Center for Digital Humanities established; director named

June 26th, 2017

Dean Alain-Philippe Durand is pleased to announce the establishment of the new Center for Digital Humanities, which will be a research and innovation incubator that serves as the University of Arizona's home for the computational study of the human condition.

Through the organizational, analytical and visualization power of digital technologies, CDH provides creative, scholarly and educational support for researchers, teachers and community members seeking to more fully understand the world’s enduring and emerging needs.

Bryan Carter will serve as the founding director of the Center for Digital Humanities (CDH), effective July 1, 2017.

Dr. Carter received his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Columbia and is currently Associate Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Arizona, specializing in African American literature of the 20th Century with a primary focus on the Harlem Renaissance and a secondary emphasis on digital culture. His research focuses on advanced visualization and how sustained and varied digital communication affects student retention and engagement in literature courses taught both online and face-to-face. He has published one book, Digital Humanities: Current Perspectives, Practice and Research, and numerous articles and chapters.

Dr. Carter's experience with virtual environments began with his dissertation project in 1997; a representation of a portion of Harlem, NY as it existed during the 1920s Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance. Virtual Harlem was one of the earliest full virtual reality environments created for use in the humanities and certainly one of the first for use in an African American literature course. Virtual Harlem has been presented at venues in Paris, The Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, and multiple sites in the US.  In 2004, the University of Paris IV- Sorbonne, funded the development of Virtual Montmartre. The evolution of Virtual Harlem was funded in 2006 by the National Black Programming Consortium and the Government of Norway with the development of Virtual Harlem and Virtual Montmartre in Second Life.