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Our newest artists and scholars embody a vibrant cross-section of research, teaching and creative practice. Learn more about the expertise of the school's five new faculty in History, Literature, Theatre and Dance and Visual Arts.

Des McAnuff — Tony Award-winning director of ‘Jersey Boys’ and ‘The Who’s Tommy’ — has been named the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Professor of Practice in Theatre and Dance, a position established with support from Irwin Jacobs.

Merging the theory and production of film, the new major in cinematic arts (housed in the Institute of Arts and Humanities) includes more than 90 courses spanning Visual Arts, Communication, Literature, History and Theatre and Dance.

AI has fundamentally changed our world, spurring questions about the intersections of humans and machines and what constitutes intelligence. A new group exhibition at Mandeville Art Gallery contemplates these complex questions.

A visual artist and filmmaker who is d/Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Alison O'Daniel is uniquely expanding the language of film. She joins the Department of Visual Arts as inaugural Suraj Israni Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Cinematic Arts.

For three decades, King Britt (Music) has composed, produced and performed electronic music around the globe. Now as MacArthur Foundation Endowed Chair in Digital Media and Learning, he is embarking on an ambitious album.

Congratulations to Professor of Literature Kazim Ali on receiving the 2025 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism by the Poetry Foundation. The honor commends an outstanding book-length work of criticism published in the U.S.

Department of History alumna Marsha Greco, '08, has been named the 2025 California History Teacher of the Year by the The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Greco currently teaches at The Preuss School UC San Diego.

Visual Arts Ph.D. candidate and Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts fellow Joe Riley earned a Getty Scholars Predoctoral Fellowship. He is examining the histories and links between artists, oceanographers and marine life.

Grammy-winning producer and saxophonist Kamau Kenyatta (Music) has been inducted into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame. His influence on jazz and mentorship of emerging artists has enriched San Diego’s cultural landscape.

The Department of Philosophy hosts a special Endowed Chair Symposium, which will an endowed chair ceremony and talks by chairholders Professor David O. Brink , Professor Craig Callender and Professor Christopher Shields.

Historians have largely overlooked intermarried families and their children during the Holocaust. Historian Tatjana Lichtenstein, in a talk co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program, draws on her research to challenge this view.

The Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts Fellowship Forum invites all to celebrate the work of a dozen student, faculty and alumni fellows. The three-part program will feature film screenings and lively fellow dialogue.

How does increasing computer intelligence and autonomy impact human imagination and creativity? Assistant Professor Memo Akten (Visual Arts) shares his work at the nexus of art, AI and human consciousness.

We go behind-the-scenes as the Mandeville Art Gallery team installs the newest exhibition, "Omni Intelligent," — an exploration of the boundaries between human and non-human intelligence.

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A first look at a new bilingual chamber opera, with music composed by Professor of Music Anthony Davis and libretto written by Professor of Theatre and Dance Allan Havis.

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HISTORY | LITERATURE | MUSIC | PHILOSOPHY | THEATRE AND DANCE | VISUAL ARTS

ANALYTICAL WRITING PROGRAM | CENTER FOR TAIWAN STUDIES | INSTITUTE FOR PRACTICAL ETHICS

INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES | SURAJ ISRANI CENTER FOR CINEMATIC ARTS