The College of Humanities has designed a Recruitment Workshop to provide GATs and faculty with hands-on instruction in the college’s progress and vision for recruitment, as well as strategies and best practices for recruiting in and out of the classroom.  

Started by the COH Recruitment Task Force, the workshop includes topics like: communicating the value of a Humanities education, fostering student success, recruiting Gen Z, developing humanities-oriented career readiness, talent spotting, enhancing sense of belonging and sharing practical strategies for recruitment of majors. In its third year, the workshop is a requirement for first-year graduate assistants, but returning GATs and faculty are also welcome to attend.

“We are being very proactive in the College of Humanities. These workshops introduce how to do that and why it’s important. It’s the number one topic nationally in the humanities,” said Dorrance Dean Alain-Philippe Durand. “When we do a national search for a faculty job, whenever we do a national search for a job, we bring about three finalists to campus and when I interview people, I ask every one of them about how they will recruit students. Most cannot really answer the question.”  

Each academic year, the College of Humanities enrolls about 100 incoming students as majors. But as of the start of the fall semester, the College of Humanities had 1,689 enrolled majors, more than half of whom have double or even triple majors. So most students who select a Humanities major do so after they’ve started at the university, said Karina M. Rodríguez, Director of Recruitment.

“The vast majority of our current students have declared or switched to humanities or added a second or third major after taking humanities classes. Every class is an opportunity to interact with students who are not already humanities majors,” she said.

Stephanie Springer, Director of Internships and Career Readiness and a Principal Lecturer in the Department of Public & Applied Humanities, said when students feel seen and valued, they’ll want to be in your classroom.

“We teach skills that employers seek, but sometimes graduating seniors are falling short in their ability to articulate their skills in resumes, cover letters and interviews. We can help COH students stand apart from their peers by being explicit about the connections,” she said.

Tania Leal, Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, said mentoring and talent spotting are crucial, but ultimately good teaching is the best recruitment.

“Confidence building can play a huge role. It may be the first time they hear ‘This is possible. This is an option for everyone who has a passion for it,’” Leal said. “Encourage involvement, in events, talks, clubs and research opportunities. Know how to connect students with opportunities outside the classroom.”

Veronika Williams, Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, said recruitment mindset is all about sharing information

“When I’m teaching 101 classes, every time I have somebody declare a major or minor, I announce it in class and I give them a gift of an official department sticker,” she said. “This creates a sense of community and a snowball effect.”  

Participants in the workshop also submitted ideas and questions through an online portal, which were answered by Recruitment Task Force member Borbala Gaspar, Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian and faculty advisor of the student-run Dolce Vita Italian club. Several questions and suggestions revolved around students participating in clubs and other campus activities

“I personally tell my students how important it is to be active members of clubs. For any job application if they mention that, it is a great example of how they are socially engaged,” she wrote in response. “Mentioning that they active in a club or they take an officer role is important in scholarship applications as well or study abroad scholarships. It matters!”

Sandra Kofford, a graduate assistant teaching a 101 course in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, said she appreciated the workshop for how it encouraged instructors to engage with students.

“Humanities is about being able to connect with others and understand them,” she said. “We need to share something about ourselves that we love to make a connection.”  

All who complete the workshop receive a certificate of completion from the College.

There are more than 7 million humanities graduates in the U.S. workforce, in every occupation.

As Jenna Finfrock, Manager of Alumni and Donor Affairs, has connected and cultivated relationships with College of Humanities alumni over the last decade, she's heard time and time again about how their humanities stills have given them a unique advantage on the job market.

In 2019, the College launched its Love Your Future event, a multifaceted career readiness workshop that brings alumni and students together to discuss how to translate a humanities education into a real-life career. And that’s just one component of this event, which invites current humanities students and recent graduates.

"We all know that humanities students are passionate about their studies. But they’re also gaining the most in-demand skills on the global job market. Love Your Future helps students learn how they can best articulate those skills on cover letters and during interviews," Finfrock said. 

Experts like Stephanie Springer and Brittney Crawford from the Department of Public and Applied Humanities have presented on strategies for internship and job searches, including how to interview. Alumna Jessie Bustamante, Chief Advancement Officer for ACCEL, has presented on the secret value of networking. Alumna Dolores Durán-Cerda, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at Pima Community College, has presented on how to make a difference in the community with a humanities degree. Andrea Holm, Director of the Writing Skills Improvement Program, has demonstrated best practices in resumes and cover letters. And the College is archiving all those resources to offer to new students, year after year.

"By designing a humanities-specific series of career-oriented presentations and workshops, we’re giving our students additional support at crucial moments in their educational journeys. And we’re connecting them to the best resources we know – fellow College of Humanities alumni who’ve been there and done that," Finfrock said. 

This year’s event will take place on March 21. Email jfinfrock@arizona.edu for more information. 

The UA Poetry Center’s renowned library collection, which began more than 60 years ago with a personal donation of about 500 volumes, has now reached 60,000 books.

The 60,000^th book itself is an artist’s book titled Rescuing Q: Quandaries and Queries, by Suzanne Moore, a painter, printmaker and lettering artist who now lives in Tucson.

“I’d had her on my radar for several years before this, looking for the right fit for our collection. This book came across a rare book dealer site at exactly the right time,” said Sarah Kortemeier, Poetry Center Library Director. “It’s a book that requires a whole network, an ecosystem of artists who are working in Southern Arizona and it’s just gorgeous. We could not be more proud to have it in our collection.”

The book, which Moore created over a period of 20 years, is focused on a series of poetic questions that she sourced from friends and family, like “Can a mirror keep a secret?” The book is limited to 26 copies, numbered A to Z. The Poetry Center has copy F. It was printed by lone goose press in Bisbee on paper handmade by Tucson’s Cave Paper. The book was bound by Moore’s husband, Don Glaister.

The Poetry Center will host a celebration of the 60,000^th book on Saturday, March 8, at 11 a.m. Rescuing Q will be on display and Moore will talk about the making of the book, with a cake and lemonade reception to follow.

“Collecting 60,000 books is such an exciting milestone for the Poetry Center—it is a threshold moment, and we are so excited for what this means for future visitors to our collection.  Most of all, we celebrate the careful librarianship of many who have worked at the Poetry Center and helped bring us to this point, including current library staff Sarah Kortemeier, Julie Swarstad Johnson and Aria Pahari,” said Tyler Meier, Executive Director of the Poetry Center.

The Poetry Center was founded in 1960 with a donation from the personal collection of Ruth Walgreen Stephan (1910-1974), who gave about 500 books, focused on contemporary poetry in English and translations of great poets from around the world. Intending for the collection to have national and international significance, Stephan later created an endowment that has supported library acquisitions ever since.

The Poetry Center’s Ruth Stephan and Myrtle Walgreen Collection is intended to be as representative as possible, but is particularly strong in Southwestern poetry and languages of the borderlands.

“We’re trying to document contemporary American poetry in particular,” Kortemeier said. “We try to balance our collecting between really big publishers and small indie publishers, all the way to people doing kitchen-table DIY publishing. It’s important to be able to preserve and platform the works of people who don’t have a huge reach.” 

The Poetry Center buys about 100 books a month and about 50 rare books every year, a pace that has held for more than a decade.

“It’s a very steady river of poetry,” Kortemeier said. “An interesting thing about the Poetry Center’s collecting is we’re frequently the first library in the country to buy these books. So we’re often creating the first catalog records for those books, which other libraries can then use.”

Most of the books live on open stacks in the Poetry Center’s main reading room, while the rare books are placed into an archival enclosure and stored in closed stacks in the rare book room. But everything is available to library patrons for on-site use.

In addition to the book collection, the Poetry Center subscribes to more than 300 literary journals, which is particular useful for students who can look at places to submit their work. The Poetry Center library includes more than 30,000 back issues of those periodicals.

The Poetry Center began marking milestones with the 40,000^th book in 2010, which paid homage to the late Steve Orlen, a poet and beloved University of Arizona professor. The Poetry Center holds the only copy of A History of Our Family: Orlen Dynasty.

The 50,000^th volume was book artist Charles Hobson’s rendering of W.S. Merwin’s Trees, published in an edition of only 30 copies. The late Merwin developed a close relationship with the Poetry Center, visiting for public readings over a span of more than 40 years.

“It takes about a decade to collect 10,000 books, so we’re happy to be able to mark this occasion in a special way,” Kortemeier said.

The College of Humanities is proud to announce the following recipients of the Spring 2025 Fearless Inquiries Abroad Scholarships

Each of the following students will receive $2,000 to participate in a College of Humanities Study Abroad program. Please join us in congratulating them on their outstanding achievements!
 

College of Humanities Fearless Inquiries Abroad Scholarships
Amanda Akyol | Major: East Asian Studies
Alivia Alexander | Majors: Spanish; Leadership and Learning Innovation
Athina Bella Ballenger-Maurelli | Majors: Spanish; Italian
Nicco Boudou | Majors: French; Business Management
Laurel Burkholder | Majors: German Studies; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Genna Burns | Majors: French; Business Management
Abigail Chavez | Majors: Spanish; Psychology; Mexican American Studies
Josephine Desmarais | Majors: Russian; Political Science
Rachel DeWitt | Majors: French; Physics
Lei Lani Effort | Majors: Russian; Linguistics
Andres Eusebio | Majors: Spanish; Business Management
Anastasia Finch | Major: French
Dana Gonzalez | Majors: Spanish; Medicine
Adiba Haque | Majors: German Studies; Biomedical Engineering
Paige Hatch | Majors: Spanish; Physiology & Medical Sciences
Hope Hendry | Major: Spanish
Anthony Jimenez | Majors: Spanish; Personal & Family Financial Planning
Elizabeth Lendo | Majors: Spanish; Art History
Rayanne Lockhart | Majors: Russian; Psychology
Pablo Martinez Bojorquez | Major: Spanish
Maddie McCaskill | Majors: German Studies; Architecture
Alice Miranda | Majors: Italian; Biochemistry; Molecular & Cellular Biology
Daniella Mota | Majors: Italian; Business Management
Ronald Palmenberg | Majors: German Studies; Biochemistry
Mayra Parra-Landaverde | Majors: Spanish; Criminal Justice Studies
Catherine Peterman | Majors: Russian; East Asian Studies
Frida Quintana | Major: Spanish
Meagan Rausch | Majors: East Asian Studies; Political Science
Aylin Rochin | Majors: Spanish; Law
Selene Romero | Majors: French; Architecture
Benjamin Rothermich | Majors: German Studies; Performance
Alba Sabelli | Major: French
Andrea Sandoval Martinez | Majors: Spanish; Physiology & Medical Sciences
Jazmin Stein Torres | Majors: French; Italian
Emily Valencia | Majors: Spanish; Criminal Justice Studies
Chase Velasquez | Major: East Asian Studies
Alexis Young | Major: Classics

Beyond his natural talent, the root of Sean Elliott’s successes on the basketball court came from the unwavering support of two people: his mother Odiemae Elliott and Coach Lute Olson.

Before chasing his basketball dreams into the NBA, Sean made promises to each of them that he would one day return to school and complete his degree, which he did in 2022, earning a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies, 35 years after he turned pro.

“My mother, number one, always talked about education and wanted me to finish. That was something that I had to accomplish for her. And number two, for Coach Olson. A lot of people didn’t realize how much he harped on education and how important it was for him to see his kids graduate. Coach O was serious about education and I wanted to finish for his legacy,” he said. “I can remember hitting send on the final paper and I just looked at my wife Claudia, and I said, I’m done, I’m done. And, it was a great feeling, just incredibly fulfilling, because it took me a long time, but I did the work and I just wanted to cross that finish line.”

Because of the flexibility of Arizona Online, Elliott was able to finish his degree from his home in San Antonio, often sitting at his dining table.

“A degree in interdisciplinary studies makes you well-rounded, because the scope of your classes is so broad that you can learn something from anywhere, every kind of field,” Elliott said. “I know a lot of people in business that say, ‘If they’re well-rounded, if they’re flexible, if they’re adaptable, then that's the type of person I want.’ And that’s what humanities brings to the table.”

Like many others, Elliott’s return to school was years in the making, years of career and family, years of contemplating, and sometimes making excuses or internally chastising himself. But when the pandemic struck, he was at home, with plenty of time and no excuses. 

“It was the perfect opportunity for me to really get back into it and immerse myself into school. And it worked out perfectly,” he said. “I didn’t think it was going to be as flexible. I thought that at some point I was going to have to go back to campus, but once I signed up and I had the academic counselors helping me, I realized there was a whole new world open to me. There were so many classes and opportunities there.”

Elliott had a mix of requirements and electives remaining and to fulfill his Interdisciplinary Studies major, and he took full advantage of a wide range of courses: oceanography, Slavic folklore, film, Italian Renaissance, sociology of sports and more.

“I’m curious and I want to know what’s out there. And for me, that really was fulfilling. I’ve always been a nerd and I got to take classes that were fun and interesting on subjects that I never even imagined that I would be into. I took away something from every single class that I had,” he said.

These days, Elliott works in broadcasting as the lead analyst for the San Antonio Spurs, while maintaining a busy schedule of philanthropic and community involvement. After earning a host of accolades during his playing career, including having his jersey #32 retired by both the Arizona Wildcats and San Antonio Spurs, Elliott’s degree brings him full circle. And earned him a new accolade: the College of Humanities 2024-2025 Alumnus of the Year.

“When I finished, I felt like college wasted is on young people. I look back at my time when I was 17 years old at Arizona, and I didn’t know anything. But I am grateful that I got this opportunity, just to go back and learn more,” he said. “I chose humanities because it deals with people and how you can help better the people around you and make the world a better place. I chose humanities, but humanities also chose me.”

Twenty years after the introduction of the Africana Studies degree at the University of Arizona, the program maintains the same strong ties to Tucson’s tight-knit Black community that brought it to life in the first place.

A direct product of the social movements of the 1950s and 1960s, the Africana Studies program at the U of A was formally established in 1976, with an Introduction to Black Studies course introduced the following spring. The bachelor of arts degree was created in 2005 and in 2022, the program officially became the Department of Africana Studies, with 13 tenured, tenure-track and career-track faculty.

Like elsewhere across the country, Black students and community organizations in Tucson demanded a curriculum that directly addressed their particular history, identities, cultures and social problems. And for current Department Head Praise Zenenga, that origin will always be respected by the faculty and students, who actively work to maintain strong ties with the community members who fought for the program and have supported it for decades.

“For me, it’s a huge responsibility. We have to keep the legacy going. First of all, it’s about excellence, in terms of our faculty research and our teaching,” Zenenga said. “Part of our job is to make sure the field keeps growing and the field keeps serving the communities it was created to serve, and part of our job is moving with the times.”

Africana Studies is by its very nature an interdisciplinary course of study, Zenenga said.

“What is it that has shaped the Black experience? Number one is history, the forced movement of large numbers of people, for Blacks in the United States, Blacks in Brazil, the Caribbean, the UK, Europe, and how they moved from the African continent to be where they are presently,” he said. “Then we talk of politics, of laws, of religion and how it was used for purposes of enslaving Africans and colonizing Africa. We are talking of anthropology, of practices and cultures, everything from the arts to the structure of societies. Those disciplines are inherently built into Africana Studies. They’re all blended and we’re studying them all together as one.”

None of that existed at the U of A when Richard Davis enrolled in 1965. Davis was a founder and the first president of both the Black Student Union and the Zeta Theta Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1969 and a law degree in 1972.

“When I got my law degree, there was no such thing as Africana Studies. We talked about it, but never dreamed it would get to the point it’s now arrived. When I was thinking about Africana Studies, I was primarily thinking about African American history and it being included in history books because it was excluded,” said Davis, now recognized as one of the top trial lawyers in the country. “That was my vision and I’ve been very pleased to see that it’s gone way beyond that.”

Davis has long supported the program and become somewhat of a spokesperson, asked from time to time to come in and talk about the pre-Africana Studies history at U of A and all the benefits the program has provided in the years since it began.

“I’ve watched it evolve and it’s well beyond the scope I envisioned back then. When I talk to the professors, I hear what they’re doing and I’m so impressed,” Davis said. “That’s what education is all about, to expose students to many different things and they’ve done a tremendous job. I’m just amazed by the things they do.”

Daisy Jenkins, who held executive positions at both Raytheon and the Carondelet Health Network, said she supports the university as a whole, but focuses significantly on Africana Studies, hosting fundraisers at her home.

“The department has made a continuous effort to be connected with the Black community, to learn about the Black community, to connect with leaders in the Black community and to ensure there was an awareness, not only of the need for the department, but the value proposition of having Africana Studies,” Jenkins said. “This is especially true for a community like Tucson, where the African American population is about 4 percent and there hasn’t always been the perspective among Black citizens that the university had any real connection with the Black community, other than athletics.”

Styne Hill, Chair of the university’s Black Community Council, said Zenenga, his predecessor Alain-Philippe Durand and faculty members have all reached out to the community and welcomed the support and the understanding they’ve received in return.

“The community absolutely loves working with them because they ask ‘How can we help?’” she said.

For her part, Hill, who retired as Chief Information Officer for Raytheon Missile Systems, enjoys working with students on whatever their future goals may be.

“We use mentor as a catch-all word. Students might not know how they need help. But if you approach them as interested in their growth and development and would love to know where they’d like to focus their energy and efforts, they can think about it better,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of students that we’ve talked to from Africana Studies who really appreciated those conversations. It wasn’t the way they thought about needing support.”

For Durand, who directed Africana Studies from 2010 to 2016 and now serves as Dorrance Dean of the College of Humanities, cultivating close ties with the community ultimately benefits the students, who can be exposed to a myriad of career paths and ways they can apply the versatile skills they gain in the program. 

“Africana Studies has unique advantages for students, who gain such a wide breadth of knowledge that they can find meaningful employment anywhere,” he said. “We have very trusted partners in the community who’ve ensured that Africana Studies has the support it needs to thrive.” 

Lehman Benson, now U of A Vice President of Black Advancement and Engagement, served as interim director of Africana Studies from 2008 to 2010, brought in from the Eller College of Management to stabilize and reorganize the program.

“It was fun for me working with the community and we had great support from the Black Community Council,” he said.

As vice president, Benson’s initiatives for students, faculty and staff include financial literacy, healthcare and career-advancement skills, all of which he sees strongly reflected in Africana Studies.

“It really is an interdisciplinary program. They’ve done a great job with the curriculum and cross-listing courses,” he said. “The major is for everybody.”

Africana Studies faculty members themselves are integral parts of the local Black community, said Professor of Practice Tani Sanchez, who was also the first president of the Tucson chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society.

The Department of Africana Studies is unusually active in holding events with broader public appeal, especially during Black History Month. In recent years, faculty have organized talks from hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash, acclaimed journalist Jelani Cobb, historian and activist Pamela Mays McDonald, and scholar and author Regina Bradley, among many others.

“It’s been so valuable for Africana Studies to bring that intellectual component in,” she said. “Students have been energized and happy they came and community members enjoy it as well. The speakers we’ve brought in are the ones who really connected everything.”