Here’s what eight UNC professors did with their year outside the classroom

After a long time away from class, eight professors will be returning to share their independent projects across disciplines in the arts and humanities.

The Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH) plans to recognize the work of their Faculty Fellows and Academic Leadership Program Fellows with a presentation of the fellows' published books, art, films and other large culminating projects. 

Fellows are faculty from different departments who are on leave from teaching to dedicate their time exclusively to working on individual intellectual projects. Fellows from different departments meet once a week to share their projects, exchange ideas and provide feedback to gain interdisciplinary perspectives. 

The celebration will take place at Hyde Hall, a building established to support the Faculty Fellows program, in the University Room from 3 to 5 p.m. on Jan. 22. Students and community members are encouraged to attend. 

This celebration has been occurring for several years and was formerly referred to as a book launch. 

“It takes a lot of time for work to come into full form. This is a celebration of the fruition of this process," Faculty Fellowship Program Director Tim Marr said. 

The event is a compilation of the projects of 2018 and will recognize scholarly works by the fellows. A majority of the faculty are professors within the arts or humanities departments, including a few professors of social science.

The projects featured this year will be diverse and cover several different fields of study. Ariana Vigil, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies, will showcase her recently published book titled, “Understanding Francisco Goldman.” 

A few professors from the School of Media and Journalism will showcase their works as well, including Paul Cuadros and Daniel Kreiss.

“I think it’s a really wonderful venue for faculty to come together to really celebrate the scholarly contributions that they’re making, particularly for arts and humanities,” IAH Associate Director Jennifer Ho said. 

The event will display the fellows’ works for the public and the creators will be present to explain their projects, as well as to answer any questions about them. The organizers said they see it as an opportunity for the student community to see to the wealth of creativity and scholarly work all around them at UNC. 

“We’d like students to see that faculty have these rich scholarly lives, a part that they don’t get to see in the classroom all the time," Ho said. 

Aside from being displayed, the books featured at the event will be available for attendees to purchase. 

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