January 2025 Public Humanities

A monthly newsletter from the Department of Public & Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona.

In this issue:

• Calls for proposals

• Upcoming events

• Publication and project news

• Employment and funding opportunities

If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to our Substack (for free!) so that you receive the newsletter in your email inbox and don’t miss any news in the future. We also encourage you to submit items to share. If you have any questions or would like to connect about the newsletter, please email Giulia Negretto at giulianegretto@arizona.edu.

Calls for Proposals

• The Urban Humanities Network (UHN) invites scholars and practitioners in the urban humanities to submit a proposal for the Global (Un)Conference 2, hosted by Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri from October 16-18, 2025. If you are an emerging or established scholar, practitioner, artist, designer or community leader doing work at the intersection of urbanism, architecture, and the humanities, or oriented towards spatial transdisciplinarity, engagement, or design in anyway, please check out this CFP or visit the website www.urbhum.net for more details about the event. Formats for proposals range from workshops, posters, lightning talks, public roundtable discussions, among others. Learn more here about formats and guidelines for submission. Proposals are due by January 31, 2025.

• The Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College requests papers for the Rust Belt Studies journal’s Special Issue titled “The Regenerative Rust Belt: Environment, Ecology, Ecosystems.” For information regarding length, formatting, and peer review process visit the journal’s website. Full articles are due for review by June 1st, 2025.

• The Urban History Association seeks proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, posters, workshops, retrospectives, lightning rounds, professional development opportunities, and many other kinds of sessions on any aspect of urban, suburban, and metropolitan history in the United States and globally, for the 2025 Conference “Metropolitan Majorities,” October 9-12, Los Angeles, CA. Deadline for submission is February 1st.

• The 15th edition of The Future of Education International Conference is soliciting state-of-the-art papers in the field of innovation in education. The Conference aims at bringing together teachers, researchers, and experts in the field of education as well as coordinators of international projects on education and research. The conference will have an online event on June 25, and an in-person event June 26-27 in Florence, Italy. Read more here to submit an abstract by January 22.

Events

• Registration is open for the 2025 National Council on Public History (NCPH) Annual Meeting, which will be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, March 26-29, 2025. There are currently open calls to the “make a conference connection” mentoring program for first-time attendees and the “speed networking non-rotators” service program, which provide unique opportunities to help folks make the most of the conference event.

• The Annual 2025 Rust Belt Symposium, organized by the Rust Belt Humanities Lab, will be held at Ursuline College Campus on Friday, April 4.

Projects and Publications

• “What can the Public Humanities learn about impact from the Environmental Humanities?” is a recent article by Poul Holm and Steven Hartman published in the inaugural issue of Public Humanities. The article includes two case studies of truly impactful, humanities-led initiatives and academic programs: the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES, a “transdisciplinary sustainability science coalition focused on solving the social problems highlighted by the UN Sustainable Development Goals”; and the Oceans Past Initiative (OPI), “a global research network for marine historical research…to enhance knowledge and understanding of how the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the world’s oceans has changed over the long term to better indicate future changes and possibilities.” These initiatives comprise several associated projects, such as the Sustainable Food Cymru and CONCHA.

Employment and Opportunities

• Applications for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Awards for Faculty Institutional Support program for HBCUs and TCUs are being accepted through February 3, 2025. This program strengthens the capacity of HBCUs and TCUs to support humanities research on their campuses by providing funding to offset costs associated with the Awards for Faculty fellow’s temporary leave or reduced course load. Read here for more information.

• The USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute (EMSI) solicits applications for a Postdoctoral Position in Public Humanities to support our LA2026 programming, which is funded by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. LA2026 will bring together members of the public and humanities scholars for discussions related to exhibitions at partnering institutions: the Autry Museum of the American West; the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; USC Special Collections and the USC Fisher Museum of Art; Mission San Gabriel Arcángel; The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. LA2026 events will promote discussions about national identities; relationships between regional and national narratives; the struggle for democracy, including for under-represented groups; climate change; and the nation’s uneven journey to an equitable and just society. Apply here by January 31, 2025.

• The Center for Digital and Public Humanities at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) seeks two full-time, benefit eligible Research Assistants on 12-month contracts. Review of applications will begin after February 1, 2025.

• The Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology and the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas invite applications for the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair of Holocaust Studies and Director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies. The successful candidate’s research and teaching should be anchored in Holocaust Studies, broadly conceived. Teaching responsibilities include graduate and undergraduate courses within one of the BA, MA, and PhD programs, as well as courses related to the interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies. The position will start in Fall 2025. Apply here by February 3, 2025.

• The Center for Digital Humanities (CDH) at the University of Southern Mississippi is accepting applications for the position of Mississippi Digital Humanities Hub Public Program and Outreach Liaison. This role involves creating and disseminating promotional materials, establishing partnerships with Mississippi institutions, organizing and participating in CDH events, developing innovative strategies to increase public awareness and engagement, crafting compelling content, managing social media, planning and executing workshops and conferences, building partnerships, overseeing budgets, monitoring sub-grant partnerships, and adhering to university policies. Apply by January 15, 2025.

• The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) Research Library, Gresham, OR, seeks a two-year funded project position as Architecture & Design Project Archivist. Apply by January 20, 2025.

• The GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco, CA, seeks a Director of Archives and Special Collections. The GLBT Historical Society is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that collects, preserves, exhibits and makes accessible to the public materials and knowledge to support and promote understanding of LGBTQ history, culture, and arts in all their diversity. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Education is accepting applications for a variety of Professional Development Programs for K-12 educators, higher education faculty, and humanities professionals to study a range of humanities topics. Programs are offered in residential, virtual, and combined formats. Apply by March 5, 2025.

As always, check out the latest postings on the job boards for the National Council on Public History and the American Association for State and Local History, which provide lists of opportunities that might be of interest to those trained in the public humanities.

Interested in careers in scholarly publishing? Check out the Association of University Presses and the Society of Scholarly Publishing job boards.

Interested in careers in museums? Check out the American Alliance of Museums job board.