The Center for Applied Humanities

The Center for Applied Humanities had a busy spring, beginning with two events in its “Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind” Banned Books Series. Conceived of and hosted by psychology graduate student and former political science major Alexis Lass, this series featured faculty, students, librarians, lawyers, and activists to discuss the issues surrounding banned and challenged books in the state of Florida and beyond. The February 3rd event focused on Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and the March 13th event on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. The series will continue in Fall 2025-Winter 2026.

The Center’s biggest event of the year was the 7th annual Crossroads Student Humanities Conference, which was held on Saturday, March 29, 2025. This year’s Crossroads theme, “Reconciliation and Responsibility,” explored how the humanities both inspire and reflect the search for common ground in the face of injustice and the issues surrounding the struggle between peace and accountability. Paper topics ranged from healthcare disparities to free speech responsibility to policing and security to literary archetypes. Research was presented by undergraduate and graduate students from NSU, Florida International University, and the University of Oxford.

The conference’s opening plenary speaker was Professor and Associate Dean Jane Cross from NSU’s Shepherd Broad College of Law. Professor Cross’ talk focused on the development of death penalty abolition in Caribbean countries and the responsibilities therein. The event’s keynote speaker, made possible by the Stolzenberg-Doan fund, was author M. Evelina Galang, who shared powerful stories about subjugation and dignity from her non-fiction book Lola’s House: Filipino Women Living with War.

The faculty Crossroads committee was comprised of Dr. Marlisa Santos, Director of the NSU Center for Applied Humanities, and Drs. Joanne Urrechaga, Amanda Furiasse, Jeremy Weissman, Ying Ma, and John Vsetecka.

The Center for Applied Humanities is committed to the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life and international concerns. The CAH actively promotes the humanities as a force for stimulating positive change for the public good.