2025-26 Theme: Myth
Check back soon for our event schedule!
Check back soon for our event schedule!
Join us for Wellness Day at the Pärlā Citywide Creative Festival. This day is dedicated to nurturing both body and mind with a range of activities designed to promote wellness within our community. Participate in community walks in partnership with Grow Daily, experience the calming effects of yoga, and immerse yourself in the soothing vibrations of sound bowl meditations. Learn more here.
Join us for the first concert of Tulsa Symphony Orchestra’s new 101 Unplugged Series at 101 Archer! TSO’s String Quartet will perform Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” and other selections. Light bites and a drink ticket will be provided. Buy tickets here.
What is close reading and where did it come from? Literary critic John Guillory gives a fascinating lecture about this and the future of “English” as a discipline. Learn more here.
A look at the history, culture and science of robots and how they’re changing the world. Join TU Professors Aliçan Camci, John Hale, Ben Peters and Joshua Schultz to learn about everything from golems and puppetry, to animation and opera, and TU’s initiative with Boston Dynamics! Magic City Books will be on site selling sci-fi smash hits that you’ll want to add to your bookshelf. And, Riffraff Tulsa’s Artistic Director Meagan Mulgrew will talk about the world-premiere adaptation of Capek’s groundbreaking and prophetic play, R.U.R., which will be staged at 101 Archer the following week. All attendees will be entered into a raffle to win some robot-themed prizes!
The popular event returns for a second year. Join us at 101 Archer during the October First Friday Art Crawl for a celebration of art! Students, faculty and staff get access to a VIP lounge on the second floor with free food and entertainment. Students who attend get to go home with an exclusive, free tee shirt, screen printed on site by Flash Flood Prints. More information coming soon!
In this innovative and timely talk, Jad Abumrad explores the art of conversation. For the last year, he’s been deep diving into the art of interviewing. Not just how journalists in his industry do it, but how do therapists do it? Salespeople? Hostage negotiators? Social workers? What are the techniques we can all steal and use in our own lives when having difficult conversations with fellow humans? This event is free but attendees are encouraged to pre-register ahead of time. Learn more here.
In Capek’s 1920 sci-fi, which first introduced the word “robot” to the world, robots are designed to serve mankind. They do not feel, do not care, and do not love. They have one purpose: to work. Manufactured by Rossum’s Universal Robots, they have become a billion dollar enterprise and have completely revolutionized the labor force. But when some units begin to show signs of autonomy, things go dangerously awry for R.U.R and its employees. In this world-premiere adaptation of Capek’s groundbreaking and prophetic play, R.U.R examines the nature of humanity and the advancement of artificial intelligence with a distinctly satirical lens, highlighting issues that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago.
Riffraff is offering a special pay-what-you-can preview performance on Oct. 9 (with a minimum of $5.00). Regular performances at standard ticket price run Oct. 10-12.
Learn more here.
Come celebrate the publication of Dr. Dayne C. Riley’s first book, Consuming Anxieties: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Trade in British Satire, 1660-1751. Riley will give a brief talk that discusses the Gin Craze, a period of extreme moral panic, that lasted from 1725-1751. This strange historical era—often compared to the 1980s crack-cocaine epidemic—greatly impacted the discussion of alcohol during the eighteenth century, helping to usher in a more modern view of alcohol abuse. Through this historical lens, Riley considers The Beggar’s Opera, a fun subversive play that mocks, questions, and (at times) reinforces the anti-gin fervor of the period.
Stay for a reception after the event with light snacks and an open bar. Magic City Books will be onsite selling copies of Dr. Riley’s book as well. Learn more here.
Explore the caverns of 101 Archer at Heller Theatre’s Halloween-themed short play festival! Wear your best costume and enjoy six horror and suspense plays. All plays are written by local playwrights and staged by local actors and directors. More information coming soon.
Learn about one of history’s forgotten women writers whose novel on migrant farmers during the Dust Bowl was cancelled after the publication of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Presented in connection to our new exhibit, Steinbeck: West of Eden, debuting on Nov. 1, 2024 during the First Friday Art Crawl. More information coming soon.
The 101 Unplugged Series continues with music from the Symphony’s Woodwind Quintet. They will perform Mozart’s Quintet in E-flat for Winds and Piano and other selections. Light bites and a drink ticket will be provided. Buy your tickets here.
101 Unplugged returns with a special Valentine’s Day concert. Listen to the symphony play sounds of the cinema at 101 Archer. Buy your tickets today.
“Sounds of Hope” is an ecologically inspired work of field recordings and ambient music that celebrates the remaining natural spaces near the artist’s home in North Portland. These songs trace the perilous migrations of the Northern Red-legged frog, express the power and beauty felt within one of the last stands of old growth forest in the Portland area, and say farewell to a superfund site just blocks from her house that is now being restored after 70 years of industrial pollution to make way for a nature park for native species of plants and animals. Patricia will share the hidden sounds from these spaces that she has gathered with her various microphones and will perform music to accompany them that honors the existence of the many living beings who have called this area home for millennia. These compositions are made with the intention of inspiring people from all over the world to look and listen to the unique natural environment around where they live and seek out ways to protect and restore their local habitats so that all living creatures can thrive.
Art has the power to create meaningful spaces for connection and community. Join Chickasaw-Choctaw artist Erin Shaw as she discusses her work, which draws inspiration from and responds to her community, and the role of storytelling in her practice. She’ll be joined by Kelsey Karper, curator and founder of Factory Obscura, for a conversation on how creative collaboration can amplify the impact of art.
Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg join us at 101 Archer to discuss their book, “What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice.” The book analyses the increasing ambivalence about having children and explores the philosophical resources available to overcome it. Peeling back the layers of resistance, “What Are Children For?” argues that when we make the individual decision whether or not to have children we confront a profound philosophical question, that of the goodness of our form life itself. How can we justify perpetuating human life given the catastrophic harm and suffering of which we are always at once both victims and perpetrators? To meet this challenge we must, we argue, uncover a capacity to grasp the fundamental goodness of human life—not only theoretically but practically in the actual lives we lead today.
Join the Department of English, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship for an evening featuring the talents of UTulsa students! Five creative writing students will showcase the work they have created under the guidance of TAF mentors. This event is free and open to all!
The 101 Unplugged Series continues with music from the Symphony’s Brass Quintet. They will perform Malcolm Arnold’s lively Quintet for Brass and other selections. Buy your tickets here.
Watch Turning Red ahead of the fall Presidential Lecture with Danielle Feinberg. Join us ahead of the screening for Pixar trivia, a costume contest and Chipotle. Stay after to hear from TU professors in film, psychology, computer science and game design, and art. Learn more here.
Help us celebrate Danielle Gurevitch and Elana Gomel’s new book, The Palgrave Handbook of Global Fantasy! Both Gurevitch and Gomel will participate in a panel about fantasy and their new book at 101 E. Archer. Arrive early and get a free Dungeons and Dragons dice set. Reception with food and wine to follow.
Heller Theatre Company and the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities are proud to present the second year of the horror-themed short play program, “Hellerween: Shorts to Scare You Shortless!” Stop by 101 Archer to audition to be in this production! Auditions will be held on the second floor. Learn more here.
Help us welcome frequent New York Review of Books contributor Frances Wilson to Tulsa. Wilson will talk about the art of biography, her new book Burning Man: The Trials of D.H. Lawrence,and the research she is doing on novelist Muriel Spark in McFarlin Library’s Special Collections. Learn more here.
This conversation will explore the politics of Tulsa before the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the echoes of those politics we see in our national issues today. The event will cover chapters 1-8 of Built From the Fire. Learn more here.
Danielle Feinberg began her career at Pixar Animation Studios in February 1997, and since then, she has worked on 14 of Pixar’s feature films. She cut her teeth on early films like A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and the Academy Award®-winning Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Feinberg was the director of photography-lighting for the Academy Award®- winning features WALL•E, Brave, and Coco. Most recently she completed her work as the visual effects supervisor on Turning Red, released on March 11, 2022. Learn more here.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is celebrating fall with a big bash for TU students during the October First Friday Art Crawl. Along with the usual food spread, live music and cash bar in our gallery, we will have free sno cones from Josh’s Sno Shack, yard games in our garden, and face painting. All students are welcome to the third floor balcony for a glo party and visit with Goldie! Don’t have a car or a ride? No worries – TU will have free shuttles running from Bayless Plaza on campus to 101 Archer and back from 4:45 – 10 p.m. Learn more here.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is welcoming renown graphic designer and curator of “The Tolerance Poster Show” – Mirko Ilić. Ilić will give an encompassing lecture, detailing his many samples of pro-bono work for different organizations and why he decided to create the Tolerance Project. Originally from Bosnia, he is currently based in New York City and works as a graphic designer and illustrator. Learn more here.
OCH will host a series of Halloween-themed events at 101 Archer, beginning with the haunting mysticism of tarot. What does a random card draw tell us about synchronicity? How can engagement with medieval symbolism enrich our modern lives? And how can we preserve our sense of free will while facing fateful factors beyond our control? T. Susan Chang will explore the tarot deck’s evolution over six centuries and the ways tarot acts as mirror and window for the cultures in which they appear. Learn more here.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is proud to partner with Heller Theatre Company to present the second year of the horror-themed short play program, “Hellerween: Shorts to Scare You Shortless!” The three-day festival features short horror and suspense themed plays written by local playwrights. The plays will be staged all throughout the building, giving guests the chance to explore the abandoned floors of 101 Archer. Buy tickets here.
To continue this year’s theme of Movement, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities will host Richard Huskey—a leading researcher in communications & cognitive science—to discuss flow states. Huskey is Assistant Professor of Communications and Cognitive Science at UC Davis. His work investigates the state of “flow” experienced by athletes, composers, writers, engineers, and more. Along with a group of researchers, Huskey published a recent article in the Journal of Communication that attempts to locate states of flow within brain network dynamics. Learn more here.
An open discussion of Huxley’s The Doors of Perception. Open to all TU students, faculty and staff.
This event will cover chapters 9-15 of Built From the Fire. The North Tulsa venue that once hosted Ray Charles, Etta James and B.B. King is back and better than ever. Hear from Greenwood musicians and artists who remember the neighborhood as a cultural mecca, then enjoy a live band performing the 1950s hits that once dominated the Big 10 stage. Learn more here.
In partnership with Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Tulsa Opera will be offering Aria Yoga every second Tuesday from November 2023 to March 2024 at 101 Archer from 6:00 – 6:45 pm. Bring your mat and join us for FREE all-levels yoga sessions set to operatic hits!
In partnership with Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Tulsa Opera will be offering Aria Yoga every second Tuesday from November 2023 to March 2024 at 101 Archer from 6:00 – 6:45 pm. Bring your mat and join us for FREE all-levels yoga sessions set to operatic hits!
TU community join Oklahoma Center for Humanities for an enthralling one-hour talk with journalist Michael Mason, founding editor of This Land magazine, and recipient of the Tim Ferris Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship. Dive into “The Secret Psychedelic History of Tulsa,” a journey through the city’s clandestine connection to America’s psychedelic movement. Michael Mason is a science journalist and author of Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath. In 2010, he founded the award-winning Oklahoma media company, This Land Press. His writings have appeared in Discover magazine, The Believer, NPR, The New York Times and elsewhere. Learn more here.
In partnership with Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Tulsa Opera will be offering Aria Yoga every second Tuesday from November 2023 to March 2024 at 101 Archer from 6:00 – 6:45 pm. Bring your mat and join us for FREE all-levels yoga sessions set to operatic hits!
Director, contributor at “Slate” and “The New Yorker” and theatre history and performance teacher Isaac Butler joins Dr. Justin Rawlins for a conversation about method acting, in celebration of Rawlins’ new book Imagining the Method: Reception, Identity, and American Screen Performance. This conversation will explore the history of method acting and its impact on the twentieth-century stage and screen. Butler is the author ofThe Method: How the 20th Century Learned to Act. He received the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and is the co-author of The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America which NPR named one of the best books of 2018. Learn more here. Learn more here.
Urban renewal radically changed Tulsa’s landscape in the 1960’s and ’70’s in ways that many residents were deeply opposed to. Author Victor Luckerson and Greenwood photographer Don Thompson will discuss the personal and policy impacts of urban renewal, juxtaposing visuals from government sources (redlining and urban renewal maps) with Thompson’s on-the-ground photography of how Greenwood residents experienced those tumultuous years. Learn more here.
In partnership with Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Tulsa Opera will be offering Aria Yoga every second Tuesday from November 2023 to March 2024 at 101 Archer from 6:00 – 6:45 pm. Join us in February for couples yoga! Bring your mat and join us for FREE all-levels yoga sessions set to operatic hits!
In partnership with Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Tulsa Opera will be offering Aria Yoga every second Tuesday from November 2023 to March 2024 at 101 Archer from 6:00 – 6:45 pm. Bring your mat and join us for FREE all-levels yoga sessions set to operatic hits! Join us in March for a special live opera performance after the class!
While he is at the very center of AI developments, Jaron Lanier also has a radically different take on AI. He doesn’t think AI is a thing in itself, but is instead a new kind of social collaboration. AI as we know it today combines the expressions of real humans in new and useful ways. A chatbot borrows from things real people have said before and recombines them, for instance. This perspective opens up more useful ways to think than the usual science fiction framing, which treats the programs as mysterious, potentially scary creatures. Instead of using hard-to-define terms like “safety” or “fairness” to improve AI, we can ask whose input was important to a given output. That concreteness suggests ways to spread both lines of responsibility and opportunity. Instead of asking who will be put out of work by AI, we can ask who should be incentivized and rewarded for offering better data to go into AI programs. Lanier is also one of the few scientists working in the field who is good at explaining how the programs work to non-technical audiences. Learn more here.
National Book Award Winner Ned Blackhawk talks about his book, The Rediscovery of America: Native People and the Unmaking of U.S. History, which tells American history through the lives and cultures of Indigenous peoples. Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) is a Professor of History and American Studies at Yale. Learn more here.
Activism in Greenwood stretches back to the 1910’s and it’s never let up since. This event will look at the long legacy of activism in Greenwood and Tulsa as a whole, from protests against mob violence in the 1910s to the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War in the 1960s to the George Floyd protests in 2020. Learn more here.
The English Graduate Student Association invites the public to welcome Dr. Brycchan Carey to TU. Carey will give a talk about literature and natural history. Dr. Carey teaches at Northumbria University, UK. Learn more here.
Five creative writing students from the University of Tulsa read the pieces they have worked on this past semester under the mentorship of TAF fellows.
A talk that considers how boxing and country music challenge writers to find the words to describe themselves and what they might mean. Rotella is a scholar and veteran writer for the New York Times Magazine and other publications. Learn more here.
Join us at 101 Archer to celebrate TU students and their creative works! An evening of art, performance, poetry, readings and more!
To coincide with the anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, this event will consist of a panel discussion about Greenwood’s future. The talk will focus less on policy and more on vision – how do community leaders hope initiatives will reshape Greenwood’s landscape? The panel will explore how the neighborhood could be transformed if ambitious efforts like removing I-244 come to pass. Learn more here.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities (OCH) and Society for Textual Scholarship (STS) are pleased to welcome National Book Award finalist Layli Long Soldier to give an artist talk at 101 Archer. She will interweave her poetry, art, and stories of her creative process in a free presentation that is open to the public. Learn more here.
Bloomsday returns to Tulsa! Join us for an Irish-themed Father’s Day Brunch with Guinness, Bloody Marys, and mimosas! Music by local Irish band Cairde na Gael and dramatic readings of Ulysses performed by local actors. Ticket link coming soon. In the meantime, to reserve a spot, email humanities@utulsa.edu.
Join us then for an enlightening (and delicious!) evening with editors Zenia Kish and Emily Contois as we wine and dine through the complications of food Instagram, aesthetics, and tastes.
An enlightening lecture with Victor Tan Chen, Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, on the dangers of this disenchantment in modern-day American politics. Learn more here.
University of Pittsburgh’s Professor Michael Madison gives an exciting lecture on the complications of freedoms in the information age. Learn more here.
A live musical performance and talk on rock and its roots, led by Nashville-born, North Carolina-based independent musical artist Florence Dore. Learn more here.
Doug Swanson talks about separating myth from reality by discussing the complex 200+ years of the Texas Rangers. Learn more here.
A conversation with Danielle Macdonald (University of Tulsa) and Brian Andrews (Rogers State University) as they discuss their recently edited book, More Than Shelter From the Storm: Hunter-Gatherer Houses and the Built Environment. Learn more here.
Goodkin performs his 17-song adaptation of the Iliad steeped in ancient and modern war literature. Learn more here.
Anthropologist and musician Maria Sonevytsky shares her research on a curious cassette album that circulated in the last years of the USSR on the streets of Kyiv: Tantsi (Dances), by the punk quartet Vopli Vidopliassova (known by fans as VV). Learn more here.
Acclaimed poet and translator Boris Dralyuk will host a wide-ranging discussion (and musical performance) on the sonic messages which launch out as—in the words of “ethno-chaos” band DakhaBrakha—”musical ambassadors from free Ukraine.” Learn more here.
The OCH is excited to host Maxim Osipov who will read from Kilometer 101 and discuss literature and politics with Boris Dralyuk, Presidential Professor of English at the University of Tulsa, the book’s editor and co-translator. Learn more here.
Anker explores the political rhetoric surrounding “freedom” and the instability of that term. Learn more here.
Featuring acclaimed historian and author, Siva Vaidhyanathan. Learn more here.
TU Prof. Nicole Bauer will be in conversation with Jennifer Davis. Learn more here.
An Evening with Susan Briante
Briante will talk with TAF and OCH fellow, author Kaveh Basiri, about her newest book, Defacing the Monument. Learn more here.
The accompanying gallery exhibition runs January 6-February 25 at the Zarrow Center downtown. To register for the conference or to learn more, click here.
Freedom in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Blaine Greteman writes, “As our lives are increasingly guided by artificial intelligence, what are the implications for the humanities, and for human freedom itself?” Learn more here.
TU Prof. Jan Wilson will be in conversation with Sara Beam. Learn more here.
For more information and/or to register, click here.
“Automobiles have always been… the great American ‘freedom machines.’ But for too many of us, they have become vehicles of unfreedom.” Learn more here.
“A theory of the viral underclass can serve as a framework for understanding how vulnerability is manufactured… and how viruses spread through society more broadly.” Learn more here.
Mohsin Hamid is the award-winning author of Exit West, TU’s 2022 Common Read selection. Hamid will give a keynote address followed by a moderated Q&A. Learn more here.
Dr. Kevin Dettmar in conversation with Ted Genoways
Join us in welcoming author, essayist, and literary critic, Bill Deresiewicz, as he discusses his newest book, The End of Solitude. Learn more here.
From religious introspection to contemplation of the future to frenzied gambling, the idea of “speculation” harbors a rich tapestry of meanings. Now, as computers and AI speculate for us, and as speculative and science fiction universes abound, these meanings take on another valence. During our conversation with Rogers, we will explore the history of word “speculation,” along with its uses and relevance today. Learn more here.
In this lecture, Professor Homestead will give a brief overview of her recent book recovering Cather and Lewis’s domestic partnership and literary collaboration, “The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis.” Learn more here.
In this lecture, Dr. Althea Tait will explore the connections between hunger, agency, and ecology in the works of Morrison. Learn more here.
We are excited to host “New Voices from TU,” a creative writing showcase presenting the work of the 2021-22 TU creative writing mentees. Each year TU creative writing students are paired with artists from the Tulsa Artist Fellowship (TAF) to collaborate and receive feedback on their work. Learn more here.
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Dr. Jennifer Freyd is an American researcher, author, educator, and speaker who has published widely on betrayal trauma, institutional betrayal, and institutional courage. In this virtual lecture, Jennifer Freyd will explore the power of institutions to act with institutional courage and the importance of accountability and transparency in these critical moments. She will explain her concepts of betrayal trauma, betrayal blindness, DARVO, and institutional betrayal – and how these ideas and her research findings led to her work on institutional courage. Freyd will suggest concrete steps for both individuals and institutions to address sexual abuse through a lens of institutional courage. Learn More
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In this talk, Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH, public health expert and belonging strategist, will define and characterize belonging, highlight its impact on human potential and health disparities, and describe how our legal system can serve as a facilitator and barrier to a sense of belonging for marginalized populations. She will also offer tips on steps we can all take to cultivate cultures of belonging in the places where we live, learn, work, play, and worship. Read more here
Online Event
Join us for an essential and timely discussion about white rage in America. Copies of Carol Anderson’s book White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide will be distributed prior to the event by our partners at Fulton Street Books in Tulsa. Read more here
Online Event
Join us for a conversation with Mauricio Alberto Cordero, editor of BorderX: A Crisis in Graphic Detail. BorderX is a comic anthology about the crisis on the southern border. It includes work by dozens of artists who have created a series of exhibits, narratives, posters, and ruminations. This collaborative work creates a prism of different views on the cruelty of American policies at the border and their far-reaching effects on immigrants and asylum seekers. Read more here
Online Event
Online Event
Join Sarah Ray, the author of “A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety,” for a discussion about letting go of eco-guilt, resisting burnout, and cultivating resilience while advocating for climate justice. Copies of her book will also be given away to a limited number of participants. Read more here
In celebration of his new book Modernism and the Law, please join us for a reception and conversation with professor Robert Spoo about how law has shaped, enabled, and often deformed the creation and reception of modern literature. We will explore a range of topics including intellectual property, informal norms, piracy, obscenity, defamation, and more.
Please join the History Department as we welcome documentary filmmaker, Jared Brock, for a screening and discussion of his documentary film, Redeeming Uncle Tom: the Josiah Henson Story. This ground-breaking documentary will restore a hero of the abolitionist movement to his rightful place in history. Josiah Henson overcame incredible odds to escape from slavery with his wife and children. His life inspired the lead character of Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel which has been recognized as one of the sparks that ignited the Civil War. Critically acclaimed actor Danny Glover narrates the voice of Josiah Henson in the film. Co-sponsired by the Departments of History and English, the Association of Black Collegians, and TITAN.
In advance of David Grann’s Presidential Lecture, the OCH will host a public discussion forum about his book Killers of the Flower Moon.
Professor Travis Vogan will talk about the popular and critically-derided artist LeRoy Neiman’s appearances on ABC’s sports television programming during the 1970s. It explores how these cameos helped to create Neiman’s polarizing image in the art world while contributing to ABC’s codification of sports television’s creative and commercial ambitions. And it argues that these strange convergences produced a televisual sports art and an artful sports television.
A showcase of the student writing from this program, organized by Tulsa Artist Fellow and TU Creative Writing instructor Simon Han, and co-hosted by the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Students will read excerpts from their work and TAF mentors will discuss their experience with this exciting new initiative!
Ian S. Port is an award-winning writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Village Voice, The Threepenny Review, and The Believer, among others. Join us for his talk. Co-sponsored by Magic City Books and the TU Institute for Bob Dylan Studies.
Sean Latham, Director of the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, will frame a discussion about Race and Responsibility in Tulsa around the HBO series, Watchmen with Nehemiah D. Frank, founder and editor of The Black Wall Street Times.
Opening reception and artist talk.
Have you always wanted to learn more about the nuances of short fiction? Do you have questions about publishing in literary journals and putting stories together to form a collection? In collaboration with the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Magic City Books, the University of Tulsa’s English Department will host a discussion featuring acclaimed short story writers. TU visiting assistant professor Simon Han will moderate the discussion.
Have you always wanted to learn more about the nuances of short fiction? Do you have questions about publishing in literary journals and putting stories together to form a collection? In collaboration with the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Magic City Books, the University of Tulsa’s English Department will host a discussion featuring acclaimed short story writers. TU visiting assistant professor Simon Han will moderate the discussion.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities will launch its year-long focus on memory by exploring the ways in which art and poetry resist even the most oppressive tyranny by preserving our fundamental connection to the past. Join us for reading and conversation with Professor Jake Howland from the University of Tulsa and poet Meryl Natchez as they explore the power of poetry not just to describe a world gone wrong but to carve out new space for human freedom and possibility.
Join us for the inauguration of the Star Connect Mentor Program at TU. Lucie Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill, 2018-2019 Star Connect Mentors, will present a short performance of some of their work followed by a reception. Hosted by the Department of Theatre and Musical Theatre and sponsored by the Feagin Guest Artist grant and the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities.
J. Donald Feagin Visiting Artist Aminatta Forna will give a reading
from her latest novel, HAPPINESS, recently selected as a Best Book of 2018 by the Washington Post.
Dr. Jennifer J. Vasterling gives a talk on her research which has centered on furthering understanding of the neurocognitive and emotional changes that accompany war-zone deployment and posttraumatic stress responses.
Mackenzi Lee holds a BA in history and an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Simmons College. She is the New York Times best-selling author of the historical fantasy novels This Monstrous Thing and The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (HarperCollins), as well as the forthcoming The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy and Semper Augustus (coming in 2019 from Flatiron/Macmillan).
Anna Badkhen, Tulsa Artist Fellow and author of six books of literary nonfiction, will read excerpts from her works. The evening will also feature readings from students enrolled in her undergraduate memoir-writing class at The University of Tulsa.
A reading and discussion of Alex Halberstadt’s new family memoir, Young Heroes of the Soviet Union.
A free screening of Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, one of the most powerful antiwar films ever made, followed by a discussion with Professor David A. Davis.
Concert reading, by TU Theatre students, of the beginning to the satiric script/novel hybrid Sea Breeze Academy by TU senior Bryant Loney. Featuring an opening reading by student Alex Isaak.
Join Phan on his visit to Tulsa to celebrate a new collection of poetry titled Reenactments about the legacy of the Vietnam War and his own experience as a refugee. Writer and Tulsa Artist Fellow Mark de Silva will host this evening of discussion and poetry with Phan.
Join us on Thursday, March 14th at 7pm in Adelson Auditorium (Tyrrell Hall, TU Campus) as graphic novelist Melanie Gillman and writer and filmmaker Laurie Thomas present their work. Thomas will screen and discuss her short documentary, “Black Girl Magic,” about the life of a young Black female artist. She will also discuss issues of visual/film representation of and by Black women, what draws her to her work, and her ongoing projects in Tulsa working with women’s stories. Both Gillman and Thomas are currently serving as TU Creative Writing instructors. Free and open to the public.
Join author and biographer Miranda Seymour while she’s at the University of Tulsa visiting the Jean Rhys archive. Seymour will chat about her work on Rhys as well as more generally about the art of researching and writing biographies.
Distinguished Professor of Russian History Donald J. Raleigh will deliver the lecture, “Russia 1917: Some Reflections on the 100th Anniversary.”
In this lecture, Ali Noorani will discuss the powerful role of culture and values in America’s immigration debate, and how a diverse range of communities are working to make America a welcoming place for long-established citizens and new arrivals alike.
Though they never became household names, two women journalists — Lillian Roxon and Joan Scott — taught Americans how to write about, and how to listen to, rock. Kevin Dettmar tells their story.
A discussion and book signing with Pulitzer Prize Winner Glenn Frankel, author of High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic, followed by a screening of the film High Noon.
Stories about war rely on graphic accounts of wounded bodies, which often stand in stark contrast to the cold medical description of a ravaged body. In this talk, Professor Zeitlin will use works by Ernest Hemingway, Stephen Crane, and others to explore the differences between these two kinds of description. Medical language, he argues, contains its own unexpected force capable of resisting the romance and mystification of violence so common in war literature.
Rebecca Traister is writer at large for New York Magazine and the author of the New York Times best-seller All The Single Ladies, which was named a Notable Book of 2016 by The New York Times. Her previous book, Big Girls Don’t Cry, was a Times Notable Book of 2010 and the winner of the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize.
Tulsa native Emily Oakley owns and operates Three Spring Farm, a certified organic family operation in Cherokee County, Oklahoma. Oakley and her partner, Michael Appel, will talk about their decision to start the farm, the foundation of the Cherry Street Farmer’s Market and how locally grown food affects the health of bodies, our communities and our planet.
Please join us for a talk by Philip Howard, Professor of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. Using the examples of beer, soytmilk, and bagged salads, he will explore how big corporations increasingly shape what and how we eat.
Join the editors of Edible Tulsa as they discuss an exhibition of photos from their pages that highlights the beauty and diversity of the region’s local food movement.
A screening of the 2013 documentary Fed Up, followed by a talk about the Farm-to-School lunch program at Tulsa Public Schools. Organized and co-sponsored by the University of Tulsa Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
A reading and book signing by Julia Child’s biograper Alex Prud’homme that explores how the legendary chef returned from France to transform American cuisine.
A talk and book signing by Robert Simonson, the drinks editor at the New York Times, about the revivial of the American craft cocktail.
A special musical performance and jazz ballet by Tulsa Symphony in cooperation with Portico Dance Theatre. Part of Philbrook Museum of Art‘s Second Saturday.
Chamber Music Tulsa and the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities present a special lecture by Dr. Sanna Pederson on the development of “taste”–both flavorful and aesthetic–in Beethoven’s times and music.
A panel discussion of Beethoven’s world featuring Dr. Jason Lavery, Professor of History at OSU, and Dr. Allen Scott, Professor of Music History at OSU.
A documentary screening about the group of school kids who led sit-ins that successfully integrated Oklahoma City’s segregated lunch counters. After the film, some of original participants will talk about their experiences with racism and nonviolent protest.
A Phi Beta Kappa lecture by Professor Bart Ehrman from the Univ. of North Carolina exploring the many changes that monks and scribes made to the New Testament–changes that profoundly shaped different understandings of Jesus and his divinity.
The Department of History at the University of Tulsa presents a lecture by Dr. Edward Baptist, Professor of History at Cornell University and author of The Half that Has Never Been Told. He will explore how digital tools provide provide radical new insights into how runaway slaves laws helped reinforce a common identity for whites.
Please join us for a lecture by Mahir Zeynalov, the journalist and free press advocate who rose to prominence amid the Turkish government’s crackdown on reporters. He appears regularly on CNN, BBC, and NBC and is an expert on both Turkey and Syria. He will talk about global struggles to defend a free and open press.
A dramatic performance of a new work from the author of “The Vagina Monologues” that explores how women struggle with the ideal of a “good body.”
Book launch and signing for Dreamland Burning, the latest novel from Tulsa novelist Jennifer Latham. Through an interwoven series of plot lines, it explores the 1921 Tulsa race riot and raises important questions about the state of race relations in the US today.
A group discussion of Sarai Walker’s best-selling novel Dietland, moderated by Professor Jan Wilson. Fifty free copies will be given away in advance.
A lecture by Dr. Roger Horowitz, author of “Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food.”
Join us for a reading and lecture by Sarai Walker, author of the best-selling novel, Dietland–a book one critic describes as “Fight Club meets Margaret Atwood.” Free to all. Signing will follow. Made possible with the support of the Ann Beth Colmar Fund.
A lecture by Jan Wilson, associate professor of history at TU, about the intersection of food and disability.
A lecture by Andrew Lison from the University of Kansas that explores the rise of new media in the 1990s amid the fall of the Berlin Fall and the influential arguments that western liberal capitalism was the apex of human history.
A lecture by Laura Miller, journalist, critic, and co-founder of salon.com. In conjunction with the Steeped show at 108 Contemporary, she’ll discuss the curious passions of collectors and her own dogged pursuit of art deco teacups.
A timely and important talk by Dr. Ben Peters, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tulsa, about Russia and the internet.
A lecture by Dr. Karuna Mantena, Chair of South Asian Studies at Yale University and an expert on modern political theory. She will discuss the practice of nonviolent resistance as understood by its two most important practitioners.
A celebration of the arts and humanities at The University of Tulsa, featuring music, art, dance, printmaking, and much more. Free and open to the entire community. Food trucks will be on site, so drop by on your lunch break to catch a short concert or make a day of it and see all that’s on offer.
We are joining with 108 Contemporary to host a talk by TU Professor of Nursing Merry Kelly on the use of tea as medicine. We’ll look at different cultural traditions and explore what modern science tells us about the health benefits of tea. This event features a set of tastings sponsored by All About Cha.
Join us for our annual Bloomsday Pub Crawl through the Brady Arts District as we drink a little, read a little and drink a little more in order to celebrate both the work of James Joyce and the many pleasures of city life. Performances by Theatre Tulsa, art exhibtions, drink specials, music, dancing and a closing concert on Guthrie Green by a U2 tribute band.
We launch our new Final Fridays series in Tyrrell Hall with a gallery talk by John Clanton, curator of “The Humor of Humans,” a special exhibition of funny photographs from the archives of The Tulsa World.
Join us for the inaugural lecture in our new Humanities at Work series. Anne Krook received her doctorate in English then taught at the University of Michigan for seven years before starting work at amazon.com. She held numerous executive positions and now writes and lectures about how humanities students can translate their skills into jobs.
To wrap up September, we’re sponsoring a jazz performance that features students from TU’s School of Music.
Booksmart Tulsa, in partnership with the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities and the Tulsa Voice, presents an evening of literary mayhem. Focused on our theme of humor, this event will pit local writers against one another as they face judgement by some of the city’s most talented writers. This year’s judges include novelist and TU faculty member, Keija Parssinen, state poet laureate Ben Meyers, and comedian Peter Bedgood. Stick around for drinks after the dust settles.
Join us for a lecture by Dr. Whitney Phillips on internet trolls that will explore why cruelty and snark have become so important a part of comedy in the digital age. Phillips teaches at Mercer University and is the author of This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (MIT Press). Her work has been featured in the Atlantic, Fast Company, and TED talks.
Join us for our next Final Friday as we open the doors of the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities to offer free Halloween-themed treats as well as a program of spooky readings and short films. The highlight will be a dramatic reading of “The Raven” by David Cook, the voice of TU’s commencement ceremony and an emeritus professor of Theatre.
Our exploration of humor continues with a lecture and performance by Bruce Adolphe, the witty composer and pianist best known for his “piano puzzlers” on NPR. This lecture is part of a larger cluster of events the culminates in a Sunday family concert by the Tulsa Symphony titled “Tough Turkey in the Big City.”
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities at the University of Tulsa in conjunction with Nimrod and the Program in Creative Writing welcome award-winning poet Suzanne Cleary for a reading and lecture on humor and poety.
As part of its focus on humor, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities at The University of Tulsa presents, Vaudeville Museum, a lively throwback performance that will feature comedy routines, red hot mamas, female impersonators, and other routines. Directed by Machele Miller-Dill, the show features several Tulsa celebrities including Adrian Alexander and Rebecca Ungerman. It runs Friday Jan 22 and Saturday Jan 23 with a special wine reception and talk-back following the Friday performance.
Please join the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities at the University of Tulsa as we help Keija Parssinen, Assistant Professor of English at The University of Tulsa, launch the paperback version of The Unraveling of Mercy Louis. After a reading and conversation, a reception and book signing will follow.
Please join us as we help launch an exciting new biography of Harriet Tubman by Dr. Kristen Oertel, Mary Frances Barnard Professor of History at the University. She will give a brief talk and answer questions about her research into one of America’s greatest humanitarian activists.
In 1958, a group of Oklahoma City high school students began some of the first lunch counter sit-ins in the United States–powerful protests designed to end segregation and focus attention on racial discrimination. Please join us as we present a new documentary film about these events and convene a panel that includes current civil rights leaders as well as the original protestors. This event is co-sponsored with the Social Science Interest Group.
Please join us for a gallery talk by Hannah Covington and Annie Page, the curators of an exhibit featuring ads, cartoons, and illustrations exploring the radically changing roles of women in early twentieth-century America.
Our exploration of humor contiues as we join with Philbrook Museum of Art, Gilcrease Museum, and Tulsa Indigenous Studies Alliance to present An Evening with the 1491s. This sketch comedy group is based in the wooded ghettos of Minnesota and buffalo grass of Oklahoma – a gaggle of Indians chock-full of cynicism and splashed with a good dose of indigenous satire.
Thomas Nast, father of the modern political cartoon, wrestled with his editor at Harper’s Weekly over whether mockery and satire had a role in American politics. Nast won the debate and changed the way we see and relate to our government. Please join us for a lecture by Fionna Deans Halloran, the author of a new biography of Nast, as we set out to explore the role of humor in American politics.
Please join us for our March Final Friday event at the Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education in the Brady Arts district. Dr. John Coward, Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Tulsa, will discuss the representation of native peoples in American political cartoons from Thomas Nast to the present day.
Dr. Mark Jackson, an expert on Woody Guthrie’s life and work, will talk about the singer-songwriter’s distinctive sense of humor, tracing it through his music and writing as well as the hundreds of political cartoons he drew. Organized in cooperation with the Woody Guthrie Center.
Please join us for an entertaining evening of politcal art and humor featuring Pultizer-Prize winning cartoonist Mike Luckovich. This free event will kick off “Giving Offense: Humor and Stereotype in Political Cartoons”–a one-day symposium at Gilcrease Museum.
Please join us for a two-day symposium on the role of humor and stereotype in American political cartoons. The event begins with a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Luckovich on April 8 at 8:00pm and continues with panel discussions at 9:00am on April 9 at Gilcrease Museum featuring internationally recognized cartoonists Clay Bennett, Bruce Plante, and Scott Stantis as well as local civil rights leaders and activists. All events are free and open to everyone.
The Chinese film A Touch of Sin, winner of the Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, was inspired by four shocking, true events that forced the world’s fastest-growing economy into a period of self-examination. Please join us for a screening of this masterpiece followed by a panel discussion featuring TU faculty from Languages, History, Film, and Business.
Please join us for the third annual TU Arts & Humanities Festival. Events will be scattered all over campus and include an art exhibition and concerts in Lorton Performance Center, print-making in Phillips Hall, film screenings in Tyrrell, and even a booth in front of McFarlin where our campus creative writers will craft a custom poem for you. Food trucks will be parked on the main green during lunch, so come spend the day or just an hour or two.
Tulsa’s third annual Bloomsday event will take place at the Mainline Art Bar this year. Join us for a raucous celebration of James Joyce and all things Irish. Music, costume contest, giveaways, readings, speciality cocktails, a surprise performance, and more!
Shakespeare and Company. The Gotham Book Mart. City Lights. These independent books shops have played a crucial role in developing, publishing, and distributing some of world’s most important literary work. Professor Andrew Thacker from DeMontfort University in the UK will explore the history of these shops and discuss the uncertain future they face.
Michael Zimmer, an expert on digital privacy, will discuss Facebook and the way it’s changing our ideas about privacy.
A Lecture by Allan Hepburn, James McGill Professor at McGill University and author of Intrigue: Espionage and Culture.
A performance written and directed by Steven Marzolf and Machele Miller Dill. Free and open to the public.
A lecture by Rachel Buurma (Swarthmore College) and Laura Heffernan (U of North Florida) on the history of English literature as told through the reading lists, assignments, and exams of famous teachers.
An interdisciplinary panel discussion at the University of Tulsa featuring Jeff Drouin (English) and Diana Folsom (Gilcrease Museum)
DT Max, author of Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace, will explore why we are so interested in the private lives of writers by looking into the complicated lives of two of the twentieth century’s most important writers–James Joyce and David Foster Wallace.
A discussion of Dave Eggers’ novel The Circle led by TU Professor of English Bob Jackson.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities will sponsor a free public screening of the award-winning 2005 film, Caché–a suspenseful, enigmatic mediation on surveillance, privacy and secrecy. Associate Professor of French Karl Pollin will then lead a discussion of the movie and the many questions it raises.
Oklahoma’s new poet laureate Benjamin Myers will be joined by youth laureates reading from their works. The event will include books sales and signing as well as refreshments.
Join us all day for rotating exhibitions and performances featuring art, music, dance, drama, lectures, film screenings, poetry readings and much more as we celebrate arts and humanities at the University of Tulsa. All events are free and open to the public! Food trucks will be on campus for lunch and we’ll conclude with a wine and cheese reception. A key note address celebrating the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Humanities will kick off festival day beginning at 10 a.m.
A free workshop featuring Maya Lang, author of The Sixteenth of June, and Jennifer Latham, author of Scarlett Undercover.