Maria Iacullo-Bird
Research and Creative Works
Grants, Sponsored Research and Contracts
Digital Excavations: A Place-Based Humanities, Art, and Computing Curriculum
Dwyer, C., Kreitz, K. A., Cotoranu, A., Pappenheimer, W. D., Cunningham, S. B. & Iacullo-Bird, M. September 2022. National Endowment for the Humanities, Federal. Not Funded.
NEH Connections Grant
Kreitz, K. A., Dwyer, C. & Iacullo-Bird, M. September 2024 - August 2026. National Endowment for the Humanities, Federal. Not Funded. Pace University requests $149,973 for a two-year implementation project beginning in September 2024 to launch a new undergraduate minor called Humanities, Art, and Computing (HAC). A joint effort of Pace University’s Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, and the Provost’s Office, the HAC minor will boost and deepen student engagement with the humanities by bringing together the digital humanities with technological problem-solving and equity-centered design thinking. Students from humanities fields, the visual arts, and computing will learn how to employ computational thinking and digital tools to participate in the production of knowledge about their own cultural heritage; to make sense of the history and current lived experiences of racism, sexism, and economic inequality; and to share a sense of purpose with roles for all to play in achieving a just democracy. Their coursework will include opportunities to investigate the previously obscured people, places, and events of Pace University’s own neighborhood in Lower Manhattan–including the histories of both English and Spanish language newspapers, Chinatown, the African Burial Ground, and Lenape cultural sites. Our approach builds on Pace strengths in experiential learning–which we define as faculty mentored hands-on student experiences in inquiry-based learning--that often involves direct engagement with our communities in New York City. Undergraduate research is an essential component of experiential learning and will be embedded throughout the HAC minor courses and project opportunities through archives-based research and co-production of digital humanities (DH) and public humanities projects, such as digital maps, zines, oral histories, walking tours, websites, and community engagement events. In line with NEH’s “American Tapestry” and “United We Stand” initiatives, the HAC minor will empower students to be creative and equity-centered problem solvers and changemakers whose understanding of the marginalized and suppressed voices of the past will help them build a more just and inclusive society in the present. The interdisciplinary skills, perspectives, and content knowledge students acquire through the HAC minor will equip them for the twentieth-first century workplace–whose ever-evolving job market will demand adaptive, creative thinkers with strong technological and communication skills.
Courses Taught
Past Courses
AMS 202: Intro to American Studies - LC
HIS 107: World Civilization I
HIS 108: World History After 1650
HIS 112: US Civilization Since 1877
HIS 113: Intro to Public History: 9/11
HIS 113: The City and the Workplace
HIS 113: The City and the Workplace - LC
HIS 113: The City and the Workplace- LC
HIS 113: The U.S. and the World
HIS 196: COVID-19 & Black Lives Matter
HIS 196: Dvlpng Hstrc Hrtge Ctr Mnhtn
HIS 262: Back to the Future: Develop
HIS 269: Recent U.S. History
HIS 366: History of New York City
HIS 499: Senior Year Experience in His
HISA 113: The City and the Workplace