CHSS Workshop Series Grants

The Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Workshop Series Grants are supported by generous donors and the College of Arts and Sciences.  These grants offer funding for faculty and graduate students to create a series of workshops for reading, writing, and discussion of a particular theme across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

During the Spring Semester of 2022, CHSS supported four Workshop Series Grants. These workshop events presented new pedagogical and research ideas within A&S and across other UK Colleges as well. Below, we spotlight each series of workshops. We would like to thank our donors and everyone who participated in these workshops, and to congratulate those who planned and executed these innovative events.

Environmental Humanities Initiative

CHSS supported a series of workshops to promote Environmental Humanities in partnership with the newly founded Environmental Humanities Initiative, led by Professor Bob Sandmeyer in Philosophy and History graduate students Rachel Herrington and Emma Kiser. The first workshop introduced the Environmental Humanities Initiative to UK and the wider public. The second workshop invited leaders of other Environmental Humanities programs from Colby College and the Mellon-funded “Coasts, Climates, the Humanities and the Environment Consortium” to discuss best practices in the creation of an Environmental Humanities program. CHSS was pleased to support the development of this new initiative.

Asian Studies Research Group

CHSS sponsored UK’s Asian Studies Research Group in organizing two workshops featuring Dr. Youjeong Oh, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.  Professor Oh participated in a book discussion of her book Pop City: Korean Popular Culture and the Selling of Place with the members of the Asian Studies Research Group and gave a public talk, co-sponsored by the Department of Geography, entitled “Instagrammable Places: Aesthetic Representation and Contested Urban Transformation.” Grant activities were organized by Geography graduate student Jonghee Caldararo and sustained the ongoing work of the interdisciplinary Asian Studies Research Group.

Mutual Aid

CHSS supported a workshop that invited Dean Spade, the author of the book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity during This Crisis (and the Next) to speak. Spade discussed the nature of mutual aid, “the radical act of caring for each other while working to change the world,” and how best to “share resources and support the vulnerable,” in our communities. This presentation was organized by GWS graduate student Miles Feroli and co-sponsored by the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. CHSS was pleased to support an initiative aligned with its mission of solving critical social problems in a time of crisis.

Working Group on War and Gender

CHSS sponsored the Working Group on War and Gender’s “works in progress” series. Ph.D. Candidate in English Deborah Daley presented her dissertation research, “Ruined, Angry, and Unbecoming: Representations of Military Women in Contemporary War Stories." Dr. Stacy Peebles of Centre College was invited to UK Campus to present, “The War Comes with You: Enduring War in Life, Fiction, and Fantasy.” Grant activities were organized by Professor Pearl James of the Department of English and the Honors College and sustained the ongoing work of the interdisciplinary Working Group on War and Gender.