Although my writing does not project an ethical agenda, the intrinsic positive value of unmediated interactions among objects, performers, and audiences is implicit in my scholarship. I am drawn to historical and contemporary encounters among human bodies, sacred spaces, and urban settings, and these concerns resolutely connect my research and teaching. In this age of hyper-mediation, artificial intelligence, and the loss of living memory to algorithmic feedback loops, I am compelled to wonder about the meanings and values of human presence. As I have always believed, live performance is a powerful antidote to the estrangement of humans from one another and to themselves, and this belief is born out in my writing and classroom subjects and methods.

With this in mind, I will continue to seek out ways of inspiring students, artists, and colleagues in projects that engage with the three-dimensional, multi-sensorial world of our campus and neighborhood. I want to create vital environment for socialization and learning that would recommend our community to expressive play. I will to lead efforts to bring music into the hallways and interactive performance installations into public areas. As an introduction to the a vision of an “embodied” campus, I will give a public talk on the values of slowness, of breathing, of shutting down smart phones to appreciate the distinct individuality of fellow learners. I will propose the demarcation of non-digital spaces for rest, conversation, and performative exploration–identifying funding sources and collaborating with colleagues and administrators to carve out moments of campus life for creative expression and listening.