Published: May 21, 2019

Graduate School Interim Dean Leslie Reynolds has appointed Jennifer Ho director of the听Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA) for a three-year term effective Aug. 19.

CHA, housed within the Graduate School, supports research and creative work in the arts and humanities for faculty and graduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Music, the University Libraries and the College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI).

鈥淎s a committed humanities scholar who is passionate about the arts, I am excited about taking on a leadership position that promotes the scholarship of humanists and artists at CU 麻豆影院 to the 麻豆影院 community, Colorado and nationwide,鈥 Ho said.

Jennifer Ho

Jennifer Ho

CHA provides selected faculty in the humanities and the arts a semester off from teaching to study innovative approaches for promoting scholarship and rejuvenating teaching. CHA also provides grants and fellowships for graduate students and organizes symposia, workshops and visits from prominent intellectuals and artists to stimulate new research.

鈥淚 am also eager to provide mentorship to graduate students and junior faculty in the arts and humanities, to help ensure the next generation of humanists and artists working inside and outside of academia,鈥 Ho added.

Ho will leave her positions as professor of English and comparative literature and associate director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While at UNC Chapel Hill, she has taught courses in Asian American literature, multiethnic American literature and contemporary American literature. Her research interests are in critical race theory, antiracism and narratology. In addition to her appointment as director of CHA, Ho has been appointed professor of ethnic studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ho received master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in English from Boston University in 1996 and 2003 and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in English from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1992. She is the author of Consumption and Identity in Asian American Coming-of-Age Narratives,听Racial Ambiguity in Asian American Culture听补苍诲听Understanding Gish Jen.

The current director of CHA,听Helmut Muller-Sievers,听will听serve as CHA director until Ho鈥檚 arrival in August and then听continue in his position as professor听of听German, where his research focuses on the interrelations of literature, science,听and听philosophy, and with the history of philology and interpretation.听

鈥淒uring my time as the interim dean of the Graduate School, I鈥檝e been impressed with the work that CHA does to promote and support research and scholarship in the humanities and the arts,鈥 Reynolds said. 鈥淚 want to welcome Jennifer to CHA and thank Helmut for his leadership throughout his tenure at the center.鈥