IRIS associated faculty-member Howard Rambsy was recently awarded an NEH grant to coordinate a summer institute for school teachers concentrating on an 1845 autobiography by Frederick Douglass. Congratulations Howard! read more.

Dr. Johanna Schmitz, Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance and one of our most dedicated IRIS-affiliated faculty, is the recipient of the 2018 Hoppe Award for her research on the Rose Theatre. Congratulations, Johanna!

In celebration of Black History Month and Women’s History Month, Professor Tisha Brooks and the ENG 477 Toni Morrison class invite you to visit their Digital Humanities Exhibit, Toni Morrison: Beyond Fiction. This student-curated exhibit includes excerpts from a rich and varied collection of Morrison’s non-fictional work. In addition to seeing and hearing passages, selected and read by students in the ENG 477 course, you will also hear their reflections on Morrison’s writing and the discoveries they have made through encountering her work. Please use the following link to access the exhibit: https://padlet.com/Prof_Brooks/BeyondFiction_SPR18

You never quite know what historical treasures you’ll find when you peruse Madison Historical: The Online Encyclopedia and Digital Archive for Madison County, Ill.Featuring oral history interviews, photographs, encyclopedia articles and more, the archive brings historical documents to digital life and offers the public unique access to Madison County’s past…read more.

While her scholarly interests have evolved through her academic career, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Jessica DeSpain’s commitment to work rooted in service and storytelling has not. DeSpain, PhD, is a respected teacher, colleague and community member who learns by doing and ignites in others a desire to get involved and make a difference…read more.

The Digital East St. Louis project is featured in the new special issue of PUBLIC: A Journal of Imagining America. See the gallery space here: public.imaginingamerica.org

Student leaders from over a dozen middle and high schools in Madison County attended the second summit on Jan. 9 of the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities (MJCFH) “Conversation Towards a Brighter Future” initiative…Read more from the Edwardsville Intelligencer 

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded Southern Illinois University Edwardsville a two-year $100,000 Humanities Access Grant for the creation of an interdisciplinary curriculum focused on digital storytelling. By building digital narratives about what it means to be a child, a teenager, and an adult,the project will create a conversation about how we can value difference and speak across generational divides…read more.

Dr. Jessica DeSpain and IRIS scholars lead digital humanities clubs for students from Madison and Venice as part of the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation’s STEM meets Humanities initiative. To read more, visit SIUE’s News page

This summer, local students have been exploring East St. Louis’s history and culture in a program run by the IRIS Center and STEM Center at SIUE.  Check out this article from Ed Glen Today to find out what they’ve been up to this summer: http://www.edglentoday.com/articles/details/siues-digital-east-st-louis-inspires-local-students-to-explore-citys-history-and-culture-22268.cfm#.WXi7OcaZNSy