Inspired by his work in the classroom and his activism around the globe addressing human rights abuses, Bill Simmons, an associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, has created a website with an eye on defending human rights and finding achievable solutions to ending abuses. Simmons has been working with a group of 15 UA faculty members on Global Human Rights Direct, which launched this week with the help of a grant from the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry. More here and here.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded the Southwest Center a $500,000 challenge grant to establish La Búsqueda, a place to host scholars, visitors, and members of the community engaged in Southwest-focused studies in the humanities. The late Bazy Tankersley bequeathed her Tucson home to the Southwest Center for the express purpose of creating such a meeting place for scholars to study the biggest challenges of our time. More

Published in 1623, the First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, and only 233 copies are known today. To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, the Folger Shakespeare Library is sending a First Folio to every state in the U.S., and the UA was selected as the Arizona host site! The community can view the First Folio at the Arizona State Museum from Feb. 15-March 15.

Book lovers rejoice! Not only is the First Folio coming to town, the Tucson Festival of Books, held on March 11-12, will be bigger and better than ever. This year, the College of SBS tent will be a new event venue at the festival. Not only are more of our faculty and students involved, but we helped bring in some of America's leading writers and thinkers for the festival. The topics of the SBS talks are diverse, but tend to circle around the themes of social justice and the environment. In addition, the college is hosting events for teenagers and families, such as a Poetry Slam and a session on fairy tales and myths. More

The Arizona State Museum is home to thousands of artifacts that must be carefully stored and preserved. Central to that effort is the museum's Conservation Laboratory, led by conservator Nancy Odegaard, who also is a professor in the School of Anthropology.