Willson Center
for Humanities
and Arts

ANNUAL REPORT 2025 – 2026

Welcome from the Director

“I have been thinking all year of the humanities and arts as finding joy in community, and as I looked back through the last twelve months I was confirmed in recognition of the culture of success and inclusion you have all brought to the University of Georgia.”

Nicholas Allen

About the Willson Center

The Willson Center promotes research, practice, and creativity in the humanities and arts. It supports an innovative community of scholars, artists, and practitioners with grants and fellowships, and serves the whole public through its offerings of lectures, conversations, conferences, exhibitions, and performances. It is committed to excellence, impact, and collaboration.

Giving to the
Willson Center

"There has never been a better time to invest in the Willson Center."

Elizabeth Wright
Willson Center Board of Friends

A Humanities Research Journey with Ed Pavlić

Ed Pavlić, Distinguished Research Professor of English and African American Studies, has spent years conducting research for Darker than Blue: A Radical Life of James Baldwin, a comprehensive literary biography of the iconic American writer that is scheduled for publication in 2028. We documented part of that journey for @UGAResearch during Pavlić’s Autumn 2025 residency at New York City’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, shortly before he was awarded a fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation – one of the most prestigious individual awards in the humanities, arts, and natural and social sciences.

“It's impossible for me to imagine how the work I've done over the past decade and more would have been possible without the structural support and great camaraderie and energy created by the Willson Center.”

Ed Pavlić

Culture and Community at the Penn Center National Historic Landmark District

The Willson Center was awarded a second $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation in 2026 for the next phase of its Culture and Community partnership with St. Helena Island, South Carolina’s Penn Center. The partnership celebrated its fifth year of programs, with public conversations, an annual artist-in-residence, a community fellow, and the springtime Penn Scholars Research Residencies, seen in the photos and video here, which were attended by students and faculty from seven colleges and universities including UGA.

Students and faculty from the University of Georgia, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Emory University, the College of Charleston, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Kentucky gathered at Penn Center National Historic Landmark District on St. Helena Island, SC for a five-day cycle of research residencies in June 2022.

Spotlight on
the Arts

The University of Georgia spotlights its arts programs and venues during an annual November festival that includes concerts, theater and dance performances, art exhibitions, poetry readings, film festivals, discussions on the arts and creativity, and more.

Spotlight on the Arts Trivia Night

An Evening of Gullah Geechee Spirituals and Conversation with Victor Ryan Robertson

Cinema Roundtable: Lumière

UGA Poetry Festival

Screening and Conversation:
Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague with Richard Neupert

Artist Talk - Joe Peragine: Hell on Wheels Redux

DIY Dawgs: A FanZine Frenzy / This event offered students and other participants an opportunity to take part in zine making workshops and activities, and to learn about the history of fanzines. As a follow-up to the Frenzy, zine creators shared their words and art at Ciné later in the festival as part of Humanities Trivia Night. — **DIY Dawgs: A FanZine Frenzy** / This event offered students and other participants an opportunity to take part in zine making workshops and activities, and to learn about the history of fanzines. As a follow-up to the Frenzy, zine creators shared their words and art at Ciné later in the festival as part of Humanities Trivia Night.

Phinizy Lecture: Rick Atkinson / Author and journalist Rick Atkinson, one of the nation’s foremost public historians, gave the Ferdinand Phinizy Lecture. Atkinson is the author of eight narrative histories about five American wars including 2025’s The Fate of the Day, his second book in a planned trilogy on the American Revolution. — **Phinizy Lecture: Rick Atkinson** / Author and journalist Rick Atkinson, one of the nation’s foremost public historians, gave the Ferdinand Phinizy Lecture. Atkinson is the author of eight narrative histories about five American wars including 2025’s *The Fate of the Day*, his second book in a planned trilogy on the American Revolution.

Panel Discussion: English Alumni In Publishing / In celebration of the recent launch of the Publishing Certificate at UGA, the English department, The Georgia Review, and the University of Georgia Press hosted this panel featuring four UGA graduates now working in the publishing industry, moderated by Sujata Iyengar, Distinguished Research Professor of English. — **Panel Discussion: English Alumni In Publishing** / In celebration of the recent launch of the Publishing Certificate at UGA, the English department, *The Georgia Review*, and the University of Georgia Press hosted this panel featuring four UGA graduates now working in the publishing industry, moderated by Sujata Iyengar, Distinguished Research Professor of English.

Odum Environmental Ethics Lecture: David Walter Banks / Atlanta-based photographer David Walter Banks, whose book Trembling Earth: A Transcendental Trip Through the Okefenokee was published by The Bitter Southerner in 2025, gave the Odum Environmental Ethics Lecture. The event was presented by the Willson Center and the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program in partnership with The Bitter Southerner. Banks took part in a conversation with Dave Whitling, The Bitter Southerner's co-founder and creative director. — **Odum Environmental Ethics Lecture: David Walter Banks** / Atlanta-based photographer David Walter Banks, whose book *Trembling Earth: A Transcendental Trip Through the Okefenokee* was published by The Bitter Southerner in 2025, gave the Odum Environmental Ethics Lecture. The event was presented by the Willson Center and the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program in partnership with The Bitter Southerner. Banks took part in a conversation with Dave Whitling, The Bitter Southerner's co-founder and creative director.

UGA Humanities Festival

UGA presented its fourth annual Humanities Festival, a series of public events showcasing the richness and diversity of research and practice in the humanities throughout our extended community, March 16 – April 2, 2026. The festival was organized by the Willson Center and presented by the UGA Humanities Council.

Global
Georgia

The Global Georgia public event series brings world-class thinkers to Georgia. It presents global problems in local context by addressing pressing contemporary questions, including the economy, society, and the environment, with a focus on how the arts and humanities can intervene.

The writer and biologist David George Haskell gave an Earth Day lecture presented by the Willson Center and the Special Collections Libraries in partnership with the Odum School of Ecology, the department of English, and the Creative Writing Program. Haskell's latest book, How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries, was published in March 2026. — The writer and biologist **David George Haskell** gave an Earth Day lecture presented by the Willson Center and the Special Collections Libraries in partnership with the Odum School of Ecology, the department of English, and the Creative Writing Program. Haskell's latest book, *How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries*, was published in March 2026.

Ashley Lemke, an archaeologist and an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, visited for a talk presented by the Georgia Museum of Natural History, the department of anthropology, the Laboratory of Archaeology, and the Archaeology Institute of America, in partnership with the Willson Center. — **Ashley Lemke**, an archaeologist and an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, visited for a talk presented by the Georgia Museum of Natural History, the department of anthropology, the Laboratory of Archaeology, and the Archaeology Institute of America, in partnership with the Willson Center.

Alexis Pauline Gumbs, poet and author of Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde, was the 32nd annual Andrea Carson Coley Lecturer of the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies. — **Alexis Pauline Gumbs**, poet and author of *Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde*, was the 32nd annual Andrea Carson Coley Lecturer of the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies.

Matthew Delmont, Frank J. Guarini Associate Dean of International Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies and the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth University, gave the inaugural Dr. John H. Morrow and Dr. Diane B. Morrow Lecture, "Half American: The Heroic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad.” — **Matthew Delmont**, Frank J. Guarini Associate Dean of International Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies and the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth University, gave the inaugural Dr. John H. Morrow and Dr. Diane B. Morrow Lecture, "Half American: The Heroic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad.”

The Humanities and AI

The Willson Center partnered with other UGA units and faculty to organize conversations centering humanities perspectives on artificial intelligence. The Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing hosted The Humanities and AI: Critical Conversations, a conversation series focused on generative artificial intelligence and its impact on land, labor, water, and writing. A UGA Humanities Festival panel on Innovating the Humanities: Applications with Real Impact (pictured) brought together UGA humanities scholars working at the intersection of AI, games, research, and teaching. And the symposium Being Human in the Age of AI, co-sponsored by the Institute for Artificial Intelligence, investigated humanity’s place and value amid increasing AI adoption.

Research

The Willson Center is an active supporter of scholarly research in the humanities and arts. Its fellowships and graduate awards directly underwrite research and practice in the humanities and arts at UGA, while other grant-funded programs and partnerships provide resources and connections to those engaged in scholarship and creative activity.

Support for Faculty Writing
& Grant Applications

The Willson Center hosts grant-writing workshops for UGA’s humanities and arts communities multiple times each year, featuring outside experts and faculty guests with records of success at pursuing external grants and fellowships. The Center also oversees the Felson Faculty Writing Retreat, an informal monthly working group in which faculty gather to make progress on writing projects and to share ideas and feedback.

Writing coach Helen Betya Rubinstein (at far end of table) led a generative writing workshop for faculty at the Willson Center.

Publications

Humanities and arts faculty and graduate students at UGA publish a diverse and impressive array of books each academic year, including works of academic research, poetry, novels, criticism, translation, and more. The Willson Center supports many of these projects through its own research programs, and by providing assistance with applications for external grants and fellowships.

Support for Teaching

The Willson Center supports the teaching appointments of Hannah Grace Howard, a postdoctoral research and teaching associate in the department of religion, and Leeseul Park, a lecturer and Korean Language Program director in the department of comparative literature and intercultural studies.

“In my time at UGA so far, I have been thoroughly impressed with the degree of faculty collaboration and support, as well as the engagement of the student body.”

Hannah Grace Howard
Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Associate
Department of Religion

Saurabh Anand, a PhD student in the department of English and Willson Center Graduate Research Awardee, received a grant from the LGBTQ+ Heritage Alliance through the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project for his project Traces and Triumphs: Documenting Queer Histories in Athens, Georgia, which explores pre-1980 queer histories in Athens. — **Saurabh Anand**, a PhD student in the department of English and Willson Center Graduate Research Awardee, received a grant from the LGBTQ+ Heritage Alliance through the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project for his project Traces and Triumphs: Documenting Queer Histories in Athens, Georgia, which explores pre-1980 queer histories in Athens.

Susan Rosenbaum, associate professor of English, along with her research partner Jonathan Ellis of the University of Sheffield, received a $351,000 grant from Britain’s Arts and Humanities Research Council for a 27-month project to develop an edited collection of Elizabeth Bishop’s postcards for general readership, a second scholarly book, and exhibitions of Bishop’s postcards at the Sorbonne in Paris and in Sheffield, UK. — **Susan Rosenbaum**, associate professor of English, along with her research partner Jonathan Ellis of the University of Sheffield, received a $351,000 grant from Britain’s Arts and Humanities Research Council for a 27-month project to develop an edited collection of Elizabeth Bishop’s postcards for general readership, a second scholarly book, and exhibitions of Bishop’s postcards at the Sorbonne in Paris and in Sheffield, UK.

The Society for the Study of American Women Writers presented its Karen Dandurand Lifetime Achievement Award to Willson Center associate academic director Barbara McCaskill, Distinguished Research Professor of English and co-director of Culture and Community at the Penn Center National Historic Landmark District. — The Society for the Study of American Women Writers presented its Karen Dandurand Lifetime Achievement Award to Willson Center associate academic director **Barbara McCaskill**, Distinguished Research Professor of English and co-director of Culture and Community at the Penn Center National Historic Landmark District.

O-Jeremiah Agbaakin, a doctoral student in the department of English and the Creative Writing Program, won the John Lewis Writing Grant in poetry from the Georgia Writers Association. — **O-Jeremiah Agbaakin**, a doctoral student in the department of English and the Creative Writing Program, won the John Lewis Writing Grant in poetry from the Georgia Writers Association.

Amna Qayyum, assistant professor of history and women’s and gender studies, was awarded a 2026 Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies – among the most prestigious and competitive awards for humanities scholarship in the United States – for her project The War on Reproduction: Authoritarianism and the Global Politics of Family Planning in Pakistan. — **Amna Qayyum**, assistant professor of history and women’s and gender studies, was awarded a 2026 Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies – among the most prestigious and competitive awards for humanities scholarship in the United States – for her project The War on Reproduction: Authoritarianism and the Global Politics of Family Planning in Pakistan.

Humanities and Arts Faculty Gather External Awards and Honors

UGA faculty and graduate students in the humanities and arts have great success at winning awards and fellowships from national and international organizations, as well as within the university. The Willson Center offers assistance to faculty with applications for grants and fellowships, including online workshops tailored to specific opportunities.

Humanities Undergrads Continue Trend of Success with Major Awards

Finn Walsh (at left), a Class of 2026 Honors student from Atlanta, was named UGA’s newest Marshall Scholar in December 2025. Walsh graduated with a bachelor’s degree in genetics and a minor in Spanish through the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Eliza Fausset (right), a Class of 2026 Honors sociology and Spanish double major, was one of seven students nationwide selected for a 2026-28 FAO Schwarz Fellowship, a highly competitive national program for college seniors pursuing careers in social impact.

“As someone interested in medicine and infectious disease, I’ve found the humanities component of my education here at UGA to be essential to my academic development.”

Finn Walsh
Marshall Scholar
UGA Class of 2026

2026 Oxbelly
Retreat Internships

Each summer Chigozie Obioma, Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing, leads the Fiction Writers Program at the Oxbelly Retreat in Messinia, Greece, an annual gathering of storytellers in fiction and screenwriting to workshop their writing and discuss their art and practice. An internship program supported by the Willson Center and the department of English allows UGA students to participate directly in the program’s review process, gaining hands-on experience while engaging with international fiction.

“Reading for Oxbelly… has not only made me a better reader but a better writer, as I have found close reading of others' work to be immensely helpful in honing my own craft.”

Meredith Woods
UGA English Class of 2026

MUSHroom

UGA’s MUSHroom Collective is a multi-year interdisciplinary living installation project created by students and faculty in the Lamar Dodd School of Art, in partnership with UGA’s Office of Sustainability and the Georgia Mushroom and Supply Company. The Willson Center sent renowned Athens photographer Jason Thrasher to the Dodd’s atrium to document the Collective’s building of a domed structure made from recyclable materials that functioned as a miniature grow house for oyster mushrooms.

Read More from Flagpole

Shared
Programs

The Willson Center supports dozens of public offerings each year through recurring funded programs and special provisions. These include visiting artists and speakers, performances, screenings, discussions, and other events that are shared with the community on campus and beyond.

Read More

The Willson Center Cinema Roundtable meets to discuss, with audience participation, topics of film history, criticism and theory.

Panelists Kate Fortmueller of Georgia State University and John Gibbs, Benjamin Min Han, and Hyangsoon Yi of UGA explored what the K-Pop Demon Hunters phenomenon means for K-pop, animation, streaming and theatrical exhibition, and global pop culture.
The Willson Center supports Special Events each academic year outside of its recurring grant-funded programs. These events are hosted and sponsored either by the Willson Center itself, or in collaboration with on- and off-campus partners.

Spenser Simrill (PhD English, UGA; left) is descended from slaveholders. Michael Simril (right), from people they enslaved. Together, they have researched their York County, South Carolina roots to embark upon an extraordinary journey of reconciliation and healing. The Willson Center and a host of UGA and community partners presented a free, public screening and discussion of their documentary, "The Simril(l)s: A Family in Black and White," attended by members of both Simril(l) families.
Willson Center Short-Term Visiting Fellows, nominated by UGA faculty, bring distinguished artists, scholars and performers to UGA. Visiting Fellows conduct intensive workshops for faculty and students, and give public presentations of their work.

Egyptologist Franziska Naether visited from the Saxonian Academy of Sciences. Her lecture "Eternal Voices: How Digital Humanities Are Reshaping Ancient Studies" and a workshop on research data management highlighted the intersection of Mediterranean Antiquity and STEM via their confluence in digital humanities.
Willson Center Public Impact Grants support faculty in the organization on campus of conferences, exhibitions, and performances that showcase humanities and arts research in a broad context.

UGA undergraduate students field questions on their research during Queer Bibliography in the South: Space, Place, Community, a three-day conference co-sponsored by the department of English, UGA Libraries and Special Collections, the Lamar Dodd School of Art, and the Emory University Special Collections Library.
The Willson Center Distinguished Artist or Lecturer program supports faculty or interdisciplinary groups in bringing leading thinkers and practitioners to campus in support of ongoing research projects.

Andrea Knowlton, associate professor of dance at Kennesaw State University, visited for a lecture and panel discussion on “Embodied Futures: AI, Improvisation, and the Evolution of Dance.”

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