversity of voices found in both the past and present and,…

Congratulations to CCS student Randell York on receiving the prestigious Boren scholarship to fund his year-long study in Taiwan! He is an Accounting and Comparative Cultural Studies (Asian Studies) double major with a minor in Mandarin. He was recently featured in The NAU Review-check out the story!

The department of Comparative Cultural awards our first Clara M. Lovett Humanities in Action grants this month. The Clara M. Lovett Humanities in Action Fund supports Public Humanities programming that is community focused and advances the professional development of students. Thanks to a generous grant from past NAU president Dr. Clara Lovett (1993-2001), we will award two annual grants to teams comprised of NAU faculty and students who are engaged in community-based Public Humanities projects. Two grants for up to…

CCS celebrated our spring 2023 Outstanding Senior Katherine Leddy, our scholarship winners Joce Dolezal (Lakeview United Methodist Scholarship), Kieran McKinney (Lakeview United Methodist Scholarship), and Morgan Wood (Lois Kellogg Duncan Scholarship and the Gary Kane Study Abroad Scholarship), and our junior book prize winners Joce Dolezal (Public Humanities, Lee Wiechmann (Museum Studies), and Mckenzi Monical (Art History) at our end of semester reception on May 11! Learn more about CCS awards and scholarships at www.nau.edu/ccs/resources/scholarships. Congratulations to all of our…

We are proud of our graduating seniors for the BA in CCS students for spring 2023! We chose to feature one of our students in the program as the semester ends.   Alexis Nelson Alexis Nelson will graduate this week with her BA in CCS with an emphasis in Public Humanities, a minor in Public Administration, and a certificate in Nonprofit and Social Enterprises. She plans on a career in a nonprofit organization in the future. Alexis' favorite class was ARH…

Congratulations to Katherine Leddy! CCS recognized Katherine's achievements by awarding her Outstanding Senior for spring 2023! Katherine will graduate this week with a major in Comparative Cultural Studies with an art history emphasis and a second major in Anthropology. She will begin the graduate program in Archaeology at NAU this fall and continue to work at the Clara M. Lovett Art Museum on campus. Katherine originally wanted to major in nursing until she enrolled in ARH 143 Arts of Asia.…

We are proud of our graduating seniors in CCS minors for spring 2023! We chose to feature a few of our students in our minor programs as the semester ends. Shannon Dixon Shannon Dixon will graduate this week with a degree in Strategic Communication with an emphasis in Advertising, a minor in Art History, and a certificate in Marketing and would like to work at an advertising or marketing firm. Her favorite class was CCS 408 Internship. Shannon interned for…

Congratulations to CCS undergraduate student Morgan Wood, who will receive the Gary Kane Study Abroad Scholarship offered by the department of Comparative Cultural Studies! Morgan is a major in Comparative Cultural Studies with a minor in Museum Studies. Morgan will study abroad next year at Aix-Marseille University in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France.  Morgan writes "The interdisciplinarity of CCS along with my minor in museum studies allows me to consider a wide variety of paths in life. This time abroad…

We are proud of our graduating seniors for the BIS in Humanities students for spring 2023! We chose to feature a few of our students in the program as the semester ends. Gladys Ripley Gladys Ripley will graduate this week in the program and intends to apply to law school in the future. She is especially proud of completing her degree at age 44. Gladys writes of what she learned in the program, "I believe a more thorough understanding of…

Dr. Emily Lawhead graduated from NAU in 2016 with a BA in Comparative Cultural Studies with dual emphases in Art History and Asian Studies and minors in Japanese and Museum Studies. She currently serves as the Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. She recently published the article "Continuity: Sharing Space in teamLab’s Digital Ecosystems." for the journal Arts in 2023. Read about the immersive 2021 exhibition "teamLAB: Continuity" at the Asian Art Museum…

Congratulations to Professor of Art History Dr. Alexandra Carpino! She will become the Associate Dean for Student and Faculty Success for the College of Arts & Letters in summer 2023. She previously held the position during this academic year as interim. 

Congratulations to Assistant Professor of Humanities Dr. Marco Cabrera Geserick! He will become the next coordinator of Latin American Studies in fall 2023. He is a specialist in Latin American history and cultural history. His research explores issues of memory and history in nineteenth-century U.S. and Latin America.

Assistant Teaching Professor of Humanities Dr. Kent Linthicum recently received an award and a fellowship to support completion of his book project Crowning Coal: Slavery, Fossil Fuels, and Literature 1755–1865. The Office of the Vice President for Research presented Dr. Linthicum the Scholarly and Creativity Award and the College of Arts & Letters awarded him an inaugural Arts and Humanities Fellowship.       

Congratulations to CCS undergraduate student Morgan Wood, who will receive the Lois Kellogg Duncan scholarship offered by the department of Comparative Cultural Studies! Morgan is a major in Comparative Cultural Studies with a minor in Museum Studies. Morgan writes "I choose to major in CCS because I have always had a passion for the arts and social sciences. I started my postsecondary education with an interest in many different subject areas and not much of an idea what I wanted…

Congratulations to CCS undergraduate student Joce Dolezal, who will receive the Lakeview United Methodist Church scholarship offered by the department of Comparative Cultural Studies! Joce is a major in Comparative Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Public Humanities and a minor in Museum Studies. Joce writes "Majoring in Comparative Cultural Studies with an emphasis in public humanities was an opportunity which felt like it fell into my lap my freshman year when I found myself feeling unsatisfied in my original…

Congratulations to CCS undergraduate student Kieran McKinney, who will receive the Lakeview United Methodist Church scholarship offered by the department of Comparative Cultural Studies! Kieran is in the Asian Studies-Integrated Global Program and will graduate with two degrees, one in Asian Studies with a Japanese emphasis and another in Applied Computer Science. Kieran writes "my favorite class so far would definitely have to be ARH 270 Arts of Japan with Dr. Gulacsi" and despite the challenge of two rigorous majors,…

Congratulations to all of our CCS undergraduate students at the 2023 NAU Undergraduate Symposium! CCS had 6 poster presentations and 2 oral presentations at this year's symposium. View more images from the symposium on our social media sites. Rachel Clarges, Major in Secondary Education (English) with a minor in Chinese "The Buddha's Word in Motion: The Early Translation Process of Buddhist Texts from Sanskrit to Chinese" HUM 382 Silk Road Art Jake Cohen, Major in Comparative Cultural Studies with a Museum…

Assistant Professor in the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Dunja Jelesijevic recently received a NAU summer research grant to support her research on themes in Japanese horror for a future article. 

Join CCS at the NAU Undergraduate Symposium for posters and presentations on Friday April 28!  

The NAU Review recently featured an article on Ramadan by CCS Assistant Teaching Professor in the Comparative Study of Religions and Humanities Dr. Diana Coleman. Read the article "Eid Mubarak: Celebrating Eid al Fitr, the end of Ramadan, Islam's holy month" here.

Congratulations to CCS Museum Studies alum Jordan Dyer (B.A. in English with minors in Museum Studies and Anthropology and an undergraduate certificate in Linguistics, 2019) on her recent appointment to the Library of Congress as a Digital Conversion Technician in January 2023! Jordan completed her Master of Library & Information Science degree with a focus on Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Maryland in 2022. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

Congratulations to CCS alum Victoria Grant (B.A. in CCS with emphases in Asian Studies and a Comparative Study of Religions, 2019)! Victoria was recently accepted to the multidisciplinary M.A. in East Asian Studies program at Yale University and will begin graduate study in fall 2023.

CCS Professor of Art History and Asian Studies Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi has released the catalogue of her Manichaean Art in Berlin Collections (Breplos 2001), in Persian translation by Sonia Mirzaie (Iranian Academy of Arts 2023). The 2001 publication addressed Manichean artwork and illuminated pieces from Turfan (in East Central Asia)  found in two German institutions. Learn more in Global Art Magazine.

The NAU Review interviewed CCS Comparative Study of Religions faculty members Dr. Jason BeDuhn and Dr. Carli Anderson for their April 5, 2023 article "What you didn't know you didn't know about Easter." Dr. BeDuhn and Dr. Anderson answer questions about Easter and Passover in the article.

The Clara M. Lovett Humanities in Action Fund supports Public Humanities programming that advances the professional development of students and is community focused. Thanks to a generous grant from past NAU president Dr. Clara Lovett (1993-2001), the department of Comparative Cultural Studies will award two annual grants to teams of NAU faculty and students  engaged in community-based public humanities projects. Two grants for up to $2000 each will be awarded each year. The deadline for submission is April 11, 2025…

The NAU Review featured CCS Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods for International Women's Day earlier this month as part of their article on women in the past and present on campus and beyond. Read the article here.

Accelerate your degree with an online humanities course this summer!

Join the department of Comparative Cultural Studies on March 23 at 6 p.m. in LA 120 for the presentation by Dr. Todd Cleveland (University of Arkansas) "Following the Ball: The Migration of African Soccer Players across the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1949-1975." Free and open to the public. For information about visitor parking, go to https://in.nau.edu/university-transit-services/guest-parking/. 

Join us on Monday for Let's Anime!, a film screening and lecture by Dr. Dunja Jelesijevic at 6:30 p.m. in LA 136. Learn more about this new series in the recent article by the NAU Review.      

Apply today for the $5000 Gary Kane Comparative Cultural Studies Study Abroad Scholarship! Learn more here.

Congratulations to CCS Professor of Art History and Asian Studies Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi on her recent invitation to join the membership of the prestigious Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University! Dr. Gulácsi was awarded membership at the Institute for Advanced Studies for spring 2024. While at Princeton, she will join the School of Historical Studies for the semester as she works on her sabbatical research project, "Manichaean Artifacts at Dunhuang Cave 17 and the 'Book Cemeteries’ of Buddhist Archeological…

Congratulations to CCS Museum Studies Alum Terra Smith, M.A. (B.S. History Honors, Museum Studies minor 2018)! In January 2023, Terra became the Associate Registrar at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to this position, Terra worked at MIM in guest services for several years as well as served as a curatorial intern for the exhibit "Echoes of Loss" at the Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff. After graduating with honors from NAU, Terra completed a Master of…

Congratulations to CCS alum Emily Lawhead (Art History and Asian Studies, minors in Japanese and Museum Studies, class of 2016)! In 2022, she received her Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture with a certificate in New Media & Culture from the University of Oregon and became the Editorial Manager for Peer Review at DAJH,  a platform for digital art history and home of the International Journal for Digital Art History. In 2023, she was appointed Associate Curator at…

Professor of Art History Dr. Alexandra Carpino recently organized the workshop Etruscology in America with Bridget Sandhoff (University of Nebraska Omaha) for the 23rd Annual Meeting for the Archaeological Institute of America in January 2023.  The workshop focused on Etruscology in American classrooms and field schools with the goal to provide a forum for exchange regarding the opportunities, challenges, and successes experienced by scholars whose teaching responsibilities frequently span multiple disciplines. Each panelist presented a case study that demonstrated how…

On Dec. 17, 2022, Associate Teaching Professor Dr. Becky Pratt-Sturges presented the final workshop of a three part series for community members at the Coconino Center for the Arts, "Creating Digital Archives for Personal Histories." This workshop introduced participants to digital archiving and to the webapplication platform Omeka.net for creating their own personal digital collections.

CCS Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods will be the host of a great event in February, Beyond Climate Breakdown: A Winter Evening of Stories on a Warming Planet, in the Cline Library Assembly Hall at 7 p.m. on Feb. 1.  Join us for an evening of climate stories with author Peter Friederici and NAU student storytellers. This event is free and open to the public. Learn more at https://fb.me/e/3h5jgiwLD.  

On November 19, Assistant Teaching Professor Dr. Diana Murtaugh Coleman presented the first of a three part series of workshops for community members at the Coconino Center for the Arts, "Cultivating an Archive: Spoons, Cups, and Seeds." This workshop prepared participants to identify key family objects and photos for their digital archive. Dr. Coleman provided examples of how people speak through-and with-objects and photos, as grounding for the oral history and digital archive trainings that follow in sessions 2 and…

Near the end of the fall semester, students in the public humanities course HUM 382 The Maus Project presented their group research projects exploring themes from the class during the poster session and reception on Nov. 29 in Cline Library.  The department of Comparative Cultural Studies offered HUM 382 The Maus Project course after organizing a roundtable featuring faculty from across campus to examine the censorship of Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus in spring 2022. The class enrolled over 50…

Regents' Professor and Director of the Martin-Springer Institute Dr. Björn Krondorfer will moderate the panel Home & Identity: The Refugee Experience on refugees at the Coconino Center for the Arts on Thursday Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. To be a refugee is not an identity but the result of losing one’s home. In this vibrant panel discussion moderated by Dr. Krondorfer, panelists will share insights regarding the experiences of people who have become refugees, of people who are suffering from displacement…

Join HUM 382 The Maus Project students, speakers, and faculty for a presentation of student research posters and a reception to celebrate their accomplishments on Nov. 29 at 4:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Regents Gallery of Cline Library (second floor). For more information, contact Dr. Gioia Woods.

The NAU Review recently featured Regents' Professor Dr. Björn Krondorfer for International Religious Freedom Day, Oct. 27, 2022.  You can read Dr. Krondorfer's essay here.

Congratulations to Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi, Professor of Art History and Asian Studies, on her recent invited lecture at the tenth meeting of the International Association of Manichaean Studies in Aarhus in August 2022. The Carlsberg Research Foundation at the University of Aarhus, Aarhus (Denmark) sponsored the conference. Abstract: The Manichaean Prayer and Confession Book in the collection of the Asian Art Museum, Berlin (III 53)—also known as the BBB (M801a) after W. B. Henning’s pioneering study from 1937, “Ein manichäisches…

Professor of Art History Dr. Alexandra Carpino presented at the Archaeological Institute of America on March 27, 2022. Her talk was titled "Maternal Undress in Etruscan Mirror Iconography" and was part of the public lecture series in honor of Professor Larissa Bonfante by the Long Island chapter of the AIA.

Congratulations to Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi, Professor of Art History and Asian Studies on her recent publication! She coauthored the book A Manichaean Prayer and Confession Book about the earliest known pre-Islamic Iranian manuscript, (Brepols 2022). The surviving 48-page portion the manuscript was once part of an Uygur-era (762-1124 CE) Manichaean liturgical book (written in Middle Persian, Parthian, and Sogdian languages) issued in the form of an exquisite miniature paper codex, measuring 3.6 inches in height. It was discovered by German explorers in…

Congratulations to CCS major (emphasis in the Comparative Study of Religions) Dominic Counihan, our spring 2022 Outstanding Senior! Dominic previously received the Lakeview United Methodist Scholarship in 2020. He is from Tehachapi in California and also pursued a major in Military Science. Dominic chose to major in CCS out of his desire for promoting interpersonal relationships and says that he "wants everyone to feel accepted and respected, which is why I chose to study CCS- so that I could gain…

Professor of Art History and Asian Studies Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi gave a public invited lecture at The Baker Museum in Naples, Florida titled “Zoroastrian, Buddhist, & Manichaean Art across the Silk Routes: Divine Guides of the After Life" on February 15, 2022. Her 75 minute talk focused on mediaeval Sogdian, Uygur, and Chinese images of the Maiden of Light, Jesus, and Avalokiteshvara and was part of the event Artis—Naples: Lifelong Learning Series on Asian Art and History (https://artisnaples.org/education/lifelong-learning).    

Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods gave a presentation for AZ Humanities’ “Climate Conversations” on Thursday, Feb. 10, entitled “Hippie modernism: literature, counterculture and transforming our natural world.” You can read more about the presentation and a view a recording here. 

Congratulations to CCS alum Sophie Church (Art History emphasis with minors in Museum Studies, Studio Art, and Chemistry, 2017)! She joined both the Arizona State Library and the Center for Creative Photography as a conservation assistant and conservation technician in 2021.  Sophie completed a M.A. in Art History in May 2019 at the University of Arizona. Her thesis research focused on the investigation of a sixteenth-century print by Ugo da Carpi from the University of Arizona Museum of Art’s collection.…

In fall 2020, CCS Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods embarked on an ambitious initiative, the NAU Plague Project, to bring students, faculty, and community together to read Albert Camus' 1947 novel The Plague and to participate in a wide variety of events, including panel presentations with local health professionals, collaborative reading and discussion between university students and area high schools, an interfaith panel discussion, and a workshop on how to collect pandemic stories to record and express life during…

Study abroad with CCS Professor of Humanities Dr. Gioia Woods this summer in Italy! Learn more about the program and apply here.

Congratulations to CCS alum Abigail Paternina (Art History emphasis, 2021) on her new position at the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey!  Abigail is working closely with local New York and New Jersey artists as the Special Events Associate with the museum in preparation for an upcoming art auction in December. She will also be working with the curatorial department on programming.

Congratulations to Professor of Art History and Asian Studies Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi on her recent publication, “A Latin Pictorial Witness to Tatian’s Diatessaron" in Vigiliae Christianae 75 in October 2021! Dr. Gulácsi examines the unsuspected Syriac Christian ties of a famous set of illustrations in a 6th-century Latin gospel book in England in the article. A sacred treasure of the Anglican Church, the book is the oldest surviving illustrated Latin gospel book and one of the oldest European books in existence. …

Congratulations to Lecturer Dr. Diana Coleman who presented on Monday, October 4th, at the 7th World Parliament of Science, Religion, and Philosophy hosted virtually by the MIT World Peace University in Pune, India. She was part of a panel titled “The Right to Peace- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Her talk put the aspirational UDHR and the treaties and human rights laws it has inspired-the Core Human Rights Instruments-in tension with the human cost and transgressions of the US…

Professor of Art History Dr. Alexandra Carpino joined the Ithaca Bound Podcast in July to discuss the Etruscans, an ancient civilization on the Italian Peninsula. The Ithaca Bound Podcast is a daily podcast that explores history and mythology in the Mediterranean Basin and hosted by Andrew Schiestel. The podcast can be streamed here and on the podcast apps for Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Dunja Jelesijevic on her recent publication, “Dangerous’ Beauty: Imagining the Other in the Noh Play Sesshōseki,” in Narratives Crossing Borders: Cultural Perspectives (2021, Dalarna University, Sweden)!