News Center

School of Liberal Arts News Center

This is your central location for IU School of Liberal Arts news. Check back regularly for the latest stories highlighting the research and academic accomplishments in and around our liberal arts community.

 

The Charles F. Kettering Foundation has awarded IU School of Liberal Arts associate professor in sociology, Andrew Whitehead, one of three distinguished research fellows to help it advance inclusive democracy by equipping the public, policymakers, and civic leaders with essential knowledge needed to understand the forces destabilizing democracy. The research fellows will support the foundation’s efforts to combat the complex forces undermining democracy today. The work of the fellows will help illuminate the erosion of democratic norms, the rise of authoritarianism, and the roles that religion and social movements play in shaping democratic futures.

Congratulations to Holly Cusack-McVeigh, associate professor in the IU School of Liberal Arts Department of Anthropology and Laura Holzman, professor in the IU School of Liberal Arts Museum Studies Program and art history professor in the Herron School of Art and Design at IU Indianapolis for their selection as part of the upcoming fourth cohort of the Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows Program at Indiana University. The annual program is supported by the IU Office of the President and IU Research to amplify and accelerate the fellows’ research and creative projects and support their future scholarly success.

Six IU School of Liberal Arts students were recently recognized at IU Indianapolis’s inaugural Honors Convocation, celebrating this year’s most academically distinguished undergraduate students. The event, held on April 6 at the IU Natatorium on the Indianapolis campus, was an opportunity for students and families to come together and be honored by faculty and staff for their hard work, dedication, and achievements as IU Indy’s top scholars. Awards were given for the 2025 IU Indianapolis Top 100, Top 10 Seniors, Outstanding Seniors, and Chancellor’s Scholars.

Three IU School of Liberal Arts graduate students, Persis Ayeh, Ph.D. Health Communication and a minor in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Isabel (Izzy) Silverman, M.A. Museum Studies, and Hiba Alalami, Ph.D. American Studies with a minor in Philanthropic Studies, were named as IU Indianapolis’ 2025 Elite 50. This prestigious honor is presented annually to 50 graduate and professional students across all Indiana University Indianapolis graduate schools who excel beyond the classroom through leadership, scholarly work, and community engagement. And very special congratulations to Persis Ayeh, who took home top honors among the recipients by winning the 2025 Charles R. Bantz Award for Excellence.

IU School of Liberal Arts first-year undergraduate student, Malachi Aklilu, who plans to major in political science with a minor in Arabic and Islamic studies, has been awarded a Critical Language Scholarship to study Turkish. This prestigious national scholarship provides immersive summer programs for American students to learn languages of strategic importance to national security, economic prosperity and global engagement. He will spend the summer in Turkey learning the language, living with a host family and exploring the culture.

IU School of Liberal Arts associate professor and director of the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program, Emily Beckman is using artificial intelligence and literary fiction to help students understand the human experience of addiction from the perspectives of characters in fiction. At the forefront of medicine, IU Indianapolis was one of the first universities in the country to offer a medical humanities program, where today, Beckman’s dedication to helping tomorrow’s medical professionals foster better relationships with their patients by implementing the humanities into their scientific and clinical studies is on full display in a course called Addiction Narratives.

The IU School of Liberal Arts congratulates Rehab Morsi, Lecturer in the Program for Intensive English and Anneka Scott, Career Consultant in the Office of Career Development, for having been recognized with a 2025 IU Indianapolis Women’s History Month Recognition Awards. For more than 20 years, the annual ceremony, hosted by the Office for Women, celebrates and recognizes the valuable contributions of students, faculty, and staff who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, achievement, advocacy, or service at the campus, community, national, or international level in support of the empowerment of women.

Chancellor’s professor of History in the IU School of Liberal Arts at Indianapolis and executive director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Philip K. Goff, has received the 2024 Henry R. Besch, Jr. Promotion of Excellence Award from the Alliance of Distinguished and Titled Professors at Indiana University. The honor recognizes an individual who has exhibited distinction in promoting and encouraging the growth of excellence at Indiana University. It credits steadfast and tireless service for the students, faculty, and staff of IU, and of extraordinary professional and personal commitments to outstanding teaching, scholarship, and creativity.

Comments from Tamela Eitle, dean of the IU School of Liberal Arts in Indianapolis, regarding IU Indianapolis earning Research 1 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, making the campus Indy’s only R1 institution: We at the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts are pleased IU Indianapolis has earned Research 1 (R1) status in recognition of the high levels of research activity occurring on our campus.In the IU School of Liberal Arts, the importance of research, scholarship, and the drive for discovery are found across our school, in all areas of the humanities and social sciences.Our Liberal Arts faculty are active researchers who have won research grants from external funders including the Lilly Endowment Inc., National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Archives, the Mellon Foundation, and others. Through their research and creative activity, our faculty, our students, and their collaborators are developing solutions for a wide range of local, state, national, and global challenges.Liberal Arts doctoral and master’s students research areas include education policy and practice, health economics and health service research, political and civic engagement, community capacity building as well as communication as it relates to topics such as health, information, ethics, and well-being. They also engage in public scholarship in museums and community organizations and community-curated public humanities and social science projects.Our school also has the largest number of faculty participating in IU Indy’s 1st Year Research Immersion Program (1RIP). First-year undergraduate students from across the campus have worked on projects including but not limited to inventorying and analyzing skeletal remains, collecting data to support local sustainability efforts, digital transcription of historical papers, and leveraging emerging technologies to make ancient history more accessible to more people.Moreover, in addition to campus research recognition awards, Liberal Arts researchers have received nationally recognized research awards, including several Fulbright U.S. Scholars.All of us in the School of Liberal Arts are proud of our significant contributions to IU Indy’s R1 designation and of the positive economic and societal impact of our scholarship.

IU Research News & Events

Research

News, insights, discoveries, and creations from Indiana University research faculty.

IU Research news and events

Submit your news

Are you a liberal arts faculty or staff member with exciting news to share? Complete the news request form so we can help tell your story. Read Criteria and Guidelines to learn about where your news story fits best.