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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.

Read More about 2026 ARHU Commencement: Undergraduate Ceremony
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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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

Starting today, Cara Fleck Plewinski takes on the role of interim executive director of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Appointed by ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan, she will serve in this role through June 30, 2027, following Terry Dwyer’s departure after five years as executive director. Since 2024, Cara has served as the senior director, general management and strategic initiatives at The Clarice. In this role, she has led programmatic initiatives that position The Clarice as a hub for arts innovation and social impact. An alumna of the UMD School of Music, Cara has worked at UMD since 2010, including marketing and communications roles with the School of Music, Transportation Services and Student Affairs. In her expanded role, Cara will lead The Clarice’s programing initiatives in collaboration with the academic units, maintaining donor relationships and community partnerships, and fulfilling other duties required to ensure continued daily operations. She will work closely with the directors of The Clarice, School of Music, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library and Arts for All. Congratulations to Cara! 🎉 #TheClarice #claricepresents #terpalumni
$8.16M GIFT HONORS LONGTIME SUPPORTER OF UMD SCIENCE AND ARTS The Brin family’s commitment was matched by a $3.25M award from the state for 2 endowed chairs. Innovative approaches to using climate data to improve weather forecasts and save lives. New ways to engage audiences by expanding the frontiers of live performance. Cross-cutting research to fight the world’s fastest-growing neurological disease. Those are among the goals behind a new $8.16 million commitment to the University of Maryland honoring the late Eugenia Brin, wife of mathematics Professor Emeritus Michael Brin and mother of Google co-founder Sergey Brin ’93 and Samuel Brin ’09. The Brin family’s newest gift supports Forward: The University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless, an ambitious fundraising initiative to raise $2.5 billion to expand access to UMD’s first-rate education, spur transformative research and create stronger communities. 🔗 in profile
This summer, the Frederick Douglass Center for Leadership Through the Humanities welcomed teachers and community leaders from across the region back to campus for the Maryland Humanities Summer Institute. This year's theme, "Dissent!," pushed educators to think about how Douglass's legacy of courageous thought and speech can shape classrooms today. During the day, participants participated in workshops led by University of Maryland faculty, K-12 educators and community leaders. They swapped ideas with colleagues and left with new tools for teaching the humanities.

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