(L-R) Tom Chappell, Kate Cheney Chappell '83, Tony Shalhoub '77, Dan Crewe '22H, USM President Jacqueline Edmondson, Maine Governor Janet Mills | |
A Message from Dean Kuenz
Dear CAHS Community,
This fall has been an exciting time for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. We began by celebrating both the grand opening of the Crewe Center for the Arts and USM’s designation as Maine’s first All-Steinway School. The Center’s Great Hall Gallery opened with Janna Ahrndt Does Not Dream of Labor and will be followed this February with Of Sibyls and Source: Ranges & Ruptures, an exhibition combining videos, textiles, installations, and live performances. A milestone not only for our College but for the University of Southern Maine as a whole, the Crewe Center’s success speaks to the power of shared vision and to the generosity of those who believe in the arts as a cornerstone of education.
CAHS faculty, students, and alumni continue to extend USM’s reach and reputation through ambitious scholarship, public engagement, and international collaborations on climate change, drones, AI, and the criminalization of childhood in Delhi. From public mural projects in Westbrook to travel courses in Puerto Rico, South Africa, and Dublin, the stories in this issue remind us daily that the humanities and social sciences are not luxuries but vital forms of civic and intellectual life.
| | |
As you read this newsletter, I hope you’ll see what I see every day: a college alive with curiosity, integrity, and creativity—the qualities that make our work relevant and indispensable.
Sincerely,
Jane Kuenz
Dean, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
| |
- Remembering Karmo Sanders
- Featured Stories
- Faculty Research & Awards
- Classroom Highlights
- Upcoming Travel Courses
- Student and Alumni Spotlight
- Support and Upcoming Events
| | | Honoring the Life and Legacy of Karmo Sanders | | |
CAHS lost a beloved faculty member, Karmo Sanders. Karmo joined the USM Department of Theatre in 2017 and brought a passion for theatre, comedy, playwriting, and teaching. Karmo taught Playwriting and Acting for Non-Majors, showing up for her students and colleagues with enthusiasm and joy. Karmo will be deeply missed. Karmo's obituary honors her life, artistry, and the joy she shared with others. The Department of Theatre will be planning a celebratory memorial for Karmo in the months to come.
| |
Crewe Center for the Arts Opening
On October 3, 2025, the Crewe Center for the Arts officially opened its doors with a vibrant ribbon-cutting ceremony that drew an enthusiastic crowd to the 43,000-square-foot facility. The Crewe houses 40 practice rooms, a 200-seat performance hall and 26 Steinway pianos. More than 500 guests gathered for a celebration, including a speaking lineup that featured award-winning actor and USM alum Tony Shalhoub ‘77, USM President Dr. Jacqueline Edmondson, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Governor Janet T. Mills, and the Center’s namesake, Dan Crewe ‘22H. The opening marks the culmination of USM’s Portland campus revitalization and establishes the university as the 250th All-Steinway Institution and the first All-Steinway college in Maine.
| |
Louden Family Lecture: Who Should be on Social Media
This year’s Louden Family Lecture featured Karen Frost-Arnold, Professor of Philosophy at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and author of Who Should We Be Online? A Social Epistemology for the Internet (Oxford 2023). Professor Frost-Arnold discussed the moral and epistemic imperative for us to collectively imagine alternative futures for our social media communities. The Louden Family Lecture Series is an annual event funded by a gift from Robert Louden, Professor of Philosophy, who retired in 2022.
| | |
In his new book Drone Cultures: From Surveillance to Warfare to Literature and Art, John Muthyala (English) traces the emergence of drones in twenty-first-century warfare, surveillance culture, and artificial intelligence and analyzes their representations in literature and the arts.
Maureen Ebben (Communication and Media Studies) and Julien Murphy (Philosophy) co-edited The Future of Generative AI in Higher Education, a special issue of Learning, Media, and Technology that examines how Generative AI is transforming higher education. They also contributed an article to the publication entitled "Theorizing the Future of Generative AI in Education"
| | | Janna Ahrndt (Art) recently traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to present Digital Sentiments: Transforming Loss and Memory at the 30th International Symposium on Electronic Art. Her work examines how digital heirlooms like online photos, messages, and archives shape the way we remember and mourn in our tech-driven world. | | Susan Rottmann, incoming Assistant Professor of Anthropology, joined Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences this semester. Her work explores critical intersections in migration studies and environmental issues in two new articles: "Human Agency" (Climate and Development 2025), focuses on the role of human agency in understanding climate mobility. "Reflexive Intersectionality, Collaborative Teams, and Qualitative Methods" (Oxford Handbook of Intersectional Approaches to Migration, Gender, and Sexuality 2025) combines ethnography and post-colonial feminist theory in a study of Syrian refugees’ food practices in Türkiye. | | Ragini Malhotra (Criminology) has been awarded this year’s USM Trustee Professorship to complete her book project, Criminalizing Childhoods: Life, Death and Post-Colonial Penalty in Urban India, an examination of how street-connected children in Delhi navigate systemic criminalization and state violence while also creating spaces of care, resistance, and survival. | | |
Daniel Jenkins (Leadership and Organizational Studies) received the Meter Northouse Teaching Award presented by the Association of Leadership Educators (ALE) recognizing excellence and innovation in leadership education. This award highlights Dr. Jenkins' commitment to high-quality teaching and his impact on students.
| |
Place Making through Murals
This semester, in partnership with Westbrook Housing Authority and Discover Downtown Westbrook, students in Professor Emeritus of Art Michael Shaughnessy's Place Making Through Murals class designed, pitched, and installed three murals at an apartment complex. This hands-on experience with public art provided opportunities in site analysis and stakeholder engagement.
| |
International Music Collaboration
Malinda Haslett (Osher School of Music) participated in From Satie and Ravel to Modernism, the fourth iteration of an international exchange program between USM and three Italian music conservatories. This international collaboration includes the Blended Learning Masterclass Series, with Italian students recently hosted by USM and performing in Maine’s K-12 school systems and a concert entitled Songs of Travel and Friendship.
| | Interested in earning credit with a Travel Course? Contact this office or the professors below for more information about these upcoming opportunities: | | |
Winter Break 2026: Explore the intersections of climate change, colonialism, and culture in Puerto Rico with SBS Professors Jono Anzalone and Michelle Vazquez Jacobus.
Spring Break 2026: History Professors Ashley Towle and Adam Schmitt will visit historic sites across Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Virginia for a “Journey Through the Civil War.”
Summer 2026: Celebrate Bloomsday in Dublin, Ireland, while learning about James Joyce and Ireland’s theater industry with Professors Rachel Cooper (Theatre) and Carrie Kancilia (English).
| | Summer 2026: Travel to South Africa with Tara Grey Coste (Leadership and Organizational Studies) to continue the work of The Montague Project, a multi-decade global leadership lab in South Africa. | | | CAHS to Careers: Student and Alumni Spotlight | | Makala Greene '24, an Economics major and Labor Studies minor, recently completed a year-long internship with the Maine AFL-CIO, where she contributed to database management, outreach to union affiliates, and the creation of a Maine labor history map. In a feature by the Maine ALF-CIO, Makala said, "The skills I picked up here are going to be applicable anywhere I choose to go now." | |  | Muhammad Humza Khan '18, a Political Science alumnus, is Founder and CEO of Inclusion Maine, a DEI consulting firm, which organizes the Inclusion Maine Conference on diversifying Maine's workforce with leading Maine-based organizations. Muhammad was honored with the Mainebiz 40 under 40 award, which recognizes outstanding young leaders who are making an impact in Maine's business community. | | | English majors Bella Ciampi, Vincent Herrington, and Paul Connel presented their research on William Faulkner at this year’s Southern Writers/Southern Writing Conference in Oxford, Mississippi, an interdisciplinary graduate student conference exploring southern culture and expression. Reflecting on the experience, Ciampi said, “After months of researching William Faulkner’s works and discourses around them, it was unreal to be able to engage in that discourse ourselves; we met the scholars whose work we had been citing.” | | | Alan Bray '71 presented his fourth solo exhibition, Inhabited Landscape, at DFN Projects in New York City. After earning his degree from the University of Southern Maine, Bray continued his studies in Florence, Italy, where he was introduced to the centuries-old techniques of tempera and casein painting. His works are included in major collections such as the Portland Museum of Art, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. | | | |
Support the CAHS Fund
Scan the QR code to go to the donation page or click below!
| | | | | |
