Podcasts
Welcome to The Institute, a podcast where we profile the fascinating people connected to the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We talk with faculty about the pillars of their work in teaching, service and research. We learn the makings of successful leaders across disciplines. And we share this with you.
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Peter Mucha, Professor Of Mathematics and IAH’s Chairs Leadership Program Director
Peter Mucha is a Professor of Mathematics and Applied Physical Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and new Director of the IAH’s Chairs Leadership program. Professor Mucha discusses the circumstances that led to his career as a mathematics scholar, from journeying through interdisciplinary fields in his university education to becoming a post-doctoral instructor in Mathematics.
Spring 2017 Highlights
Communications Specialist M. Clay and Coordinator for Faculty Programs Philip Hollingsworth share highlights from their favorite podcasts.
Morgan Pitelka, Associate Professor Asian Studies
Morgan Pitelka’s parents had a big influence in his scholarship. his father was a potter so he became interested in He discusses his love of Japanese film, particularly, the work of Hidden Fortress was the inspiration for Star Wars.
Beverly Taylor, Professor of English
Beverly Taylor discusses her road to her life of research on poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “Feminist scholars in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered the feminist and abolitionist politics in Barrett Browning’s poetry. Taylor also talks about how the book To Kill a Mockingbird served as a lesson on teaching in Mississippi in 1969.
Molly Worthen, Assistant Professor of History
Before becoming an academic, Molly Worthen worked as a journalist. She brings this sensibility to her work as a scholar. She also writes a regular column for the New York Times Opinion Section. She describes her work in exploring Christianity in the United States.
View transcript for Molly Worthen, Assistant Professor of History. Link opens in new tab.
Lien Truong, Assistant Professor of Art
Faculty Fellow Lien Truong is a dedicated, renowned artist. She discusses how she was drawn to art as a teen. “It became an outlet for working out issues in the world.” She scoped out the faculty at Carolina before deciding to become a faculty member here. “One of the draws for me at the UNC’ art department, was I looked at the faculty and I really appreciated the work that they were making… work that really examines
Gabriel Trop, Associate Professor, German Studies
Gabriel Trop discusses how philosophy and literature led him to the scholarship of German aesthetics, especially the one professor who inspired and challenged him. He branched out to study the Classics to better understand German poets and philosophers, such as Hölderlin, Novalis, Brockes, Hagedorn, and Gleim. During his Faculty Fellowship he works on a project exploring attraction and indifference.
Tanya Shields, Associate Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies
Tanya Shields is an Academic Leadership Program Fellow and director of undergraduate studies in her department. She discusses her latest work as dramaturge for the production of Plantation Remix at Houston-based Progress Theater. “The trauma and violence that people tour and enjoy, they want to disrupt that.” She is “helping build the context for the structure of the play as an advisor to the playwright. I am also learning how a play is created.”
Terry Rhodes, Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Fine Arts and Humanities
Terry Rhodes oversees all departments and programs in the divisions of fine arts and humanities, and assists in the recruitment, development, and retention of faculty in those divisions. Especially known for her work in contemporary music, she has served on the music faculty since 1987 as UNC Opera Director and a member of the voice faculty, and as departmental chair from 2009–2012. She discusses how music played an integral part in her growing up.
Leon Botstein, Bard College President, 2017 Reckford Lecturer
American Symphony Orchestra Conductor and Bard College President Leon Botstein delivered the 23rd annual Mary Stevens Reckford Lecture in European Studies entitled, “Sounding Forms: What Music and Its Practice Reveals Abotu Modern European History.”
Jane Brown and Pat Pukkila, Retired Faculty Program Co-Facilitators
Jane Brown, is Professor Emerita in the School of Media and Journalism, former Chair of the Faculty, a Faculty Fellow and part of the inaugural Academic Leadership Program cohort and also Academic Leadership Program facilitator. Pat Pukkila is Professor Emerita in the Biology Department and founding director of the Office for Undergraduate Research. They discuss how the pilot Retired Faculty Program has taken off in providing this segment of Faculty with appreciation, purpose and community.
Kumarini Silva, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication
Kumarini Silva, whose research is at the intersections of feminism, identity and identification, post-colonial studies, and popular culture, discusses race and gender in current politics. She also talks about her latest book Brown Threat: Identification in the Security State (2016). Silva moderates the faculty event Difficult Conversations: Gender Equity in Higher Education.
Anna Hayes and Kim Church, Crooks Corner Book Prize
Anna Hayes, founder of the Crooks Corner Book Prize, discusses the local literature scene while author and 2015 Crooks Corner Prize winner Kim Church (pictured) reads from her book Byrd and talks about the writing process. Both were featured on the panel of the Emerging Writers Cafe at the Institute in December 2016.
Season 1 Highlights with Philip Hollingsworth and Melissa Clay
Coordinator for Faculty Programs Philip Hollingsworth and Communications Specialist Melissa Clay discuss their favorite episodes since the beginning of the IAH Podcast Series in November 2015 in this retrospective. “When I think about our podcast, I think about the interesting things we learn about the faculty here at UNC,” says Clay. Academia has these “pillars of teaching, research and service and how do they get all of that done?”
Jina Valentine, Assistant Professor of Art
Jina Valentine is concerned with how art can inspire discussion. Black Lunch Table, a collaboration with fellow artists Hong-An Truong and Heather Hart, is a work of social-practice art that provides a discursive space for artists, activists, and community members to discuss critical issues. It began as a social experiment in 2005 with the question “what would happen if we segregated the lunch rooms. We are very interested in the conversations that happen at the