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Semi-annual Newsletter, Issue 2
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Summer at the IRH
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Greetings from the IRH,
"And the seasons they go round and round." "To everything there is a season, turn, turn, turn." "The circle of life." And so on. One academic year is done and yet another begins. In May we said a fond farewell to the wonderful 2024–2025 cohort of IRH scholars who spent the year hard at work on their projects, as well as learning about each other’s research at the Monday
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seminar; meeting in reading and writings groups; and enlivening our halls with conversation. Naturally, there was a lot of sharing of views on academic and non-academic concerns (including the comparative quality of pastries in Madison) and friendly competition at dominos during the weekly "Humani-Tea."
As sad as we were to see last year's fellows depart, we are happy to welcome the incoming fellows for 2025–2026. As always, they represent a diverse and accomplished international group of scholars from across the humanities disciplines. They include classicists, medievalists, early modernists, and modernists; philosophers, art historians, historians and literary scholars; senior academics and early career post-docs.
This will be the final group of fellows that I will welcome as IRH director. It has been an immensely rewarding, fascinating and, yes, fun eight years, and that’s just long enough. Come Fall 2026, I will be a civilian again. But I know that, with Katie Apsey staying on board as associate director, aided so ably by our graduate project assistant Jojo Lovejoy, whoever takes over as director will inherit an institute operating at peak efficiency.
Finally, let me remind past IRH fellows, once again, that we are always happy to hear from you, especially with any good news about publications, awards or positions that we can announce on our website. And do send us your books to be proudly displayed in the vitrine in the hallway.
Vilas Research Professor
William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy
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Call for Applications: IRH Internal and External Fellowships
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Applications for both internal fellowships (UW–Madison faculty and graduate students) and external fellowships (scholars not at UW–Madison) at the IRH are now open! Please share these calls with anyone in your networks who may be a good fit for an IRH fellowship. For fellowship details and application information, click the button below.
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Research Spotlight: The Uncertainty and AI Group
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In 2024–2025, the IRH welcomed a group of interdisciplinary scholars at UW–Madison who are tackling issues related to artificial intelligence with the tools of the humanities and social sciences. Funded by the College of Letters & Science and IRH seed grant "The Humanities Respond to Global Challenges," the Uncertainty & AI Group is led by
Devin Kennedy (Assistant Professor of History, left) and Annette Zimmermann (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, right). In this article, Devin and group member
Jeremy Morris (Professor of Media and Cultural Studies) explain how the Uncertainty & AI Group formed, why it chose to focus on the theme of "uncertainty," and the value of humanities perspectives in research on AI. Read the full story
here.
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Senior Fellow Spotlight
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As her IRH fellowship comes to a close, Anne C. Vila (open-topic Senior Fellow, 2021–2025) shares how she came to study the Convulsionaries and reflects on the Burdick-Vary Symposium that she organized this past spring. Read the full story
here.
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After having spent four years at the IRH, Mario Ortiz-Robles (open-topic Senior Fellow, 2021–2025) discusses the evolution of his research on the cultural history of animals in the nineteenth century and his plans for a Burdick-Vary Symposium this fall. Read the full story
here.
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In addition to being the author of multiple books on early modern Spanish theatre, Esther Fernández (Biruté Ciplijauskaité Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023–2025) is also a skilled puppeteer. In this article, Esther discusses how she came to be a member of the puppet troupe Dragoncillo
, the importance of community outreach and public humanities projects, and her latest endeavor: becoming a certified yoga instructor. Read the full story here.
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Dissertation Fellow Spotlight
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In 2024–2025, the IRH served as the residency site for Kuhelika Ghosh, recipient of a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship and PhD Candidate in English at UW–Madison. In this article, Kuhelika tells us about her dissertation on multispecies gardens and how she centers racial justice in her teaching. For the full story, click
here.
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Each year, the IRH offers one Dana-Allen Dissertation Fellowship. The recipient of this award for 2024–2025 was Allyson Gross, PhD Candidate in the Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture program of the Department of Communication Arts, UW–Madison. In this article, Allyson tells us about her research on the rhetorical properties of material objects. Read the full story
here.
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- Monday Seminar: Karen Britland, "Possession: A Story of Gods, Goods, and Greed" (9/15/25)
- Burdick-Vary Symposium: "Vcologies 2025: Victorian Futures," organized by Mario Ortiz-Robles (9/26/25 – 9/27/25)
- Germaine Brée Lecture: Sebastian Smee, art critic and author of Paris in Ruins (10/23/25)
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Due to space limitations, Monday seminars are full. Email info@irh.wisc.edu to be added to a particular seminar's waitlist.
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Word Search
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We've created a word search out of terms from the incoming fellow cohort’s project titles. See if you can find all of them! To play online, click here.
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