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American Studies, Art, Art History and Archaeology, Classics, College of Arts and Humanities, Communication, English, History, Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies, Linguistics, Philosophy, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, School of Music, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

2026 ARHU Commencement: Graduate Ceremony

We look forward to celebrating the important milestone of commencement with our graduates, their families and friends and our faculty and staff.

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American Studies, Art, Art History and Archaeology, Classics, College of Arts and Humanities, Communication, English, History, Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies, Linguistics, Philosophy, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, School of Music, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

2026 ARHU Commencement: Undergraduate Ceremony

We look forward to celebrating the important milestone of commencement with our graduates, their families and friends and our faculty and staff.

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The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

What Can Science Fiction Teach Us About AI?

Alexis Lothian developed the 300-level course “Artificial Intelligence Otherwise” with support from a seed grant from the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland.

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Arts for All, English

How Stories Can Help Us Face Climate Change

Doctoral student Rashi Maheshwari discusses why literature, art and community matter in an era of environmental crisis.

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What interests you?

learning about...

a career in...

Whatever your interests and aspirations, ARHU is committed to providing the knowledge, skills and opportunities all our students need to write their own stories and chart their own paths.

"In ARHU, you’re learning about how people interact with the world and each other. My goal is to build things that people are going to use. Just technology knowledge can only go so far. You have to understand how people are going to use them to be truly successful."

Ozzie Fallick '14, Software Engineer, Google
Linguistics

"Cross-cultural communication is one of the most important skills that I learned at ARHU, and I use it to engage and inform the community in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean about our events, exchanges and any other information that supports our key policy priorities in the region. ARHU gave me the tools to understand why in diplomacy, it’s as much about what you say as how you say it."

Krystle Norman '08, Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State
Spanish and Portuguese

"I had always loved art, but I never knew you could make a career out of it until I studied abroad in Rome. There, I took a full course load of art courses and learned all about the factors of being an art professional. It was life-changing. Now I feel lucky that I’m doing something that I’m so passionate about."

Laura Sheridan Raiffe '09, Regional Account Manager, Christie's Fine Arts
Art History and Archaeology

"One of the most important things I got out of my ARHU experience is my ability to parse arguments, think critically and see multiple sides of an issue. Being in law school, it’s important to do that—it’s a skill I use every day. Not a class goes by, not a case gets read that this skill doesn’t come into play."

AJ Clayborne '13, Student, Harvard Law School
English

GRAND CHALLENGES

DEMAND FEARLESS IDEAS

The research and creative works of our faculty, students and alumni are setting the agenda for transformative dialogue about the value of the arts and the humanities in the world today.

Research Highlights

New Scholarship from The College of Arts and Humanities

Explore Our Research

Happening at ARHU

From publishing and music education to interpretation and public service, our ARHU graduates are stepping into meaningful futures that reflect the creativity, curiosity and care they brought to our community. We’re proud to celebrate the Class of 2026 and all the paths they’re about to pursue. Nora Schobel '26, B.A. in English and history, will work at Penguin Random House as a freelance editor. Nicholas González '26 music performance, will teach instrumental music in public schools and work as a professional brass musician. He hopes to make the world a more musical place! "I'll always remember making music with dear friends." Taylor Dickerson '26 French, will work as an interpreter after she graduates from UMD. She plans to spend her time connecting with other cultures. Carlo Caguioa '26 communication, will be a military chaplain. Congratulations to all of our ARHU graduates! #UMDGrad #UMDCommencement
N’deye Diop ’26 arrived at the University of Maryland firmly on a pre-med track. But the daughter of Senegalese immigrants, who grew up hearing Wolof and French at home, also carried a longtime fascination with language. The graduating senior, a double major in biological sciences and Arabic studies, studied French in high school and immersed herself in Arabic at UMD. Then, drawn by Korean music and media, she began teaching herself Korean—eventually boarding a plane for the first time to study abroad at Yonsei University over winter term in 2023. Next year, Diop will return to South Korea as a 2026-27 Fulbright Program English Teaching Assistant, working with students while continuing to deepen her own language skills and cultural understanding. “I’m really excited,” Diop said. “I feel like UMD has given me so many opportunities to grow, explore and build toward something like this.” Visit the link in our bio to learn more about her journey at UMD. @umdscience
In the new course “Artificial Intelligence Otherwise,” Associate Professor Alexis Lothian in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is using science fiction to help students examine power, injustice and exploitation in the AI era. The course was developed with support from a seed-grant program administered by the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM). “I find science fiction incredibly valuable as a tool for thinking,” said Lothian. “Sometimes when you get to really immerse in a different world, you come out with a lens that lets you look at the real world in a slightly different way.” Students begin with foundational works such as Karel Čapek’s influential 1920 play “Rossum’s Universal Robots” (“R.U.R.”), which introduced the word “robot” to the world (from the Czech robota, meaning forced labor or servitude). In the play, artificial workers are created to labor cheaply and efficiently before eventually rebelling against their human creators. For students in Lothian’s class, the century-old story is a reminder that concerns about jobs being automated, workers being pushed to do more for less and people being treated like machines predate today’s AI tools. Students were especially struck, she said, by the play’s premise that the best kind of worker is simply that which is cheapest. “When they read that, they were like, ‘This is exactly what’s happening now,’” Lothian said. Read more at the link in our bio.

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