Civic Humanities & Public Arts

Building Informed, Vibrant Communities

SJSU faculty engage and foster surrounding communities in research, scholarship, and creative projects.

Through groundbreaking civic arts partnerships and public digital humanities collaborations, diverse populations are empowered to document and broadcast regional history, modelling citizen conservancy of cultural heritage. Below is a rotating selection of our standout investigators in these areas.

   ○ Recent News and Highlights
   ○ Related Strength: Cultural Studies in Action
   ○ Related Strength: Inclusive Libraries

• Selected Publications

  • Harris, K., et al (2023). Public Art as Resistance in San Jose. 

    Harris, Y. (2020). Sound Is Round: A Waterfall of Falling Sounds That I Catch Dreaming. Resonance: The Journal of Sound and Culture, 1(2), 121–131. 

    Luna-Mega, C. (2020). Aural Shores. Edgetone Records.

    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.

    Rael, R. & San Fratello, V. (2018). Printing Architecture: Innovative Recipes for 3D Printing. Princeton Architectural 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

    Rael, San Fratello, “Teeter Totter Wall” at U.S.-Mexico Border, Design of the Year 2020, Design Museum in London

• Affiliates

  • Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies

    King Library Digital Humanities Center

    Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies

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

Katherine D. Harris
Professor of English
Digital Humanities, Public Humanities, Community Engagement, Social Justice, Emerging Technology, Interdisciplinary
ORCID: 0000-0001-9212-0939

Yolande Harris
Lecturer, Art and Art History
Sound, Listening, Environment, Underwater Sound, Ocean, Whales, Sound Art, Digital Media Art, Video Art
ORCID: 0009-0006-5203-786X

Rhonda Holberton
Associate Professor, Digital Media Arts
Multimedia Installations, Digital and Interactive Technologies, Virtual Reality, AI, Political Ecology
ORCID: 0000-0001-9147-8998

Robin Lasser
Professor of Art
Photography, Video, Sound, Site-Specific Installations, Public Art, Environment, Health, Culture
ORCID: 0000-0001-7740-6381

Christopher Luna-Mega
Assistant Professor of Music Theory, Technology, and Composition
Musical Translation of Environmental Sound
ORCID: 0009-0009-4965-7015

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

Valerie Mendoza
Associate Professor of Art and Art History
Photography, Installation, Artist, Image Maker, Affordable Housing, Social Practice, Photographer, Narrative, Personally Rooted
ORCID: 0000-0002-3176-3575

Keenan Norris
Associate Professor of Creative Writing
Creative Writing, Fiction, Place, Dystopia, Structural Disadvantage
ORCID: 0000-0001-8522-2750

Virginia San Fratello
Professor of Design
3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing, Robotics, Architecture, Interior Design, Design, Art, Activism, Border Wall
ORCID: 0000-0003-3914-2391

Adam Shiverdecker
Associate Professor of Spatial Art
Art, Ceramics, Sculpture, Militarism, Contemporary Culture
ORCID: 0000-0001-8928-6196

Potential collaborators and members of the media may contact us at officeofresearch@sjsu.edu.