Check out the dynamism of AGLSP members and programs!

You can view a recording of the recent ConfluenceLIVE event HERE!

You can view a recording of the recent Student & Alumni Research Showcase HERE!

Malia Mihailoff - Reed College

Malia Mihailoff is a professional dance artist and Reed College MALS graduate student who spent Spring Semester 2022 exploring the intersection of visual art, music, and dance. Through critical analysis of Wassily Kandinsky’s painting Dull Red, his manifestoes Concerning the Spiritual in Art and Point and Line to Plane, and the neo-folk song Fade Under, Malia created an original work of art that both embodies the concept of stimmung (inner need) and opens the door for further somatic scholarship in the synthesis of the arts, or Gesamtkunstwerk.

Dr. Robert Bruce - Rice University

What would Mark Twain, arguably America’s most famous humorist, have to say about life in the 21st century? Are we living in the golden age of American political satire? On Aug. 7, 2018, the Graduate Liberal Studies Summer Lecture Series at Rice University presented "Mark Twain: God's Fool" by Dr. Robert Bruce, dean of the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. This free public lecture examined humor and satire, Southwestern humor, Samuel Clemens and Mark Twain, the Gilded Age, contemporary political satire and the evidence that we may be living in "the Golden Age of Satire." Dr. Bruce's presentation begins at 6:48. Many thanks to Dr. Mark Kulstad, academic director for Rice Graduate Liberal Studies, for his opening remarks. To access the videos referenced in the lecture, please use the following links.
55:35 | https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-li...
56:38 | https://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-sh...
1:03:07 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJwwr...

Dr. Matthias Henze - Rice University

On Sept. 22, 2017, Dr. Matthias Henze offered a public lecture at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies to discuss his new book, "Mind the Gap: How the Jewish Writings between the Old and New Testament Help Us Understand Jesus." We are honored to have Dr. Henze as an instructor in our Master of Liberal Studies program! mls.rice.edu From Amazon (http://bit.ly/mindthegaphenze): "Do you want to understand Jesus of Nazareth, his apostles, and the rise of early Christianity? Reading the Old Testament is not enough, writes Matthias Henze in this slender volume aimed at the student of the Bible. To understand the Jews of the Second Temple period, it’s essential to read what they wrote—and what Jesus and his followers might have read—beyond the Hebrew scriptures. Henze introduces the four-century gap between the Old and New Testaments and some of the writings produced during this period (different Old Testaments, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls); discusses how these texts have been read from the Reformation to the present, emphasizing the importance of the discovery of Qumran; guides the student’s encounter with select texts from each collection; and then introduces key ideas found in specific New Testament texts that simply can’t be understood without these early Jewish “intertestamental” writings—the Messiah, angels and demons, the law, and the resurrection of the dead. Finally, he discusses the role of these writings in the “parting of the ways” between Judaism and Christianity. Mind the Gap broadens curious students’ perspectives on early Judaism and early Christianity and welcomes them to deeper study."

Dr. Tristan Cabello - Johns Hopkins University

Join host Dr. Laura DeSisto for a curated discussion with Dr. Tristan Cabello on the Black Politics of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was a global superstar who reached crossover appeal in the late 20th century. More than a mainstream pop performer, Jackson was a musician, singer, dancer and visual artist who transformed his artistic heritage, deeply grounded in the African American tradition, to reach a broad audience, in the United States and globally. This talk aims at reframing Michael Jackson's cultural and social origins to reveal his anchor in the African American musical, philosophical and political traditions. We will closely examine Michael Jackson's music, videos, writing, and meta-narratives. Dr. Tristan Cabello is an historian of social movements in France and the United States. He is Associate Director of the Master of Liberal Arts at the Johns Hopkins University and has received his PhD in History from Northwestern University. He teaches “The Black Politics of Michael Jackson” at Johns Hopkins University. You can learn more about him at https://advanced.jhu.edu/directory/tr...

Dr. Tristan Cabello and Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton hosted a discussion on academic entrepreneurship on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. In this presentation and discussion, they explored alt-ac job opportunities in the world of coaching, consulting, and business. As a coach, Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton utilizes her academic research and background every day but has found a way to share the work she’s done with a wider audience through online classes, coaching programs, and private coaching online. Whether or not this business model is meant for you, we can explore ways that your academic expertise can lend to and lead within alternate job tracks, from corporate America to consulting in a small business to publishing writing as an independent/public scholar. The world needs more educated voices being read more widely, and more academics thriving.

Dr. Risa Levitt - San Diego State University

In 2019, I travelled with a team from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada to Ukraine to interview its people on their perspectives of identity and culture. At the time, this was in preparation for an exhibition that was ultimately cancelled due to Covid. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, I revisited these interviews and was moved by how prescient the comments and observations were. In the absence of a physical exhibition and with the hope of sharing these important words to a larger audience, we launched the virtual experience “Ukraine: Identities, Culture and Resilience.” In this authentic and powerful original series, interviewees reflect upon their own understandings of collective identity, and the experiences that impact their uncertain future. The experience helps students understand the importance of oral histories and the role public humanities can play in understanding identity through current events.

More info: https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/ukrainian

Dr. Risa Levitt is a professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaism at San Diego State University where she serves as Chair of the department for the Study of Religion, the Classics & Humanities department and Director of the Jewish Studies Program.

Anders Larsson - San Diego State University

As a MALAS scholar, I was keenly interested in exploring how we experience music and culture in different spaces and formats. Through my thesis Wax Without Honey: The LP as Post-WWII American Zeitgeist and also via classic works like Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, I dove deep into several concepts related to how and where cultural expression occurs. The music videos I make as CAL (Creative Audio Laboratory) are my own way of bringing those academic explorations into unique and fun narratives. Additional random info that may or may not be of interest:

- I've done four videos for the CAL project, with one more in the can, due for February release
- All music is produced by Jason Falkner, who works with St. Vincent, Beck, Jellyfish, Air, Paul McCartney, did the Bedtime with the Beatles albums, etc.
- The first video "All Along" was directed by Eyedress
- All other videos ("You Don't Need a Reason", "Eggshells", and a "A Matter of Time") are directed by Angel Estrada Fuentes and done with his team Tesoro Audiovisual on location in Tijuana, Rosarito, and Tecate (La Rumorosa). The upcoming video is also done by the Tesoro team, but in Los Angeles
- While my MALAS thesis was important to my later creative work, so were other concepts around space (including borders) as explored in Touch of Evil

Carlos Solorio - San Diego State University

The MALAS program @ SDSU catapulted my knowledge in the visual arts work behind the camera obscura to project my binational identity, perspective, and voice beyond our borderlands. The overall learning experience allowed me to design and follow my own academic path in the transformative arts that allowed me to go beyond frontiers in my current professional career path.