Assistant Vice President for Arts and Humanities Edward P. Dallis-Comentale is a professor and administrator whose work focuses on public arts and humanities as well as community engagement and quality of place. He oversees research and creative activity support for faculty as well as creative partnerships across the state. Formerly, as founder of the IUB Arts and Humanities Council, he established the Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities, launched the First Thursdays A&H Festival, which attracts thousands of guests each month, and created the annual Granfalloon Festival, attendance for which topped 12,000 last year. In 2018, Dallis-Comentale helped establish the IUB Center for Rural Engagement and served as team leader for the Center’s Quality of Place initiative, a role in which he developed the award- winning Town Engagement Program.
Grace Miller is a PhD student who studies contemporary English Literature, specifically through the theoretical lens of the posthuman. Before attending IU, she earned a BA in English and a BA in Economics with a focus on Behavioral Cognition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Grace’s scholarly interests can usually be found in the blurry intersection of narrative, culture, and digital media; her current research is grounded in the materiality of embodiment—especially as it intersects with narratives of belonging, both on- and off-line.