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The College of Arts & Sciences
Cornellians’ July 2026 Reads highlights new books by Cornell University alumni, featuring nonfiction, historical fiction and mental health topics. The roundup showcases authors Betsy Rubiner, Karen Lootens Odden and Bonnie Zucker, promoting recent alumni publications.
Cornell University’s Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures funded seven 2026 Graduate Student Research projects across multiple disciplines. The awards provide research support for emerging scholars advancing racial justice, inequality, labor, identity and social change studies.
The School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University, a six-week summer program that serves as a hub for interdisciplinary inquiry in the humanities and social sciences, celebrated its 50th anniversary with events June 16-17.
Lauren Weisberger’s novel The Devil Wears Prada is resurging with a 2026 film sequel, reflecting lasting cultural impact. The Cornell College of Arts and Sciences alum’s debut novel became a bestseller, film, and musical inspired by her Vogue experience.
Poet and Cornell College of Arts and Sciences professor Sandeep Parmar co-hosts, with poet Sarah Howe, a London Review of Books podcast exploring poetry’s connections to life issues: work, sex, money and more. The podcast launches June 7.
Each spring, undergraduate honors theses granted Distinction in English are considered for the M.H. Abrams Honors Thesis Prize and for The Guilford Honors Thesis Prize.
The Collected Writings Portfolio Award recognizes students’ writing accomplishments in diverse types of composition, including critical, creative, and public writing.
Books featured by the alumni website Cornellians for May 2026 include, y Cornell College of Arts and Sciences alumni and faculty, a ‘poetic memoir,’ a study of the Gospel of John, and the final mystery from a genre luminary.
Founded by Cornell College of Arts and Sciences alumnus Jacob Lehman '06, student group Ring of Steel trains members to stage fight with weapons including steel swords, wooden staves, and even lightsabers. The group performs at campus events and on May the 4th, a.k.a. “Star Wars Day.”
Scholars in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences are redefining trauma research across humanities, examining delayed memory’s effects on individuals, culture and history. Their insights from many different academic disciplines, including literature, history, archaeology and psychoanalysis connect trauma, testimony and collective witness.
Max Nam is an English major.
Thej Khanna is an English major.
Louisa Howe is majoring in sociology and English.
Two faculty members in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences have been named to the American Philosophical Society (APS) in honor of extraordinary accomplishments: Martha Haynes in astronomy and Caroline Levine in literature, humanities and climate change.
America Casanova is majoring in English, American Studies, Government and History
Seniors in the Humanities Scholars Program (HSP) in the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University will showcase their research at an all-day conference May 1 at the A.D. White House. Their work spans across humanities fields and also highlights intersections with science, technology, business, law and other disciplines.
Cornell College of Arts and Sciences professors Cathy Caruth and Francesca Molinari are among four Cornell faculty, including Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff, elected in 2026 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for their excellence and leadership. The academy announced 252 new members April 22.
An anniversary gala will mark the Cornell Black Alumni Association’s 50th anniversary April 24-26 in Washington, D.C. Hosted by alumni of Cornell University, the event honors leading alumni and launches a $1.5 million legacy fund.
Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences hosts a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary “I Am Ready, Warden” on April 23, 5 p.m. The film’s co-producer, journalist Keri Blakinger ’14, and faculty experts will discuss death penalty impacts.
A Cornell University student reflects on a transformative Oxford semester abroad. Student Ambassador Sarah Mittleman, an English and psychology major in the College of Arts & Sciences, recounts Oxford tutorials, travel across 11 countries and advocates studying abroad.
Jonathan Zhu, J.D. ’92, whose A.D. White Fellowship allowed him to attend Cornell, has established the Zhu Family Graduate Fellowships supporting humanities doctoral students at Cornell University. Each of the three 2025 fellows – who are pursuing art history, anthropology, and science and technology studies, appreciates that the fellowship’s financial support paired with release from…
Cornell admits the Class of 2030 emphasizing real-world impact, enrolling 5,776 students from 102 countries. At Cornell University, the diverse cohort reflects the land-grant mission and applied learning goals across multiple colleges.
Serin Koh ’26, BA ’25 is pursuing a career in medicine after majoring in literatures in English in Cornell's College of Arts and sciences. She writes that she values interdisciplinarity, which universities often hail as the future of higher education.
The new class, dean Peter John Loewen said, for students to be able to confront and move through disagreements at work, at home, in their communities and in society.
This month’s featured titles by A&S alumni and faculty include an evolutionary look at dating, a Christian work on inner peace and a queer love story.
A sonic experience where the audience sits blindfolded is returning to Cornell March 23 for a 6 p.m. performance in Sage Chapel.
Biodun “BJ” Jeyifo, a leading literary critic and cultural theorist known for his analysis of modernity and its attendant social and cultural crises, died Feb. 11 in Lagos, Nigeria. He was 80.
Cornell faculty, staff, students and community members celebrated the 95th birthday of Toni Morrison, M.A. ’55, by unveiling a new historical marker in front of 513 N. Albany St., where she lived while in graduate school.
Masi Asare of Northwestern University and arts journalist Billy McEntee have been named winners of the 2024-25 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.
Scholar of law Philippe Sands will give the LaFeber-Silbey Lecture in History on March 5, considering "Lessons from History and Literature, from Nuremberg to Pinochet and Beyond.”
Registration is now open for the two sessions of weeklong offerings, with the option to stay in a newly renovated Balch Hall
New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, New York Times White House correspondent Zolan Kanno-Youngs and ProPublica investigative reporter Keri Blakinger ’14 will visit Cornell this spring.
The 12 early-career scholars will pursue research in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
On Jan. 28, the Center for Teaching Innovation and Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art will co-host “Teaching About Climate Change: Art, Action and Reflection,” a faculty panel, teaching workshop and exhibit tour exploring how instructors can engage the humanities, climate change and community in their teaching.
This month’s featured titles include fiction from A&S alum Thomas Pynchon ’59, an award-winning poetry collection and a study of a small town.
A new student-run magazine focuses on long-form journalism that reflects the culture of Cornell and Ithaca.
This month’s titles featured in Cornellians include poetry, a famed restaurateur’s memoir, and a chronicle of the 1929 stock market crash
Vaughn taught creative writing and literature at Cornell for 39 years, retiring in 2022 as professor of literatures in English emerita.
In two new books, Daniel R. Schwarz considers France and the Holocaust – and how literature and film can correct erroneous depictions of history.
"The skills that you pick up in the lab are always going to stay with you."
An interdisciplinary project is sparking collaborations among those interested in digital approaches to the study of history, languages and culture.
Newly published digital collections at Cornell University Library explore areas of Cornell history. Freely accessible online, the three new collections were digitized from materials held in Cornell University Library’s Rare and Manuscript Collections.
A new book by Shirley Samuels examines the story behind today’s divided America in literature and art created during and soon after the Civil War.
This month’s featured titles include short stories, a fantasy book for tweens, and a scholarly look at Carmen adaptations – all by Arts & Sciences alumni and faculty.
NoViolet Bulawayo, M.F.A. ’10, assistant professor in A&S, has won the Best of Caine Award as judges have chosen her short story, “Hitting Budapest,” as the best to have won the Caine Prize for African Writing in the award’s 25 years.
The latest book from Heather Alexander ’89 is Haunted USA, which compiles spooky tales from all 50 states.
High schoolers from Ithaca and Brooklyn produced the artworks depicting Morrison and a local student, a collaboration that promises to introduce Morrison's work to new generations of New Yorkers.
A specialist in literary and cultural theory and French literature of the 19th century, Culler will receive the award in June 2026 during the International Society for the Study of Narrative conference in Denmark.