2024-2025 Annual Report

Dear colleagues, 

What is the role of the Digital Humanities and DH@MSU? This has been a question central to DH@MSU’s work these past two semesters and one that has been particularly prominent in my mind since I became Interim Director of Digital Humanities in August 2024. In this past academic year, the DH@MSU team along with the Advisory Committee undertook two semester-long processes to address this question against the backdrop of technological and institutional change. In fall, we completed the unit’s strategic plan, part of MSU 2030 Strategic Planning Process, and in spring, we revised and approved a new set of bylaws. Throughout both semesters, DH@MSU remains committed to bringing together the many people, programs, centers, labs, and other units working on DH-related projects and curricula. Or, as the purpose statement reads on our strategic plan: DH@MSU empowers digitally-engaged research and teaching in the arts and humanities at MSU.

DH@MSU has always defined itself through its people and 2024-2025 saw several personal changes. Over the past summer, previous DH Director, Kathleen Fitzpatrick became Interim Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies; in spring 2025, she was selected to continue as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. As Core Faculty and head of the research team in the College of Arts & Letters (CAL), Kathleen thankfully remains close to DH@MSU. In fall 2024, Kate Topham took a job as Digital Scholarship Specialist at the University of Michigan Libraries. Kate joined DH@MSU as a digital archivist with the Religious Sounds Project and immediately became a central member of the DH@MSU team. We’re glad that we’ve been able to keep up contact with Kate through the Global DH Symposium. DH@MSU also welcomed Tianyi “Titi” Kou-Herrema as the DH Research Coordinator, a position designed to support and amplify DH-based research in the CAL and connect it with other digital research units and infrastructure across MSU. With a PhD in German Studies, Titi comes to the position with experience in natural language processing and broad experience working in DH both at MSU and across the globe. Congratulations to all, thank you, Kathleen and Kate, for your tireless work for DH@MSU, and welcome to the team, Titi!

Prompting our reflection on the role of DH at MSU has also been significant changes in digital technologies, including the rise of generative AI, and in the institutions that support DH-based work, including the extensive loss of grant funding in spring 2025. There are ongoing discussions across the university about how generative AI changes the way the university works, but also about the potential applications of AI technology to the arts and humanities and new paths of inquiry opened by AI, such as exploring the effects of large language models on language itself. 2025 also saw the mass cancellation of grants, which included many DH-related grants, and the dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as its Office of Digital Humanities. The loss of invaluable work as well as the negative impact on scholars and students brought by these transformations cannot be overstated. In upcoming years, what DH and DH@MSU are at MSU will depend, at least in part, on navigating these new technological and institutional landscapes.

It has been a professional goal of mine to be Director of DH since arriving at MSU in 2013. While this Interim post only lasted a year, I look forward to continuing as Core Faculty and being active in DH@MSU in the future!

Matthew Handelman
Interim Director of Digital Humanities