Civic Humanities
Connection Through Scholarship
SJSU faculty bridge academic research with community engagement, creating meaningful
dialogue between academic scholarship and public discourse. Through innovative digital
humanities projects, oral history initiatives, and community-based research partnerships,
our scholars work directly with diverse populations to preserve, interpret, and share
the rich cultural narratives of Silicon Valley and beyond. Below is a rotating selection
of our standout investigators in this area.
○ Recent News and Highlights
○ Related Strength: Cultural Studies in Action
○ Related Strength: Public Arts
○ Related Strength: Inclusive Libraries
Selected Publications
Harris, K., et al (2023). Public Art as Resistance in San Jose.
Mendoza, V. (2020). “Our Agents” from the larger installation "O Custo de Vida". “de Young Open” Juried Exhibition, de Young Museum.
Norris, K. (2022). The Confession of Copeland Cane. Unnamed Press.
Award Highlights
Harris, K., "Abierto Placemaking Grant" — City of San José, 2021
Harris, K., et al., “Public Art as Resistance in San Jose,” for H&A in Action “Geography of the Arts,” — California Humanities Council, 2021
Harris, Y., "Atmosphere of Sound: Sonic Art in Times of Climate Disruption" — Artist in Residence, Art|Sci Center, UCLA, 2020. With exhibition at Getty Initiatives Southern California PST ART 2024
Holberton, Krishnaswamy, “Hiding in Plain Sight: To Support the Production & Exhibition of Multidisciplinary Interpretative Responses to Historical Archives in Silicon Valley” — National Endowment for the Arts, 2022
Luna-Mega, "Abierto Placemaking Grant" — City of San José, 2022
Featured Faculty
Mary Elizabeth Anderson
Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Success, College of Humanities and the Arts
Teaching Artists, Theatre Arts, Teaching and Praxis
ORCID: 0000-0001-8903-0238
Wayne Silao Jopanda
Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies
Filipino Studies, Community Engaged Scholarship, Critical University Studies, Migrant
Labor, Higher Education
0009-0008-5809-849X
Shannon Miller
Dean, College of Humanities and the Arts
Community Engagement, Social Mobility, Renaissance Literature, 17th Century Women
Writers, John Milton
ORCID: 0000-0002-8035-206X
Keenan Norris
Associate Professor of Creative Writing
Creative Writing, Fiction, Place, Dystopia, Structural Disadvantage
ORCID: 0000-0001-8522-2750
...more coming soon!
Potential collaborators and members of the media may contact us at officeofresearch@sjsu.edu.
