UO Today

Emily Moore is the Instruction and Outreach Archivist, and Mahala Ruddell is the Lead Processing Archivist in Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Oregon. They discuss their work and the value of UO's collections. They also talk about some of the curious things they have come across in the archives. • uoregon.edu/special-collections • uoregon.aviaryplatform.com • oregondigital.org Research Notes: Abigail Fine, assistant professor of Musicology in the UO's School of Music and Dance, talks about her new book "The Composer Embalmed: Relic Culture from Piety to Kitsch" which was published by the University of Chicago Press in June 2025. She also offers other titles to explore relic culture. • "The Author's Effects: On Writer's House Museums" by Nicola J. Watson • "Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture" by Deborah Lutz • "Cranioklepty" by Colin Dickey • "The Hummingbird Cabinet: A Rare and Curious History of Romantic Collectors" by Judith Pascoe

Leah Middlebrook, assistant professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, and director of the Oregon Humanities Center talks about her new book "Amphion: Lyre, Poetry, and Politics in Modernity." Research Notes: Lowell Bowditch, professor and department head of Classics, discusses her recent book "Roman Love Elegy and the Eros of Empire."

Courtney M. Cox, assistant professor of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies, talks about her newly-published book "Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball." In the book, Cox follows athletes, coaches, journalists, and advocates of women’s basketball as they pursue careers within the sport. Despite all attempts to contain them or prevent forward momentum, they circumvent expectations and open new possibilities within and outside of the game. Throughout the book, Cox explores the intersection of race and gender against the backdrop of the WNBA, NCAA, and other leagues within the United States and around the world. Blending interviews and participant observation with content analysis, she charts how athletes and advocates of women’s basketball illuminate new forms of navigating the global sports-media complex.

Poet Henri Cole is author of eleven collections of poetry and a memoir. His latest collection, The Other Love, is forthcoming in summer 2025. He and Leah discuss his sonnets and his approach the form. He reads two poems from the collection Gravity and Center: Selected Sonnets 1994–2022. On April 17th, 2025, Cole gave a reading as a guest of the UO’s Creative Writing Program.

In an era of increased isolation where civic deserts, disinformation, and technological dependence separate us from one another, how can we reimagine our capacity for deeper connection and sustainable collaboration in our current reality? Deepa Iyer, a social justice advocate, leads an exploration of the pathways that strengthen ecosystems for social change in this talk. Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Her work is rooted in Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities where she spent fifteen years in policy advocacy and coalition building in the wake of the September 11th attacks and ensuing backlash. Currently, Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project, a national nonprofit organization that catalyzes social change through research, strategic partnerships, and resources for movements and nonprofits.