University of Rochester Humanities Center

Congratulations to Andrew Lea, Assistant Professor of Health Humanities & Bioethics, whose book "Digitizing Diagnosis: Medicine, Minds, and Machines in Twentieth-Century America" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023), has been awarded the 2026 Human-Computer Interaction History Prize from the Charles Babbage Institute. We were proud to partner with the River Campus Libraries to support the open access publishing of this book earlier this year.

Andrew Lea Receives 2026 CBI Human-Computer Interaction History Prize MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (05/12/26) — Andrew Lea’s Digitizing Diagnosis Medicine, Minds, and Machines is a deeply researched, elegantly written, and highly insightful prehistory and history of the application of digital technology to medical diagnosis and therapeutics. The book broadly contributes...

Big news for one of our Ferrari Global Scholars! Renee (Yu) Jin has been awarded a highly competitive ACLS Dissertation Innovation Grant—her second major grant for next year! She’ll head to China this summer for a full year of ethnographic research, supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
https://www.acls.org/news/acls-awards-2026-mellon-acls-dissertation-innovation-fellowships/

A new book authored by Rita Safariants, assistant professor of Russian in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, is now available in hardcover.

Soviet Rock on Screen: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of a Film Genre (University of Wisconsin Press, 2026) examines the role of rock music in the last decade of Soviet cinematic production and its reverberations in the Putin era.

Soviet Rock on Screen Soviet Rock on Screen The Life, Death, and Resurrection of a Film Genre By Rita Safariants Subjects: Music, Performing Arts, Art, Music Show Details Hardcover : 9780299354800, 304 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 43 b-w illus., March 2026 Ebook (PDF) : 9780299354831, 304 pages, 43 b/w illus., January 2026 Ebook...

After four and a half years of leadership, Peter H. Christensen will step down as the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Director of the Humanities Center at the University of Rochester effective December 31, 2026. This transition coincides with an opportunity to serve in his role of Senior Associate Dean in the School of Arts and Sciences in a full-time capacity.

Christensen will continue serving as Director through the Fall semester, concluding a tenure defined by strong support for humanities scholarship and programming.

A search for the next Director will begin next year. In a recent newsletter, Christensen noted that the Humanities Center is positioned to move forward stronger than ever, thanks to the collective efforts of its community.

Congratulations to Jordan Ealey (Black Studies) and Molly Ball (History) on receiving the American Council of Learned Societies 2026 Fellowship. The ACLS Fellowship program supports outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Jordan and Molly are two of the 63 recipients selected from a pool of over 2,000 applicants this year. Learn more about the ACLS Fellowship program here: https://acls.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=308a35b2c3e34e9b41bea422d&id=28ffd48013&e=02e1d3206b

We are proud to share the new trailer for the upcoming documentary, My Room in Tehran Was Called America. This film, featuring Humanities Center Scholar in Exile Shohreh Laici in conjunction with Dr. Pirooz Kalayeh, is deeply personal, narrating Laici's journey from Iran to America.

My Room in Tehran Was Called America - Official Trailer A writer's journey for freedom of expression. Shohreh is a writer torn between her Iranian roots and dreams of a life without censorship. By night, she trans...

Tomorrow's Climate Havens Symposium is on the front page of the Democrat and Chronicle today! This two day event will take place tomorrow on the University or Rochester's River Campus and Friday at RIT.

Is Rochester a climate haven? Scholars debate the idea Scholars will gather in Rochester to explore climate havens, climate migration and what the Great Lakes region may face as people relocate.

Congratulations to Meliora Digital and Interdisciplinary Fellow Bridget Fleming, also a PhD candidate in the visual and cultural studies program, who has been named the first recipient of the Douglas Crimp Fellowship. This prestigious award was established to honor the legacy of the late Douglas Crimp, a foundational figure in art history, q***r theory, and HIV/AIDS activism. Learn more about the Douglas Crimp Fellowship here:

The Douglas Crimp Graduate Fellowship We are proud to announce Bridget Fleming, PhD Candidate in the Visual and Cultural Studies (VCS) Program, as the first recipient of the Douglas Crimp Fello