The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas has three new tenured and tenure-track faculty members who bring a wide range of expertise — in gender, race and law enforcement studies, poetry and creative writing, and art history.
Dr. Nils Roemer
“I am excited about our new hires, who already are very accomplished. They bring fresh perspectives in their respective fields and already have expressed an interest in collaborating across disciplines,” said Dr. Nils Roemer, interim dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and the Stan and Barbara Rabin Professor in Holocaust Studies.
Roemer assumed the interim dean role Sept. 1 and continues his position as director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies.
Earlier this year, Dr. Michael Thomas was named director of the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History and teaches classes in art history. The institute, created in 2014 with a generous endowment from arts patron Edith O’Donnell, is the first art history research institute founded in the digital age. Thomas also holds the Edith O’Donnell Distinguished University Chair and serves as a professor of arts and humanities while directing the school’s art history graduate studies program.
Dr. Anne Gray Fischer’s research focuses on the ways that women in history have been policed by law enforcement officers — why some are targeted and others are not. She uses the information to examine how and why police power expanded in America in the 20th century. Fischer received her master’s and doctoral degrees from Brown University.
Roemer said Fischer is a true believer in the importance of historical research and thinking.
“Her research and teaching offer a much-needed historical perspective on political issues of our societies,” he said.
Dr. Nomi Stone, an anthropologist, poet and scholar, is writing a collection of poems about science and scientists. Her most recent collection of poems, “Kill Class,” is based on her anthropological fieldwork on American militarism and the 2003 Iraq War. Stone received a PhD in cultural anthropology from Columbia University, a Master of Philosophy in Middle East studies from the University of Oxford and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from Warren Wilson College.
“Students will be excited to travel with her to the boundaries of anthropological fieldwork and poetic creativity,” Roemer said.
In addition to the O’Donnell Institute and the Ackerman Center, the school is home to a number of centers for research and scholarly study, including the newly established Center for Asian Studies. The school offers degree programs in visual and performing arts, art history, historical studies, history, history of ideas, humanities, Latin American studies, literature and philosophy.
New Tenure-Track Faculty
Dr. Anne Gray Fischer
Dr. Anne Gray Fischer, assistant professor of history
Previously: visiting assistant professor at Indiana University Bloomington
Research Interests: gender, race and law enforcement, specifically policing in U.S. cities during the 20th century
Quote: “I’m very excited about the STEM-forward profile of the students at UT Dallas because one of my favorite things to do is to expose history to students who otherwise might not have encountered a lot of these stories. I hope that students, regardless of their future career paths, will feel the lasting benefit and reward of engaging in historical thinking. I’m also very excited to discover collaborative possibilities with faculty across campus. I look forward to seeing what happens when faculty members get together, create an inspired spark and develop new insights.”
Dr. Nomi Stone
Dr. Nomi Stone, assistant professor of creative writing and literature
Previously: postdoctoral research assistant at Princeton University
Research Interests: poetry and poetics; anthropoetics; empire and militarism; phenomenology and affect; science studies
Quote: “I love the hybridity and cross-pollination at UT Dallas. I’m an anthropologist and a poet — a scholar who also writes creatively — so this is just the exact right fit for me. Braiding these things together is my passion. I haven’t seen a place that does collaboration as well as this place. I see a real investment in bringing seemingly disparate things together.”
New Faculty Series
News Center is publishing profiles of tenured and tenure-track professors who have recently joined the University. The following school profiles have been published: