The speakers for this event are Rohan Kalyan, Gabriela León-Pérez, Brooke Newman and Ryan Smith.

Paula M. Krebs became executive director of the Modern Language Association in August 2017. She administers the programs, governance, and business affairs of the association and is general editor of the association’s publishing and research programs, as well as editor of two association publications. She serves as an ex officio member of all committees and commissions of the association, chairs the committee that oversees the planning of the association’s annual convention, works with the MLA’s trustees in evaluating and implementing investments of the MLA’s endowment funds, and chairs the staff Finance Committee.

J. Molina-Garcia is a Salvadoran-American media artist, writer, and educator. A citizen of the Global South and an American Dreamer, J’s research engages mystical and esoteric traditions of ancient Mesoamerica, South and Southeast Asia, and Pan-African spirituality. In this pursuit, she synthesizes marginalized realms of knowledge alongside science, science-fiction, non-western philosophy, and leftist political theory.

As director of undergraduate initiatives at the National Humanities Alliance, Scott Muir leads the efforts to forward innovation in undergraduate humanities education and attract a broader range of students to the humanities. He is host of the podcast What Are You Going to Do with That? and the author of Strategies for Recruiting Students to the Humanities: A Comprehensive Resource (2021) and Expanding Access to Undergraduate Humanities Education: Models and Strategies (2024). Scott completed a doctorate in religious studies at Duke University and has taught at Western Carolina University. 

Join us for short presentations by faculty and students in our labs, as they discuss their ongoing research and initiatives. What makes a humanities lab? Why should you get involved? Speakers from the Environmental Humanities Lab, Abolition Lab, Health Humanities Lab, Memory Studies Lab, Graphic Narratives Lab, and AI Futures Lab will be joining the panel.

Join us for a roundtable Q&A with alumni from the Media, Art & Text (MATX) program, and see how far a PhD in the humanities can take you!

Mar Hicks, PhD is an author, historian, and professor doing research on hidden histories of computing, as well as the history of labor and technology. Hicks is currently an Associate Professor at The University of Virginia's School of Data Science, in Charlottesville, teaching courses on the history of technology, computing and society, and the larger implications of powerful and widespread digital infrastructures. Their research focuses on how gender and sexuality bring hidden technological dynamics to light, and how the experiences of women and LGBTQIA people change the core narratives of the history of computing in unexpected ways.

Join us in celebrating the Humanities Research Center's 10th anniversary!