Focus on Collaboration
Institute for the Study of Culture & Society Newsletter
Meet our Faculty Fellows for 2025-2026
We are thrilled to introduce our faculty fellows for the next academic year! Each fellow will lead a research project for one semester with significant public-facing components that will benefit the community and enhance the learning experience for students at BGSU.
Abhishek Bhati (Fall 2025)
Project: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology on the Nonprofit Sector in Northwest Ohio
Clayton Rosati (Fall 2025)
Project: Server Farming: Community Sustainability and Infrastructures of the Machine Learning Age
Rebecca Kinney (Spring 2026)
Project: Growing Up in the Heartland: Regional Racial Formation of Korean Adoptees in the Midwest
Rebecca Mancuso (Spring 2026)
Project: “How Many Times Can You Learn That Lesson?”: A History of Hazing at an Ohio Public University, 1920-2000
Team Teaching Program
The interdisciplinary team teaching program fosters a spirit of collaboration at BGSU through exciting and innovative curriculum development. In this program, instructors from different disciplines apply to design and teach a course together.
Spring 2025: Team Taught Course “Africana Performance and the Aesthetics of Resistance”
Instructors: Dr. Sidra Lawrence & Dr. D. Amy-Rose Forbes-Erickson
Key themes of this course include: The exploration of African American Theatre and the aesthetics of resistance to allow a meaningful dialogue on colonialism, gender, and race. We are currently accepting applications for future interdisciplinary collaborations. Interested? Explore possible teaching partners or submit an application [here]
Phi Beta Kappa and ICS Host Historian Dr. Kristina Richardson
This February, ICS collaborated with Phi Beta Kappa to host a public talk with historian and visiting scholar Dr. Kristina Richardson about “Slavery in Two Worlds: East Africans in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean.”
ICS collaborates with Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program to encourage intellectual diversity and the study of marginalized groups in society. Interested in learning and seeing more? You can watch Dr. Richardson’s talk [here]
ICS Faculty Fellow Public Talks
ICS hosts public talks by faculty fellows that share the knowledge they have gained across a semester of research. These took place in four public locations across Northwestern Ohio to help foster a dialogue with the greater community beyond academia.
Kate Brodeur
Title: Community Engagement in Reading Education: The Role of a University Clinic
Date: November 12, 2024 Wood County Public Library in Bowling Green
In case you missed it, you can watch the talk [here]
Thomas Roberts
Title: Disrupting the STEM Status Quo through Equity-Centered Practices
Date: March 24, 2025 Way Public Library in Perrysburg
In case you missed it, you can watch the talk [here]
Sidra Lawrence
Title: Aural Technologies of Justice: The Sonics of Violence, Trauma, and Healing
Date: April 1, 2025 Jose Martinez Memorial Galeria at the Sofia Quintero Arts and Cultural Center in Toledo
Take a virtual tour of the collaborative art exhibit [here] that was created as part of her research project.
Meagan Docherty
Title: Engaging with Community Perspective on Gun Violence in Toledo
Date: April 16, 2025 Toledo Lucas County Public Library in Toledo
In case you missed it, you can watch the talk [here]
Better Toledo Series
This series is sponsored by Welcome Toledo Lucas County and the City of Toledo Human Relations Commission. The events are designed to enhance personal and professional development in our community.
ICS collaborates with Better Toledo by providing them with one speaker each year for their series. This partnership aims to serve the community and to generate curiosity and knowledge for the public good.
On September 5, 2024, Dr. Phillip Peek from the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society at Bowling Green State University shared his workshop, “Welcoming in Antiquity and Now.” At that workshop, Dr. Peek discussed the concept of ‘xenia’, or guest friendship, as it was practiced in the Homeric epics and how it is used to foster a welcoming environment today.
In August, we will collaborate with Better Toledo to host “Found In Trans-Lation,” an event for Toledo’s LGBTQIA+ Pride celebration. This workshop, hosted by Pella Felton and Bryan Bove-Wimberley, will give participants vital tools and knowledge through which they can understand, affirm, and interface with the local transgender population. It will also highlight the work of Toledo nonprofit organizations, connecting participants to the many local resources available to transgender individuals and allies seeking to support this community.
This event will take place at the Main Branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library on August 7th, 2025. We hope to see you there!
Co-Organizing the OLAC
The Ohio Latin Americanist Conference (OLAC) is an event co-sponsored by ICS where faculty, students, and educators present research and creative work about Latin America and the Latino/a/x Community in the US in all disciplines. BGSU hosted the OLAC in 2024 from October 3-4.
The OLAC featured a keynote speech by Rita Palacios, 12 panels, and two performances; the latter including a staged reading of Mojada directed by BGSU’s own Haley Anissa Alvarez and a capoeira performance by Mangalot Capoeira.
BGSU will host this conference again this Fall from September 25-26, 2025. The keynote speaker for 2025 will be Claudia Salazar Jiménez, an acclaimed Peruvian writer and creative writing scholar currently based in NYC. The call for papers for 2025 is open! Submit proposals [here].
Announcing the Omeka Digital Library
ICS now has a digital archive of past events. The Omeka Digital Library is a searchable online database of all the events ICS hosted from 1996-2008! This includes all marketing materials and signage from the events. If you have ever wanted to know a little more about ICS’s early years and what we have done since the beginning, the Omeka Digital Library is the best resource for this information.
BG IDEAS Podcast
ICS collaborates with the School of Media and Communication to produce the BG Ideas Podcast. BG Ideas is dedicated to talking about the challenges we face as a society and celebrating the cultural and artistic communities around BGSU. We have just finished airing our 11th season, which covered topics like the relevance of writer James Baldwin, the use of art to help heal trauma victims, and a visit with indigenous social media influencer Notorious Cree. New episodes drop on Wednesdays. For more information, visit: bgsu.edu/bgideas.
Updated: 04/30/2025 04:39PM