Cox Family Process Speaker Series

The Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) hosts the Cox Family Process Speaker event series.

The Cox Family Process Speaker Series invites scholars renowned for specific works to share the origins, reception, and impact of their projects. Since 2021, the series has offered annual programming, bringing distinguished artists and scholars to Boulder each Spring. The invited speaker will discuss the work that helped establish their reputation in their field. The CHA extends its gratitude to the Cox Family Visiting Professor Fund, including Dr. Jeffrey Cox, the inaugural director of the CHA, for making this series possible through their generous donation.

Previous Cox Family Process Speaker Series

2025: Caleb Elfenbein and "Fear in Our Hearts"

Join author and History and Religious Studies Professor Caleb Elfenbein as he discusses the process of writing his book , which argues that anti-Muslim activity reveals how fear is corroding core American values. Elfenbein’s exploration of Islamophobia is also reflected in his project Mapping Islamophobia, which visualizes how incidents of anti-Muslim hostility accumulate over time, affecting how American Muslims engage in public life. Both the book and the Mapping Islamophobia project provide critical insights into how Islamophobia shapes American values and the barriers it creates for Muslim communities seeking to participate fully in society. 

2024: Gabrielle Calvocoressi and "Rocket Fantastic"

 discussed their poetry collection  (winner of the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry). Their book has been described as a "spellbinding reinvention and exploration of self, gender, and family." In Rocket Fantastic, Calvocoressi innovatively uses the musical segno symbol in replacement of traditional pronouns for one of the main characters, allowing readers to engage with the poem’s content while leaving sex and gender as an open question.

2023: Dr. Jennifer Holland and "Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement"

, History Professor at the University of Oklahoma, author, and expert on abortion history. She specializes broadly in histories of gender, sexuality, 20th century conservative movements, and the American West. On April 12, 2023, Dr. Jennifer Holland discussed the origins of her book , the reception of the book, and the afterlife of Tiny You, especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022.

2022: Kevin B. Lee and “Transformers: the Premake”

Kevin B. Lee, renowned filmmaker and video essayist, spoke about his film “Transformers: the Premake” on March 30, 2022. His film essay , which acknowledges the internet's role asa boundless repository of information and as a primary experience of reality. He directs Crossmedia Publishing at Merz Akademie, Stuttgart, Germany. Lee is a filmmaker, film critic, and producer of over 350 video essays that explore connections between film and media. Link to the recording of the event can be found at CHA's YouTube Channel .

2021: Dr. Priscilla Wald and "Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative"

Dr. Priscilla Wald, Professor of English at Duke University, teaches and works on U.S. literature and culture, particularly literature of the late-18th to mid-20th centuries, contemporary narratives of science and medicine, science fiction literature and film, law and literature, and environmental studies. Dr. Wald discussed her book,  (Duke University Press 2008). She shared her inspiration for this critical work, the afterlives of CONTAGIOUS, and thoughts she had about this work given our COVID-19 lives.