IUPUI faculty research and teaching is particularly strong in the area of British and Irish Studies.  The website is a hub for information, discussion, and announcements of relevance to faculty, students, and staff interested in British and Irish Studies topics.  Details about affiliated faculty, courses, grants, study abroad programs, and other information is updated regularly.

The Confucius Institute of Indianapolis promotes the teaching of Chinese language and culture in central Indiana and facilitates mutual understandings between the peoples of China and United States.

The CEGESUD is an interdisciplinary research center with more than 20 research fellows who represent the disciplines of History, Political Science, Economics, Engineering and Technology, Business and Marketing, Anthropology, Management, Sociology, Psychology, Africana Studies, and Anthropology.

The English for Academic Purposes Program is part of the English Department in the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.  The EAP Program is designed to provide the language support and assistance undergraduate and graduate students need to fully participate and succeed in their respective fields.

The Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication (ICIC) is a university-based research and service organization created in 1998 to enhance links between the city of Indianapolis, the state of Indiana, and cultures/nations throughout the world.

A cooperative effort between IUPUI and the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain, the Center enhances the teaching of the Spanish language and culture by providing teaching resources and information on grants and special programs for those teaching and studying the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures.

For Faculty

• Study abroad program development information
• Internationalizing the curriculum
• RISE to the IUPUI challenge

Office Hours:  Monday-Friday:  8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Phone: (317) 274-3976

All students have a faculty academic advisor within their major department.  It is recommended that students start there for advising.

Undergraduates, please use the Schedule an Appointment form below to schedule a meeting with an advisor in the Office of Student Affairs.

Graduate students should contact their individual department for guidance.

Liberal Arts Student Council - the student organization that coordinates student activities for the School of Liberal Arts.  Liberal Arts Student Council is open to all Liberal Arts students.  Officers and Representatives should be in good academic standing (i.e. - cum GPA of 2.0 or higher).  Officers are elected through campus elections in the spring each year for the following year.  Representatives are members of the student organizations housed in the School of Liberal Arts and all students who attend meetings of the Student Council.  The expectation is that at least one representative from each student organization will participate (we have at least one student organization housed in each academic department, so representatives also need to get word about activities and issues to students throughout that department).

The Liberal Arts Student Council meets monthly during the academic year and is open to all IUPUI students, as well as faculty, staff, and visitors who are interested in participating in the council.

According to the Constitution of the Liberal Arts Student Council, the purpose of the Council is "to support the exchange of information between Liberal Arts students and the School, as well as between Liberal Arts students and the campus level undergraduate student government, and to allocate the student activities funds to student organizations housed in the IU School of Liberal Arts and be responsible for the proper recording of those allocations and expenses." (Liberal Arts Student Council Constitution, April 22, 2004)

The Council is comprised of elected officers and representatives from each Liberal Arts student organization and undergraduate students who chose to participate in the council. Organization representatives are expected to attend each meeting.

Examples of activities of the Liberal Arts Student Council include:

• participation in the Liberal Arts Strategic Plan - with special sessions for students to discuss their ideas and issues with the Dean and faculty
• organizing and supporting a fund raiser for the Damien Center that resulted in the Center being able to implement a transportation program for patients
• organizing and supporting a Diversity Conference ("Bridging the Gap")
• allocating financial support for the refurbishing of lobbies in Cavanaugh Hall with student in-put about furniture and design (coming in Fall 2008)
• participation in student discussions regarding the campus smoking policy
• student representation on Liberal Arts committees (such as technology, library, academic affairs, etc)
• providing tickets to cultural activities and events - particularly to theater, dance, performance, historical, and social awareness/reflection events.  

  Student Council Meeting Dates for Fall 2011:

  Biweekly.  First meeting:  Fri., Sept. 9, 10-11:00, 2nd floor lobby, Cavanaugh Hall.    Additional dates to be announced/published by Sept. 15, 2011

• Student Council Meeting Dates for Spring 2012

             Biweekly.  Fri., 10-11:00, CA219 (most dates).  Jan. 27; Feb. 10; Feb. 24; March 9; March 23; April 6; April 20; May 4

• All Liberal Arts student organizations should send a representative or a report of activities to the monthly meetings.  Budget requests should be submitted electronically prior to the meeting so copies may be made and distributed at the meeting.

Student Council Contacts:

President:         Derek Lee, Philosophy/Religious Studies, declee@iupui.edu

Vice-President: Jessica Evers, English, jkevers@iupui.edu - fall; on leave spring

Aaron Pierce, English, pierce3@iupui.edu - spring

Secretary: Derik Taylor, deratayl@iupui.edu

Treasurer:       Oaksoon Callahan, English/Anthropology, ohcallah@iupui.edu

Senator: Tony Greco, Pre-Law agreco@iupui.edu 

Joel Clanton, Pre-Law, joelclan@iupui.edu

Alternate Senator: Andrew Davis, Political Science, davisana@iupui.edu

Public Relations Coordinator:   Clark Wehmeier, Philosophy, cwehmeie@indiana.edu

Liberal Arts Student Council Officers hold regular office hours in the Liberal Arts Student Information Center in Cavanaugh Hall Room 243D.   Drop in or schedule an appointment by contacting 278-0888. This is also where groups may reserve the 2^nd floor lobby information table space.

Advisor: Amy Jones Richardson - aajones@iupui.edu or 274-2465  or 274-3976

The Liberal Arts Student Council maintains an On-Course project site with campus/community event information, funding request forms (for student organizations within the school), discussion forums, minutes, and other useful material.  To be added to the site, contact aajones@iupui.edu

And, Hayes got to be there. “I attended three of the five screenings of the film in Rio and all of them were full,” says the associate professor of religious studies in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. “The opening night show sold out, which amazed me, since the film is an educational documentary, a genre that appeals to relatively few people.”

The fall showings of Slaves of the Saints together with the publication of Holy Harlots: Femininity, Sexuality, and Black Magic in Brazil (University of California Press) in February 2011 are the culmination of years of research on Afro-Brazilian religions.

As a graduate student Hayes began a now more than decade and a half long exploration of how African traditions brought to the New World developed and changed, particularly in Brazil which has a especially strong African heritage.

“The Afro-Brazilian pantheon reflects Brazil’s multicultural heritage and includes Catholic saints, African ancestral divinities, and the spirits of black slaves, indigenous Indians, and other archetypal folk characters from Brazilian folk history,” reports Hayes. “The basic idea in Afro-Brazilian religions is that various spiritual beings are active in the lives of humans, for good or ill.”

“Unlike Christianity, which posits a radical separation of the spiritual and the physical world, in Afro-Brazilian religions, the spiritual is made manifest in the physical and so sensual and material elements are fundamental,” says Hayes.

She determined that producing a documentary was a must to fully capture the richness of the religions which provide a deep physical experience of music, singing, drumming, dance, elaborate ceremonies and costumes, complex altars, incense, and material offerings.

Developing long-standing relationships over 15 years of traveling to and living in Brazil is what enabled Hayes and her collaborator on the documentary, Catherine Crouch, to capture on film sacred rituals and other activities that outsiders are not usually permitted to see.

The documentary focuses in particular on devotion to a group of unruly spirits often are associated with “black magic.” The film combines footage of ceremonies and personal interviews with practitioners, many of whom are women living on the working class outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

“The religious practices in which I am most interested frequently have been labeled black magic by outsiders (and even some insiders),” Hayes says. “There is a long history to this since African-derived religious practices in Brazil, as in the US, were feared and denigrated as black magic by whites and this stigma has persisted. Calling something black magic is a way of saying that it is not authentic religion, but rather something illicit, immoral or malevolent—whether or not this is actually the case.”

The film and Holy Harlots reveal everyday aspects of how Afro-Brazilian religions are lived out and are authentic and meaningful spiritual practices for hundreds of thousands of people.

“What I heard again and again from audiences at the festival was how much they appreciated that the film let people speak for themselves and that it portrayed the religion in a very matter-of-fact way without sensationalizing it,” reports Hayes.

Seeing the results of 10 years of research and two years of editing on the big screen was a thrill for the professor. But, she says, “It was even more exciting to have a group of people engaged by and interested in talking about it.”

[Slaves of the Saints trailer] [Holy Harlots information]

In Civil Rights Memorials and the Geography of Memory, Associate Professor of Geography Owen Dwyer, along with Derek H. Alderman, an associate professor at East Carolina University, explore the parks, museums, streets, and monuments honoring those involved in the civil rights movement. Dwyer and Alderman consider the movement’s history, present, and future while also asking why some participants have not received the same recognition as others. Theirs is the first book published on the topic.

Dwyer and Alderman’s research also lead to the study of place-why a certain monument exists where it does and how location shapes perception of an event-and how geography shapes a people’s view of whom we are and how we perceive our past. The uniqueness of the book and the many years of research paid off with a 2008 Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography from the Association of American Geographers. The annual award recognizes a book that conveys the nature and importance of geography to a non-academic audience.

"This was a story worth telling, and it’s very satisfying," Dwyer says of the book and the honor.

The book’s origins lie with an idea Dwyer had as a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, where he read about Confederate attempts to enshrine their lost cause. He became interested in how the civil rights movement was being honored and decided to tour the south. He found a vibrant memorial scene generating millions of dollars in revenue. But he also discovered that only travel journalists were covering the phenomenon. "This is a bigger story than the attention it’s getting," Dwyer thought at the time.

As the project grew in Dwyer’s mind, he approached Alderman. Alderman was well known for his work on the renaming of streets for Martin Luther King Jr., and the two men had become familiar with each other’s work while presenting at the same conferences.

"If I wanted to write a book with a large scope I would have to retrace Alderman’s work," Dwyer says. "So I asked Alderman if he would be interested in working with me." 

"He was in high demand, and he did work that was highly recognized. I was very gratified he would work with me," Dwyer says of his co-author.

A lasting memory from the project for Dwyer involves students from IU-South Bend and Notre Dame who participated in a 16-day Civil Rights field trip in 2002. Along the way, he conducted interviews and took photos of the students and places they saw. 

"I was very moved by the students," the professor says. "It was a discovery moment for them as they experienced history.

All these facts, names, and places they always read about in books became real. It was powerful."

While on sabbatical in 2005, Dwyer began writing in earnest. During this process, he received a Center on Philanthropy grant, an IU Arts and Humanities grant, as well as support from The Graham Foundation, which subsidized the reproduction of the photos. "Without the support of these funders as well as the School of Liberal Arts, the book would still be a work in progress," he says.

Luckily that is not the case because more than a few agree that it was indeed a story worth telling.

Learn more about the book by visiting the publisher site: http://www.ugapress.uga.edu/

- Josh Flynn, BA 2007 English

From Indianapolis to Dublin: Research Project Takes Student to Ireland to Present Her Work

While most kids in sixth grade don’t know what anthropology is, Courtney Singleton knew it was her future. Arriving at the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, anthropology led her to archaeology. "I’ve always liked being outside and doing physical labor and exploring ideas of the past and working with communities and people," she recalls. Recently Singleton-now an IUPUI senior majoring in anthropology with a focus on archaeology-took one step closer to a successful career in the field when she presented her paper, "There Are No Rules For Radicals: Can archaeology be a form of activism?" at the 6^th annual World Archaeological Conference (WAC-6).

The paper asks the question: Do we have activist archaeology and can archaeology organize for social change today? "Archaeology can be a component in a larger social movement," Singleton says. "The past has always played a huge role in any mass social movement. That mixed with the socially creative process of archaeology itself-of actually being out in the field and digging and interpreting artifacts and bringing people together in the process-those two mixed together can be powerful tools but the difference is you have to be challenging something. You have to be going after power structures."

Singleton-whose archaeological work focuses on race relations-developed her paper after a trip to a historical archaeology conference in New Mexico. She sat in on a session that was an open forum discussing race. The discussion began with activism in archaeology and Singleton listened to some of the best historical archaeologists dealing with race. She was amazed at the inconsistencies in their definitions of activism. She walked out of forum thinking "there are a lot of people considering just consulting the public as activism and it’s not. Talking with members of society is not activism. It’s much greater than that." Singleton took her concerns to anthropology professor Larry Zimmerman and he told her to put them down on paper. So she did. Then he told her to write more. Eventually, Singleton had enough to craft into a proper academic paper, and Zimmerman convinced her to submit her work.  In the past, Singleton’s colleagues had recommended it was good to get started doing presentations on a small scale, and Singleton herself hoped she could present her paper at the IUPUI library. The next thing she knew, she was being asked to present at the WAC-6 conference in Ireland.  "The turn out for the presentation was very good," she says. "I was amazed at the amount of people who were interested in it. And the reaction that it got took me by surprise. Not everyone was happy, but as an activist you are used to that. I’m not going to please everybody."

Singleton says her paper had the largest reaction of those presented at the conference and during the question and answer session that followed, it sparked discussion. Afterwards people approached to discuss her work one on one or request interviews. "It’s hard to put your thoughts out there. You’re worried about upsetting people-you know-I’m just a lowly undergrad student from Indiana. What can I contribute? Then you realize you can contribute just by saying it and getting out there and doing it," Singleton says. "No matter what, any feedback is good. Your work should always be growing and your thoughts should be developing. And that definitely happened. By putting my work out there in that venue, I had people from all over the world reacting to it."

—Josh Flynn, BA English 2007

Professor’s Research Leads to International Conference

Imagine living in a nation which didn’t officially exist. These places and their citizens, known as de facto states-countries that have claimed their independence but are not officially recognized-were the focus of a one day conference held on May 16^th, 2008 in Brussels, Belgium. The conference, entitled "Opening the World Order to de facto States," was the first of its kind and among the special guests were leaders from de facto states such as Taiwan and Somaliland and academics who have spent time researching these places, such as IUPUI’s very own Scott Pegg.

Pegg, an associate professor of political science and director of the International Studies program in the IU School of Liberal Arts, has spent the majority of his academic career focusing on de facto states, writing his dissertation on the subject and then reworking it into a book entitled "International Society and the de facto State." It was released in 1998, and shortly thereafter, Pegg stepped away from the subject to explore other areas of interest. Years later, he came back to the topic and found many people were carrying on with his work. "It’s nice to see some scholars pick up the work I began and take it in different directions and do a lot of really good fieldwork in a lot of these places," he says.

Pegg was the first to make the argument de facto states were significant and merited study and were worth paying attention to. "The conference was gratifying in that there are now a lot of people who have picked that up and are paying attention to it," he says. "Its nice to see something that I used to be alone in the woods on being much more widely accepted in academic communities and increasingly in policy and world affairs communities as well."

The invitation to attend and play a major role in the conference came as a surprise. Pegg delivered one of the conference’s opening addresses, presented a paper based on his research, served as a panel moderator and also helped deliver a declaration in support of de facto states at the end of the event-a declaration he also played a part in creating. "It basically made the argument that whether or not these entities should be recognized as sovereign states, we have to find some way to deal with them," he says. "They exist. They have impacts on international relations. They have security impacts. They have political economy impacts. They potentially are places that could be vectors for criminal activity. They are places that could be potentially engaged much better than they are. I think they did a really great job of putting that declaration together."

Pegg says the traditional method of dealing with de facto states is to ignore them, isolate them or embargo them. He cites the Turkish Republic of Northern Cypress, a state that has been embargoed for nearly 35 years, as one example. Another is Taiwan, who wanted to be a part of the World Health Organization, only to be blocked by the People’s Republic of China from doing so. When SARS broke out over Asia, Taiwan was deprived information and not allowed to use their doctors and health care services to help out. "We have to find a way for places like Taiwan to be an active participant rather than being marginalized on the sidelines just because they don’t have sovereign status in the eyes of many people in the international community," he says.

Pegg says it was a great honor to represent IUPUI at such an event. "I was sitting at the podium with members of the European Parliament and the president of The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, the Taiwanese delegate to the European Union. I was the only academic sitting at that table. It was great," he says. "I’m very happy I could carry IUPUI to the European parliament and to a truly global audience with people all over the world in attendance."

—Josh Flynn, BA English 2007

In October 2010, IUPUI—and Indiana University—launched its most ambitious fundraising campaign yet. The goal: to raise $1.25 billion dollars by 2013. With the goal more than halfway met at the launch, the campus has embarked on a bold philanthropic campaign to reach—and exceed—the $1.25 billion mark.

In the School of Liberal Arts, the goal of $4 million in philanthropic dollars and $14 million in nongovernmental gifts and grants was likewise already halfway to fruition at the launch. But, much remains to reach our objective of enhancing the educational, scholarly, and engaged environment of our school.

We invite you to join us by learning more about our campaign and making a gift to the department, program, scholarship, event, or initiative of your choice. When you do, you will be positioning your—and our—commitment to student success, civic engagement, and urban public research in the spotlight by putting your money into action for the public good.

Make a gift online now
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Select master’s degree programs may be completed simultaneously. Students typically earn multiple degrees while saving credit hours. Students must be formally admitted to both programs, and should contact each department for details.

• Economics-Philanthropic Studies (MA/MA)
• History-Library Science (MA/MLS)
• History-Philanthropic Studies (MA/MA)
• Philanthropic Studies-Library Science (MA/MLS)
• Philanthropic Studies-Nursing (MA/MSN)
• Philanthropic Studies-Nonprofit Management (MA/MPA)
• Philosophy-Law (MA/JD)
• Philosophy-Medicine (MA/MD)

2009 Ambassadors

2008 Ambassadors