From posters to precedent, humanities scholars showcase their research
Projects spanned topics from Confederate cemeteries to Korean textiles.
Orozco Gallery Hosts Vibrant Pop-Up Gallery
This May, Orozco Gallery will open its doors as a pop-up space for creativity, connection, and cultural celebration at 115 S Cayuga St, Downtown Ithaca.
Short films from Rural Humanities course selected for festivals
Three short documentaries produced in a Rural Humanities Seminar, taught by PMA Associate Professor Austin Bunn, are headed to film festivals this fall.
Panelists to examine crypto mining impacts
Bitcoin mining consumes 2.3% of all U.S. electrical demand.
Peter Loewen named dean of Arts and Sciences
Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
Grants available to fund rural humanities projects
Funding is available for faculty and students with projects related to rural humanities.
‘Out Here’ film event shines light on rural LGBTQ life
A trio of short films showing the pleasures – and perils – of rural life for LGBTQ+ people will show April 26 as part of the Rural Humanities Initiative in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Exemplary Project: Saint-Sauveur
Alexandre Saint-Sauveur is a junior at Horace Mann School in the Bronx, New York. This essay describes his transformative research internship with the Underground Railroad Research Project.
"Campfire" wins Best LGBTQIA+ Short Award at CIFF47
PMA professor Austin Bunn wins Best LGBTQIA+ Short Award at CIFF47 for his short film "Campfire" developed with Rural Humanities faculty grant funding from the Mellon Foundation.
Out Here: 3 Short Films about Rural LGBT Life
This spring event, sponsored by Cornell's Rural Humanities Initiative, will feature three award-winning short films by writer/director Austin Bunn, Associate Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts.
Summer 23 Practicum to focus on rural environments in public practice
Moving beyond rural environments as objects of study and fields of research in academic settings, the 2023 summer practicum will rely on ethical engagement with places, people, and practices that seek to transform Ithaca and its broader environs towards livable, equitable futures.
Exemplary Project: Ness
2022 Exemplary Project Grant recipient Jessica Ness describes her experience delving into the history of the Seward family and their role in abolitionist politics.
Exemplary Project: Aumir
In an essay as part of the RH Pamphlet Collection, 2022 Exemplary Project Grant recipient Bushra Aumir describes her art installation, Resolute.
Outreach supports Black rural landowners in Northeast
Using a faculty grant from the Rural Humanities initiative, Shorna Allred (CALS) produced "The Stories Trees Have to Tell," a 30-page publication highlighting the stories of five Black owners of forestland in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Learn & travel with Cornell alumni, faculty this summer
A&S faculty will lead many courses on campus and join educational vacations as part of Cornell Adult University.
Underground Railroad project releases new 3-D model
The 3-D tour focuses on the building, its foundation, the archaeological excavation underway and a Civil War monument on the church site.
More than $12M donated to support students in 24 hours
On Cornell’s eighth Giving Day, held March 16, 15,905 alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends from more than 80 countries made gifts totaling a record-breaking $12,268,629.
Support Arts & Sciences on Giving Day March 16
Gifts allow the College to fulfill its mission: preparing students to do the greatest good in the world.
Freedom seekers speak on new Underground Railroad site
The new “Voices on the Underground Railroad” website focuses on nine documented or rumored stops on the Underground Railroad in Central and Western New York.
Rural humanities projects explore NYS past and present
Five essays that explore how students created publicly-engaged projects are available online.
About the Series
The RH Pamphlet collection publishes graduate and undergraduate student essays written as part of either our Community Partnership or Exemplary Project grants.Physical copies of the pamphlets are available in the A.D. White House.
Exemplary Project: Dickerman
In an essay as part of the RH Pamphlet Collection, 2021 Exemplary Project Grant recipient Ethan Dickerman (M.A student at the Cornell Institute for Archaeology & Material Studies) walks readers through the background and inspiration behind the Tompkins County Rural Black Residents (TCRBR) project, a digital humanities/public history website....
Nexus Scholars Program applications now open
The program connects undergraduates in A&S with opportunities to work side by side on research with Cornell faculty from across the College.
A 'freedom church' unearths its Underground Railroad history
Church members and a multidisciplinary team of Cornell faculty and students are learning more about St. James A.M.E. Zion Church by doing an archaeological dig.
Exemplary Project: Roberson
In the following booklet, 2021 Exemplary Project Grant recipient Jehan Roberson (PhD candidate in Literatures in English) reflects on her experience crafting a fictional narrative for the Voices of the Underground Railroad website, an online collection of stories mapped on to documented and rumored underground railroad stations and safe houses in...
Community Partnership: Gonzalez
In this essay booklet, 2021 Community Partnership Grant recipient Lyrianne Gonzalez (History) details her oral history work with Black farmers in New York State. The project was developed during the 2021 Rural Humanities Spring Seminar on Rural Black Lives.Click to read the essay booklet online!In preparation to conduct interviews with local New...
Exemplary Project: Jao
In this iteration of our RH Pamphlet Collection, 2021 Exemplary Project Grant recipient Charline Jao (Literatures in English) reflects on the creation of her digital humanities website mapping the Free Produce movement, a project she developed during the 2021 Rural Humanities Spring Seminar on Rural Black Lives.Click to read the essay booklet...
Community Partnership: Pinto
In the first of our Grant Recipient essay series, 2020 Spring Seminar participant and Community Partnership Grant recipient Shaloni Pinto (ILR '20) writes of her summer working with the Poetic Justice project.Click to read the essay booklet online!Pinto built on Cornell's long-standing collaboration with George Junior Republic High School in...
Community partnerships honored at 2021 TOGO awards
The Underground Railroad Project at St. James A.M.E. Zion Church, the Foodnet Meals on Wheels program, and Khuba International and the Learning Farm received collaboration awards for partnering with Cornell to improve the lives of Tompkins County residents.
2021-22 Rural Humanities is Radically Indigenous
The deep history of human occupation across all of North America is Indigenous history – in fact, over 98 percent of human occupation in the Ithaca area took place before European-American settlers arrived. Americans and Canadians, both rural and urban, move through Indigenous lands and encounter Indigenous heritage as they go about their daily...
New A&S program expands undergrad research opportunities
The Nexus Scholars program will leverage the student-to-faculty ratio and the vibrant research enterprise in A&S to expand opportunities for students, while also enhancing the culture of collaborative scholarship at Cornell.
New timeline clarifies Indigenous history in Mohawk Valley
A collaboration between the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory and the New York State Museum in Albany has established a more precise timeline for some of the most iconic archeological sites in the Mohawk Valley.
Community of practice explores digital storytelling in the classroom
This fall, the Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI) is coordinating a community of practice featuring workshops led by faculty to explore digital storytelling methods
Excavation to explore church’s role in Underground Railroad
A multidisciplinary team of Cornell students and faculty and local schoolchildren began an archeological dig Sept. 18 at St. James AME Zion church in Ithaca.
$2M in New Frontier Grants boost high-impact A&S research
Research supported by the 14 grants ranges from the physics of quantum computing to the design of new musical instruments.
Applications open for Summer Practicum on Rural Black Lives
Beginning June 21, Rural Humanities will offer an online Summer Practicum focusing on this year's focal theme of Rural Black Lives.The Rural Humanities Summer Practicum is offered each summer to allow graduate students and advanced undergraduates to deepen public and engaged humanities projects in our local region that they have begun or are...
Black farming and food security topic of next Rural Humanities webinar
Rural Humanities will offer a webinar, “Black Land Matters: A Rural Humanities Webinar on Black Farming and Food Security,” on March 4, part of a conversation on Black land ownership, farming and food security.
New ‘Humanities Pod’ a virtual space for ideas
The humanities thrive where people can gather to converse and collaborate.“The Humanities Pod,” a podcast launched this semester by the Society for the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences, provides a space for humanities scholars to share ideas virtually, keeping cross-disciplinary dialogue going even during pandemic conditions and...
ONEcomposer partners with Philadelphia Orchestra for Florence Price premiere
Cornell music faculty are working with the Philadelphia Orchestra to bring to light the works of a historically erased composer.
Celebrating the memory of CALS student KAR Robison
KAR Robison, a CALS junior majoring in environment and sustainability, passed away unexpectedly in December, 2020. They were 41. KAR was involved in several Rural Humanities projects and was a participant in the Spring Seminar. In a memorial tribute to KAR, Gerard Aching reflects on their involvement in community projects and their commitment to...
Student pens essay on community-engaged poetry project
Spearheaded by Rural Humanities 2020 Spring Seminar participant Shaloni Pinto (ILR, '20), the Poetic Justice project built on Cornell’s long-standing collaboration with George Junior Republic High School in Freeville, NY.Pinto's experiences are detailed in the linked online booklet, a digitized version of her essay titled "'How Do We Start a Poem...
2020-21 Focus on Rural Black Lives
The first half of 2020 witnessed the brutal execution-style killing of George Floyd by law enforcement officials in Minneapolis; the same day in Central Park, a white dog owner called the police on an “African American male,” Christian Cooper, who was “threatening” her by simply asking her to leash her dog. Prior to these events, police killed...
Rural Humanities now accepting applications for Summer Practicum
The Rural Humanities Summer Practicum is being offered to allow graduate students and advanced undergraduates to deepen public and engaged humanities projects in our local region that they have begun or are adequately prepared to undertake during an intensive 6-week program. With the practicum, the Rural Humanities Initiative aims to make...
Rural Humanities Initiative Receives Mellon Funding
The complex dynamics between rural and urban life have profound implications for America’s future, from the economy to the environment and beyond.A new Rural Humanities scholarly initiative, funded for four years by a million-dollar grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will leverage Cornell’s position in central New York to reinvigorate...