USM School of Humanities

BREAKING NEWS: Humanities majors will likely become even MORE competitive, not less, in the workforce of the future. Tech and other industry leaders are now realizing that ChatGPT, Claude, and other Generative AI tools may replace certain technical tasks, but cannot replace the adaptable "soft skills" you learn and practice in English, History, and Philosophy classes.

According to co-founder of Anthropic Daniela Amodei, "The things that make us human will become much more important instead of much less important.... And what I mean by that is when we look to hire people at Anthropic today, we look for people who are great communicators, who have excellent EQ and people skills, who are kind and compassionate and curious and want to help other people.... I actually think studying the humanities is going to be more important than ever.... A lot of these models are actually very good at STEM. But I think this idea that there are things that make us uniquely human—understanding ourselves, understanding history, understanding what makes us tick—I think that will always be really, really important. And I think the ability to have critical thinking skills and learn how to interact with other people will be more important in the future, rather than less." (By the way, Amodei "majored in literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz"!) (link in comments)

Former history student Simeon Gates was selected for a prestigious early career journalism fellowship. Congrats Simeon!

Mississippi Today reporter Simeon Gates is selected for a national press fellowship - Mississippi Today Mississippi Today general assignment reporter Simeon Gates is participating in the National Press Foundation's Widening the Pipeline fellowship.

Southern Miss students in HIS 374: African American History Since 1890 put on a showcase celebrating Black History on February 25. Working with their instructor, Dr. Laura Mammina, the students created art and performances demonstrating the richness of Black History. The Southern Miss and Hattiesburg communities showed up for the event, including university leadership, members of the Forrest County NAACP, and representatives from the Sixth Street Museum District. Mississippi Votes helped attendees register to vote and update voter information.

Congrats to Abiodun Bello who successfully defended his creative dissertation, a collection of poems titled Daughters of the Dreamline. Bravo, Dr. Bello!

We are still glowing from our visit from USM History graduate and mega-influencer Landon Bryant! Landon recently visited Professor Matthew Casey's Freshman Honors Colloquium class, where students showcased their ethnographic observations and video skills to a panel of judges that included USM Deans and Landon himself.

Join Southern Miss history students on Wednesday, February 25 for art and performances celebrating Black History. Art, refreshments, and voter registration start at 5:30 p.m. in the LAB lobby followed by performances at 6 p.m. in Gonzales Auditorium. Support for this event provided by American Legion Post #225, Forrest County NAACP, Mississippi Votes, and USM's Center for Faculty Development and School of Humanities.

Last week, the School of Humanities was thrilled to welcome History students from Holmes Community College to the USM campus. Part of their tour included a behind the scenes look at the McCain Archives. Thanks to archivist Jennifer Brannock for helping us roll out the red carpet and show off everything USM has to offer!

Congratulations to Emilee Kinney on a successful dissertation defense!

Dr. Wiest, to the top (of his field)!

Happy Publication Day to Dr. Angela Ball! Her book, STEEPLECHASE, is out today from University of Pittsburgh Press. She'll give a reading from the book on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 5:30 PM in Gonzales Auditorium. Books will be for sale at the reading.

Tomorrow, Friday, December 5th at 4:00 PM, Philosophy student Jacob Sloat will be presenting "The Self as a Practical Concept." This event is free and open to public!