Upcoming Events

Investigations of Creativity Towards Inclusivity Series (Fall 2023 - Spring 2024)

Sponsored by the Mellon Humanities for Our Times Grant, the Investigations of Creativity Towards Inclusivity Series seeks to bridge the study of creativity within the humanities and the practice of it within the Arts. Our visiting writers and performers, block visitors, book luncheons, and online publications throughout the year invite us to deconstruct approaches and definitions of creativity and expand our study of creative works and imagination beyond the humanities towards inclusivity and social justice.   

For more information on our guests, please visit the Visiting Writers Series page on the English Department website. Flyers and printable schedule for events are also available for download: 

Book Luncheons

Speaking Events

Book luncheon registration updates forthcoming. Seating is limited.

Fall Events

Spring Events

Please direct all questions to npulley@coloradocollege.edu. 

Student Social Justice Project Grant Proposals (beginning Spring 2023)

Are you interested in thinking critically and creatively about how humanities methods can be harnessed for social justice work, and then applying these methods to a social justice project in the United States? Colorado College was recently awarded a Mellon Foundation Humanities For All Times grant for our proposal, “Humanities For Our Times: From Epistemologies and Methodologies to Liberatory Creative Practice and Social Justice” (read the full text of the grant proposal here). This grant is currently funding the development of 50 new Equity and Power and/or Creative Processes courses that center ways in which humanities methods—from archival research and critical analysis to artistic production and creative expression—can contribute to social justice work.

As part of this grant, all students who are taking or have recently taken one of these new courses (listed at the bottom of this page) are eligible to apply for up to $1500 to deepen their engagement with the course material by engaging in a social justice project utilizing humanities methods. To apply, you must first discuss the idea with the professor of the class. Once the professor approves and agrees to oversee the project, you can fill out the application form here. You may apply individually or as a team. We will review proposals on a rolling basis, but there will be grants available every block until Block 8, 2024.

The application form can be found here. Email clisiecki@coloradocollege.edu with questions.

Student Grant Recipients

Judson Thomas & Julissa Torres, “The Category is Vogue! Resistance Through Dance, Queer Expression, and Community”

Giorgio Gioele Sirito & Azaria Hampton, “Empowering Students of Color in Educational Spaces: A Creating Change Inspired Exploration”

Zoey Roueche, “Unveiling the Veins of Change: Redlining, Gentrification, and Resilience in New Orleans”

Lola Lacheze, “The French Language in Louisiana: A Colonial Heritage and Its Present Impact”

Sonia Jogal, “Musical Resistance and Resilience and its Cultivation of Joy in New Orleans, LA, and Memphis, TN”

Jackson Hammock, “Understanding the Jazz Funeral: Syncretism, Communion, Catharsis and the Essence of New Orleans”

Nathaniel Pittman IV, “Investigation of the Parallels between New Orleans Creole culture and Caribbean Culture”

Danielle Ryans, “Sustaining over Time: The Impacts of Sugar Cane on the Economies of the Southern US”

Barbara Bilic, "Architecture of Resistance: Queer Spaces in San Francisco and Los Angeles"

Kupai Marx, "Forging For Peace: Weapons into Plowshares through Community-Based Art in Waimanalo, Hawai‘i"

Past Events

Retreat for Grant Recipients and Organizers

“Beyond Antiracist Pedagogies: Reframing the Relationship Between Humanities Methods in the Classroom and Social Justice” (summer 2023)

When: August 15, 2023 (9:30 am - 3:30 pm) and August 16, 2023 (9:30 am - 1:00 pm)
Where: El Pomar's Penrose House

Discussion topics on Day 1 include: a) how to connect antiracist pedagogies to course content, b) how to center social justice in the humanities classroom, and c) how to create assignments that employ methods of humanities analysis to enact social change. On Day 2 faculty will draft suggestions to the General Education Review and Assessment Committee for the development of an assessment tool for Equity and Power and Creative Processes courses that will measure student progress on the learning outcomes. Our guest facilitator will be Dr. William Anderson from the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver. Space is limited to 50 participants and includes breakfast and lunch both days as well as a $500 stipend ($250 for one day) from the Mellon Grant for participating.

RSVP before August 5 to reserve your spot. If you have any questions, email Kris Stanec (kstanec@coloradocollege.edu) or Nene Diop (ndiop@coloradocollege.edu).

Equity and Power Summer Seminar #1: Foundational Texts of New Humanistic Traditions and Approaches, June 1 - June 16, 2022

This non-hierarchical seminar will provide a venue for reading, reflecting on, and discussing some of the most important scholarly and creative texts of the last 150 years, all of which represent and give voice to historically marginalized and silenced perspectives. Readings will focus on anti-oppressive interrogations of humanities traditions, with an emphasis on antiracism, and discussions will focus on the past and present influence of these texts on various humanities disciplines, theories, and methods. Participating faculty will receive stipends of $1000 and physical or digital copies of all the books on the syllabus.

The first seminar will begin on June 1 and end on June 16. There are four ways to participate:

1. Attend bi-weekly, in-person meetings on campus from 10:00-2:30, which will include catered breakfast and lunch (child- and eldercare also available at $150/day). 
2. Zoom in to these meetings from wherever you are and however long you’re able. 
3. Read on your own and participate in an online discussion (text and/or video, concurrent with the seminar dates or on your own timeline). 
4. Form a reading group with colleagues and meet on your own timeline, about once every other block, in AY 2022-2023 (we will cover lunch or dinner for each meeting).  

Those participating in the synchronous, hybrid-format meetings on campus will decide collectively how to focus our attention, and those choosing other pathways can decide for themselves how best to work through the readings.

Equity and Power Summer Seminar #2: Opening New Doors in Humanities Disciplines (August 2 – August 18, 2022)

October 19 2022 (last Wednesday of Block 2): Community-oriented faculty workshop with Brandon Shimoda and traci kato-kiriyama. The workshop will use kato-kiriyama’s recent book

Navigating With(out) Instruments (2021, Writ Large Press) as a framework for creative/intellectual work. All workshop participants will receive a copy of the book, and refreshments will be on hand.

Block 3 2022: The first of four workshops co-hosted by Creativity and Innovation at CC is on Wednesday, November 9 from 3:00-4:30 in the C&I building on the NW corner of Cache La Poudre and Weber.  The theme of this workshop is “Visual Notebooks.” Questions addressed in the workshop include: How can visual notebooks work to decolonize higher education? How does reflection and mark-making create an inclusive space where students feel comfortable using their own languages (linguistic, metaphorical, and symbolic) and modes of learning? How can notetaking uncover tacit knowledge to increase nuanced understandings of complex issues? Participants will receive a visual notebook to keep and the chance to explore a few exercises used in this program.  Facilitated by Kris Stanec and Jane Hilberry. Refreshments served. Limited to 25 participants. Please RSVP to mforbes@coloradocollege.edu

Future C&I workshop themes will include  “Mindfulness for Creativity,” “Embodied Practices,” and "Cultivating a Creative Classroom."

Block 4 2022: Screening of Coded Bias (2020) by Shalini Kantayya, which will include a discussion with the filmmaker. Synopsis: “Modern society sits at the intersection of two crucial questions: What does it mean when artificial intelligence increasingly governs our liberties? And what are the consequences for the people AI is biased against? When MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini discovers that many facial recognition technologies do not accurately detect darker-skinned faces or classify the faces of women, she delves into an investigation of widespread bias in algorithms. As it turns out, artificial intelligence is not neutral, and women are leading the charge to ensure our civil rights are protected.” Please reach out if you would like to arrange for your class or research students to meet with the filmmaker, Shalini Kantayya.

Course Development Grant Proposals (Proposals due by April 21. This is the third and final round of funding)
Application Form

Academic Conference: Humanities For Our Times: New Perspectives on Humanistic Approaches, Ethics, and Social Change (June 14-17, Colorado College) 

Register Here

Creative Processes Development Series #1: Social Justice, Art, Ethics, and Technology (Fall semester 2022 & Spring semester 2023)

• Cultivating the Creative Classroom. Do you ever wonder how to quickly build a sense of community? or encourage intellectual risk-taking? Would you like to deepen students’ investment in course content? 

  In this workshop, Jane Hilberry, Professor of Creativity & Innovation, will offer a variety of methods for promoting students’ innate creativity, with an emphasis on practices that build community.  As well as inviting students to think in novel ways, take productive risks, and engage deeply with course material, these practices also serve to promote inclusivity and student well-being.  The last segment will be devoted to crowd-sourcing participants’ ideas for cultivating creative classrooms.  
   
  Refreshments will be served.  

  Sponsored by the Mellon Humanities for All Time initiative and Creativity & Innovation

  When: 3:30-5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, 2023
  Where: Creativity & Innovation Building, 232 E. Cache la Poudre (corner of Cache and Weber)

• Mapping Black Europe. Natasha Kelly and Olive Vassell, co-editors of the Black European Academic Network, will speak about their new edited collection, Mapping Black Europe (2023, Columbia UP). Black communities have been making major contributions to Europe's social and cultural life and landscapes for centuries. However, their achievements largely remain unrecognized by the dominant societies, as their perspectives are excluded from traditional modes of marking public memory. For the first time in European history, leading Black scholars and activists examine this issue - with first-hand knowledge of the eight European capitals in which they live. Highlighting existing monuments, memorials, and urban markers they discuss collective narratives, outline community action, and introduce people and places relevant to Black European history, which continues to be obscured today. Co-sponsored by German Studies and European Studies.

  When: Tuesday, March 21 at 4:00 pm
  Where: Max Kade Theater (third floor of Armstrong Hall)

  Spring semester: Workshops with and/or performances by Norah Zuniga-Shaw (Professor of Dance, Ohio State University), Bryan Au Yong (Professor of Visual and Performing Arts, University of San Francisco), and André Zachery (Artistic Director of Renegade Performance Group based in Brooklyn).

Reflective Luncheons (beginning Spring semester 2023)

This spring, we will host informal luncheons for faculty who have received Course Development Grants to gather and discuss the process of creating their new courses. Each luncheon will have a focus, including assignments/in-class activities, readings/course materials, and grading/assessment. The upcoming luncheons will take place on March 17, April 5, and May 11 at 12:15 in the Tim Fuller Event Space on the second floor of Tutt Library. Please RSVP to clisiecki@coloradocollege.edu.

Academic Conference

“Humanities for Our Times: New Perspectives on Humanistic Approaches, Ethics, and Social Change”

This conference will take place on the CC campus from June 14-17, 2023. Mark your calendars now!

More information will be posted soon 

Course Development Grant Recipients

Congratulations to the following CC faculty, who have received Mellon Course Development Grants to design these exciting new courses:

• Amanda Minervini, "Fighting For Liberation: Black Voices in Italian Culture"
• Ángela Castro, "Afro-Latin American Culture and Literature"
• Arom Choi & Baran Germen, "Genre & Filmmaking: Realism"
• Cayce Hughes & Florencia Rojo, "Emancipatory Sociology"
• Chet Lisiecki, "Queer Germany"
• Danielle Sanchez, "Graphic Histories: Reading and Crafting Reflections on the Past"
• Guanyi Yang, "Economics of Inequality"
• Iddo Aharony, "Engaged Music Creation"
• Jake Organ, "Economic Thought: Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy"
• Jake P. Smith, "Haunted Landscapes: History, Memory, and the Built Environment"
• Jean Lee, "Sustainable Development: Global to Local"
• John Riker, "Power and Equity"
• Kris Stanec, "Power of the Arts"
• Mike Taber, "Integrative STEM Education: Promoting Inclusion and Equity"
• Najnin Islam, "Plantation Afterlives"
• Naomi Wood, "Queer Latinoamérica"
• Pamela Reeves, "Jews, Christians, and Christian Anti-Judaism"
• Rebecca Tucker, "Museum Practicum"
• Rushaan Kumar, "Sex Cultures, Sexual Politics"
• Ryan Banagale, "Performance and Performing"
• Sanjaya Thakur, "Roman Sports and Entertainment"
• Scott Krzych, "Racial Capitalism in U.S. Film and Media--1970 to Present"
• Shawn Womack, "Practicing Togetherness: Building Community through the Arts and Creative Action"
• William Davis, "Equity and Power in the Mediterranean World"
• Baran Germen, "Third Cinema and Its Afterlives"
• John Marquez, "Archives and Counterarchives: The Politics of Historical Knowledge"
• Natanya Ann Pulley, "Rhizomatic Storytelling"
• Genevieve Love, "Shakespeare and Social Justice" (200-level, no prereqs)
• Mike Angstadt, "Law for the Earth"
• Jane Murphy, "Islamic Cities"
• Dylan Nelson, "Film Manifestoes/Filmmaking"
• Aaron Stoller, "Curriculum Theories"
• Andreea Marinescu, "The Idea of Latin America"
• Hiromi Onishi, "Languages and Cultures of Japan"
• Scott Krzych & Elizabeth Coggins, "Politics and Comedy"
• Guanyi Yang and Nickie Coomer, "Economics of Education Policy"
• Christiane Steckenbiller, "From Colonial Fantasies to Imperial Debris: The German Colonial Experience and its Legacies" (as CC100 and as standalone course)
• Chelsea Walter, "Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners"
• Liliana Carrizo, "Puente del Mundo: The Musical Crossroads of Panama"
• Alistaire Tallent, "FR319 Topics in French Culture: L’art et les artistes"
• Tina Valtierra, "Gender & Sexuality in US Public Schools"
• Amy Kohout, "The Craft of Writing History"
• Lidia Chang, "Music and Gender in Jane Austen's England"
• Pallavi Sriram, "Afro-Asia, Performance, Media"
• Anbegwon Atuire, "Race, Color, and Consciousness"
• Leland Tabares, "Race and Capitalism"
• Jordan Lord, "Unworking Ableism: Access, Art, and Film"
• Nene Ndiaye Diop, "Ousmane Sembene, Griot du peuple et père du cinéma africain (Griot of the people and Father of African cinema)"
• Ibrahima Wade, "Topics in Francophone Culture: Exploring Cajun and Creole Cultures in the US"

Key Team Members

• Claire Oberon Garcia, Professor of English (Principal Investigator)
• Chet Lisiecki, Assistant Professor of German Studies (Project Coordinator)
• Nene Ndiaye Diop, Assistant Professor of French
• Steve Hayward, Professor of English & Director of the Journalism Institute
• Jameel Paulin, Assistant Professor of Art
• Natanya Pulley, Assistant Professor of English & Creative Writing
• Kris Stanec, Senior Lecturer in Education & Faculty Fellow in Creativity and Innovation