Fulton School of Liberal Arts Public Humanities Program

2025

Fall 2025

• [+/-] September 17 Constitution Day: Exploring Social & Political Conflict Across the Disciplines

  Event Details: Sergei A. Samoilenko, is an assistant professor of communication and a founding member of the Research Lab for Character Assassination and Reputation Politics (CARP) at George Mason University. His books include The Handbook of Social and Political Conflict, Character Assassination and Reputation Management: Theory and Applications, Handbook of Research on Deception, Fake News, and Misinformation Online, and other publications. This event commemorates Constitution Day, which explores the rights granted in the Constitution and is part of SU’s Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE) Democracy Across the Disciplines series

• [+/-] Sept 17-18 Beauty, the Splendour of Truth & the Islamic Tradition

  Event Details: In this two-day workshop, explore the multifaceted nature of Islamic art and traditional metaphysics of beauty with poet and philosopher Professor Emilio Alzueta. *Free and Open to the Public. No Tickets Required.

• [+/-] October 15 & 27 Shoreline Cinema: A Night of Film & History on the Nanticoke

  Event Details: Join us for an evening of eye candy and riverside conversation at SU’s Nanticoke River Center (NRC) in Riverton! We’re transforming the riverside into an outdoor cinema screening original film prints of luscious environmental films alongside historical treasures from the Nabb Center archives that bring the Nanticoke’s vibrant past to life. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy strikingly beautiful short, experimental films that explore our changing relationship with water. In the case of inclement weather, we’ll screen inside the NRC. SU van transport for students leaves at 4:30 p.m. from the Admissions House parking lot. Co-sponsored by Environmental Studies Department, English Department and the Nabb Center

• [+/-] November 17 Once Upon a Time, a Japanese Dowager Issued Some Documents

  Event Details: The woman known to us as Jukeini (d. 1568) exercised rare political power among Japan’s warrior-class women, issuing over two dozen documents during a series of turbulent succession crises. This talk by Professor David Spafford (University of Pennsylvania) explores Jukeini's writings, revealing the complex roles of wives and mothers in samurai kinship networks. SU Professor Michael McCarty moderates this discussion on gender, power and family in pre-modern Japan.

Spring 2025

• [+/-] January 27 Plain Paths & OLAS: Building Bridges

  Event Details: The Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) celebrates 25 years of promoting Latin American cultures and communities at SU through a bilingual exhibition. Featuring photographs, documents and interviews with alumni, it highlights OLAS’ contributions to cultural education, outreach and diversity, inspiring student engagement with the vibrant community.
  
  La Organización de Estudiantes Latinoamericanos (OLAS) celebra 25 años de promoción de las culturas latinoamericanas en la Universidad de Salisbury a través de una exhibición bilingüe. Fotografías, documentos y entrevistas con exalumnos, muestran las contribuciones de OLAS a la educación intercultural, la diversidad y la inclusión, inspirando la participación estudiantil en las comunidades latinas en el área.
  
  Co-sponsored by Fulton Public Humanities, the Modern Languages and Intercultural Studies Department, and the Nabb Center for Delmarva History and Culture

• [+/-] February 22 The Russia-Ukraine Conflict in Historical & Global Perspective

  Event Details: As we mark the third anniversary of the most recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, this seminar explores the historical and global context for the conflict. SU Professor of History Gregory Ference and Fulbright Visiting Scholar Yuriy Petrushenko of Sumy State University examine the history of relations between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, the conflict itself, and the implications of the war for the region, Europe and the world. For information & to register: salisbury.edu/humanities-seminars • Reserve Tickets: 410-543-6229 • ciberkey@salisbury.edu

• [+/-] February 26 & 27 KIN: Rooted In Hope Creative Labor in Archives Residency

  Event Details: Writer Carole Boston Weatherford and her son illustrator Jeffery Boston Weatherford transformed archival documents that told the deeply moving story of their family’s enslavement and freedom into searing poems and stunning art in their most recent publication KIN: Rooted in Hope. As part of this special residency in celebration of Black History Month, the Weatherfords are featured readers at the Annual African American Poetry Read-in and present a talk on the historical research process behind the art and poetry of KIN, which utilized historical documents from the region in its formation.
  
  Artist Talk: Transforming History into Art & Poetry
  The Weatherfords discuss their creative processes as an author and artist who used archival research to bring history alive in their most recent book KIN: Rooted in Hope. Creston Long, director of the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, intriduces them. Light refreshments provided.

• [+/-] February 27 Sister City International: PR

  Event Details: Join the esteemed Tugce Ertem-Eray for a thought-provoking exploration into how public relations shapes public diplomacy. Through the lenses of regulation, production and representation within Sister City International, this lecture offers invaluable interdisciplinary insights for anyone interested in fostering global relationships, international communication and the art of diplomacy.

• [+/-] April 3 COVID-19 & Americans’ Mental Health: A Persistent Crisis, Especially for Emerging Adults 18-29

  Event Details: Join renowned psychologist Jeffrey Jensen Arnett as he explores the lasting mental health crisis in American adults since the COVID-19 pandemic, with emerging adults (18-29 years) especially affected. Drawing on national data from 2019 to 2024, Arnett addresses the real-life implications of rising anxiety and depression and how they impact our everyday lives. His talk highlights what we can do, both individually and collectively, to address this urgent mental health challenge.

• [+/-] April 8 Themed Entertainment in the 21st Century

  Event Details: Dave Cobb takes you into the world of themed entertainment, discussing his career creating theme parks (Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi), rides (Men in Black: Alien Attack), immersive spaces (Star Trek: The Experience) and interactive board games. Learn what it takes to tell multi-media stories to a global audience.

• [+/-] March 26 Buddha on the Silver Screen

  Event Details: Buddhism has fascinated film makers and lay persons for a very long time. Sharon A. Suh (professor of theology and religious studies, Seattle University) discusses the various ways race, gender and Buddhism have been portrayed in Asia and the global West. Her presentation features clips from some of the most iconic films about Buddhism.

2024

Fall 2024

• [+/-] September 26 Plain Paths & Dividing Lines: How Southeastern Travelers Challenged Colonial Authority in the Early Chesapeake

  
  Event Details: Algonquian connections continued to define the watery Chesapeake landscape, even as Virginia and Maryland planters erected fences and forts, policed unfree laborers and Native neighbors, and dispatched land surveyors. Taylor (Virginia Tech University) discusses her 2023 book Plain Paths and Dividing Lines: Navigating Native Land and Water in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake.

• [+/-] October 8 Book Talk: The State’s Sexuality: Prostitution & Postcolonial Nation Building in South Korea

  
  Event Details: Jeong-mi Park explores complex dynamics of women involved in prostitution in South Korea. Despite marginalization, these women have played a strategic role in postcolonial nation-building efforts. The South Korean state employed laws and regulations, excluding sex workers from citizenship while utilizing their labor for national security, development and the formation of a gender-specific citizenry.

• [+/-] November 6 Buddha on the Silver Screen

  
  Event Details: Buddhism has fascinated filmmakers and lay persons for a very long time. Sharon A. Suh (professor of theology and religious studies, Seattle University) discusses the various ways race, gender and Buddhism have been portrayed in Asia and the global West. Her presentation features clips from some of the most iconic films about Buddhism.

• [+/-] November 13 River Networks & Ancestral Pathways: The Cultural Heritage of Rivers in the Pocomoke Indian Nation’s Sphere of Influence

  
  Event Details:: Wicomico, Rockawalkin, Wighcocomoco, Pocomoke. Familiar local monikers have a complex history that members of the Pocomoke Indian Nation have been researching through colonial-era documents. This presentation takes you on a journey along the rivers, paths and bridges that composed the Pocomoke and other Algonquian groups’ ancestral landscapes, and still shape our familiar surroundings.

• [+/-] December 7 Latin American & Latinx Symposium

  
  Event Details:: The symposium features students’ research and creative projects on cultural expressions in different formats, including posters and pre-recorded and in-person presentations. The symposium fosters critical views on marginalization in the Spanish-speaking world in conversation with contemporary events.

2024

Spring 2024

• [+/-] February 19 A People Uncounted Documentary Screening

  
  Event Details: Siv B. Lie, a professor at the University of Maryland College Park, virtually joins the SU community for a screening of the documentary A People Uncounted and a Q&A segment. The film documents the history of the Roma, commonly referred to as Gypsies, a diaspora hated, yet romanticized by popular culture. The Roma have endured centuries of intolerance and persecution in Europe, most notably in the Holocaust. Featuring dozens of Roma – including Holocaust survivors, historians, activists and musicians – A People Uncounted captures this unique culture through a rich interplay of their poetry, music and resistance while presenting the Roma tale as emblematic of the world’s legacy of racism and genocide.

• [+/-] February 26 Between East & West: Bosnia’s Culture Heritage

  
  Event Details: Situated at the crossroads of two major civilizations and empires – the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires – Bosnia and Hercegovina developed its own unique cultural traditions. This culture drew on the great imperial and cultural centers of Vienna and Istanbul, but it adapted these emanations to the local setting. The once imperial legacy of a diverse and multicultural society lived on in Bosnia, although increasingly strained by modern nationalist projects. Cazim Hadzimejlic brings to light this cultural heritage, with a specific focus on its aesthetic dimension, which reminds us of a more open-minded and diverse world.

• [+/-] March 11 Navigating Worldviews & Identity in a Multicultural World

  
  Event Details: Join Jeffery Scott Mio and Melanie Domenech Rodriguez for a discussion on worldviews and identity in a multicultural world. Explore the complexities of our multicultural world and gain a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives that shape our global society. These conversations play a crucial role in cultivating empathy by exploring diverse perspectives, thereby reducing stereotypes and prejudice and promoting tolerance and cultural competence.

• [+/-] Focus of Asia Speaker Series: Imperialism in Asia

  
  Event Details:: Salisbury University welcomes preeminent scholars of Asian history to discuss thought-provoking studies of imperialism in Asia. Each visiting scholar gives a talk on their area of expertise, followed by a moderated discussion making interdisciplinary and transnational connections, as we consider re-evaluating the global history of the foundational and troubling phenomenon of imperialism that still has repercussions today. March 4 David Luesink discusses Medicine & Imperialism: An Anatomical Tour of East Asia, Circa 1917 March 29 Louise Young discusses Japanese Empire in History & Memory April 9 Neilesh Bose discusses Making Religion Anew: Reform, Empire & Power in 19th Century India

• [+/-] April 20 Youth Voices Unleashed: Poetry & Arts Showcase

  
  Event Details:: This inspiring evening of creativity and community brings together two transformative programs, Rhyme, Rhythm & Redemption and EmpowerHER, united by a shared commitment to empowering youth, fostering artistic expression and promoting positive change in our community.

2023

Fall 2023

• [+/-] October 5 The Many Faces of Buddhism

  
  Event Details: SU faculty Ron Dziwenka, Bibiana Koh, Michael McCarty and Joerg Tuske introduce the main ideas of Buddhism and some of its developments as it spread throughout Asia, culminating in a discussion of its contemporary relevance.

• [+/-] October 23-24 On Time & Water: Andri Snaer Magnason

  
  Event Details: The co-director of the 2006 documentary Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation joins the SU community for a screening and discussion of the film that critiques the Icelandic government’s decision to dam the country’s rivers in order to power aluminum smelting plants. The documentary, like Snær Magnason’s other work, raises the questions as to how much unspoiled nature we should preserve and whether natural beauty is worth sacrificing in the pursuit of renewable energy.

• [+/-] November 3 Ancestral Bridges Leading Us Forward: An Evening with the Pocomoke Nation

  
  Event Details: Travel back in time with Pekatawas MakataweU, alias Black Corn (performed by historical re-enactor Drew Shuptar-Davis), as he offers an interactive presentation about early colonial settlements in the Mid-Atlantic region, the adaptation of Native American life to European settlement and trade goods, and the interconnected relationships between the Dutch, Swedes, English and Algonquian people in the late 17th century. This lively presentation includes examples of material culture, including wampum and firearms. Descendants of the local Pocomoke Paramountcy also present a fascinating overview of Indigenous landscapes, trails, and peoples on early Delmarva. Shuptar-Davis is a Cultural Ambassador for the Pocomoke Indian Nation of Maryland. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and sociology from Western Connecticut State University and a Certificate Degree in Archaeology from Norwalk Community College.

• [+/-] November 8 Drawn in Paris: Street Art & Gentrification in the City of Lights

  
  Event Details: Carole Salmon, professor of French and linguistics in Furman University’s Modern Languages and Literatures Department, takes the audience on a virtual guided tour of various Parisian neighborhoods to discover the work of some preeminent French street artists, including Miss Tic, Space Invader, Intra Larue and Seth. Salmon looks back on the long-standing graffiti tradition to shed some light on today’s techniques and practices as seen on the walls of the French capital. She also reflects on the newly socioeconomic stakes of street art. Now becoming a lucrative touristic attraction, it has recently contributed to furthering Paris’ gentrification. As such, the illegal practice of writing on the city’s walls is ironically turning into a tool of oppression affecting the vulnerable people who once used it to get their voices heard

• [+/-] December 9 Latin American & Latinx Symposium

  
  Event Details: The symposium features students’ research and creative projects on cultural expressions in different formats, including posters, digital flipbooks, and pre-recorded and in-person presentations dedicated to the literature, food and cinema in the Spanish-speaking world. The symposium fosters critical views on cultural richness and marginalization in dialogue with contemporary events. A conversation with attendees follows.

Spring 2023

• [+/-] March 2 Focus on Asia: SU Faculty Showcase

  
  Event Details: Showcasing SU faculty expertise in Asian studies, each presenter introduces their area of research and explains what excites them about it. The idea is to provide a glimpse into various aspects of Asian cultures, societies and politics.

• [+/-] March 27 Don’t Kill the Messenger: Why News Always Survives (Hint: There Is No Such Thing as Fake News)

  
  Event Details: Peter Laufer is an award-winning journalist, author and documentarian who has reported on issues as diverse as post-Cold War politics, America’s drug war and U.S. immigration for national networks. Laufer discusses the state of journalism today and the media’s impact on politics. Laufer is the James N. Wallace Chair of Journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.

• [+/-] March 29 Fruits of Labor Film & Panel Discussion

  
  Event Details: Fruits of Labor is a character-driven account that explores universal themes of how a young woman navigates family obligation and the desire to pursue her dreams in the predicaments of our times. In Ashley’s case, her dream is to be the first in her family to graduate high school and go to college. Most documentary films about farmworkers look at public personas; Fruits of Labor offers a new narrative about women workers that shows the nuances of how the global food system intersects with gender and family life. The panel discussion following the film focuses on the lived experiences of a young Latina migrant worker in the U.S. as she navigates the nuances of race, class, identity and politics.

• [+/-] March 31 Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly

  
  Event Details: The Guerrilla Girls are an organization made up of “feminist activist artists” who aim to disrupt the processes of discrimination and support “rights for all people and all genders.” Their talk and exhibition trace the history of their organization and their strategies for intervention in the art world as well as in politics and mass culture.

• [+/-] April 3 Islam: A New Vision

  
  Event Details: Explore a progressive vision of Islam with a specific focus on women’s rights under Sharia (the Islamic law).

• [+/-] May 11 Engaging Race & Ethnicity in the ELA Classroom

  
  Event Details: A Teaching Colloquium that brings together community members and educators (primary, secondary, and post-secondary) to showcase how to center themes of race and ethnicity in the English Language Arts classroom.

2022

Fall 2022

• [+/-] October 3 The Myth of the Mexican Nemesis: Militarization & Immigration Restriction on the U.S.-Mexico Border

  
  Event Details: Miguel Levario of Texas Tech University, author of Militarizing the Border: When Mexicans Became the Enemy, examines the conflictual context of the U.S.-Mexico border to understand race relations in the borderlands during the early decades of the twentieth century. A review of the events, including the Mexican Revolution, and the setting acts as a lens through which the complex struggle between authorities, the populace and the underlying racial tones of conflict may be understood then and now

• [+/-] October 10 A New Vision for Islamic Pasts & Futures

  
  Event Details: Shahzad Bashir, Brown University, discusses his forthcoming digital monograph Islamic Pasts and Futures: Horizons of Time. This talk is an invitation to imagine Islam anew through a focus on multiple temporalities. In this telling, Islam is both phenomenon and discourse, available to us via a vast net of interconnected traces whose appearances can vary depending on the vantage from which we see them. Engaging problems of method and historical content in combined fashion, the monograph hopes to forge interpretive pathways that are a total break from the orientalist paradigm for understanding Islamic societies.

• [+/-] October 27 Inspired Natives, Not Native-Inspired: Eighth Generation Brand & Ethical Business for Our Times

  
  Event Details: Seattle-based art and lifestyle brand Eighth Generation is the fastest growing Native-owned company in the United States and the recipient of multiple entrepreneurship awards (eighthgeneration.com). Through innovative partnerships with Indigenous artists and creators across the country, its owners bring beautiful wool blankets and other gifts to a global market while combating cultural appropriation and promoting authentic Indigenous art. Serene Lawrence, a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Hopi Tribe, and chief operating officer at Eighth Generation, engages in a roundtable discussion.

• [+/-] November 5 Understanding Death While We Keep Living

  
  Event Details: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’ve all had to face death in new ways. How can philosophy, storytelling and cinema studies help us? Yujia Song (Philosophy and Health Humanities), Elizabeth Kauffman (Art) and Elsie Walker (Film Studies) use an eye-opening and uplifting range of examples for exploring one of the greatest challenges we all have to face.

• [+/-] December 1 Beekeeping in the End Times: Film & Discussion

  
  Event Details: Beekeeping in the End Times is a multimedia project by Larisa Jašarević, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Visiting Scholar and Independent Social Research Foundation Fellow, that conveys stories about honeybees and the world’s looming ecological collapse. Resulting from her ethnographic field research, conducted across Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2014 to 2019, the book and the documentary film (in postproduction) by the same title, present ground-level evidence and relate multispecies experience of the effects of climate change. The impacts of strange and extreme weather on bees and their plants are currently under-researched and, arguably, unknowable in advance. What beekeepers are noticing with professed bafflement boils down to a deceptively simple statement: “honey’s waning.” The book and the film evolve around this local concern to build a case for a broader appreciation of what honey means to our world.

Spring 2022

• [+/-] February 10, 5 p.m. Muhammad and the Believers

  Location: Zoom
  Event Details: Dr. Fred Donner will discuss his book Muhammad and the Believers and take questions. Will allow those interested to have greater knowledge of the establishment of the Islamic Community.

• [+/-] February 17, 6:30 p.m. The Black Vote Mural Project

  Location: Guerrieri Commons, Assembly Hall
  Event Details: In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and the 150th Anniversary of the 15th Amendment in 2020, local artists transformed the Banneker-Douglass Museum into an exhibition called The Black Vote Mural Project featuring murals centering the theme “African Americans and the Vote.” The exhibit explored the intersection of public art, Black voices, and civil rights. The Nabb Research Center is honored to be 1 of 15 organizations in Maryland to be gifted a mural in recognition for prioritizing Black art and history as agents of change.

• [+/-] February 25, 5 p.m. Roleplaying History in the Age of Misinformation

  Location: Conway Hall, Room 179
  Event Details: Today, more than ever, political ideologies are shifting perspectives and interpretations about history, and historians have a responsibility to engage in these difficult, but necessary, conversations.
  
  Scholarship-based roleplaying allows students to understand the nuances of historical research with hands-on experience. Historian Kyle Lincoln, Oakland (MI) University, offers an introduction to the Reacting to the Past model by focusing on how game-based learning simulations in the Humanities and Social Sciences can bolster student learning in a manner that is interactive, engaging, and creative.
  
  This event is open to students, faculty, and local educators, and is organized by the SU chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national History honor society, in collaboration with the History Department and the Fulton School of Liberal Arts
  
  Please note that the in-person workshop that had been originally scheduled for Saturday, February 26, has been canceled due to the surge in Covid-19 infections. For more information please contact Dr. Belen Vicens at BXVICENSSAIZ@salisbury.edu.

• [+/-] March 1, 7 p.m. The Modern Body is a Changing Landscape

  Location: Conway Hall, Room 153
  Event Details: This discussion, featuring Dr. Nitin Ahuja (University of Pennsylvania Medicine), will link medicine with environmental thought. He will discuss ecological models of, and metaphors for, illness, and he will consider the relationship between the medical profession and environmental activism, including medicine’s use of energy and contributions to the global waste stream.

• [+/-] March 3, 5:30 p.m. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

  Location: Guerrieri Student Union, Wicomico Room
  Event Details: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her enslaved ancestors. Her cells—taken without her consent—became an important medical research tool: the first “immortal” human cells grown in culture. While the HeLa cells are still alive today, bought and sold and used for vaccine development, cancer research, and gene mapping, Henrietta died poor and was buried in an unmarked grave. The story of Henrietta Lacks is connected to the dark history of medical experimentation of African Americans and the continued healthcare disparities of and medical discrimination against the Black community in the United States.
  
  Free copies of the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, will be distributed in February to those interested in participating in an engaging discussion on March 3rd.

• [+/-] March 14, 6:30 p.m. Learning From South Asia

  Location: Guerrieri Commons, Assembly Hall
  Event Details: South Asia is home to some of the world’s oldest civilizations. It also boasts many vibrant and diverse cultural places and it is increasingly recognized as a region of global economic significance. Many people are familiar with Yoga, South Asian (spicy) food and Bollywood movies. Dr. Parimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy at Harvard University, will discuss what we can learn from South Asia beyond these stereotypes and highlight why studying South Asian culture is useful, beneficial and inherently interesting.

• [+/-] March 16, 5 p.m. Picture a Scientist Documentary and Screening Panel

  Location: Fulton Hall, Room 156
  Event Details: Dr. Kara French, SU History Department, and Dr. Karen Olmstead, SU Provost, present Picture a Scientist, a feature-length documentary film chronicling the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. A biologist, a chemist and a geologist lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, overcoming brutal harassment, institutional discrimination, and years of subtle slights to revolutionize the culture of science. From cramped laboratories to spectacular field sites, we also encounter scientific luminaries who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

• [+/-] March 25, 4 p.m. A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures

  Location: Conway Hall, Room 156
  Event Details: Dr. Shahzad Bashir of Brown University, demonstrating a forthcoming born-digital monograph, presents an invitation to imagine Islam anew through a focus on multiple temporalities. In this telling, Islam is both phenomenon and discourse, available to us via a vast net of interconnected traces whose appearances can vary depending on the vantage from which we see them. Engaging problems of method and historical content in combined fashion, the talk hopes to forge interpretive pathways that are a total break from the orientalist paradigm for understanding Islamic societies.

• [+/-] April 7, 5:30 p.m. JERONIMO Documentary Screening & Discussion

  Location: Blackwell Hall, Center for Equity, Justice and Inclusion
  Event Details: Director Joseph Juhn is a Korean- American lawyer-turned-documentary filmmaker. JERONIMO is Joseph’s first feature film, which has been accepted to 18 film festivals around the globe and opened in theaters in Korea in November, 2019, receiving one of the highest audience ratings that year.

• [+/-] April 14, 6 p.m. Translation in Theory and Practice

  Location: Blackwell Hall, Center for Equity, Justice and Inclusion
  Event Details: This event will feature a small presentation of research on the topic of translation, examples of bilingual poetry, and an opportunity to create your own cartonero (cardboard cover books) with Ivan Vergara (Director and CEO of the independent publisher, Ultramarina). This event is perfect for those interested in Hispanic cultures and the Spanish language, those interested in translation as a field, and those with a creative side.

2021

Fall 2021

Fall 2021 (ongoing) Blessing Boxes

• Fall 2021 (ongoing) SU Cures COVID

  Location: Multiple locations around Salisbury
  Event Details: This ongoing project makes COVID vaccine information more accessible to speakers of English, Spanish, Korean, and Haitian-Creole in the Salisbury area. Partnering with the Wicomico Health Department, volunteers will distribute leaflets designed by students and go door-to-door to reach communities with lower vaccine rates.

• Fall 2021 Semester Civic Reflection Student Fellows

  Location: TBD
  Event Details: A new student-run series based on civic reflections to improve communication around issues of diversity and inclusion on and off campus. Twice each month, civic reflection dialogues will help members of the campus community explore, share, listen, and learn from one another about topics such as intersecting social identities, privilege, oppression, and social justice and the ways these topics affect each of our lives.
  Cosponsored by PACE

• 11/16/2021, 7 p.m. Afghanistan in Transition

  Location: Guerrieri Academic Commons, Assembly Hall
  Event Details: Discuss the historical, cultural and sociopolitical context of the past and current situation in Afghanistan, including the U.S. involvement in the region, the lead-up to the collapse of the Afghan government and the future under Taliban rule.

• 11/4/2021, 6:30-8 p.m. Frères ennemis: The French in American Literature, Americans in French Literature

  Location: Conway 152
  Event Details: In this talk, Dr. William Cloonan of Florida State University examines French and American fiction to understand a curious, but persistent Franco-American conundrum: while the French and the Americans are always allies in the face of major international crises, they nevertheless seem to often question each other’s core values and lifestyles.
  Cosponsored by the Department of Modern Languages

• 11/4/2021, 7:00-8:30 p.m. Rethinking Indigenous History through Archaeology, or Colonization from a Piscataway Point-of-View

  Location: Academic Commons Assembly Hall
  Event Details: In this Native American History Month lecture, anthropologist Dr. Julia A. King from St. Mary’s College of Maryland will use artifacts and other landscape features unearthed through archaeological investigation of the Piscataway chiefdom on the lower western shore of Maryland to describe an Indigenous history of colonial Maryland in the face of both territorial and bodily displacement. Dr. King recently received a substantial Archaeology Grant from the National Park Services to fund a complete archeological overview and assessment of Piscataway Park in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
  Cosponsored by the Department of History.

• Throughout October Coming Out: Stories of Support on the Shore

  Location: Online
  Event Details: Coinciding with LGBTQ+ History Month and National Coming Out Day (October 11), this virtual video project collects the “coming out” stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) people living in the Salisbury, Maryland area and the allies who support them. Videos and accompanying descriptions will be available on the Salisbury PFLAG website (www.salisburypflag.com) and its social media accounts.

• 10/24/2021, 12-4 p.m. (ongoing) The First Salisbury Environmental Justice Leadership Summit: A 30-Year Reflection

  Location: Academic Commons, Room 462
  Event Details: This event celebrates the 30th anniversary of the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit which changed the course of the modern environmental and social justice movements. Keynote speakers as well as SU student speakers will increase awareness of environmental justice issues and discuss solutions for inequity present in and around our community. Cosponsored by the Environmental Studies Department, Environmental Student Association, Political Science Department

• 10/15/2021, 5-8 p.m. “Ask a Philosopher” Philosopher Booth

  Location: The Plaza, Downtown Salisbury
  Event Details: Ian Olasov, author of Ask a Philosopher: Answers to Your Most Important and Most Unexpected Questions, will appear in person along with SU Philosophy students at the Third Friday event in Downtown Salisbury where they will host an “Ask a Philosopher” booth. Members of the public are encouraged to stop by and pose questions for discussion.

• 10/14/2021, 5-6:15 p.m. "Ask a Philosopher" Author Talk

  Location: TE 153
  Event Details: On Thursday, October 14th, Ian Olasov, author of Ask a Philosopher: Answers to Your Most Important and Most Unexpected Questions, will be on campus to discuss his book involving the questions we all wrestle with, as well as a few questions you many never have thought to consider.

Spring 2021

• 5/3/2021, 5 p.m. The Persecution of Jews in the Age of the Black Death

  Societies in crisis find surprisingly sophisticated ways to blame the marginalized in their midst. The Black Death was one of the greatest disasters in human history, in a century marked by famine, war, and political turmoil. Further waves of plague continued to strike Europe in the decades that followed. In response, city governments cracked down on their marginalized populations, seeking to further exclude Jews, sex workers, and the homeless from the social body. Abigail Agresta's talk will discuss how these governments used contemporary understandings of epidemic disease to justify such measures, using medical theory to paint a picture of a society under threat.

  Abigail Agresta is Assistant Professor of History at George Washington University. Her research examines the environmental and public health history of multi faith societies in late medieval Iberia. Her most recent article, "From Purification to Protection: Plague Response in Late Medieval Valencia," examines the city government of Valencia's efforts to confront successive waves of plague.

• 4/30/2021, 3 p.m. Race & Religion from Senegal to Spain

  Race and religion, sometimes both together, have often been reduced to a single lens. In scholarly and artistic representations, as in everyday discussion, a narrow conception of group identity and moral conviction often predominates, shaped in the main by awareness of Middle Eastern scriptures, North American politics, European experiences. This symposium brings together historians of the western Islamic world—Senegal-to-Spain—with a keynote presentation on intellectual exchanges in Andalucía around the year 1400, and another keynote on intellectual exchanges in the Sahara around the year 1800. This broad region may seem disconnected, marginal to the core of today’s moral, geopolitical, and group contests. Nothing could be further from the truth. Historically, Senegal-to-Spain is the cradle of European global exploration, of the trans-Saharan and Atlantic slave trade, and of Arabic as the language of commerce and culture for large populations in the West. These overlooked origins of modernity lie at the heart of the crises of migration, belief, and resource extraction defining the 21st century.

• 4/22/2021, 2-3 p.m. Virtual Tour of the Susan B. Anthony Museum & House

  Celebrate women’s history with a live virtual tour of Susan B. Anthony’s historic home in Rochester, New York. This hour-long program features Susan B. Anthony's life and work, focusing on her formative years, relationships, conflicts and tactics. We also take a virtual tour of the House as we consider the question "Does her history matter, and if so why?"

• 4/9/2021, 2 p.m. Zakiyyah Iman Jackson talk on her book Becoming Human; Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World

  Zakiyyah Iman Jackson talk on her book Becoming Human; Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World

  Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s book Becoming Human argues that African-American, African, and Caribbean texts generate conceptions of being and materiality that disrupt a human-animal distinction that reproduces the racial logics and orders of Western thought. The event will be held over Zoom, is free, and will be open to the public.

  Close

• 2/25/2021, 5:30 p.m. Chivalry and Antemurale Rhetoric as a Response to Ottoman Expansion in Europe
• 2/25/2021, 6 p.m. The Hate U Give Book and Film Discussion
• 3/08/2021, 4 p.m. Introduction to Arabic Calligraphy by Nuria Garcia Masip
• 3/22, 7 p.m. Typical Behavior of Little England: Barbados during the Black Lives Matter Movement
• 3/25, 4 p.m. Lady Doctor: A Visit with Elizabeth Blackwell
• 3/29, 6 p.m. Virtual Presentation on “Dare to Disappoint” by Ozge Samanci

2020

• Dances with Wolves at 30: Virtual Roundtable Discussion 
• The Hate U Give—Movie Screening and Book Discussion
• What we look for When We Look for Our Roots
• Erik DeLuca Artist Talk on Timesteps Invitation to Listen in a Van
• African Americans and the Vote
• Delmarva and the Vietnam War
• Energy and Urban Design in the Middle East
• What Remains: Coming to Terms with Civil War in 19th Century China
• Avoiding Fake News
• Sankofa Series
• Latinx
• ECI Writing Program

2019

• Children, Numbers, and Philosophy
• “On Water” Film Screening
• University Fictions
• How Land is the Universe
• Projecting Identity
• Past, Present, and Future of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe

The Fulton Public Humanities Program (FPHP) exists to support, organize, and develop academic programs and events that promote public awareness and understanding of marginalized groups, moments, and events in history (up to the present). It provides opportunities for programs that possess curricular and academic value in the recovery, commemoration, and study of human experience in all its complex diversity using the unique methods and core perspectives of the Humanities.*

 

The Fulton Public Humanities Program’s core responsibilities are to:

• Organize, sponsor, and promote academic events (such as but not limited to keynote speakers, lectures, exhibitions) related to chronological areas that are typically underserved, and marginalized regional, ethnic, cultural, sexual, gender, and racial identities.
• Organize, sponsor, and promote academic events related to the celebration of “heritage” and “history” months such as African-American History Month, Native American Heritage Month, and Women's History Month, and supplement existing curricular and extracurricular programming on the Salisbury University campus.
• Provide assistantship opportunities for Graduate students and undergraduate internships in the Humanities, public history, and event organization.
• Provide resources for Faculty in the Fulton School to develop initiatives and research/teaching projects related to the study and public appreciation of marginalized areas/peoples
• Apply for grants to provide sustainable funds for the initiative

 

"The term 'humanities' includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life." --National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 1965, as amended on the National Endowment for Humanities Website. 

Faculty

Administrative Support

Submissions for Spring 2026 Programs
Application Deadline: September 30, 2025.

The Fulton Public Humanities Committee is pleased to open submissions for competitive grants for programs occurring in the Spring 2026 semester. SU faculty, staff and students and members of the surrounding community are encouraged to apply. The grant is open for work toward a project or event that:

• Brings scholarly or creative work in the humanities to an audience that includes the University community and the general public.
• Fits and promotes a better understanding of marginalized groups, areas and topics.
• Fits and promotes a better understanding of under represented world regions.
• Is completed and its receipts received by June 10, 2026.
• Eligible projects include, but are not limited to, community outreach initiatives, exhibits and public lectures. Applicants are not required to do so, but the committee encourages proposals relevant to recent world events.
• Eligible submissions will incorporate the values and methods of the humanities in the proposed project.
• Please note that we do not have a catering budget at this time.
• The Fulton theme for 2025-2026 is the SU Centennial and the last 100 years. We encourage submissions based on this theme.

Please use this form for submissions.

Event Proposal Form

Completed applications can be submitted by email to Jenna Habermeyer at jlhabermeyer@salisbury.edu . Please call 410-677-5070 or email Jenna with any questions.

We look forward to receiving your applications!