We’re back. Life & Letters is back in print after two years of digital-only issues. More importantly, our students, faculty, and staff were able to spend most of the academic year on campus. It was wonderful to see our community come back to life.
The magazine’s return to print is a symbol of that rebirth. The arti- cles inside (and on our website) are evidence of the fact that our people have never stopped exploring and changing the world. Our cover story chronicles the journey of English professor Frederick Luis Aldama, who has spent the last two decades putting the study of Latino comics on the scholarly map. We talk to psychology professor Kathryn Paige Harden, author of the award-winning The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, about genetics, behavior, and the experience of writing about controversial topics. We learn about the development of a new major, one of the first of its kind in the nation, in behavioral data science. We celebrate the triumph of economics undergraduate Jaskaran Singh, who won the Jeopardy! National College Championshipin February. And more.
What strikes me the most, as I reflect on what it means to return to normal, is that “normal” for the College of Liberal Arts has always been extraordinary. What’s in these pages in just a small sample of the amazing work that our community is doing every semester, every year. There are so many more stories we could tell.
Fingers crossed that we are able to keep learning and working in person in the coming year. Whatever happens, though, we’ll keep researching, teaching, learning, and innovating.
Ann Huff Stevens
Dean, College of Liberal Arts
David Bruton Jr. Regents Chair in Liberal Arts