Department Homepage
The College of Arts & Sciences
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.
Faculty experts from Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences analyze how Donald Trump’s AI-generated Christ image and attacks on Pope Leo have escalated Vatican tensions and drawn criticism from Catholics and evangelicals. The controversy reveals fractures linking faith, politics, and conservative Christian identity.
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.
Cornell University Humanities Scholars traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate for increased National Endowment for the Humanities and National Archives funding, meeting with congressional offices to highlight the impact of humanities programs on education. Their two‑day trip underscored how federal support strengthens community partnerships, language programs, and public humanities initiatives benefiting campuses and local organizations nationwide.
Use of Christian apocalyptic language by commanders reflects a climate shaped from the top down, says one Cornell expert. Another adds: the belief that Christians should actively bring about the end times rests on a misreading of the Book of Revelation.
The fourth Gospel of the New Testament holds many of the Bible’s most well-known passages, but also some of its controversies.
Events include film screenings, panel discussions and a concert by the Barbara & Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony.
Ibrahim Gemeah, Ph.D. ’23, is an alumnus of the Near Eastern studies doctoral program with a focus on the history of the modern Middle East. He is now an assistant professor of modern Middle East and North African history in the department of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at Indiana University.
Apocalyptic predictions are "far from new, but social media has whipped up a frenzy," says Cornell religion expert Kim Haines-Eitzen.
The Einaudi Center welcomes the Southwest Asia and North Africa Program and four new program directors this fall.
Open now through Dec. 31, the exhibit highlights findings from a four-year archaeological excavation of Ithaca’s St. James A.M.E. Zion Church conducted by Cornell faculty, students and Ithaca school children from 2021–2024.
Maimonides, one of the most significant intellectual figures of the medieval period,worked as a physician, thought like a scientist, and served as a leader of the Jewish community in Cairo.
Jordan Miller, Near Eastern Studies
Ten students who participated in this summer's Nexus Scholars Program share their stories..
The exhibit on Ithaca’s St. James A.M.E. Zion Church will open on Juneteenth with a community event scheduled for 4 p.m.
Projects spanned topics from Confederate cemeteries to Korean textiles.
Among those being recognized for exceptional teaching and mentorship this year are faculty members Begüm Adalet, Claudia Verhoeven, and Marcelo Aguiar.
Sam Bueker is majoring in government & Near Eastern studies.
Hyrum Edwards is a Robert S. Harrison College Scholar who also majored in history, Jewish studies & Near Eastern studies.
Ashley Koca is a Robert S. Harrison College Scholar and also majors in Near Eastern studies and history of art.
Cornell experts comment on the legacy of Pope Francis, who died on Monday, marking the end of a historic papacy.
Columbia University's Khatchig Mouradian will give a lecture, “Ethnic Cleansing in the Long 19th Century: The Native American, Circassian, and Armenian Cases,” on April 24.
With the award, Ziad Fahmy is working on the first critical history of early Egyptian radio.
Gabe Levin, editor in chief of the Cornell Daily Sun and a student in the College of Arts & Sciences, spent the summer of 2024 reporting on the Israel-Gaza war.
Fellows will pursue research in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Melissa Lewin ’00 and her husband Rob ’99 are active backers of Cornell through their support of Cornell’s Public History Initiative and the archaeology program.
Sturt Manning, received the P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) in Boston in November.
Olga Verlato's dissertation, “Languages of Power and People: Multilingualism, Politics, and Resistance in Modern Egypt and the Mediterranean,” received the Malcolm H. Kerr Award from the Middle East Studies Association of North America.
Eleven teaching faculty from across the university have been awarded Cornell’s highest honors for graduate and undergraduate teaching, Interim President Michael I. Kotlikoff announced Oct. 22.
“Unearthing Unseeing: Archaeology, Heritage, and Forensics in the Shadow of State Violence” will highlight new approaches to cultural remains caught up in contemporary conflicts and past trauma.
“We felt this is an important resource that should be available to our humanists at all levels, whether they have the resources to pay for membership or not,” said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences.
Nathan Thrall will talk about his most recent book, “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy.”
Cornell researchers have received a $150,000 NEH Digital Humanities Advanced Grant to create a 3D virtual modeling project based on the Casa della Regina Carolina, a large Pompeian house.
Cornell’s “Antisemitism and Islamophobia Examined” series concludes this semester with a talk by Derek Penslar, the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University.
Cornell, the only institution offering regular multilevel instruction in all six of the major Southeast Asian languages – Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Filipino (Tagalog), Thai and Vietnamese – will host a conference on the teaching of these languages on Sept. 19-21.
"Cornell alumni are generous with their time and efforts to assist students, to answer questions from students, or connect them to people and places."
Peter John Loewen says he's excited to support faculty in their research, meet students and showcase the value of a liberal arts education.
Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
The committee of faculty members, students and staff has begun a review of the university’s interim expressive activity policy and will recommend a final policy early in the fall semester.
Kim Haines-Eitzen, the Paul and Berthe Hendrix Memorial Professor of Near Eastern studies, and Mostafa Minawi, associate professor of history and director of Critical Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Studies, will pursue research projects in residence in Durham, North Carolina.
Among the faculty members being recognized this year for exceptional teaching and mentorship are Liliana Colanzi, Durba Ghosh, and Nick Admussen.
Tessa Walden is a Near Eastern studies and government major.
Alumna Jenna Zitomer '18 discusses her involvement with civic engagement through the Voter Participation Center in Washington, D.C.
The collection “Households in Context: Dwelling in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt” shifts the archaeological perspective from public and elite spaces such as temples, tombs and palaces to everyday dwellings and interactions of families.
As a new faculty fellow in the Milstein Program in Technology & Humanity, Adam T. Smith co-developed the new course this spring.
The grants provide funding for students in unpaid or low-paying summer experiences to offset the cost of taking on those positions.