Faculty/Department

In memoriam: David Kunzle, 87, a founder of comics scholarship with wide-ranging interests

David Kunzle, a UCLA professor emeritus who was widely recognized as one of the founders of contemporary comics scholarship, died Jan. 1 at the age of 87. The cause was amyloidosis. Kunzle’s scholarship was unusually wide-ranging, but perhaps his signature work was the multivolume “The History of the Comic Strip,” which first appeared in 1973 as “The Early Comic Strip,” published by the University of California Press. A second volume, focusing on the 19th century, was published in 1990. He was celebrated in particular for his study of 1800s European cartoonists, according to an obituary published by the Comics Journal….

UCLA-led project receives $1.3 million NSF grant to connect creativity and innovation

UCLA researchers from the humanities, arts and engineering aim to foster stronger ties between America’s vibrant creative sector and those involved in pioneering scientific research, technology innovation and workforce evolution. Funded by a $1.3 million award from the National Science Foundation, the yearlong project will include a series of activities exploring how to connect regional strengths in culture and technology, foster U.S. competitiveness in industries involved in the creative sector and strengthen workforce development at the nexus of creativity and technology in critical and emerging areas of innovation, such as artificial intelligence. UCLA has launched a project office supported by the NSF’s new…

In memoriam: Kirstie McClure, 72, brought interdisciplinary approach to study of political history

Kirstie McClure, a UCLA professor of political science, English and comparative literature, died Dec. 21, 2023, at the age of 72. Her research interests included modern and contemporary political theory, politics and literature, the history and historiography of political literature, and feminist theory. In a message on the UCLA political science website, Davide Panagia, the department chair, lauded McClure as “a formidable colleague and friend to many of us” who would be remembered for “her brilliance, her encyclopedic knowledge of the history of political thought and her refusal to leave a thought unfinished.” “Her contributions to political theory, the history…

Why does William Blake’s work resonate today? A UCLA art historian offers perspective

William Blake is having a moment in Los Angeles. A highly regarded exhibition at the Getty Center — a Los Angeles Times critic called it “unexpected and timely” — showcases more than 100 of his paintings, prints and poems, from all stages of his career. So why is it that a British artist who died nearly two centuries ago remains so vital today? According to Zirwat Chowdhury, a UCLA art history professor, Blake engages deeply with the themes of war and science. His work is grounded in the context of upheaval — first, the French Revolution, and later, the Napoleonic Wars….

Newest issue of UCLA College Magazine celebrates a spectacular century

When UCLA was founded in 1919, it only offered a two-year undergraduate program, with no option for a bachelor’s degree. In 1923, the UC Board of Regents approved expansions that transformed what was then known as the Junior College into the UCLA College of Letters and Science. The latest issue of UCLA College Magazine celebrates 100 years of the UCLA College with a range of stories highlighting the people, events and achievements that defined the past century, as well as a fascinating look ahead to what the next 100 years might bring. Join in the celebration by diving into the…

$2 million gift to create endowed chair in the study of religion

With a gift of $2 million from an anonymous donor, UCLA plans to establish the Robert E. Archer Chair in the Study of Religion, the first endowed chair of its kind for the campus. Pending the approval of the UCLA Academic Senate, the permanent appointment chair will support a distinguished faculty member in UCLA’s interdepartmental degree program in the study of religion, founded a half-century ago within the Division of Humanities. “We are profoundly grateful to our anonymous donor for this generous and forward-thinking gift, which will advance the growth and continued impact of a vital UCLA program,” said Alexandra…

Exploring the sacred music of nuns in colonial Mexico and Latin America

In his first book, Cesar Favila book takes an imaginative approach to recounting the lives of nuns who sang devotional music in Catholic churches in 17th- and 18th-century Mexico and Latin America. Favila, an assistant professor of musicology at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, is a faculty affiliate of the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, the Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies, and the LGBTQ Studies Program in the UCLA Division of Humanities. “Immaculate Sounds: The Musical Lives of Nuns in New Spain,” published in November by Oxford University Press, examines rarely studied printed and manuscript sources…

New English course embraces the potential of AI

A new UCLA English class is built around the premise that the best way to understand artificial intelligence tools, including their biases and limitations, is to experiment with them. The class, “Algo-Lit: An Introduction to AI Literature,” is taught by Danny Snelson, an assistant professor of English. “I think that the use of generative AI — to be specific, the type of large-language models or image synthesis tools built on massive accumulations of data — presents real ethical and moral concerns,” Snelson said. “But these tools, and the new ways of making they present, are not going away. That box…

Book by Bryant Kirkland – his first – is honored by Society for Classical Studies

UCLA professor Bryant Kirkland’s first book, “Herodotus and Imperial Greek Literature,” has been recognized as one of the books of the year by the Society for Classical Studies. Kirkland, a UCLA associate professor of classics, won the Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit, which each year honors three outstanding contributions to classical scholarship. “This is a highly original book, a real crucible of scholarly analysis that obliges us to think in fresh ways about the interrelationships between different texts, allowing us to calibrate voice, ethos and thought across genres and time,” the award citation reads. “One of the study’s many engaging qualities…

UCLA’s Justin Torres wins National Book Award for ‘Blackouts’

Justin Torres, a UCLA professor of English, has won the National Book Award for Fiction. The award was presented Wednesday evening in a New York City ceremony hosted by actor-director LeVar Burton and featuring a presentation by Oprah Winfrey. The National Book Foundation also presented honors for nonfiction, poetry, translated literature and young people’s literature. (Watch the full ceremony; Torres’ acceptance speech begins at about 2:08.00.) Torres was honored for “Blackouts,” a boldly experimental work that incorporates vignettes, imagery and poetry to present a dialogue between a twentysomething narrator and a much older man named Juan Gay, who is on…