Delegates and Dinners in D.C. with Dean and Duff
May 7, 2026
Get inspired by the people and stories that shape the Center for Arts and Humanities, from exceptional students and their achievements to new faculty publications and Humanities Labs experiences.
a (completely fabricated) conversation between Sophie Shanae ‘26 & Hunter Mawn ‘27.
This year, we had the honor of serving as student delegates for National Humanities Advocacy Day. Hosted in Washington D.C. by the National Humanities Alliance, this event unites humanities students, educators, and professionals from across the country in encouraging our state representatives to support funding for humanities initiatives. This was my first time attending, but Hunter attended last year as well. What was it like to return, Hunter?
Exciting, for sure. Especially given the crazy uptick in how many other students were with us from other colleges. That was something I didn’t see so much of last year. That made the reception a lot more fun.
When you think of birding, you normally imagine the woods, a local trail, or maybe just looking out your window. Imagine bringing a pair of binoculars into an art space or gallery. How might that shift your perspective? Maybe you’d notice smaller details, or even begin to look beyond the art on the walls?
“Love Your Birds” asked those precise questions. Created as a collaboration between Environmental Humanities (EH) Fellow Ashton Wesner and Mirken Coordinator of Campus and Community Collaboration Virginia Lopez-Anido at the Colby Museum of Art, the public-facing program invited community members to bring binoculars into the Paul J. Schupf Art Center and look more deeply at the Bernard Langlais exhibition Love Your Langlais: A Community Curates! In conversation, Wesner shared that the program offered a way for community members to gather, bond over birding, and experience art in a new way.
For undergraduates, conferences can open doors that classrooms rarely reach, introducing students to unfamiliar debates, unexpected mentors, and new ways of imagining their own work. Between 2025 and 2026, the Center for the Arts and Humanities has supported seven students traveling to conferences across the United States and abroad, helping them test their ideas in wider scholarly communities.
The CAH is excited to share the third issue of Canvas and Page, our year in review magazine. Opening its pages you will find a recap of the annual theme, Play, John Green’s visit to Colby, faculty essays, highlights of student work, spotlighted programs and partnerships.
We’re excited to present our annual spotlight on Faculty Research in the Arts and Humanities for 2024-2025, featuring the outstanding work done by Colby faculty in the humanities and humanistic disciplines. This collection highlights significant research, publications, and performances over the past year. Please join us in celebrating their achievements. We thank our faculty for their contributions to our vibrant academic community!
When I look back on this year, I find it easy to focus on the many challenges it brought us. Whether (doom)scrolling on my phone or in conversations that morosely peter out, it’s been easy to sink into a quagmire of feeling. I don’t have an easy answer for that, to be honest. But looking back also reminds me of the many lessons I’ve learned from our humanities theme of Play; namely, that it can take many forms. What I’ve learned from two years of exhibitions, conversations, and public events offered by this community is that play can change things, that it disrupts our sour moods, and that it invites those who join in it to imagine the world differently – better, even.
March 9th, 2025 was the day that the National Humanities Alliance (NHA) invited colleges from all across the country to Washington, DC to speak with representatives. The NHA is an organization full of motivated experts specializing in bolstering the humanities on both a local and national level. Alex Klein, Director of Government Relations for the NHA, was an instrumental actor in coordinating this mass exodus of higher-ed institutions (including students!) to DC. Thus sets the stage for National Humanities Advocacy Day 2025.
Written by By Hunter Mawn ‘27, Vice Chair of the CAH Student Advisory Board.
The Director of Colby College’s Center for the Arts and Humanities, Dean Allbritton, joins Maine Public Radio to discuss the Center’s 2023-25 annual theme, PLAY!, wrapping up now, as well as the upcoming theme for 2025-26, Islands. We also touch on the Center’s ongoing Environmental Humanities Initiative, bringing students and faculty from across the campus together for interdisciplinary study, reflection and action.
This episode is part of Maine Public’s celebration of Earth Week. For more Maine Public programming and coverage celebrating and reporting on our natural world, check out our award-winning Borealis program and our Climate Desk, and sign up for Planet Maine, Maine Public’s new climate newsletter.
We are excited to host popular author and YouTuber John Green as the Play keynote conversation!
John Green is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down, and The Anthropocene Reviewed. He was the 2006 recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award, a 2009 Edgar Award winner, and has twice been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Green’s books have been published in more than 55 languages and over 24 million copies are in print. He is also one half of the vlogbrothers (3.77m subscribers) on YouTube and co-creator of educational series Crash Course.
On October 22, 2024, Keith Peterson, Professor of Philosophy, led his humanities lab class “PL244: Vegan Studies: Animals, Politics, Environment, and Health” on an immersive field trip to the Peace Ridge Animal Sanctuary. Students Ella Carlson ’25, Joe Grassi ’25, and Presley Privitera ’25 were all deeply moved by the experience.
The class, sponsored by the Humanities in Action fund, introduces students to veganism as both a philosophy and a social movement. Since the 1970s, philosophers have challenged the ethics of animal captivity and exploitation, engaging in debates around animal rights and environmentalism. In recent years, veganism has evolved into an intersectional movement focused on liberation for both nonhumans and humans. Through this humanities lab, Profesor Peterson teaches his students to study core principles of animal liberation, environmentalism, and ethical responsibility, along with the skills for adopting a vegan lifestyle.
We’re thrilled to present our first spotlight on Faculty Research in the Arts and Humanities for 2023-2024, showcasing the exceptional work done by Colby faculty. This curated collection highlights your significant research, publications, and performances over the past year. Explore the diverse range of scholarly and creative work on display, and please join us in celebrating your achievements. Thank you for your contributions to our vibrant academic community!
September 17, 2024
The CAH is excited to share the second issue of Canvas and Page, our year in review magazine. Flipping through the pages you will find a recap of the annual theme, Play, faculty essays, highlights of student work, spotlighted programs and partnerships.
To read and download the digital issue, please click the button below!
April 17, 2024
It’s not an easy time to be in the humanities. It’s often seen in our news cycles stories of universities consolidating departments, programs cutting cut, and sometimes entire divisions dissolved. At Colby, we are certainly lucky to be in a position where the humanities are promoted and supported by administration, faculty, and staff across all levels. Initiatives such as the Center for the Arts & Humanities (CAH), started in 2009, have been interwoven into all facets of the learning experience at Colby.
As members of the Center’s Student Advisory Board, we have seen how the humanities supplement and increase critical understanding in fields not considered to be in the humanities, and how lessons learned from the humanities continue to grow in importance. When the opportunity arose to join the Director and Faculty Associate Director for the CAH to the National Humanities Alliance’s (NHA) Annual Meeting and Advocacy Day, we were excited to bring our work and learning outside of Mayflower Hill, and to Capitol Hill instead.
February 8, 2023
Twice a year the Center for Arts and Humanities calls for submissions from Colby students seeking financial support for their innovative research endeavors within the humanities or related disciplines. This January, the CAH proudly sponsored five students and their research projects, facilitating their journeys across continents and to Australia, Ireland, Japan, South Africa and South Korea. Whether their explorations unfold next door or further beyond, the CAH is enthusiastic about nurturing our students’ pursuits in the humanities. Read their statements about their research and travel here.
January 8, 2024
The CAH is excited to share the first issue of Canvas and Page, our year in review magazine. Flipping through the pages you will find a recap of the previous annual theme, Food for Thought, faculty essays, highlights of student work, spotlighted programs and partnerships.
To read and download the digital issue, please click the button below!
December 5, 2023
The Colby community dives into the Center for the Arts and Humanities’ new two-year theme. Reprinted from the ColbyNews article on November 30, written by Abigail Curtis with photography by Ashley L. Conti.
The idea of “play” is being taken seriously across campus as the Colby community dives into the Center for the Arts and Humanities’ newest theme.
Through a seminar series, courses, cinema screenings, and more, students, faculty, and staff are invited to think deeply about play: what it means to play, its paradoxes, its history, its inequalities, its darker side, and its power.
December 5, 2023
Korean oral histories project showcases the power of storytelling. Reprinted from the ColbyNews article on November 15, written by Abigail Curtis with photography by Ashley L. Conti.
When Emily Kwen ’24 was five years old, her family emigrated from South Korea to New Jersey. Ever since, she has felt the pull of living between two different worlds. Sometimes, that pull can be painful, like the times she has felt neither wholly Korean nor wholly American. “It just sort of felt like I don’t really belong anywhere particularly,” the education major said.
But a history course she took last spring, Brothers at War: The Two Koreas, 1945-Present, and the oral history project that she and her classmates created have helped her figure out where she does belong. Kwen interviewed one of her South Korean cousins and described the conversation they had as illuminating and personally important.
November 1, 2023
In 2018, Associate Professor of English Matthew Schneider-Mayerson coined the term “empirical ecocriticism,” and today, it shines bright in the title of his latest book, Empirical Ecocriticism: Environmental Narratives for Social Change. So, what exactly is empirical ecocriticism? It’s a unique subfield within ecocriticism that focuses on empirically-grounded studies of environmental narrative, particularly in filmmaking, television and literature. Schneider-Mayerson hopes that his newly released book will help to bridge the boundaries between practitioners and researchers of environmental storytelling and help promote climate and environmental justice.
May 15, 2023
As the academic year comes to an end, we are greeted with warmer days and blooming Maine flora. Reflecting on this year, I’m proud of the work that the Colby Center for the Arts and Humanities has done to get here, and that we’ve remained steadfast in our mission to inspire critical thinking, creativity, and celebrate the excitement of the arts and humanities.
Despite the many challenges of the past year, our faculty and staff have created a dynamic academic landscape where students explore the pressing questions facing our world today. Through innovative student research projects, engaging public lectures, and thought-provoking conversations, the Center has served as an incubator for your biggest and best ideas.
May 9, 2023
Each year, the Center for the Arts and Humanities organizes a unique theme which brings together faculty, staff, and students around one exciting topic. This past year’s annual theme, Food for Thought, nurtured a wealth of ideas around campus and in our Waterville community, growing new ways of thinking and being when it comes to our own relationships with food.
To reflect on this year’s Food for Thought activities, Center staff looked back at the year’s events and spoke with our three theme co-sponsors: Associate Professor of French Studies Audrey Brunetaux, Assistant Professor of Italian Studies Danila Cannamela, and Crawford Family Professor and Chair of Religious Studies Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh.
February 16, 2023
Twice a year, the Center for the Arts and Humanities invites proposals from Colby students for funding of original research projects in the humanities or humanistic disciplines.
This fall, we funded seven students and their research projects, sending them around the globe to India, Japan, Israel, South America, and beyond. Whether it’s next door or a continent away, the Center is delighted to support our students and their meaningful work. Read more about our students’ incredible experiences here.
December 8, 2022
We’ve had an exciting line-up of Food for Thought-affiliated courses this semester, and Assistant Professor of History Danae Jacobson’s survey of U.S. History, to 1865 was no exception. Her class serves as an entry level course and offers students a chance to discover the nuances of historical study. In a conversation with Professor Jacobson, she expressed that this course asks students to “see and notice why history matters,” while she must find a way to “teach it in a way that is compelling to them.” The class is spent highlighting different historical events pre-conquest Indigenous America through the Civil War. Each week takes a different theme — and a new lens.
October 4, 2022
We’ve had an exciting start to a year that is already buzzing with energy. Just two weeks ago, we launched the annual Humanities theme Food for Thought and welcomed over 150 students and faculty to sample the goods of local farmers, restaurants, and businesses. After a dynamic talk by Cherie Scott of Mumbai to Maine, we made our way to the Colby Green for festivities under the big tent. Stocked with food from Winterberry Farm, Proper Pig, 18 Below, the students of the South Asian Society, and other local samplings, it was a thrilling start to the semester and to the theme.
And we have much more in store. Over the academic year, sixteen courses will address the theme with a range of methodologies, offering students a way to study food from anthropological perspectives, literary narratives, historical events, and beyond. The theme co-sponsors of Food for Thought have created a stellar lecture series with a lineup of speakers who explore the politics and pleasures of the food we enjoy…
February 17, 2022
We’re pleased to announce the first edition of the Center for the Arts and Humanities Magazine! This edition features beautiful artwork by students and staff members, articles highlighting the achievements of faculty and students, and much more. You can pick up a copy on campus, or read it online by clicking the button below.
February 17, 2022
Sam Onche, a Colby senior and Studio Art major, has been making art for as long as he can remember. Growing up in Nigeria, he began by drawing, then transitioned to watercolor. When he arrived in the US back in 2015, staying with a host family in Northern California while attending high school, he began to create digital art.
Recently, his work has been inspired by Black people as a whole, with a particular focus on culture, music, and fashion. His goal is to ensure that Black people play a central role in the contemporary art scene, and to spread a sense of positivity and self-love. With each piece, he depicts a different emotion, and tells a different story.
February 17, 2022
The Center for the Arts and Humanities is always happy to support any students who are embarking on an ambitious project in the arts and humanities. This was the case with Colby senior Chris Rodiger, a Studio Art major and talented artist who received a “Big Ideas” grant from the Center to create “the Beehive”.
So what is the Beehive? Chris explained that he took an Introduction to Sculpture class with Associate Professor of Art Bradley Borthwick last fall, and the two had a conversation about Californian artists who built artistic camper vans. Chris was inspired to build his own mobile studio, a place where he could keep all of his paints and canvases, and which he could take with him as he travelled throughout Maine.
February 17, 2022
I would like to acknowledge that we are on native land. This statement was written on unceded Wabanaki territory on land taken from the Abenaki of western Maine and New Hampshire, and the Wabanaki tribes of Maine and the Maritimes, the people of Dawnland, that is, the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy tribes, who have suffered and continue to suffer from violence, pestilence, diaspora, trauma.