What should we eat? As basic nourishment, food is part of daily life everywhere. But food is also inextricably linked to culture and as such, the questions of eating right quickly become complex. 

In search of a broader understanding of food and culinary cultures, Joshua Schlachet, faculty member in the Department of East Asian Studies, developed a new project that expands on more than a decade of research into the history of Japanese food culture to create a global framework for examining food and culture. 

“This project will try to recenter the conversation on global healthy eating on humanistic terms,” Schlachet said. “Questions of what to eat and why require humanistic answers.” 

The 2025-26 recipient of the Dorrance Dean’s Award for Research & Entrepreneurialism, Schlachet is awarded $20,000 for his project, “Eating Right Everywhere: Towards a Unified Program for Culinary Humanities.”

Part of the Fearless Inquiries Project, the Dorrance Dean’s Award for Research & Entrepreneurialism recognizes faculty and staff in the College of Humanities whose work is groundbreaking, and that dramatically demonstrates new ways of thinking in, through, and with the humanities. The future-focused DARE Program encourages research-oriented initiatives that are fantastic yet achievable, and that build on past failures and successes to imagine new approaches to improving our increasingly galactically aware planet.

The Eating Right Everywhere Initiative unites cutting-edge research in health humanities and cultural studies with perspectives from nutritionists, industry professionals, and community stakeholders to reimagine healthful consumption in a global, humanistic framework. The project integrates public humanities scholarship with curricular development and global partnerships in a bold, sustainable, evidence-based initiative.

Schlachet, a historian of early modern and modern Japan, specializes in the cultural history of food and nourishment, and teaches the popular course “The Culture of Food and Health in Japan.” His first book, Nourishing Life: Cultures of Food and Health in Early Modern Japan, will be published in April by the University of Hawai'i Press. 

Image

But Schlachet has long sought to build a bridge from his own work toward a holistic and multicultural theory of food and health. This first-of-its-kind project conceptualizes a global approach, rooted in particular places or times, but putting those specifics into conversation with each other to consider the cultural implications of food in the broadest sense. 

The project will combine academic voices from different global regions, but also diasporic and indigenous communities, along with nutritionists, dieticians, chefs, restauranteurs and other industry professionals. Tucson, recognized as the nation’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in large part because of its culinary heritage, is a fitting location to launch not only the project, but other cutting-edge approaches to culinary humanities, Schlachet said. 

The project has three pillars: Academic, which will include a research symposium on campus next year, with participants contributing to an edited volume; Programmatic, which will establish a cluster of culinary humanities faculty and develop new undergraduate courses; and Collaborative, centered on community engagement events on eating right, indigenous foodways and sustainable agriculture, and talks or seminars showcasing the work of culinary humanities faculty. 

Schlachet said he often thinks of the famous quote, “First we eat, then we do everything else,” attributed to food writer M.F.K. Fisher. And food is a fundamental precursor to everything else we do, but from a cultural perspective, it’s so much more. 

“This is a great place to develop collaborations with food studies in a way that will recenter cultural studies approaches to human experience and food as both deeply personal and global,” he said. 

In May, the College of Humanities will add the Balkan nations of Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia to its growing list of destinations in the Study Abroad for Adult Learners program. 

The format is unique among other tours, even those sponsored by universities, in its framing as a study abroad opportunity, traveling alongside Dorrance Dean Alain-Philippe Durand and professors who are experts in the regions. 

"I love traveling the world with our College of Humanities’ friends and world-class faculty experts. Many of us have been fortunate to have transformative study abroad experiences when we were students and this program allows us to re-live those all over again,” Durand said. 

Spaces are still available for the Adriatic Treasures trip, May 24 – June 2, 2026. Find more information and sign up at the link. 

The faculty expert will be Benjamin Jens, Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, will provide insights on the region’s ancient cultures, centuries-old traditions and modern politics. Jens will also teach a Humanities Seminars Program course, “Bloodlines: The Balkan Origins of the Vampire,” to offer an advance look at the region. 

Since 2018, the Study Abroad for Adult Learners program has journeyed to Argentina and Brazil, India, and two trips to France, one to Provence and the second to Bordeaux and the Dordogne. 

The College works with a tour company that brings its own expertise, designing an itineraries that includes excellent hotels and dining experiences. For sights and activities the faculty experts and the tour company collaborate to tailor a custom trip. The schedules are balanced to allow the participants time for their own exploration as well. 

“The faculty bring not only knowledge of the region we’re visiting, the history, culture, language and literature, but their own personal expertise,” said Michele Murphy, Director of Development for the College of Humanities. “The travelers we attract are lifelong learners. People come back because they’re traveling with a group of like-minded people. They're really curious and want to learn while they travel.”  

For Nancy Davis, who’s participated in trips to France, India and South America, the repeat experiences have meant she’s developed friendships with some of the other travelers, which is one of the things that makes the program special. 

“I’m in my 70s and I don’t worry about being in Europe by myself. But India and Latin America are two places that if you’re a woman my age, you don’t go yourself,” she said. “But traveling with a group with professors and guides who know the lay of the land, I don’t worry about safety for a minute.” 

Before the trip to South America, Davis enrolled in the Humanities Seminars Program course designed to prepare travelers. 

“That was very helpful to get an advance education, with some great pre-reading and a briefing of what we should keep our eyes open for,” she said. “It was also great to get to know the faculty members. It’s not a hierarchy that there frequently is in an academic setting. There’s an equality and it’s extremely comfortable to ask them questions. They give us several lectures, but they’re there the whole time so if you have a question about a historical or cultural thing, they know.” 

For the trips themselves, Davis has enjoyed special experiences, like riding elephants in India and going to a tango club in Buenos Aires, activities that are made possible by the limited number of travelers and the faculty expertise and connections. 

“The cultural things you do are above and beyond what most even well-traveled people can put together,” she said. 

The College of Humanities annually recognizes exemplary teaching, research and service with the Helen H. Chatfield Awards. The awards were created in 2021 to honor the memory of alumna Helen H. Chatfield, a successful investor and philanthropist who graduated from the University of Arizona in 1968 with degree in Spanish. Chatfield passed away in 2020 and left a gift to the College of Humanities to create the Helen H. Chatfield Endowment.

The Chatfield Award for Anti-Discrimination Research, Teaching, or Service ($5,000)
Jacqueline Barrios
Assistant Professor
Public and Applied Humanities

The Chatfield Impact Award ($5,000)
Eliud Chuffe
Associate Professor
Spanish and Portuguese 

The Chatfield Outstanding Tenured Researcher Award ($1,000)
Hai Ren 
Professor
East Asian Studies 

The Chatfield Outstanding Untenured Researcher Award ($1,000)
Tania Leal 
Assistant Professor
Spanish and Portuguese

Published in the Arizona Daily Star, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025

By Steve Kerr

I recently turned 60, which means it’s been almost 40 years since I graduated from the University of Arizona. (Time flies when you’re getting old….or something like that.) Those six decades have been unbelievably good to me. I have so much to be thankful for, including my time in Tucson at the U of A. My experience there playing basketball for Lute Olson and studying the humanities changed my life, and I feel forever indebted to the university for providing me with a great education and a life changing experience.

With time comes perspective, and as I look back at my life and my career now, I realize how lucky I’ve been. Much of that good fortune came my experiences traveling the world, both through my family and through basketball. My father, Malcolm Kerr, was a professor of Middle East history at UCLA for 20 years, and he frequently took sabbaticals that took our family overseas. I was born in Beirut and spent time in France, Tunisia and Egypt, interspersed with many years in LA on the campus in Westwood.

Basketball also took me around the world. After my sophomore year at Arizona, our team took a three week trip to Europe, playing games in France, Italy and Holland. We traveled together, playing games against club teams and national teams, not only improving our team’s play but giving many of our players their first taste of international travel. My Wildcat teammates remain some of my best friends on Earth, and we still talk about our experience together overseas.

I didn’t realize it then, but the combined experience of living in different cultures, learning to speak new languages, and playing basketball in different countries taught me about life, about people and a shared experience of humanity. Much of my worldview, my perspective and my ability to connect with people really stems from those experiences. All of those experiences have shaped the coach and person I’ve become, and the career I’ve loved.

That’s why my wife Margot (a fellow Wildcat alum) and I have decided to help launch the Kerr Family Endowment for Humanities Abroad at the University of Arizona. We are committing $1 million to the College of Humanities over the next few years. The endowment will fund scholarships to support humanities students on study abroad programs. The College of Humanities at the U of A has become one of the best liberal arts institutions in the nation and an example for other schools to follow, and I want to make it even stronger. I’ve talked with the dean, Alain-Philippe Durand, about the goal of building an endowment big enough to provide every humanities student at the U of A the opportunity to spend part of their college experience overseas. It is an ambitious project, but one I believe is quite possible, and one that will reap rewards for every future Wildcat in the College of Humanities with a desire to see the world.

The College of Humanities has study abroad programs all over the globe, and the faculty members who lead these programs are experts in the local languages and cultures, so wherever students choose to study, they will have an academic advantage. I believe these experiences help shape lives forever, offering a worldview and perspective that will benefit students regardless of where their careers take them. And in a world that seems increasingly divided and tense, it has never been more important for a connection among people and culture, and shared values of humanity and compassion. 

I will always be proud of my school, and my education in the humanities, and I believe this endowment will help many students broaden their education and gain a perspective on the world that can only help bridge cultural divides. 

Bear Down.

Steve Kerr is Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1988 with a degree in General Studies and in 2024, received an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree. 

The last thing Melissa Fitch had ever imagined she would be doing on her sabbatical was fleeing an angry 300-pound Antarctic fur seal on the remote South Georgia island near Antarctica. 

As a University Distinguished Professor of Latin American literature and cultural studies, how to respond in such a circumstance had never been part of her training. And yet, here she was, desperately trying to recall what she had learned just that morning: “Turn. Calmly face the aggressor. Hold your arms out in a V and finally, clap your hands and shout ‘No!’” 

Antarctica was an unexpected detour for Fitch, who began her sabbatical year at the great pyramids of Cairo, Egypt before setting out on a multicontinental journey of pilgrimages. As the site of one of the bestselling novels ever written about a pilgrimage, Brazilian Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, Cairo was a fitting first step. 

Image

Inspired by her experience a year earlier completing the Camino de Santiago, which Coelho also wrote about, Fitch journeyed to Portugal to complete a different route of the Camino, then continued to the Inca Trail in Peru, shorter treks in Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, Japan’s Kumano Kodō and portions of Shackleton’s Endurance route in Antarctica. 

The overall project for her sabbatical was to redesign a required course for majors and minors in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese around the idea of life as a journey or path, both literal and metaphoric, Fitch said. Researching along the way, via interviews with fellow travelers and those who live on the routes, reading about the pilgrimages themselves and collecting examples of journeys in literature, film, music and digital culture, Fitch worked on drawing the various threads together in a way to connect the themes for her students.

“The trope of life as a road, or a journey, is prevalent in cultural expressions throughout the world,” Fitch said. “It’s the perfect theme for building a course that can help students consider the surprisingly important topic of walking, one that has been used by everyone from storytellers to health professionals to convey spiritual enlightenment, physical and mental wellness, artistic inspiration, the traumas of war and economic strife and even the joy of play.” 

The project title comes from a verse from Spaniard Antonio Machado’s most famous poem, “Proverbios y Cantares: XXIX,” written in 1912. “Caminante, no hay camino, se hace el camino al andar,” which means “Traveler, there is no road. The road is made upon walking.”

Fitch focused naturally on the Luso-Hispanic world, but her sabbatical camino pivoted to include an expedition to Antarctica that partly traced the route of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s famed Endurance voyage. She visited Shackleton’s grave on the island of South Georgia and researched the story of Luis Pardo, the Chilean captain who helped to rescue the 22 stranded crewmen of the Endurance. 

Later, on the Falkland Islands, known as the Malvinas in Argentina, she spent time at the home of Mensun Bound, the maritime archaeologist who was a leader of the team that found the Endurance in 2022, nearly 107 years after the ship sank, and heard his story firsthand. Bound signed a copy of his book The Ship Beneath the Ice with a dedication to Fitch’s U of A students. 

“Life takes unexpected detours. That in essence is the project itself,” Fitch said. “The destination is really not the objective. It’s about the journey itself and beginning to open your eyes up to the moment. You’ll face detours, obstacles, physical challenges, psychological challenges, moments of loneliness, but you just need to have faith and keep walking.”

Fitch recalled the end of her first morning on the Camino de Santiago, alone in the French Pyrenees, stuck in a steady rain and dense fog, anxious to cross the border into Spain. Rushing, she fell during a steep descent in the thick mud, ending up on her back like a turtle, with rain pouring on her face, then suddenly heard an American voice, asking if she needed help. It was the only person she’d seen the entire morning. The experience reminded her of the last line of Coelho’s novel The Pilgrimage, based on the author’s own experiences on the Camino de Santiago: “people will always arrive at the exact moment, at the exact place, where someone is waiting for them.” Reaching the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela after 33 days walking, she realized the metaphor of the camino was more multifaceted than she could ever have imagined. And she was ready for more. 

“I slept in a castle from the 17^th century. I slept in a gymnasium. I know people who’ve slept on a fire station floor. A lot of people will stay in monasteries. But you’re with other pilgrims from around the world and you share those experiences,” she said. “When you go on something as long as a month, you begin to see the same people. You’re in same small towns and you see people at their best and at their worst and this solidifies the bonding experience, along with the hours spent walking every day, speaking about life’s joys and tragedies, about personal and physical challenges. The longer the trek, the more profound the sense of connection was and the more one realizes how much we have in common with one another, irrespective of country of origin, language, culture or faith.”

Fitch will continue her treks in the Luso-Hispanic world after this semester, journeying to Colombia in December for a pilgrimage to Ciudad Perdida, the archaeological site of an ancient city that predates Machu Picchu by about 650 years. Then in January, she will explore the Afro-Brazilian pilgrimages written about by novelist Jorge Amado in Brazil.

After the spring semester, Fitch will return to Japan to trek the 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) Shikoku pilgrimage to 88 Buddhist temples, which will take about seven weeks to complete. The next phase will take her back to India and China, where she lived, lectured extensively and researched as a Fulbright Scholar in 2011-12 and 2016-17, to walk pilgrimage routes in both countries. Ideally she’d like to expand the project to Africa as well, where heritage pilgrimages to Ghana, Senegal and Benin by Black Americans have become increasingly common. 

“You can look at this topic through so many different lenses. The goal is to share with students the stories of these caminos and the people who undertake them, and why, and what they learn about themselves and about the world,” she said. “At the U of A, we inspire our students to travel beyond the United States and recognize our common humanity. This is why the metaphor of the journey is so relevant and universal.”

To adapt her project to various courses Fitch teaches in literature and cultural studies of the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world, she guides her students in exploring the theme through four geo-cultural modules: the Iberian Peninsula, Latin America, the U.S./Mexico Borderlands and the students’ own lives. Fitch provides her students with examples of the paths taken by their predecessors who graduated from U of A, some of whom she met with during her sabbatical. 

“The course crosses multiple borders – age, race, ethnicity, social class, religion and ability – to expose our students to the rich cultural heritage of the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world through an examination of the arts and literature that treat the theme of life as a journey, or road,” Fitch said. “The topic ends, for the class, here in the borderlands. This is the story of many of us, too, as Americans in the U.S.-Mexico border region, and it fits in with other stories of migration from around the world. We need to be proud of our own history.” 

Beyond undergraduate and graduate students, Fitch is teaching this fall in the Humanities Seminars Program, with a course titled “The Road is Made Upon Walking: Travels in the Luso-Hispanic World.”

Wildcat legend Steve Kerr's international upbringing sparked a curiosity about the world, a love of travel and a lifelong embrace of cultural diversity. Now, he and his wife Margot, also a U of A graduate, have made a gift commitment of $1 million to support study abroad scholarships for students in the University of Arizona College of Humanities. 

"If you've ever studied abroad, whether you were a U of A student or went to another school, you know the importance and the value of traveling, of experiencing a different culture," Kerr said. "There's no experience like traveling, especially as a college student, when you are old enough to really appreciate it but young enough to have some freedom and to see how the world is forming before your eyes." 

The gift supports the University of Arizona's core goal – student success – as outlined by President Suresh Garimella. It marks the third major gift this fall toward study abroad scholarships, following last week's announcement of an estate gift from Susan K. Von Kersburg that includes a $1 million endowment for Baird Scholars to study abroad and the Garcia Family Foundation's $20 million pledge in September.

"Steve and Margot are inspirational models for what our Wildcats can achieve with an intercultural perspective and education," Garimella said. "We have made it a key institutional priority to triple study abroad participation because we believe that an international education can be a life-changing experience. We are grateful for the Kerrs' generosity and commitment to expanding horizons for what our students can achieve in a global context."

The Kerr Family Endowment for Humanities Abroad will fund scholarships for College of Humanities students in study abroad programs led by College of Humanities faculty. Faculty-led programs currently include opportunities to study in Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Japan. 

"Having grown up overseas and traveled throughout my childhood, I realize and recognize how important cultural exchange and studying abroad can be and I wanted to help provide that opportunity for other humanities students at the U of A," Kerr said. "My family and I made the decision that we felt really strongly that this would be a great way to contribute to the school that we love and to the students who are following my footsteps in the humanities." 

Kerr, an NBA champion, award-winning coach, social justice advocate, philanthropist and beloved Wildcat, received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree at the 2024 U of A Commencement. Kerr graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in general studies. His wife, Margot Kerr, also graduated from the U of A in 1988. 

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Kerr lived much of his childhood abroad, spending time in Egypt, France and Tunisia, and says his childhood was essentially "living the humanities." He says it changed his worldview.

"For me, it was the experience of living in Cairo, Egypt for three years as a teenager, seeing poverty like I had never seen before, and yet seeing many of these people living pretty happy lives. There's still the idea of community and sports and art and music and things that bring joy to people's lives," Kerr said. 

Alain-Philippe Durand, Dorrance Dean of the College of Humanities, said study abroad typically makes a similar impression on students. 

"Studying abroad is one of the best educational experiences anyone can have," Durand said. "In the College of Humanities, our faculty-led programs are tremendously important for students in improving their language skills, gaining a broader worldview, learning how to navigate unfamiliar situations and finding new confidence in themselves. Studying abroad is life-changing, and we are thrilled that Steve and Margot Kerr are partnering with us to make these opportunities available to more students." 

Kerr will also join the College of Humanities as an honorary professor, with plans to guest lecture in the future. 

"As a student, I really gravitated toward the things I loved – reading and writing. I just wanted to have a well-rounded education and be prepared for whatever I was facing. And I can tell you today as a coach, I use that humanities education every single day," he said. "That's something you don't realize as a college student. Your education is going to factor in no matter what you do for a living. But if you lean into what you really love and the subjects that you enjoy, you find a way to connect it to whatever your life course happens to be." 

Kerr is well known for his advocacy for both racial justice and gun violence prevention. The Kerr family has a long history of supporting scholarships and research. In 2017, Kerr's mother, Ann Zwicker Kerr-Adams, along with Steve and his siblings, created the Kerr Family Centennial Scholars Endowment at the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies.       

“I am grateful for Steve and Margot’s commitment to U of A students,” said John-Paul Roczniak, president and CEO of the University of Arizona Foundation. “Thanks to the endowment they’ve created, generations of students in the Humanities will be able to study the world’s languages and cultures outside of the classroom, as well as inside. It’s a profound legacy for this campus.”

The gift also contributes to the university's $3 billion fundraising campaign, which supports student success, faculty research and initiatives across campus.

See also: Steve Kerr opinion piece in the Arizona Daily Star, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. 
Reposted on the College of Humanities website. 

The College of Humanities community is profoundly saddened by the loss of two of its students in a traffic collision Thursday night near the U of A campus. Sophia Akimi Troetel, a double major in Spanish and Psychology, and Josiah Patrick Santos, who was majoring in Theater Arts with a minor in Japanese, died at the scene, while a third student, Katya Castillo-Mendoza, died later from her injuries. They were all incredibly engaged and beloved members of the campus community. 

Everyone in the College of Humanities sends condolences and deepest sympathies to Sophia’s, Josiah’s, and Katya’s families, friends and classmates during this extraordinarily difficult time. 

“Sophia and Josiah were at the Dean’s List reception — arm in arm, smiles wide, glowing with pride and love. Her Dean’s List honor was more than an achievement—it was a reflection of her brilliance, her effort, her heart. Sophia treats every soul with respect, compassion, and care. To know her is to be changed by her,” said advisor Rae LaBar Palmer. 

Advisor Vanessa Valenzuela said Sophia was “a sweetheart and full of light. She had a way of brightening every room she entered with her kindness, laughter, and warmth.”

A memorial to Sophia has been added to the communal ofrenda for Día de los Muertos hosted by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in the hallway outside of Modern Languages Room 545. 

Josiah is remembered by instructor Daiki Suematsu as “a warm-hearted, respectful, and hardworking student who always brought a bright smile to class. His gentle smile and positive presence encouraged everyone around him. He will be remembered with deep respect and affection by everyone in our class.”

“Although my time with Josiah was short since meeting him this summer, it was truly an honor to have been his teacher. I will always remember how his smile, humor, and creativity brought warmth and joy to everyone around him. He will be deeply missed and fondly remembered by all of us,” said Atsuko Uemura, another instructor. 

If you or others you know need support, please connect with Campus Health's Counseling & Psych Services (CAPS). For guidance on how to address this tragedy in your classes and other spaces, resources are available on the CAPS website. Please do not hesitate to reach out for help or to encourage others to do so.