Empowering the World with the Human Experience
We are a collaborative research, creative, and social innovation incubator in the College of Arts and Letters at Old Dominion University. We help foster synergies among activists, artists, scholars, engaged global citizens, and local community stakeholders who are searching for meaningful ways to reshape people's lives.
Above all else, we are humanists that believe people - when given access to critical tools, skills, and literacies - can become agents of transformation in our society. We serve as stewards of such critical sensibilities, seeking creative, innovative, and multidisciplinary opportunities to engage students, serve our communities, and participate as citizens. In short, we aim to provide future leaders in the arts, the humanities and in public service with the knowledge, skills, and training they need to become global innovators and implement sustainable change.
One of the ways we accomplish these goals is through our interdisciplinary Master of Arts degree (MA) program in the Humanities.
We also serve as a key community outreach and engagement arm for the University, sponsoring and hosting an array of speakers, performers, and public forums as part of our Humanities in Hampton Roads initiative.
Our Students
Marina Cortez: Class of 2026
Interests: With a background in intersectional feminist theory, Marina’s research centers on compulsory sterilization as an insidious form of reproductive injustices that targets the bodies of women of color. Graduate Assistant for Gay Cultural Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies.
Catherine Earp
Catherine has been teaching Pilates since 2000, working with a variety of clients ranging from those suffering from chronic pain to those competing in elite physical competitions. During her time teaching Pilates, she has achieved Level 4 teacher-training status, owned a successful Pilates studio, and mentored many apprentices and instructors in building their own personal training practices and businesses.
In addition to her Pilates certification, Catherine is certified as a personal trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine. Currently, Catherine maintains a private practice as well as teaching at local studios and universities. Her favorite part about teaching Pilates is the opportunity to give her clients the tools to be able to use their unique facility to do the things that are important to them, overcoming injury, skiing with their family or surfing with friends.
She entered the MA in Humanities program at ODU to find a way to blend the art and the science of teaching into a more effective means of communicating the uniqueness of the Pilates philosophy in creative ways. She has a particular interest in reaching those groups of people who are underserved by traditional exercise modalities and has a special place in her heart for people who would never ever enter a Pilates studio. Her coursework within the MA program has included dance, language, communications, and exercise science.
Upon completion of the program, she hopes to have honed in on those visual images that inspire people to use their bodies well and have developed a piece that can be used to reach a broad scope of the population.
Lisa LaCerra
Lisa LaCerra earned her B.A. in Studio Art at ODU in 2005. After a 20-year career in television production, she has decided to return to pursue her passion: creating art and teaching Studio Art at the college level. Lisa has enrolled in the Humanities Graduate Program because it will allow her the flexibility she needs to continue to work full-time while she gains the skills to achieve her goal.
Mary Taetsch: Class of 2025
Interests: Ethnographic research including photography, and activism for human rights on a global scale. Her current graduate research looks at access to resources and advocacy for survivors of sexual assault on college campuses. Mary is a local doula offering reduced fee services to POC birthers and birthing fathers as an act of advocacy for access, and volunteers for survivors of violence at Samaritan House. Graduate Assistant for the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.