Tulane University Libraries present the 2020 Faculty Author Spotlight Series

Over the years, Tulane University Libraries (TUL) has hosted a Library Speaker Series to provide students, faculty and visiting researchers an opportunity to share their work with their peers. In 2019, the Faculty Author Spotlight was created to continue the series and promote recent scholarship on campus. However, COVID-19 has presented the Tulane community with the need for new ways to support faculty engagement interests.

Librarians have adapted to the current circumstances by producing an innovative digital Faculty Author Spotlight Series that facilitates interdepartmental discussion of today’s most current research. As the informational hub of campus, TUL is uniting Tulanians through this project by building a space where the community can partake in academic inquiry while ensuring the health of all participants and attendees.

This digital collection will be available to all Tulane affiliates and the public in an effort to celebrate the authors, promote the extensive scholarship at Tulane, and encourage cross-campus scholarly conversations. Episodes are released each Monday and Friday in the fall 2020 semester on TUL's YouTube channel here, culminating with live Zoom Q&As in November before finals.

“This outreach program is important. It is so exciting to be able to share the moments of discovery that spark research and the very human process by which it is carried to completion,” says Linda Carroll, PhD, who recently published Thomas Jefferson’s Italian and Italian-Related Library in the History of Universal Personal Rights.

Participating faculty members from the School of Liberal Arts include Thomas Albrecht (English), Michael Brumbaugh (Classical Studies), Ronna Burger (Philosophy), Linda Carroll (French and Italian), Joel Dinerstein (English), Victor Holtcamp (Theatre and Dance), Dennis P. Kehoe (Classical Studies), Kris Lane (History), Jana K. Lipman (History), Nancy Maveety (Political Science), Felicia McCarren (French and Italian), Adam McKeown (English), Esra Özcan (Communications), and Mimi Schippers (Sociology). Joan Blakey, Charles Figley, and Nubian OmiSayade Sun are featured speakers from Tulane School of Social Work, and Elizabeth Gross is representing the Honors Program.

“The Tulane Libraries support faculty research in whatever ways we can, including helping bring faculty work to a wider audience.  Current circumstances don’t permit in-person programming, but our librarians have responded with a digital series that helps faculty share their latest insights. We hope it facilitates cross-disciplinary dialogue as well.  The recorded talks enable the entire Tulane community and the broader world to participate,” said David Banush, dean of Libraries and Academic Information Resources.

Follow TUL on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for updates on the Faculty Author Spotlight Series.