Profiles
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Professor of English, former dean of the Commonwealth Honors College, and Paul Murray Kendall Chair in Biography at UMass Amherst, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina is a prolific author and media host. She has written or edited nine books. From 1997 to 2012 she hosted the nationally-syndicated public radio program "The Book Show," and interviewed guests like Toni Morrison, Julian Barnes, Kazuo Ishiguro, A.S. Byatt, Salman Rushdie, Tracy Chevalier, Maya Angelou, and Philip Roth. In 2020, she has experienced heightened interest in her work as writer specializing in Black British Studies.
Marianna Ritchey
Marianna Ritchey, associate professor of music history in the Department of Music & Dance, discovered a deep interest in music as an undergraduate at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Ritchey currently focuses her research on young American composers in the contemporary capitalist landscape. With roots as an indie-rock musician, Ritchey approaches a diverse array of musical styles in her teaching and writing as culturally important and significant.
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Paul Dennis
Paul Dennis is an Associate Professor the the UMass Amherst Department of Music and Dance, as well as a Co-Director of the University Dancers and a coordinator of HFA's New York Professional Outreach Program. Professor Dennis discusses his journey with dance and how his experiences have shaped his relationship with the art form.
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Daniel Sack
Daniel Sack is an Associate Professor of English holding a joint appointment with the Commonwealth Honors College and is the author of 'After Live: Possibility, Potentiality, and the Future of Performance' (University of Michigan Press, 2015) and 'Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape' (Routledge, 2016). Discussing the evolution of his relationship with theater, Professor Sack addresses how his experiences have influenced his teaching, research, writing, and thinking.
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Joseph Krupczynski
Working alongside other experts—both in his field as well as in the community—Joseph Krupczynski serves as an Associate Professor of Architecture but extends his practice far beyond the university walls. He walks us through his community partnerships, commitment to language and culture, and their relevance to his new position as Director of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning (CESL).
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Miliann Kang
Miliann Kang serves as both an associate professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and the Director of Diversity Advancement for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Discussing her approach to research and her work in the classroom, Professor Kang explains how her Midwestern upbringing, sociological background, and experience at other U.S. colleges and universities all inform her current practices.
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Christian Appy
Professor Christian Appy is a historian with a focus on the Vietnam War and Modern United States History. He discusses his research, his collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Press, and teaching war in the classroom. Professor Appy is a speaker in the 2017 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series and recipient of the Chancellor's Medal, the highest honor bestowed on individuals for exemplary and extraordinary service to the campus.
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