ARHU’s Harmony Fellows Program Pairs Faculty Across Campus

The College of Arts and Humanities has named seven pairs of fellows for its new Harmony of Interdisciplinarity program to foster collaborative approaches to curriculum, research and programming.

“I’m so excited about the work proposed by our first cohort of Harmony Fellows,” said Dean Stephanie Shonekan. “Their projects will show the deeply positive impact we can have when we emerge from our silos to work together, synergizing our strengths and areas of specialization.”

Harmony Fellows each receive $1,000; projects will be piloted in the 2024–25 academic year. Fellows will present their ideas in a public forum at the end of the year.

The inaugural fellows and their projects are as follows:

Peter Wien, professor of history, and Karin Zitzewitz, professor and chair of the Department of Art History and Archaeology, will create a new intellectual space within ARHU to bridge work across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. It will focus on responding to threats to cultural heritage, including those from regional conflicts such as the Israel-Gaza war, climate change, and others.

Abigail McEwen, associate professor of Latin American art history who leads the Carillon Art and Activism Community, and Charles R. Reuning, associate vice president and chief facilities officer, will partner to establish guidelines and best practices to support the regular installation of temporary works of public art on campus.

Nacie Grigsby, assistant director of academic administration in the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and Elaine Rudder, assistant program director of human resources in the School of Public Health, will work to grow tools and space for faculty and staff who are committed to anti-racist cultures, climates, pedagogy and research to connect across the University of Maryland.

Cy Keener, assistant professor of sculpture and emerging technology, and Derek Paley, the Willis H. Young Jr. Professor of Aerospace Engineering Education and director of the Maryland Robotics Center, will present an exhibition of images by faculty and graduate students that visually represents and analyzes some of the scientific and engineering research conducted at UMD.

Chiara Graf, assistant professor in the Department of Classics, and Chelsea Stolt, a Ph.D. student in the College of Education, will develop a partnership between UMD’s classics department, the College of Education and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art to diversify and decolonize classics courses.

Shelbi Meissner, assistant professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Bayley Marquez, assistant professor in the Department of American Studies, will design an interdisciplinary Indigenous Futures Certificate for UMD undergraduates. This is a foundational step toward an Indigenous studies minor and graduate certificate.

Psyche Williams-Forson, professor and chair in the Department of American Studies, and Madeline Hsu, professor of history and chair of the Center for Global Migration, will create an open-source, interactive mapping platform to explore the culinary histories of ethnic communities in Maryland.