Faculty

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.

RUSSIAN, EAST EUROPEAN AND EURASIAN STUDIES - Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies faculty member Jenifer Presto recently presented at an Arts Unplugged event at Cornell University on "Nabokov, Naturally." The event, which brought together artists, humanists and natural scientists, explored “Lolita” author Vladimir Nabokov's legacy as a writer and a lepidopterist.

PHILOSOPHY - Cintia Martínez Velasco, an assistant professor of philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences, appears on an episode of UO Today, a production by the Oregon Humanities Center. Her research and teaching interests include feminist philosophy, gender theory, decolonial philosophy, and critical theory in Latin America.

THEATRE ARTS - A new set of lights at the University Theatre provides students with opportunities to work with the latest technology that is used in professional theaters. It's just one of many experiential learning opportunities that theatre students have at the College of Arts and Sciences.

PHILOSOPHY - With violence against women on the rise in many Latin American countries, a UO philosophy professor is working to make feminine genocide a recognized crime throughout Mexico. Recently, she urged Mexican consulates around the world to help eliminate violence against women and girls by recognizing and enforcing femigenocidio as a federal crime.

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.

GEOGRAPHY, PHILOSOPHY, ROMANCE LANGUAGES - Three CAS faculty members—Mark Carey, Diana Garvin, and Colin Koopman—were awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

CINEMA STUDIES - Assistant Professor Masami Kawai gained insight into the importance of story last spring at the Sundance Institute in Utah. She was among those selected for a two-week workshop during which—under the eye of talents such as actor Ed Harris, a four-time Academy Award nominee—filmmakers rehearsed, shot, and edited scenes from working projects.

LINGUISTICS - Over the past 50 years, hip hop has grown from a popular music genre to a cultural revolution that spans the globe, affecting everything from fashion to language. Linguistics Professor Rachel Weissler explores the profound influence of hip hop on the English language.