ASU Department of English

AI-powered educational experiences underway at ASU | ASU News An AI-generated patient on which to practice behavioral health techniques.An on-demand study buddy to help with language learning.An AI simulation that allows you to debate with some of the world’s most influential philosophers.These are a few of the projects in development at Arizona State Univer...

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Read the latest issue of Imaginary Papers, our quarterly newsletter from the Center for Science and the Imagination on worldbuilding, futures thinking, and the imagination. In this issue: Philipp Kürten on the invisibility of Europe in the series “For All Mankind,” Chinelo Onwualu on false realities and reality in crisis in the 1990s, and Christopher Cokinos on growing plants on the Moon.

Read the latest issue here: https://mailchi.mp/asu.edu/imaginarypapers19-sept2024

"Like bullfrogs on the creek bank, / I gulped my fuel of air—and then came the rain, starting these mushrooms in the springs." From "Buncombe County Dump, July" by ASU English's Laura Cruser. Read the whole poem in The Swannanoa Review: https://ow.ly/vFUY50TeGKK

ASU English is partnering on a U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded project to boost green infrastructure. 🌳One of our contributions? Helping guide and build continuity in community conversations.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/m5M350TeVIf

Urban forestry accelerator aims to boost green infrastructure, economic growth in Phoenix | ASU News From seeking out the best parking spot to shuffling for that one thin stretch of shadow while waiting for an unhurried crosswalk signal, many Arizona residents understand a common feeling: Under the heat of the summer sun, shade is invaluable.Providing that shade through urban forestry, the manageme...

Pulitzer Prize-winner Nathan Thrall will discuss "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama," his "gut-wrenching" (The Guardian) human portrait of the struggle over Israel/Palestine. All welcome at this virtual ASU event Sep. 9. ASU School of Politics and Global Studies professor Victor Peskin facilitates.

Register: https://ow.ly/QACa50TePgw

Our partners: Macmillan Publishers, Macmillan Academic and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

📸: A copy of Nathan Thrall's book sits on the branch of an olive tree on ASU's Tempe campus.

"Having my play alongside published works by other ASU faculty and alumni is an awe-inspiring reminder of the incredible creativity in this community and how lucky I am to be a part of it,” said ASU English professor Madeline Sayet, author of "Where We Belong."

Learn more about Sun Devil Shelf Life and other spectacular ASU Library resources: https://ow.ly/Pa5n50T9lwz

ASU PhD student Amber Hedquist (pictured here on the right) is among dozens of researchers and students working on using AI to improve learning. Learn more about AI at ASU: https://ow.ly/Q99X50T9i4O

This semester, the Humanities Institute is hosting two panels on appropriation, examining ethical dilemmas such as: what constitutes cultural appropriation and when is it unethical? This panel is going to discuss what it means to think, research, and write across cultures and ways of being.

This first panel will be held by Ayanna Thompson, an author and a scholar of Shakespeare, race, and performance, and Cristóbal Martinez, an artist in the interdisciplinary artist collective Postcommodity.

The event is going to be hosted at the Humanities Institute, RBH196 in the Ross-Blakley Hall on the Tempe campus, Tuesday 9/3 from 4pm to 5pm. We would love to see you there!

Check out our events tab on our website for more information!

An idea for this weekend, courtesy ASU English professor Ron Broglio, director of the ASU Humanities Institute and a mindfulness practitioner: "Do nothing."

Curious? Hear more on KJZZ Phoenix: https://ow.ly/QEG250T9gSr

When you’re tempted to do something drastic, this ASU professor says try doing nothing instead The Show's Sam Dingman speaks with Arizona State University professor Ron Broglio about the internet’s cottage industry of productivity and stress-reduction life hacks as a new school year begins.

"The terrain around AI is moving quickly, and there are many stakeholders with diverging opinions about the best course of action," said ASU media scholar Sarah Florini, who's part of a Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics workgroup on AI & ethics.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/lC0750T9kzc

Give our regards .... 🎶🎭🤩 ASU English professor Ayanna Thompson is dramaturg for the new Broadway production of Romeo + Juliet starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler. Learn more via Broadway News: https://ow.ly/kQ1o50T9iUO

CC: ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies)

‘Romeo + Juliet’ revival sets full cast and creative team Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler are headlining the upcoming Broadway production.

Join us Sep. 9, when Jerusalem-based journalist Nathan Thrall visits ASU virtually for a Q&A on his 2024 Pulitzer prize-winning book, "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama." ASU political scientist Victor Peskin, a professor in the ASU School of Politics and Global Studies, facilitates.

Register: https://ow.ly/wZsY50T8ZiO

Our partners: Macmillan Publishers, Macmillan Academic and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Humanities Institute hosts Writing Studio to foster community, craft | ASU News The myth of the solitary scholar is just that: a myth.

While much of the rhetoric around generative AI is that it isn't going to replace writing, ASU is actively exploring its use to support the writing process. ASU English professor Jacob Greene was an early pioneer.

More: https://ow.ly/rA5850T7MX3

Home Home The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets.

ASU English professor Ruben Espinosa talked with KJZZ Phoenix about the newest volume in the 'Bard in the Borderlands' series, published by ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), which critiques Shakespeare through a Chicano lens. Listen: https://ow.ly/nw6050T75FG

'The Bard in the Borderlands' celebrates, critiques Shakespeare through a Chicano lens “The Bard in the Borderlands” is a collection of Shakespearean adaptations reflecting the culture and history of this region of the world — both critiquing and celebrating the bard in the process.

"To some, the increased number of people in the U.S. requesting help may be surprising, especially because of the progress narrative that has dominated the country in the last two decades," said ASU film & media professor Julia Himberg.

More via Newsweek: https://ow.ly/eE8C50T6zkL

LGBTQ+ Americans are calling for help in record numbers Data shows an increase in the number of Americans who have contacted the LGBTQ+ charity Rainbow Railroad for support.

Happy for the friendship—forged by the written word!—between ASU English alum Gail Fisher and current ASU Department of Psychology student Mahima Mishra! We ❤️ this story.

Watch via ABC15 Arizona: https://ow.ly/HSsW50T4wFX CC: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

WATCH: Unlikely ASU besties bridge intergenerational gap, bond through handwritten letters Arizona State University student Mahima Mishra never thought a woman who graduated from the university in the 1960s would be among her best friends.

"No matter what you’re studying, whether it’s engineering or biological science or sociology, you name it, you will gain something by coming into a humanities class. In fact, you’ll find a community." — dean (& English prof!) Jeffrey Cohen of The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

More: https://ow.ly/6FpN50T4kYn

Dream big, ! We're here ⬇️ (or online) if you need us.

"We plant seeds in the ground
And dreams in the sky,

Hoping that, someday, the roots of one
Will meet the upstretched limbs of the other."

—ASU Regents Professor of English Alberto Ríos

CC: Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing

"How to Say Babylon," the award-winning memoir by ASU English professor Safiya Sinclair, is now out in paperback. 🎉 In this discussion with NPR Fresh Air host Terry Gross, Sinclair discusses how poetry helped her make sense of herself.

Listen: https://ow.ly/bbaI50T3qGN

Poet Safiya Sinclair reflects on her Rastafari roots and how she cut herself free Sinclair grew up in a devout Rasta family in Jamaica. When she cut her dreadlocks at age 19, she became "a ghost" to her father. Her memoir is How to Say Babylon. Originally broadcast Oct. 4, 2023.

ASU English is partnering with the ASU School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, the School of International Letters and Cultures at ASU & the ASU Humanities Institute to offer a weekly Writing Studio, a place for scholars to write in community. The series kicks off Aug. 30.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/4hbk50T2v53

AZCALL 2024 | ASU Events AZCALL is a conference held each year that brings together computer-assisted language learning (CALL) enthusiasts from around the state and region to share ideas, network and receive valuable feedback on scholarly research, academic papers and major conference presentations which are in progress or....

"[English Professor Kyle Jensen] believes strongly in the value of traditional writing but also in the potential of AI to facilitate education in a new way—in ASU’s case, one that improves access to higher education."

Read more in The Atlantic: https://ow.ly/cj9J50T2ncE

AI Cheating Is Getting Worse Colleges still don’t have a plan.

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Our science fiction film series kicks off tomorrow night with Silent Running and an enlightening talk with Professor Joni Adamson, President's Professor of Environmental Humanities in the Department of English and Distinguished Global Futures Scholar at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory. Join us!

Get your tickets now - https://www.majesticphx.com/movie/History-of-the-Future-SILENT-RUNNING