The Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society at UofL

Former BFF Dr. Joshua V. Adams was awarded the 2026 Hugh J. Silverman Book Prize for his monograph, "Skepticism and Impersonality in Modern Poetry: Literary Experiments with Philosophical Problems." The Association for Philosophy and Literature sponsors this award to celebrate a single-authored book that "productively explores or exploits the space(s) where philosophy and literary study intersect." Congratulations! 👏📚

UofL Philosophy Department

Last week was the Bingham Faculty Fellow’s 2026 Symposium. Here, Jennifer Robertson from University of Washington engages with the University of Louisville community on this year’s theme, Being Human in the AI Era. What a great discussion!

Jennifer Robertson was invited by BFF Kendra Sheehan
University of Washington UofL - Liberal Studies

Last week was the Bingham Faculty Fellow’s 2026 Symposium. Here, BFF Guy Dove engages with the University of Louisville community on this year’s theme, Being Human in the AI Era. It was a wonderful start to thoughtful conversation.

Philosophy Department

In this year’s Women’s History Month, Bingham Faculty Fellow Kendra Sheehan suggests we get to know Yayoi Kusama. A Japanese pop artist, Kusama's style is defined by vivid colors and repetition. Kusama once said in an interview with New York magazine: "I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieved my illness is to keep creating art.” Enjoy this inspiring artist.



Yayoi Kusama, 2021. Photo by Yusuke Miyazaki.
Yayoi Kusama: Kusama Infinity

CCHS is honored to have been awarded one of this year’s Community Engagement Trilogy Mini-Grants. We will use this award to create an undergraduate internship that supports the Loneliness Research Project with Lauren Anderson, Center for Healthy Air Water and Soil, Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, School of Medicine. This project seeks to identify and reduce loneliness in people 65 and over. We are excited to see how research integrating humanities, social science and science-based methodologies can redress this pressing problem.

CCHS is happy to support this film series! Hope you can make it. 🎥

Philosophers have long pondered questions like “What is consciousness?” In their talk, “I’ll Be Your Mirror”, BFF Guy Dove and Hunter Gentry explore what those discussions may teach us about AI. To learn more, join us at the “Being Human in the AI Era” Symposium on Friday, March 27 in BAB 218. Free and open to the public.

UofL Philosophy Department .edu

As part of our Being Human in the AI Era theme, we wondered: have you ever thought about how pop culture is teaching us how to respond to AI? Come to the “Robot Life Cycles in Fiction and Reality” session to see how Japanese and US culture industries are taking different strategies. (Mar 26, 1:30, 206 BAB) The Symposium is free and open to the public. 🤖

.anthropology

Despite the hype about how AI is making a better world, Kushan Dasgupta and Bernard Koch explore more troubling uses. Come to the “Contested AI” talk at the Being Human in the AI Era Symposium to better understand trends such as how white nationalists are using AI in their recruitment. (Thursday, March 26 at 9:45 in BAB 206). Free and open to the public.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” - Maya Angelou

The author, poet, and civil rights activist stayed true to her mission. By the time Angelou published “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” she already had experience as an actor, a dancer, a journalist and activist. Learn more about Angelou’s relationship with the humanities here:

https://www.history.com/articles/maya-angelou-careers

(Image from Facebook)

Join former Bingham Faculty Fellow and current Director of Liberal Studies in the upcoming talk, “Teófilo Stevenson, Heavyweight Boxing, and the Rise and Fall of Revolutionary Cuba.”

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