Cox Family Process Speaker Series

The Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) hoststhe Cox Family Process Speaker event series.

The Cox Family Process Speaker Series invites scholars renowned for specific works to share the origins, reception, and impact of their projects. Since 2021, the series has offered annual programming, bringing distinguished artists and scholars to 51勛圖厙 each Spring. The invited speaker will discuss the work that helped establish their reputation in their field. The CHA extends its gratitude to the Cox Family Visiting Professor Fund, including Dr. Jeffrey Cox, the inaugural director of the CHA, for making this series possible through their generous donation.

Previous Cox Family Process Speaker Series

2025: Caleb Elfenbein and "Fear in Our Hearts"

Join author and History and Religious Studies Professor Caleb Elfenbein as he discusses the process of writing his book , which argues that anti-Muslim activity reveals how fear is corroding core American values. Elfenbeins exploration of Islamophobia is also reflected in his project Mapping Islamophobia, which visualizes how incidents of anti-Muslim hostility accumulate over time, affecting how American Muslims engage in public life. Both the book and the Mapping Islamophobia project provide critical insights into how Islamophobia shapes American values and the barriers it creates for Muslim communities seeking to participate fully in society.

2024: Gabrielle Calvocoressi and "Rocket Fantastic"

discussed their poetry collection(winner of the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry). Their bookhas been described as a "spellbinding reinvention and exploration of self, gender, and family." InRocket Fantastic, Calvocoressi innovatively usesthe musical segno symbol in replacement of traditional pronouns for one of the main characters, allowingreaders to engage with the poems content while leaving sex and gender as an open question.

2023: Dr. Jennifer Holland and "Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement"

, History Professor at the University of Oklahoma, author, andexpert on abortion history. Shespecializes broadly in histories of gender, sexuality, 20th century conservative movements, and the American West.On April 12, 2023,Dr. Jennifer Holland discussedthe origins of her book, the reception of the book, and the afterlife ofTiny You,especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022.

2022: Kevin B. Lee and Transformers: the Premake

Kevin B. Lee, renowned filmmaker and video essayist, spoke about his film Transformers: the Premake on March 30, 2022.His film essay , which acknowledges the internet's role asa boundless repository of information and as a primary experience of reality. He directs Crossmedia Publishing at Merz Akademie, Stuttgart, Germany. Lee is a filmmaker, film critic, and producer of over 350 video essays that explore connections between film and media. Link to the recording of the event can be found at CHA's YouTube Channel.

2021: Dr. Priscilla Wald and "Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative"

Dr. Priscilla Wald, Professor of English at Duke University, teaches and works on U.S. literature and culture, particularly literature of the late-18th to mid-20th centuries, contemporary narratives of science and medicine, science fiction literature and film, law and literature, and environmental studies.Dr. Walddiscussedher book,(Duke University Press 2008). She shared her inspiration for this critical work, the afterlives of CONTAGIOUS, andthoughts she had about this work given our COVID-19 lives.