Faculty/Department

Alumna’s gift will support the study of contemporary Chinese culture

A $250,000 donation from economics alumna May C. Chong has established the Heritage and Hope Endowment in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. Augmented by $125,000 from the Humanities Centennial Match, the gift will support students and faculty researching contemporary global Chinese culture and/or religion, specifically Buddhism. “We are deeply grateful for May Chong’s generous gift, which will firmly embed contemporary Chinese cultural studies on our campus,” Dean of Humanities David Schaberg said. “More broadly, this gift further empowers UCLA in its mission to educate global citizens and foster greater cultural understanding.” Chong, who graduated from UCLA in 1979,…

Department of Art History establishes Diane C. Brouillette Graduate Fellowship

The UCLA Department of Art History has established the Diane C. Brouillette Graduate Fellowship in Art History, thanks to a $250,000 tribute gift in memory of the late UCLA alumna Diane Brouillette. The gift qualified for an additional $125,000 in matching funds from the UCLA Humanities Centennial Matching Gift Fund. The fellowship will help fund tuition, travel costs and research awards for Ph.D. students of French Medieval Art and Architecture, and reflects Diane’s lifelong passions for medieval art history and French culture. Department Chair Miwon Kwon, said, “The Brouillette Fellowship will leave a lasting legacy by providing crucial support for…

New endowed term chair in Hellenic Studies at UCLA

UCLA has received a gift commitment from Demos and Carol Anagnos and the Aris Anagnos Foundation to establish the Aris Anagnos Family Chair in Hellenic Studies in the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture. The chair, which will provide funds to support the work of a distinguished scholar and graduate students in Hellenic Studies, honors the memory of Demos’ father, Aris Anagnos, a UCLA alumnus, real estate developer, humanitarian and social justice activist who passed away in 2018. Demos Anagnos serves on the UCLA College Division of Humanities Advisory Board. Dean of Humanities David…

COVID 19 Fiat Lux Seminars: Shedding Light on the Pandemic (Part 1)

With many of us now living under government-issued stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, Raymond Knapp is taking a musical approach towards how people are coping. Knapp is the Academic Associate Dean at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and a distinguished musicology professor. He also serves as the Director of the UCLA Center for Musical Humanities, and is among the many UCLA faculty members teaching a Spring 2020 COVID-19 Fiat Lux seminar. Knapp’s Fiat Lux seminar, titled “COVID-19: Inspirational Songs from Musicals in a Time of Crisis,” focuses on how many turn to songs from musicals during difficult times, oftentimes…

Center for Jewish Studies Director Sarah Stein named to new Viterbi Chair in Mediterranean Jewish Studies

Prominent historian Sarah Abrevaya Stein has been named the inaugural holder of the Viterbi Family Endowed Chair in Mediterranean Jewish Studies in the UCLA College divisions of humanities and social sciences. Stein, who directs the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies and is a history professor, has received prestigious accolades for her scholarship, writing and teaching, including two National Jewish Book Awards, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. She previously held the Maurice Amado Endowed Chair in Sephardic Studies at UCLA for 12 years. Stein’s 2019 book, “Family Papers: A Sephardic…

Maite Zubiaurre’s “Talking Trash: Cultural Uses of Waste” receives Vanderbilt University Press award

“Talking Trash: Cultural Uses of Waste” by Maite Zubiaurre is the winner of the 2020 Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize. Awarded by the Vanderbilt University Press, the book has been recognized as the best book in the area of art or medicine. Zubiaurre’s book explores the often overlooked significance of litter in the urban landscape, particularly looking at litter in its early stages. “Talking Trash” touches upon a variety of disciplines and areas of interest, from anthropology and sociology to visual media and material culture. The book also focuses on the non-urban desert landscape, where clothing and other…

ACLS selects Javier Patiño Loira and David Kim for 2020 Fellowship Program

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has selected UCLA Humanities faculty Javier Patiño Loira and David D. Kim for its 2020 Fellowship Program. The ACLS Fellowship Program awards fellowships to scholars in the humanities and social sciences, not limited to any specific time period, world region, or humanistic methodology. Applicants submit a proposal for a major scholarly work and, if chosen as fellows, receive funding to complete their research over the course of six to 12 continuous months. Loira is an assistant professor in the UCLA Department of Spanish & Portuguese, and Kim is an associate professor in the…

UCLA receives $25 million from Uniqlo founder for Japanese literature and culture studies

UCLA has received a $25 million gift from Tadashi Yanai, the chair, president and CEO of Japan-based Fast Retailing and founder of clothing company Uniqlo. The funds will endow the Tadashi Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities, which will bolster UCLA’s status as a leading center for the study of Japanese literature, language and culture. The gift is the largest from an individual donor in the history of the UCLA College’s humanities division. A previous donation of $2.5 million from Yanai in 2014 created the Yanai Initiative, a collaboration between UCLA and Waseda University, one of Japan’s most prestigious universities….

UCLA French and Francophone professor named one of 2019’s 100 most influential Africans

Alain Mabanckou, literature professor in the UCLA Department of French and Francophone Studies, has been named one of 2019’s 100 most influential Africans by leading politics and culture magazine, “New African.” A renowned novelist, poet and professor, Mabanckou is recognized for his contributions to the global literary scene. Known for his novels and non-fiction writing depicting the experience of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora in France, he is among the most recognized writers of Franco African contemporary literature. His most recent novel, “Black Moses,” winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, follows the story of an orphan navigating his way through…

Linguistic Society of America elects Professor Nina Hyams as 2020 fellow

The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) has selected professor Nina Hyams to be a fellow for its 2020 cohort. Since the early ’80s, Hyams has been a member of the LSA, an organization dedicated to fostering a community of linguistic professionals. The LSA aims to further advance the study of linguistics and promote public education, outreach, and advocacy by supporting its members’ research efforts. LSA Fellows are nominated and chosen by committee voting based on the merit of their contributions to the field of linguistics. Outside of her teaching as a distinguished professor in the UCLA Department of Linguistics, Hyams…