Please consider applying to become a CUR Councilor for the Arts & Humanities Division. The deadline to nominate yourself is Friday, November 15, 2019 (at 11:50 p.m. EST). The form is short and easy, but it does ask you to reflect on your work and your interest in undergraduate research. So set aside a few minutes and consider joining our team. To encourage you, CURAH editors consulted Pace University’s Maria Iacullo-Bird, our outgoing Chair and last year’s Volunteer-of-the-Year winner.
CURAH: Several of your CUR colleagues have described you as a “transformative Arts & Humanities Chair.” What were your key goals as chair of the division?
Maria: One key goal as Arts and Humanities (A&H) Division Chair was to build a solid operational structure for the division to enhance communication and community among both A&H councilors and the larger arts and humanities membership. Critical to this purpose was the establishment of conference-call meetings twice a semester that were supported by email updates, and the start of a digital website blog. My second major goal was to strengthen the visibility and voice of the arts and humanities within CUR and beyond. The website blog would be become essential for this purpose and additional areas of focus would be councilor recruitment to advance the strategic pillars of diversity and inclusion, the promotion of division travel awards, more A&H-targeted programming, and ongoing advocacy efforts. A notable example of expanded A&H programming occurred at CUR Dialogues through A&H-themed plenary sessions and advocacy keynotes that included A&H perspectives. Dialogues also offered several sessions featuring NEH and NEA program officers who specifically addressed undergraduate research in the context of arts and humanities funding opportunities.
My advocacy work began as the A&H Division representative to the CUR Advocacy Committee, and continued in my role as chair. I made annual visits to Capitol Hill representing CUR and my home institution Pace University to inform members of Congress and federal officials about the importance of undergraduate research and related educational initiatives through the lens of the arts and humanities. I am very gratified that during my term as chair a strong, dynamic, and activist reputation emerged for the A&H Division through sustained collaborative work with fellow A&H Councilors, the CUR Executive Officer and the CUR National Office staff.
CURAH: What did you enjoy most about your work as chair?
Maria: It has been a joy to get to know colleagues better in the division and to represent them and our fields in a range of activities that underscored the value of undergraduate research for the arts and humanities! I enjoyed being an active chair who through the national presence of CUR made the most of opportunities through advocacy and formal speaking presentations to offer a positive voice for the arts and humanities. I derived the greatest satisfaction when acting on my passionate belief in the fundamental importance of the arts and humanities, their relevance for the twenty-first century workplace, and for the transformative impact of undergraduate research.
Majoring in arts and humanities disciplines develops creativity, strong oral and written communication, and critical, analytic skills. These are highly transferable and valued across employment sectors. As teachers and researchers in the arts and humanities, we must work individually and together to promote a positive narrative to counter the negative pronouncements concerning the arts and humanities that are prevalent today. Given the current manipulation of truth, specious reasoning, and the absence of historical knowledge in the public sphere, we need the arts and humanities more than ever to make sense of current events and hopefully to make a better world domestically and globally.
CURAH: You received the Volunteer of the Year award recently; that reflects far more than simply serving as Division Chair. What do you consider your most important contributions to the work of CUR?
MariaI was deeply honored to receive the CUR Volunteer of the Year Award at the 2019 Annual Business Meeting. The last year of my three-year term as division chair culminated in my most intense and extensive year of CUR service activity. During my last year 2018-2019, in addition to the ongoing administrative and operational work of the division, I inaugurated two major awards — the Arts and Humanities Mentor Award and the Trimmer Travel Award; served on a major CUR search committee; made repeated trips to Washington, D.C. to continue my advocacy work on both sides of the aisle in Congress and with the National Humanities Alliance and Americans for the Arts; served as a juror and award presenter at the 2019 Second World Congress on Undergraduate Research in Oldenburg, Germany; and transitioned to my newly elected position as a member of the CUR Executive Board.
CURAH: What might you say to encourage colleagues who are thinking about joining CUR or even serving as councilor?
Maria: Without hesitation I would urge them to become a CUR member and to consider how to become more involved by running to serve as a councilor. Joining CUR has been one of the best decisions I have made in my professional life! Membership in CUR makes available to me a great range of resources to inform and advance undergraduate research and also has expanded my network of colleagues and friends. Typically, we all belong to organizations directly related to our fields but participation in CUR offers a unique opportunity to get to know faculty and administrators from many disciplines as well as within one’s own academic specialty. It is wonderful to have colleagues across the country and even internationally who share a commitment to undergraduate research and can partner on projects to benefit teaching, mentoring, and research.
Serving as a councilor offered professional development opportunities that have been meaningful to me in reach and impact. My leadership abilities have been enhanced through my work as chair and now as a member of the CUR Executive Board and these achievements are recognized by Pace University where I contribute to the advancement of undergraduate research.
