News from CLASS

UH Joins National Initiative to Advance Latino Humanities Studies

The University of Houston is part of a new consortium of Tier One Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) that has received a $5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to enhance teaching, research, cultural programming and archives in the area of Latino humanities studies as well as prepare rising Latino researchers and scholars for faculty positions in humanities studies.

Holding Algorithms Responsible in Public Policy

Whether we realize it or not, algorithms – sequences of instructions that tell computers how to perform tasks – are part of our everyday lives. In public policy, data collected by algorithms is used to help policymakers make decisions related to criminal justice, public education, the allocation of public resources and national defense strategy. But algorithms in public policy that can influence a person’s prison sentence, for example, can be biased, lack transparency and cause mistrust in the system, according to researchers.

CLASS ALL-STARS AT A GLANCE

The last 16 months have been challenging, introducing a worldwide pandemic, bitter racial injustice, political unrest and catastrophic natural events, but the University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) has not stood still. In fact, in that time of chaos and upheaval, a Pulitzer Prize was garnered, our youngest master’s graduate earned her degree, two ROTC cadets marched directly into the United States Space Force, the Fulbright Award was claimed and millions of dollars in coveted fellowships, grants and scholarships were taken home.

Sociology's Anderson, CEE's Rifai Pairing For Research Into Houston Flood Response

Professors from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and the Cullen College of Engineering, have received a National Science Foundation grant for their multi-faceted proposal to study how the community reacts to flood mitigation strategies.

From Humble Beginnings, Gerald Horne Wins American Book Award for Exploring History of Marginalization

Born in a Jim Crow hospital. Attended racially segregated “apartheid schools.” Grew up in the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood of St. Louis, an area similar to Tulsa’s Black Wall Street and home to several prominent Black businesses that were erased forever by racially motivated construction projects. Each of these circumstances shaped the unique prism through which Moores Professor of History Gerald Horne views the world. His relentless tenacity for scholarly achievement is captured in his over three dozen books, 100 scholarly publications and, most recently, his receipt of the 2021 American Book Award for “The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century.” 

UH Literary "Genius" Cristina Rivera Garza Wins José Donoso Ibero-American Literature Award 2021

Distinguished Professor in Hispanic Studies Cristina Rivera Garza, revered as one of the most eminent and prolific Mexican fiction writers of her generation, has won the José Donoso Ibero-American Prize for Letters 2021. This distinction recognizes the trajectory and career of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking writers and has been awarded since 2001 by the University of Talca (Santiago, Chile) in memory of Chilean author and journalist José Donoso.