Lecturing within the College of Arts and Humanities since 2019, DiLiberto is on a quest to show Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students how the timeless classic relates to their own journeys.

“The central premise of the Odyssey places the main character, Odysseus, on a journey home following the Trojan War. Along the way, he perseveres through personal tragedies, overcomes impossible odds, and grows as both a king and a human being,â€� DiLiberto says. “From personal growth to resilience to rising to the occasion, the core themes within the Odyssey are relevant to the lives of all Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students, regardless of their personal background or professional majors. It is a deep and thoughtful examination of all the things that makes us human.â€�

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Courses Inspired by the Odyssey

DiLiberto and several faculty from the College of Arts and Humanities often consider new and innovative ways to integrate classics into coursework applicable to students across all majors.

• HUM 2020: Encountering the Humanities –ÌýMonsters & Mad Scientists

In 2023, DiLiberto was awarded the forHUM2020 which was partly inspired by characters and concepts found within the Odyssey. DiLiberto designed a “Monsters & Mad Scientists� theme within the general education course she teaches to analyze the unique relationship between science and the humanities as well as answer philosophical questions on human nature.

“Monsters —– whether they be imaginary creatures or bad actors throughout world history —– aren’t just born, they are created through unfortunate events and life circumstances,� says DiLiberto, who was also recognized with the College of Arts and Humanities’ 2025 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. “Using monsters as the launching point in these general education courses sets up philosophical discussions [for students studying many disciplines] on society, our culture, and how ‘monsters’ are created.�

• HUM 2020: Athleticism as an Aesthetic

Lecturer Terri Pyle ’92 ’95MA, who earned a doctorate in visual arts: philosophy, aesthetics, and art theory from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, explores how Odysseus maintains his physical prowess to endure his journey and ultimately uses sport — archery —Ìý to take back his kingdom. Nolan’s film as well as the 2024 film The ReturnÌýwith Ralph Fiennes as the lead, and pieces from the Louvre’s art collection are among several Odyssey-related reference materials covered in the semester.

• PHH 3800: Research Methods in Humanities and Cultural Studies

Senior Lecturer Jeanine Viau, who earned a doctorate in theology and ethics from Loyola University Chicago, prominently features the Odyssey in the course by incorporating selections from Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of the Odyssey as well as Madeline Miller’s novel, Circe, to discuss some of the darker themes of the epic in relation to violence, power and social dynamics.

• PHH 3100: Ancient Philosophy

The Athenian philosopher Plato engaged deeply with the works of Homer and often refers to them in his dialogues. In this course taught by Brian Reese, an assistant professor and specialist in ancient philosophy, students read selections from Plato’s Republic, which can be understood as a reinterpretation of the Odyssey—one that presents the philosopher, rather than Odysseus, as the epic hero.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Study Abroad: The Odyssey in Real Life

In Summer A 2027, DiLiberto Ìý— Ìýa Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ foreign languages (French and Italian) and texts and technology alum — will lead a group of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students on an abroad experience in Rome. Utilizing a city-as-text approach, the experience will merge on-site visits to Roman monuments, museums and urban spaces with in-depth classroom discussion.

In addition to both historic and contemporary explorations of modern-day Rome, DiLiberto looks forward to philosophical conversations with her students centered on unique Italian locations referenced within the Odyssey.

In these discussions, DiLiberto will emphasize how the Italian regions west of Greece served as the “unknown� locations that Odysseus encountered throughout the text. She will also discuss the Odyssey’s relationship between place and storytelling. As one example, DiLiberto will focus on the Strait of Messina, the water channel that is home to the mythological sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis.

“Odysseus faced a lesser-of-two-evils decision between losing a handful of his soldiers to the six-headed monster, Scylla, or possibly losing his entire ship to the whirlpool, Charybdis,� DiLiberto says. “Like Odysseus, we are often faced with difficult decisions with no good options. How we navigate those decisions speaks to our morals, our character and who we are as people. These are the type of philosophical conversations I look forward to having with my students, and the types of discussions I hope they are having amongst themselves.�

Students interested in HUM 2210: Studies in Culture: Ancient World to the 17^th Century as part of the Study Abroad opportunity can learn more information and apply at the . The deadline to apply is Feb. 15, 2027, but please note space is limited and DiLiberto encourages students to apply as soon as possible.

Researchers in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of English and (CHDR) are slated to (NEH) to create searchable digital editions of Webster’s historic dictionaries, giving scholars, educators and the public unprecedented access to foundational texts that helped shape American English.

The two-year grant will support Noah Webster’s Dictionary Online: Preserving America’s Revolutionary Language Heritage. The project is led by Beth Young, associate professor of English, with co-principal investigators CHDR Associate Director Brook Miller and Professor of English Mark Kamrath, who is co-director of CHDR.

The project will also expand educational opportunities for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students.

Undergraduate and graduate students will contribute to proofreading, digital editing and semantic text tagging while gaining internship and research experience across several academic programs. Postdoctoral fellow Abigail Moreshead ’11 ’17MA ’23PhD will help conduct research and supervise the student team, and XML (extensible markup language) Specialist William Dorner ’07 ’10MA ’15PhD will oversee the technical encoding.

Bringing Webster’s Words Into the Digital Age

The project builds on two previous NEH-funded digital humanities initiatives. Drawing on the experience of creating Johnson’s Dictionary Online, the team will create comprehensive digital editions of Webster’s The Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (1806) and An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).

“This grant enables us to provide digital editions … that are as reliable, accurate and searchable as today’s scholarship demands.” — Beth Rapp Young, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ associate professor of English

“Noah Webster believed that our new nation needed its own language, not just its own government,â€� says Young, an affiliate scholar with CHDR. “He correctly predicted that American English would one day be spoken by ‘300 millions’ of people. This grant enables us to provide digital editions of Webster’s dictionaries that are as reliable, accurate and searchable as today’s scholarship demands.â€�

Unlike existing online versions, which primarily consist of scanned pages or basic text transcriptions, the new editions will include advanced search capabilities, complete transcriptions, high-quality images and scholarly annotations.

The team aims to complete the searchable 1828 edition in time for its 200th anniversary in 2028, followed by the 1806 edition.

Together, the dictionaries capture American English as it was developing during the nation’s formative years, preserving the language used in early American law, politics, education and everyday life.

The project also builds on the , an initiative led by Mark Kamrath that aims to identify, transcribe, organize and ultimately edit the post-revolutionary author’s uncollected writings, making them searchable in an electronic environment. Webster’s dictionaries are from the same era and provide a bridge to understanding Brockden’s texts.

More Than a Dictionary

Webster’s dictionaries remain valuable resources for literary, historical and legal scholarship more than two centuries after their publication. According to the project proposal, courts continue to reference the dictionaries when interpreting the original meaning of constitutional and legal terms, while educators use them to help students understand the language of America’s founding era. The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ team has already seen evidence of this type of use with Johnson’s Dictionary Online, with the resource being cited by The Atlantic, The New York Times, and U.S. federal and district courts.

By making the texts easier to search and study, the project will enable users to explore Webster’s work in ways that scans can’t.

CHDR’s Susan Xiao will serve as the project’s lead programmer, overseeing development of the digital platform that will power the searchable editions. The website currently hosts full-page images and will ultimately feature advanced search tools, scholarly annotations, and high-resolution entry images designed to make Webster’s landmark dictionaries more accessible to researchers, educators, and the public.

CHDR will host and maintain the project, building on its experience supporting digital humanities initiatives.

Noah Webster’s Dictionary Online: Preserving America’s Revolutionary Language Heritage will be made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.Ìý

“It’s a perfect day to bounce in Orange County, Florida.�

The Roth Tower project, made possible by a $90 million commitment of Tourist Development Tax revenues from the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, represents a pivotal addition to the Kenneth G. Dixon Athletics Village that strengthens Orange County as a premier destination for sports tourism and community engagement.

When the investment was greenlit in 2023, university and athletics administration knew they wanted to add to the stadium’s art collection, which already features several installations around the concourse that include Knightro, wings of Pegasus (the university’s official seal), Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Big 12 ties and Orlando.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ commissioned Harry Foreman ’18 to deliver two murals that pay homage to the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ story and the university’s relationship to Orlando and Orange County. To execute the installation in the week leading up to the tower’s unveiling, Foreman utilized virtual reality technology as part of his process and enlisted the help of fellow alumni: Nicole Lind ’11, a Burnett Honors Scholar who graduated with a degree in an elementary education, and Paulaiden Minerva ’15, who earned his bachelor’s in marketing through the program.

Foreman studied graphic design and emerging media management and previously completed murals for the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Downtown and the Rosen College of Hospitality Management campuses.

“When I was a student I always had so much fun on games days,� Foreman says. “It’s magic being back here.�

The Florida native, who now splits his time between Orlando and Denver, has been an active contributor to the Central Florida’s arts scene for years. He recently was selected to be part of the City of Orlando’s Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge, Art Pollination — a prestigious opportunity as Orlando was one of eight cities selected for the $1 million grant out of more than 150 submissions from around the country.

Acrisure Bounce House is his third football stadium mural project. He previously completed installations for the Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I always knew I wanted to paint big,� he says.

Here he shares more about his latest creation.

What excited you about this project?

The campus personnel were so willing and excited about my ideas and style that I brought into this that it was almost a perfect match. I led with fun first and then presented some safer ideas. And they said, “Nope. We want the fun.�

I’m grateful and appreciative that I’m creating in a way that is so well received by so many people. Especially with the way we’re doing these murals with minimal color and a gold approach, I think it’s a style that has an elevated look while also having this fun, bubbly, childlike feeling, which is perfect for a football stadium on game day.

Where did you pull inspiration from for the two murals?

A staple in a lot of my mural work is my “orange blossom gang.� They are fun, smiling orange characters that I will sprinkle in throughout a lot of my murals. They act almost as the glue that keeps other imagery and assets like together. They appear in both murals.

For the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½-themed mural, we have my signature doodle collage style. We’re in the Bounce House, baby. So I tried to have this flowy, bubbly movement with the clouds. I wanted it to feel like it was light and airy.

With regards to Easter eggs, when I was a student, I did artwork around Orlando and I would do this little emanating whoopsie daisy flower. I snuck it into a postcard stamp. The manatee celebrates Central Florida’s natural springs, which is in my opinion, one of the most magical parts about the entire state. I also snuck in a variation of the rubber duck for Spirit Splash.

For the Orange County mural, it is centered in an Art Deco theme and is an ode to how the university is entwined with Orlando. From the downtown corridor to our relationship with the hospitality sector around I-Drive to space and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s engineering and technology roots. And we wanted to include a message to what helped make this possible: “In appreciation of Orange County, Florida, whose continued belief, support and investment will welcome millions through these gates to bounce.â€�

How do you apply virtual reality technology in your process?

I first started using the VR headset to project my artwork on walls last year. There are many different ways to get your art on your walls through grid systems, sketching freehand, projectors and now through headsets. In this circumstance, I have another mural next week. I’ve got to get in and out. I didn’t want to wait till the nighttime to use a projector. What’s great about the headset is no matter the time of day, you are able to work and operate, and forecast your artwork on a wall.

It’s a really weird, immersive and amazing technology. If you got vertigo like I do, tread lightly. As I’m wearing it, I’m constantly thinking, ‘We are in the future.’ â€�

How did your Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ experience help you hone your craft?

“Being at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ pushed me to be great.â€� — Harry Foreman ’18, muralist

My Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ experience was not just a four-year degree. I used nearly every offering Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ had — I was in different clubs, at the gym all the time. I was in the engineering lab using the laser cutter for a lot of my school projects. My experience was almost competitive nurture in a sense, learning in a school setting with so many talented creatives around me. Being at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ pushed me to be great and taught me how to be a shape shifter.

I already was running a business while in school. I immediately graduated and went right into freelancing, and the Orlando community and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ network at large welcomed me right when I needed it. I booked amazing jobs right out of school. The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Downtown project, I would say, is still some of my most impactful work that gets me jobs to this day.

I never in a million years thought murals would allow me to be traveling all over the nation. I’m about to buy my wife a house. It’s a great time to be a muralist. It’s the best job in the world.

What does it mean to you to be able to give back to your alma mater and Orlando in this way?

It’s so special. As a student, and even as an artist, there’s no textbook for success, no single game plan for how to do things. The fact that I get to paint and create in spaces like this, I hope it can inspire the next student. I hope they see this and they say, “That is so cool. I want to do that,� because whenever I saw someone doing it, that was my first response.

If you’re a student that is worried about the creative world that we’re entering into, as long as you’re pushing yourself to make great work, everything you could ever want is already there waiting for you. Orlando as a canvas is the best place to blossom. It was for me.

When Alex Williams ’09 says, “these are exciting times,� just consider where he’s been and where he believes humanity is going.

Williams recently traveled between Virgin Galactic’s headquarters in Tustin, California, and its spaceship factory in Mesa, Arizona, 350 miles from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Today, fewer than 800 people have traveled to space. But Virgin Galactic projects that soon 750 or more people — “astronauts� — will ride its spaceships annually.

“My wheelhouse, [going] back to Disney and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, is designing experiences that are different, larger than ourselves.”

As the company’s senior manager of program design, Williams is among those responsible for producing a full “experience� around each pinnacle moment.

“My wheelhouse, [going] back to Disney and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, is designing experiences that are different, larger than ourselves,â€� Williams says. “Here, I get to be part of opening space as the next layer of humanity.â€�

While Virgin Galactic’s early flights made headlines for carrying company founder Sir Richard Branson and a few private astronauts, those brief trips had a bigger purpose.

“We believe deeply in making space accessible for all,� Williams says. “Each spaceflight brings everyone closer. The day is coming for everyday people who watched Apollo and Artemis missions with wonder. It’s coming for the person looking for perspective or the next adventure. They can be astronauts.�

Inside and Outside a Flight to Space

The official term for a flight with Virgin Galactic is “spaceflight expedition.� Passengers don’t board a rocket.

“It’s a spaceship,� Williams says.

Part of the experience, then, is knowing your way into a spacesuit and into your seat aboard the spaceship. It’s bonding with crewmates and being prepared for Mach 3 speed. Preparation is critical, but it’s designed to be much less intense than fortifying oneself for a Mount Everest expedition.

“You’re in New Mexico for less than a week,� Williams says. “We don’t want it to be physically taxing because we want you fully immersed in this monumental experience.�

The spaceflight expedition is approximately 90 minutes from boarding to landing, including several minutes of weightlessness.

“Safety is paramount, so we use an air launch system where a launch vehicle carries our spaceship to a release point of 45,000 feet,� Williams says. “Then the rocket motor kicks in, and the spaceship accelerates to Mach 3. The astronauts are sent back into their seats comfortably. When the motor shuts off, you coast to your highest point. And then the spaceship glides back to Spaceport for a graceful runway landing.�

The immersion surrounds those 90 minutes. It includes hospitality, food and beverage, and bringing astronauts and their families into the culture of the Las Cruces area.

“We test everything,� Williams says. “I’ve learned, for example, that I like hatch chiles.�

They are now part of the carefully designed experience.

Stretching His Own Mind

After four years at Virgin Galactic, Williams has explained the experience so many times that he feels as if he’s taken flight himself.

Even so, he still occasionally struggles to find the words.

“It’s indescribable,� he says.

The technology of safe spaceflight is mostly beyond his understanding, which only adds to the fascination for a kid at heart who grew up in Citrus County, just 90 minutes from Orlando’s theme parks, where he first began stretching his imagination.

“Disney had this unbridled positivity for what the future could be,� Williams says. “I wanted to be a part of something like that, helping push humanity forward, but I wasn’t sure how.�

He began to discover how at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, where he majored in art and says he had the freedom to “Frankenstein my educational program together.â€� The first day he walked into the Student Union, he happened to be walking into auditions for Universal Orlando Resort’s Halloween Horror Nights.

“That experience became a piece to the puzzle,� he says.

A themed attraction class, where he helped design a ride, added another piece. So did operations courses through his hospitality management minor at .

He used all these lessons during his 16 years with Disney, including Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and D23.

“And then my ears perked up when I heard about the direction of Virgin Galactic,� Williams says. “I saw it like my own story — in a constant state of becoming.�

“This is a rare experience that can connect us to each other, to our planet and to possibilities to do something good.”

His mindset also parallels Virgin Galactic’s ultimate intent for spaceflight.

“It comes down to optimism,� he says. “This is a rare experience that can connect us to each other, to our planet and to possibilities to do something good. You don’t go up on our spaceship to look out at space — you go up to look back at Earth. As more people do that, we can’t begin to imagine how much good can result from those few minutes.�

Christopher Nolan’s new film adaptation of the Odyssey is an exciting development, since it will introduce new audiences to a classic epic reimagined for our time. This not only sparks interest in the ancient world but also continues a tradition of how people have encountered and reinvented this story over the past three thousand years.

The Odyssey is a work of historical fiction set in the Late Bronze Age, around 1200 BCE. The events take place in the eastern Mediterranean, including coastal areas of Greece and Turkey. The narrative follows the wily Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who, after 10 years of conflict, spends another decade wandering at sea, longing to return home to his island kingdom of Ithaca. During his absence, his queen, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, must contend with persistent suitors who wish to seize his throne.

The epic is part of a broader tradition about the Trojan War and its aftermath, including the Iliad. Set before the events of the Odyssey, the Iliad focuses on the conflict between the Greek warrior Achilles and his commander, the Mycenaean king, Agamemnon, during the final year of the 10-year siege led by Greek allies. Related works, like Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, a Greek tragedy, and the Roman epic the Aeneid, reimagine familiar characters in new stories, ancient versions of fan fiction set in the Trojan War universe. Even in antiquity, people shaped these traditions for their own times, just as we do today.

A Song of Times Long Past

When a modern reader picks up a printed copy of The Odyssey, it is important to understand what the book represents, since it provides an illusion of more certainty than exists.

It is not known exactly when the stories were originally composed, but they were transmitted for centuries before being written down. Scholars generally believe that the compositions were passed along by singer-storytellers in a folk tradition, with each performance reshaping the lyrics, even after written versions appeared.

The epic represents the collective voices of countless ancient people still singing to us from the past.

Medieval manuscripts from the Byzantine Empire, the Greek-speaking continuation of the eastern Roman Empire, carried forward texts shaped by earlier editions from the Hellenistic period, the centuries following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BCE. The Odyssey is a product of centuries of retelling, variation, copying and selection rather than a straightforward literary composition produced at a specific time in the past.

Modern books of the epic are printed with the name Homer on the cover, but ancient and modern understandings of authorship can be quite different. This is a curious tradition because, even if a historical Homer existed, he did not write the stories printed on the pages. Instead, the epic represents the collective voices of countless ancient people still singing to us from the past.

The Late Bronze Age Collapse and the People of the Sea

The film adaptation contains multiple references to a terrifying threat lurking just beyond the frame. ÌýHere, the script draws on historically attested seafaring raiders and migrants collectively known by scholars as the “Sea Peoples.â€�

Scholars debate their origins and identities, but there is historical support for these raiders. Around 1200 BCE, they roamed the region and were blamed for widespread mayhem in royal inscriptions and reliefs at Medinet Habu, the Egyptian mortuary temple where pharaoh Ramses III claimed victories over them. With enigmatic names such as the Peleset and Tjeker, scholars have tentatively proposed connections with known groups, including the Philistines or the Mycenaean Greeks.

The activities of the so-called Sea Peoples coincided with regional collapse at the end of the Bronze Age.

No one knows precisely what led them to migrate or raid coastal cities. The activities of the so-called Sea Peoples coincided with regional collapse at the end of the Bronze Age, a catastrophic period during which great states, including those of the Mycenaean Greeks and the Hittites, who ruled a major empire in modern-day Turkey, disintegrated — ushering in what has traditionally been described as a civilizational “dark age.�

As echoed in the film, the Trojan War traditions themselves cast the returning Greek victors as lawless, seaborne raiders. For example, Odysseus and his crew traditionally begin their voyage with an unprovoked attack on Ismarus, a coastal city whose wealth and women they attempt to carry away. The returning heroes are mobile bandits, evoking the upheavals of the age.

Digging Up Troy

Archaeological research has revealed that the literary landscape of theÌýOdyssey is not purely mythological. In the late 19th century, a wealthy German businessman and amateur archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann set out to find the legendary places of the Trojan War. A man of his time, he unsystematically excavated Hisarlik, ancient Troy, in northwestern Turkey beginning in 1870, before turning his attention to Mycenae in Greece in 1876.

At both locations, Schliemann’s local collaborators discovered extraordinary Bronze Age artifacts. Ever the showman, he gave the golden artifacts sensational names like “Priam’s Treasure� and the “Mask of Agamemnon.� While later research showed that the gold artifacts didn’t date to the traditional timing of the Trojan War, the truly contemporaneous remains are significant and informative. Subsequent research confirmed what many once considered the realm of myth: Troy and Mycenae were powerful cities that flourished during the Late Bronze Age.

Setting Sail Into the Unknown

Scholars don’t know if there was a real Trojan War, although it seems plausible that it is a literary construction of ongoing conflicts, dramatized as a single war. Siege warfare is well documented in the Late Bronze Age, and 13th-century BCE diplomatic records from the Hittite Empire appear to record Mycenaean involvement in western Anatolia, supporting the idea that the war is a literary composite.

Equally, the historical identity of Helen, whose face launched a thousand ships, is unknown.

Equally, the historical identity of Helen, whose face launched a thousand ships, is unknown. In Trojan War accounts, she is an ideal, mythologically beautiful woman who provoked the war. Some traditions identify her as the Spartan queen who fell in love with Paris, a Trojan prince, and chose to leave everything behind for a new life across the sea. Others portray her as abducted, with the war an effort to free her.

Skeptics doubt the stories about Helen having inspired a war, dismissing them as romantic or far-fetched. They instead theorize about real motives, such as political strategy, trade interests and regional dominance. But history also shows that wars have been fought over far less.

Why the Odyssey Still Matters

This summer’s popular film adaptation is introducing new audiences to Odysseus’s adventures through its stunning visuals and fresh take on some of humanity’s oldest stories. Among the gods, heroes, and magic of the texts, originally performed as songs, history and archaeology recover traces of a distant past.

An ancient epic like the Odyssey still matters not because it is faithful to an “original� or older story, but because we continue to make it part of our own.

An ancient epic like the Odyssey still matters not because it is faithful to an “original� or older story, but because we continue to make it part of our own. It is living art that keeps us in conversation with real people in the past, who also struggled with war, loss and longing and expressed themselves through art.

By reinterpreting their stories to meet the challenges of our own time, we continue an enduring tradition. As a final thought, if faithfulness to the original Odyssey had been desirable — or attainable — as a goal, the film should have been a musical.

Name:ÌýJohn Sacher

Position(s):ÌýProfessor of history

Why are you interested in this research?
As I tell my first-year students, if you think history is boring, you just haven’t found the right teacher yet.

History is about understanding why things happened. Generally, people are all interested in some “why?� question. Now, the “why� questions each person might find fascinating are different, but there’s something for everyone. I might wonder, “Why does the United States have a two-party system?� or “How did the Confederacy manage to fight for four years in the Civil War?� You might wonder, “Why do we have 50 states?� or “Why do we have an interstate highway system?� or “Why is the Middle East so important?� or even “Why do brides traditionally wear white?�

Regardless of your “why� question, history can provide a lens to help you answer it.

Who inspires you to conduct your research?
My initial inspiration to study history came from my parents. They encouraged me to pursue a degree in whatever interested me, not necessarily one that led to a traditional occupation.

More recently, I think that my inspiration comes from my students. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students have great questions. They keep me on my toes. Every semester I’m asked something I’ve never been asked before.Ìý Also, they are entering adulthood at a time when there are a lot of big unknowns out there — what’s going on with politics, with foreign policy, or with technological changes.Ìý While I can’t answer all of those questions, I can give them some tools to help them formulate their own answers and maybe some comfort to discover that they are not the first generation to face “bigâ€� questions in their immediate future.

How does Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ empower you to do your research?
Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of History (and the College of Arts and Humanities and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ in general) certainly empower my research agenda. As a traditional historian, I don’t need fancy, expensive equipment to conduct my research. That said — teaching can be a different story. I was recently turned into a hologram to teach patrons of about the Constitution!

The most valuable commodity any historical researcher needs is time — time to research, time to think and time to write. I finished my most recent book thanks to a sabbatical which provided that time. The university has also repeatedly given me a teaching schedule that aligns with my research. So, I’m working with undergraduates and graduate students to help them understand the same issues that I grapple with in my research. That synchronicity keeps me on track and energized.

What major grants and honors have you earned to support your research?
I have received several major grants and honors in support of my research. My book A Perfect War of Politics: Parties, Politicians, and Democracy in Louisiana, 1824–1861 (Louisiana State University Press, 2003) won the 2003 Kemper and Leila Williams Prize for the best book on Louisiana history.

Why is this research important?
Historians provide invaluable contributions to understanding today’s political world. We live in a world of a rigid and hostile partisan divide where people are reluctant to trust the media. Historians can fill a void by delivering context for often debated topics such as the electoral college, redistricting, foreign policy, the second amendment, etc. We don’t tell people how to vote, but we grant them the tools to come to their own informed conclusions.

The more one understands founding documents such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, the better one can make their own assessment of 21^st century political issues and candidates.

At Kurd Qaburstan, an ancient site in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½-led team has uncovered the first substantial group of cuneiform tablets found in the Erbil region, along with evidence of large-scale destruction, mass graves and citywide fortifications. Together, the discoveries are providing one of the clearest archaeological records yet uncovered of siege warfare and urban life during the Middle Bronze Age.

“Our 2025 research produced clear archaeological evidence linking the site to the siege of Qabra, beginning with the first significant group of cuneiform tablets found on the Erbil Plain,â€� says Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, associate professor of history at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and director of the Kurd Qaburstan project. “Several tablets are dated within days of each other, matching the timeline of the city’s fall.â€�

The project is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and conducted in partnership with the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Heritage in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The funded excavations took place during two summer seasons in 2024 and 2025.

A Lost Archive Emerges

Researchers recovered 20 cuneiform tablets and more than 100 administrative sealings from destruction layers within the Lower Town East Palace. The artifacts are being studied by epigraphers Paul Delnero (Johns Hopkins University) and Parker Zane (Yale University), along with art historian Marian Feldman (Johns Hopkins University).

The texts include palace administrative records and a letter that may reference a high-ranking official connected to Qabra. Some inscriptions may also correspond to the destruction described on the Victory Stele of Dadusha.

“Most of the tablets are administrative and provide a snapshot of palace life and the economy of the ancient city,� Earley-Spadoni says. “One tablet appears to have been written by a high-ranking official in ancient Qabra.�

Evidence of Siege Warfare

Collapsed structures, burned layers and concentrated debris suggest a coordinated and possibly prolonged assault.

“The two superimposed destructions match the historical sequence of the siege of Qabra and its conquest by Shamshi Addu,� Earley-Spadoni says. “The charred debris, the large number of ceramic vessels and individuals who met untimely deaths and were buried in the destruction layers, provide the clearest archaeological case of Middle Bronze Age siege warfare yet discovered in northern Mesopotamia.�

The Human Toll of Conflict

Within the palace destruction layers, researchers discovered the remains of 17 individuals, studied by bioarchaeologist Andrea Zurek-Ost at Michigan State University.

“The individuals were not formally buried and had no associated grave goods,� Earley-Spadoni says. “Some appear to have been left where they died, including possible palace workers. One individual was found face down over a stone basin.�

Researchers also uncovered a preserved street with an engineered drainage system and domestic spaces used for food processing and textile production, pointing to sophisticated infrastructure and economic activity.

Mapping an Ancient City at Scale

“The evidence from Kurd Qaburstan shows that northern cities could be large, complex, and politically significant, with administrative systems, fortifications, and infrastructure comparable to those of the best-known southern sites.�—Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, director of the Kurd Qaburstan Project

The team also completed a magnetometer survey covering more than 80 hectares (about 180 acres). The survey, which measures changes in Earth’s magnetic field to detect buried structures, was led by Andrew Creekmore III at the University of Northern Colorado. The survey revealed a monumental wall with bastions encircling the site.

The fortifications correspond with those depicted on the Victory Stele of Dadusha and support the identification of Kurd Qaburstan as the ancient city of Qabra.

Rewriting the Story of Northern Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is often associated with southern cities like Uruk, long viewed as the center of early urban civilization. Discoveries at Kurd Qaburstan are helping highlight the value of northern cities, Earley-Spadoni says.

“The evidence from Kurd Qaburstan shows that northern cities could be large, complex, and politically significant, with administrative systems, fortifications, and infrastructure comparable to those of the best-known southern sites,� she says.

These discoveries build on a decade of prior excavation at Kurd Qaburstan by Johns Hopkins University, revealing a city long absent from the historical record.

“Laboratory investigations are underway, including isotopic and ancient DNA analyses of the 17 individuals,� Earley-Spadoni says. “This work will help researchers understand their origins and relationships.�

Each discovery brings researchers closer to understanding how this ancient city functioned and how it ultimately fell.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award No. 2344957. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. Work was conducted with the permission, support, and collaboration of the Directorate-General of Antiquities of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Director-General Kak Kaify Mustafa Ali, and the Erbil Department of Antiquities, Director Kak Nader Babakr.

“The Universal School of Experience Leadership & Innovation unites creativity, technology and the practical application of business, marketing, and guest service to develop tomorrow’s leaders in themed entertainment and immersive experiences.� — Mark Woodbury, chairman and CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences

The first-of-its-kind Universal School of Experience Leadership & Innovation is housed within the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, ranked No. 1 nationally. With the addition of Universal’s new school and the college’s School of Hospitality Leadership, students now have access to a dual-school model that brings together experience-focused education with business strategy, operations, and service leadership.

“The Universal School of Experience Leadership & Innovation unites creativity, technology and the practical application of business, marketing, and guest service to develop tomorrow’s leaders in themed entertainment and immersive experiences,� says Chairman and CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences Mark Woodbury.

“Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ was built to power what’s next for our students, for industry, and for the State of Florida,â€� Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ President Alexander N. Cartwright says. “This collaboration with Universal Destinations & Experiences represents our mission at its best, creating an environment where students are learning in direct connection with the people and ideas shaping the future of immersive experiences.â€�

A First-of-its-Kind Model for Experience Education

The Universal and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ partnership will also support research through a new Hospitality Technology Lab, designed to be a creative sandbox for students to collaborate, test ideas, and gain practical hands-on experience working alongside Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ faculty, Universal professionals, and industry stakeholders. Students will gain timely insight that reflects industry needs as part of their education. Built around innovation and interdisciplinary teaming, the lab embeds coursework, student projects, and faculty research in a shared space, equipping graduates with both current skills and the adaptability to lead in a constantly evolving technology ecosystem.

The new school’s research will build on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s existing strengths, applying university expertise to one of the world’s most dynamic industries. Focus areas for teaching, learning, and research will include:

• Service robotics and human-centered approaches to shape guest and employee interactions
• AR and VR simulation technologies for training, operations, and immersive environments
• AI and digital twins for optimizing and personalizing the guest experience

This work extends a decades-long partnership between Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Universal rooted in collaboration and shared success. For more than 20 years, Rosen College has served as a key talent pipeline for Universal, with thousands of graduates contributing across its parks, experiences, and operations, alongside hands-on learning opportunities like the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½/Universal Creative Lab.

“Together with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ we have opened doors for students and helped strengthen our industry with valued talent — and the next chapter will be even better,â€� Chief Administrative Officer of Universal Destinations & Experiences John Sprouls says. “We’re creating a distinctive academic home that will expand pathways into fulfilling and dynamic careers.â€�

“Rosen College has long been a global leader in hospitality education, and this next step reflects how our industry is evolving,â€� says Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Rosen College of Hospitality Management Dean Cynthia Mejia. “By strengthening our relationship with our longtime partners at Universal Destinations & Experiences, we are creating a first-of-its-kind two-school model that blends creativity, technology and leadership, preparing students to lead the future of guest experiences.â€�

Pegasus Partners: Scaling Impact Through Collaboration

As Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s first entertainment-sector Pegasus Partner, Universal Destinations & Experiences joins a group of industry leaders working with the university to solve real-world challenges, accelerate discovery, and strengthen the workforce talent pipeline. Universal is also the first Pegasus Partner to enter into a master research agreement with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, enabling collaboration at scale and unlocking new opportunities for applied research.

The Pegasus Partners program offers opportunities for select partners to engage across the university in ways that create meaningful value for both organizations. That engagement includes talent development and recruitment, shared research projects, joint ventures and collaborations, strategic philanthropy, and co-location at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½.

As the first Pegasus Partner since the start of , Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s $3.5 billion campaign to accelerate its next era of impact, Universal’s commitment is a powerful model that combines philanthropy and strategic industry investment to drive innovation, expand opportunity, and fuel shared success.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ School of Visual Arts and Design students earned all four scholarships awarded at Creative South, a testament to the university’s growing reputation as a hub for emerging creative talent.

“We’ve built such a strong community that when one person succeeds, we all do,â€� says Vanessa Morán, a senior graphic design student and treasurer of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Graphic Design Student Association. “That’s something Associate Professor Victor Davila ’97 ’07MFA has always instilled in us.â€�

For Brianna Rodriguez, a junior graphic design student who received a $1,000 grant, the scholarship is validation for where she’s heading.

“It felt like a message that my work has potential, and that I need to start seeing it that way,� she says.

Building Industry Connections

The students’ takeaways from Creative South went well beyond scholarship awards. Known for its welcoming environment, the conference gave students direct access to industry professionals, hands-on feedback, and real-world insight.

The access stood out to AJ Sibul, a senior graphic design student, who says Creative South made the industry feel more human.

“There’s no separation between attendees and speakers,� Sibul says. “They emphasize people first, titles second.�

From portfolio reviews to keynote presentations to late-night networking events, students built meaningful connections with working creatives, leading to mentorship, internships, and future job opportunities.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ emerging media alumnus Josh Alonso ’25 understands that firsthand. Alonso first attended Creative South as a student, where he earned a scholarship from Heyo, a design and development agency, which included a yearlong mentorship with a professional from the company.

That experience led to his current full-time role, demonstrating how connections made at Creative South can translate directly into opportunities.

“That mentorship really grew into a friendship, which led to a job offer later down the road,� Alonso says. “They helped me understand the importance of being someone people wanted to work with, rather than just having the best-looking portfolio.�

“My career essentially got its ‘jumpstart’ from the people I met at Creative South.� — Josh Alonso ’25

Alonso’s journey reflects what many Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students are beginning to experience: real pathways into creative careers.

“My career essentially got its ‘jumpstart’ from the people I met at Creative South,� he says.

As Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ continues to invest in the next generation of creatives, experiences like Creative South equip students with the connections and confidence needed to succeed in the industry after graduation.

During Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Celebrates the Arts 2026, Legally Blonde took the stage with a twist audiences didn’t see coming — one that blurred the line between performance and possibility.

The story still delivered the heart: College student Elle Woods chases love, faces doubt and ultimately discovers her own strength along the way. But this production layered something new into that journey: state-of-the-art robotics. At Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, Florida’s Technological University, innovation shows up in unexpected places — even onstage.

The result was a show that felt both nostalgic and forward-looking, where dynamic musical theater met emerging tech.

Musical theatre major Lyric Stratton played the perfect protagonist, Elle Woods, whose dreams of settling down after college graduation are cut short when her boyfriend, Warner, breaks up with her to attend Harvard Law School. Devastated and determined to get him back, Woods pulls together an unconventional application and charms her way into Harvard Law.

High-energy dance numbers powered the production from start to finish. In one standout scene titled “What You Want,� Woods turns her Harvard application into a full-scale performance, trading a traditional essay for a show-stopping number alongside the UCLA cheer team.

The number featured 25 students on stage and took 13 hours to stage.

Three characters led a Harvard admissions conference room scene, delivering sharp dialogue as they debated Woods’ fate.

From left: Joey Fields as Winthrop, Tristan Haberland as Lowell and Jasper Allen as Pforzheimer.

Just as the audience settled into the story, two robot dogs stepped into the spotlight. During the nine-minute number “What You Want,� they appeared in a Harvard campus scene where engineering students — played by theatre majors Mia Freeman and Isabel Ramos — walked them around as UCLA cheerleaders looked on in awe. In a brief but striking moment, technology wasn’t just a prop — it became part of the story.

Operated live on stage, the robots transformed the moment into a seamless blend of performance and engineering. Freeman and Ramos were trained by Mohsen Rakhshan, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and his graduate teaching assistant, Chinmay Dhanraj Nehate.

“We’re seeing the incorporation of robotics into different things at an accelerated rate, including art. It’s exciting,â€� says Rakhshan, who closely collaborated with the production’s director to bring the robots into the show.

The electrical and computer engineering department houses 15 state-of-the-art robot dogs, nine of which are in Rakhshan’s Laboratory for Interaction of Machine and Brain. There, he and his graduate teaching assistant use them for both instruction and research — teaching an Introduction to Robotics course and training the robots to navigate the uncertainties of real-world environments.

During last year’s annual Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football Space Game, Michael Jablonski, assistant professor of musical theatre in the College of Arts and Humanities, watched the ECE department’s robot dogs in motion across the field. At that moment, he saw more than entertainment — he saw the potential for storytelling. A way to take something typically confined to classrooms and labs and give it emotion and meaning.

When planningÌýLegally Blonde, a story rooted in breaking expectations, the idea came naturally: why not let innovation share the stage?

Even with its high-tech twist, the show stayed true to its roots — including Bruiser, Woods’ loyal (and stylish) Chihuahua, brought to life by a real dog named Marty McFly.

During “Whipped Into Shape,� fitness guru Brooke Wyndham, played by theatre major Isabel Ramos, led her cellmates through a relentless workout. Accused of murder, Wyndham refused to reveal the truth when Woods visited — unless she could keep up — turning the moment into a high-energy number where actors sang while performing intense jump rope choreography.

In the climactic courtroom scene, Woods took the lead, defending Wyndham and using sharp instincts, wit and confidence to expose the real culprit. It was a defining moment where she proved she belongs, blending intelligence, intuition and boldness to win the case.

Front row from left: Lyric Stratton as Elle Woods, Isabel Ramos as Brooke Wyndham and Jaxon Ryan as Emmett Forrest.

Along the way, Woods stops chasing approval and finds her confidence, purpose and voice. This central theme drew Jablonski, Legally Blonde production director, to the female-driven story.

“This story showcases how a very strong, intelligent woman [Elle Woods] finds her way in a male-dominated world. She initially follows love, but through it, she finds a space where she fits perfectly,� Jablonski says. “Through being misjudged and stereotyped, we come to see that she’s far above the people around her in her thinking and in the way she brings humanity into her work as a lawyer.�

What audiences saw was only part of the story. Behind every scene change, lighting cue, and musical number is a network of students, faculty, and staff working in sync — often just out of sight. Behind the curtain, more than 50 people managed lighting, sound and scene transitions in real time.

The music didn’t just support the story — it drove it. Legally Blonde, presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International, featured music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, with 23 total musical numbers. The book is by Heather Hach.

Projection-mapped animations and imagery — created with QLab software and delivered through two high-brightness front projectors — were precisely timed to the music, blending seamlessly with choreography and lighting to shape the show’s visual rhythm.

“Each scene had its own visual identity, with projections adding specific details that help it stand out,� says Tim Brown, associate professor of theatre design and technology. “The goal is to support the show’s fun, colorful world in a clear and energetic way.�

Costuming defined each character with bold color and precise detail. Huaixiang Tan, professor of costume and make-up design in the School of Performing Arts, led the design, with support from assistant costume designers Sabrina Cervilla and Aisha Bader-Ortega. The production featured more than 100 costumes, each the result of hundreds of hours of craftsmanship.

In the Theatre Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ scene shop, students began using hands-on technical skills to build and refine set pieces in January.

Built through layers of paint, planning and precision, the set came together as a large-scale collaboration among more than 40 students.

Designed for transport, much like a touring production, the set added an extra layer of complexity and was built to be assembled at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. It was completed and delivered on March 30.