Announcing the 2025-26 Knapp Chairs

The Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts was established in 1995. Two to three distinguished scholars from across the disciplines of the liberal arts are appointed annually by the dean. The Knapp chairs contribute to the vitality and centrality of liberal arts in the college by teaching and interacting with students, collaborating with faculty and presenting public lectures that engage our campus community.

Knapp chairs give a public lecture during their residency, which is recorded and posted online. Faculty and students may nominate a Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts.

 

Donnetrice Allison, PhD | Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts
In Residency: February 9 to February 19

Donnetrice C. Allison, Ph. D, serves as Professor of Communication Studies and Africana Studies at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ, and she is also the current chair of the Africana Studies Program. As a scholar for nearly three decades, Dr. Allison has published a book, book chapters, several articles and offered dozens of conference presentations on media portrayals of African Americans. More recently, however, she has developed more creative works, as writer and producer of Teaching While Black, which has been awarded, nominated, and screened at several film and television festivals; and her upcoming debut novel, A Mother’s Truth, loosely based on her journey to find her Nigerian roots through her mother’s stories will be published by Four Way Books in 2027. 

Creating Space: Access, Belonging and Representation in Higher Ed
Donnetrice Allison, PhD | Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts
Thursday, February 12 at 6 p.m.
Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall

Public Screening and Conversation: Teaching While Black
Donnetrice Allison, PhD | Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts
Tuesday, February 17 at 6 p.m.
Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall

 

Aurelian Craiutu, PhD | Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts
In Residency: March 8 to 20

Aurelian Craiutu (Ph.D. Princeton, 1999) is an Arthur F. Bentley Professor in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington and Adjunct Professor in the Lilly Family School of Philanthropic Studies at IU Indianapolis. He is also affiliated with the Russian and East European Institute, the Institute for West European Studies, and the Ostrom Workshop. Prior to coming to Indiana, he had taught at Duke University (1999-2000) and the University of Northern Iowa (2000-2001). He has also been Visiting Professor at the Université Paris Cité (2023; 2024), University of Paris V Descartes (2019), Central European University, Budapest (2019), Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (2018), University of Paris-II, Panthéon-Assas (2010), and the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania (2004, 2005).

Professor Craiutu is currently working on two book projects. The first one explores key figures in the French political thought from 1830 to 1900; the second one (in collaboration with Daniel Cole and Michael McGinnis) responds to contemporary critics of liberalism and focuses on rethinking the virtues and limits of liberal governance by drawing on the ideas of the Bloomington Schol of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom.

Who is Afraid of Moderation?
Monday, March 16 at 5 p.m.
Manchester Hall Auditorium