Pietrzy is the author of two novels, Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and a Day. The Angel on My Chest, her collection of linked short stories, won the 2015 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. A new novel, Silver Girl, is forthcoming in 2018. Her short fiction and essays have appeared/are forthcoming in many publications, including the Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Southern Review, the Gettysburg Review, the  Hudson Review, the Sun, Shenandoah, Arts & Letters, River Styx, the Iowa Review, the Washingtonian, and the Cincinnati Review.

The Reading Series this year is cosponsored by the Department of English, CAHSS, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, MOSAIC, and the Departments of Global Studies, GWST, History, Sociology, and Anthropology.

Dr. Rebecca Boehling, Professor of History and Director of the Judaic Studies Program and the Global Studies Program at UMBC and former director of the International Tracing Service (ITS), will speak on:

"Remembering Holocaust Victims: The Post-Shoah Search for Closure and Identity Across Generations"

Monday, April 24, 2017, 4:00-5:30 p.m., UC 310

The event is free and open to the public.  A small reception will follow the talk.

The Dresher Center for the Humanities invites applications for two Residential Faculty Research Fellowships for spring 2018. Funding is intended to support and promote significant humanities research at UMBC. Dresher Center Research Fellows will reside at least one day a week in the Dresher Center and receive release from teaching (up to two course releases) in order to work on a significant humanities research project or the training necessary to embark on such a project. Faculty wishing to develop expertise in a new field or discipline towards a future project are also encouraged to apply. Each fellow will have the use of a private office in the Dresher Center and will be awarded $500 to hire an undergraduate research assistant (junior or senior) for the semester.

All full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty members pursuing humanities research in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences are welcome to submit a proposal. Applications are especially encouraged from, but not limited to, full-time faculty with appointments in departments and programs with a humanities focus. Two fellowships are available. Proposals will be reviewed by the Dresher Center Advisory Board, with decisions by mid-July 2017.

For information and an application: http://bit.ly/19L6mfE

Join CIRCA and the Dresher Center for live screenings of these hour-long webinars on the 2018-19 Fulbright Core U.S. Scholar Programs. The webinar screenings will take place from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. in the Dresher Center Conference Room (PAHB 216) on the dates below. Registration is not necessary.

March 28, 2017 - Fulbright Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa

March 29, 2017 - Fulbright Opportunities in American Studies

April 05, 2017 - Fulbright Opportunities in the Western Hemisphere

About Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Programs: http://www.cies.org/program/core-fulbright-us-scholar-program

More on Fulbright webinars: http://www.cies.org/event-type/webinar-schedule 

Webinars are archived weekly.

Organized by the Dresher Center Faculty Working Group on Immigration

For Doctoral and Master's Degree Candidates:

Applications Due: April 1, 2017

The Dresher Center offers two residential Graduate Student Fellowships that are open to all UMBC doctoral and master’s level students working on humanities-related research projects culminating in a dissertation or master’s thesis. Fellowships will be awarded for the fall 2017 semester.

Information and application: http://bit.ly/17xXqJj

Please contact Jessica Berman, Director, Dresher Center for the Humanities, or Rachel Brubaker, Assistant Director, Dresher Center for the Humanities, with questions.

The Dresher Center invites proposals for new Faculty Working Groups in the Humanities. Dresher Center Faculty Working Groups are collaborative, interdisciplinary communities of scholars working on humanities projects, research concerns, or matters of public interest. The Dresher Center provides support for the formation of these groups in an effort to promote intellectual exchange and support research activity in the humanities among scholars across campus. Working groups meet regularly and can use their funds to travel to sites or archives, host speakers, explore technologies, create new resources or materials, or other similar activities.

Faculty Working Groups can apply for up to $1,000 in annual support ($500 per semester) for their first-year activities. While faculty may come from any UMBC department, priority will be given to groups with at least one member from a humanities department.

Fundable activities include travel to sites or archives, speaker presentations, use/purchase of technology, creation of resources or materials, and support for regular meetings or workshops, etc. 

Current Dresher Center Faculty Working Groups may also apply for continuation funding (same deadlines).

For best consideration, apply by April 1, 2017 for groups beginning in fall 2017.

For more about Dresher Center Faculty Working Groups in the Humanities and to obtain an application: http://bit.ly/2dmGXMj 

The Dresher Center for the Humanities and the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) invites applications for Summer Faculty Research Fellowships (SFRF). Funding is intended to support and promote significant humanities research at UMBC. Dresher Center Summer Research Fellows will receive support for summer research and assistance in developing extramural funding applications, book proposals, and grant project applications. Funding may also be used for the completion of a book manuscript, a major article, or a project of similar stature.

Proposals are welcome and will be considered from all full-time, tenured or tenure-track UMBC faculty pursuing humanities research in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Proposals will be reviewed by the Dresher Center Advisory Board.

The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2017. Proposals should be submitted by email to dreshercenter@umbc.edu. 

The CAHSS Dean's Office will hold an informational session on preparing proposals for CAHSS Centers Summer Faculty Research Fellowships on Monday, December 12, 2016, from noon until 1:30 p.m. in Commons 331.

Register: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/cahss/events/45585 

Dresher Center SFRF Application and Information: http://bit.ly/2gttF1P