ENGLISH - The College of Arts and Sciences is investing in its Latinx studies courses by hiring nine new tenure-track faculty members. After wrapping up a doctoral studies program at University of California, Los Angeles, Salvador Herrera comes to the Department of English with expertise in contemporary Latinx literature and performance art.

ENGLISH, ROMANCE LANGUAGES - Staff and faculty members came together for the inaugural College of Arts and Sciences Awards and Hallmark Achievement Reception, which celebrated some of the achievements of faculty and staff. In addition to celebrating some of the college’s faculty members who have received accolades outside of the university, the ceremony featured the college’s first-ever awards that recognize the work of faculty and staff.

CREATIVE WRITING, ENGLISH - This June, we celebrate Pride Month and the diverse identities of alumni identifying as LGBTQ+. Three College of Arts and Sciences alumni — Whitney Donielson, English, '11; Kevin Thomas, biology, '85; and Morgan Thomas, creative writing, '16— are featured in the UO Alumni Association's Shout publication.

ENGLISH, PHILOSOPHY - Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, public awareness of artificial intelligence has exploded, accelerating the technology’s inevitable creep into everyday life. In the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, where AI has made its way into both classrooms and research labs, faculty members are grappling with its impact on student learning even as they explore its vast potential in their research.

ENGLISH - After a long career centered around a fascination for 19th-century American literature, William (Bill) Rossi will soon receive a prestigious honor: the Thoreau Society Medal. As a diligent professor emeritus of English, Rossi’s dedication to understanding the works of Henry David Thoreau has left a mark on literary scholarship and the University of Oregon.

ENGLISH, THEATRE ARTS - Alumna and Tony-nominated playwright Heidi Schreck (English, theatre arts, '09) is collaborating with director Lila Neugebauer to stage a production of Uncle Vanya at the Lincoln Center Theatre in April. The play, originally written in 1897, will star Steve Carell and Alison Pill.

ENGLISH, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - A three-year endowment fund is supporting Kirby Brown's work on his family’s Cherokee oral history and material archives to better understand Cherokee Nation literature, history, intellectual production, and lived experience in the 20th and 21st centuries. Brown is an associate professor of Native American and Indigenous literary and cultural production in the Department of English and the director of Native American and Indigenous studies.

ENGLISH - English Associate Professor Courtney Thorsson's new book, The Sisterhood, explores a group of influential Black women writers and thinkers—including Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Margo Jefferson—who met during the late '70s to talk about writing, culture and liberation.

ENGLISH - Four of the seven Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship (HURF) recipients during the 2023 program were English majors. A HURF fellow is awarded a $2,500 stipend to explore their scholarly interests over 16 weeks, beginning in January, and receives support from a faculty advisor.

ENGLISH - In The Sisterhood: How A Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture, Courtney Thorsson, an associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, tells the story of a group of Black feminist writers and thinkers in a critically acclaimed book that has been called a model for literary histories.

ENGLISH, SOCIOLOGY, SPANISH, THEATRE ARTS - The Distinguished Teaching Awards recognize exceptional teaching that is inclusive, engaged and research-informed. This year’s winners are Jocelyn Hollander, Faith Barter, Alex Zunterstein, Kirby Brown, Robin Hopkins, Tannaz Farsi, Patricia Rodley and Michael Moffitt.

Courtney Thorsson, associate professor in the English department, received the Provost Book Publication Award for her upcoming release, The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture, which will be published in November 2023. The prestigious award celebrates outstanding publications created by professors while managing teaching, graduate advising, service and other professional obligations with a $5,000 stipend.

The UO’s Environment Initiative has awarded seed funding to five new teaching projects to support faculty members who have proposed innovative courses and dynamic classroom experiences. The funding supports both research and curricular projects and focuses the intellectual energy and work of faculty, students and community partners on a just and livable future through transdisciplinary research, teaching and experiential learning.

ENGLISH, LINGUISTICS - The College of Arts and Sciences is adding six Latinx studies tenure-track faculty members in several departments as part of the college’s commitment to becoming a premier institution for Latinx studies while meeting student demand for culturally relevant classes.

COMICS & CARTOON STUDIES, CREATIVE WRITING, ENGLISH - The UO professor and Philip H. Knight Chair of Humanities in the Creative Writing Program will share how he’s been able to accomplish what he’s done so far, and the factors underlying the keys to its success, in an April 24 talk.