Fall 2021
Message from the Director
The Fall semester is underway, and at the Glasscock Center we have been continuing the vital work of supporting faculty and student humanities research through our grant opportunities, weekly colloquia series for our Glasscock Fellows, Undergraduate Summer Scholars program, working groups, and Global Health Humanities and Humanities: Land Sea Space initiatives.
During the summer, we welcomed Glasscock’s first group of Summer Research Fellows. These new fellowships were introduced to support faculty and graduate research from within the Texas A&M community as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impede research activities. Each fellowship is entitled to a faculty member to fund a graduate student research position during the three summer months. We plan to continue this grant program for next summer, too. Check our website for details about upcoming presentations from our summer fellows about their projects.
Our Undergraduate Summer Scholars presentations took place on August 31, under the overall theme of “Gender, Power Structures, and Social Change.” This fantastic set of student research projects are led by three faculty directors in the departments of International Studies, Philosophy, and Sociology.
In September, we were delighted to announce the winner of the Twenty-Second Annual Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship, Nicole R. Fleetwood, for her book Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration (Harvard University Press, 2020). Dr. Fleetwood is a writer, curator, and the inaugural James Weldon Johnson Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. We are very much looking forward to Dr. Fleetwood’s virtual visit to Texas A&M in early March 2022 to receive the prize, deliver the prize lecture, and discuss Marking Time with the campus and wider community.
The first Buttrill event of the year, organized by our Buttrill Ethics grant recipient, Dr. Carlee Purdum, took place in hybrid format in Rudder and Rudder Plaza. “Can’t Beat the Heat: Extreme Temperatures and the Lack of Air-Conditioning in Texas Prisons,” featured a panel discussion with Dr. Purdum (Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center), Dr. Amite Dominic (Texas Prisons Community Advocates), and Zulema Alvarez (Breaking Chains & Staying Connected), and a mock cell and poster exhibit. The Carrol O. Buttrill ’38 Endowed Fund for Ethics promotes on-going investigations into ethical questions of significance to the Texas A&M community.
Through our two initiatives, which promote new directions of research in the humanities, we have a series of events planned for the fall and a conference to follow in the spring. Humanities: Land Sea Space is hosting a series on Plants, People, and the Humanities, with the first event in TAMU’s Teaching Gardens on October 21, and the second event, a webinar, on November 5. This series will be accompanied by a virtual discussion group focused on Robin Wall Kimmerer’s books, Braiding Sweetgrass and Gathering Moss. Global Health Humanities will be hosting a Brown Bag Lunch series, with invited speakers on the question, “How has the pandemic affected how you think about your humanities research?” Check our website as more details become available. The spring conference, which is scheduled to take place on April 1, 2022, will feature work at the intersection of the health and environmental humanities to address the topic of “Planetary Health and the Humanities.”
Thanks to the generosity of Melbern and Susanne Glasscock and the commitment of Texas A&M faculty, students, and staff, we continue our work in supporting the university community in flexible and safe ways during the ongoing pandemic. All of us at the Glasscock Center send our best wishes for a safe and rewarding semester.
Emily Brady
Susanne M. and Melbern G. Glasscock Director and Chair
Professor of Philosophy
