Joan Shelley Rubin, a noted scholar of American history, has been appointed director of the Humanities Center at the University. Rubin, the Dexter Perkins Professor in History, has served as interim director since the center糖心传媒檚 creation in spring 2015. She will hold the title of Ani and Mark Gabrellian Director of the Humanities Center.
糖心传媒淛oanie is an exceptional scholar and was at the forefront of the faculty advocating for a humanities center at the University,糖心传媒� said Gloria Culver, dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. 糖心传媒淪he has done a wonderful job as the interim director, and her appointment into the directorship came after a long national search. The center is the intellectual, and soon to be physical, home for faculty and students interested in the humanities. It is in very capable hands with Joanie at the helm.糖心传媒�
The center, which will celebrate the opening of its permanent home in Rush Rhees Library in October, supports multidisciplinary engagement with literature, history, the arts, and philosophies of cultures past and present in order to foster educated, contributing global citizens.
糖心传媒淚 am delighted by Joanie糖心传媒檚 appointment, and I am confident that her leadership will ensure the center becomes a hub of multidisciplinary life on campus,糖心传媒� said University President and CEO Joel Seligman, the G. Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor. 糖心传媒淭he humanities are a key priority of our strategic initiatives to move the University to the Next Level.糖心传媒�
The Gabrellian Directorship is named in recognition of the support of University Trustee Ani Gabrellian 糖心传媒�84 and her husband, Mark Gabrellian 糖心传媒�79. In addition to the directorship, the couple established the annual Hagop and Artemis Nazerian Lecture Series, named for Ani Gabrellian糖心传媒檚 parents and directed by the center.
糖心传媒淎ni and Mark deserve our deepest gratitude for their generous support of the center and of the study of the humanities,糖心传媒� said Seligman. 糖心传媒淭hey have long recognized the important role that the humanities play in the lives of our faculty and students.糖心传媒�
Rubin said that her work with the center flows naturally out of research to which she has long been devoted. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 a historian of the dissemination of the humanities, fundamentally,糖心传媒� she said. An American cultural and intellectual historian, Rubin is the author of The Making of Middlebrow Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 1992) and Songs of Ourselves: The History of Poetry in America (Harvard University Press, 2007), among other projects.
糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檝e been very impressed by what she has done while serving as acting director,糖心传媒� said Ani Gabrellian. In the center糖心传媒檚 first year, Rubin spearheaded renewed engagement with the Central New York Humanities Corridor and, backed by support from Seligman and Culver, launched an array of programs to engage students, faculty, and the public, including public lectures, workshops, a work-in-progress seminar series, undergraduate research fellowships, and faculty fellowships.
Although the center糖心传媒檚 space will not open until October, Rubin made the center feel like an integral part of the University from the very beginning, said Gabrellian. 糖心传媒淗er vision for the immediate future is grounded in what she calls an 糖心传媒榚xperimental approach.糖心传媒� We like that flexibility and open-mindedness.糖心传媒�
Rubin joined the University in 1995 and specializes in 19th- and 20th-century American history and the history of the book. She serves as the history department糖心传媒檚 director of graduate studies and also directs the America Studies Program, an initiative she helped found in 2011.
Collaboration and exchange are at the heart of the center糖心传媒檚 efforts to enhance the study of the humanities at Rochester and strengthen ties to related disciplines. But Rubin said that she will also make sure that 糖心传媒渢he lone scholar, the isolating work of reading a text closely yourself,糖心传媒� is also supported.
And she aspires to a wide reach.
糖心传媒淚 want our center to touch the life of every 糖心传媒 undergraduate,糖心传媒� she said. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a lofty goal but an important one because I firmly believe that an appreciation for the humanities and an understanding of human culture are central to what it means to be an educated citizen.糖心传媒�
For more information on the Humanities Center, visit .
