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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14th, 2024
Contact: Brenda Thomson, Executive Director / bthomson@azhumanities.org / 602-257-0335
ARIZONA HUMANITIES ANNOUNCES 2024 HUMANITIES AWARDS
Congratulations to Ayanna Thompson, Tyler Meier, Jeff Kunes, Brandon Johnson, Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, and Allen Dart.
Arizona Humanities is proud to announce the winners of the 2024 Humanities Awards. The recipients of this year's awards are:
· Ayanna Thompson – Humanities Public Scholar Award
· Tyler Meier – Friend of the Humanities Award
· Jeff Kunes – Humanities K-12 Education Award
· Brandon Johnson – Humanities Rising Star Award
· Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan – Founder’s Community Partner Award
· Allen Dart – Outstanding Supporter Award
Every year, we honor and celebrate outstanding contributions to the humanities in our state. Since the inaugural awards in 1990, Arizona Humanities has recognized individuals who have advanced the humanities in Arizona through their scholarship, leadership, support, and advocacy. The winners are hands-on advocates, meaning they engage the community in their efforts to promote humanities programs in Arizona.
The 2024 Arizona Humanities Awards will take place on October 5th, 2024, with event details to follow.
Read more about each award recipient below:
Public Scholar:
Ayanna Thompson is a Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University and the Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She is a renowned scholar of Shakespeare, race, and performance. She is the author of many books, including Blackface and Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America. In 2021 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Thompson collaborates with many theaters and theater practitioners, and she oversees the development of web-based resources for high school teachers around the world. Her work on Shakespeare and race has had a lasting impact in Arizona and around the world.
Friend of the Humanities:
Tyler Meier is the Executive Director of the University of Arizona Poetry Center. Under his leadership, the Poetry Center has grown as an international center for the literary arts, serving constituents across an array of physical and digital efforts, while at the same time flourishing as a key cultural hub for the state of Arizona. Meier oversees all library and literary activities, using poetry programs to respond to and meet regional community needs and the Poetry Center’s broader goals of a diverse and robust literary culture. Recent programs range from the Art for Justice Project, exploring the intersection of imaginative language and mass incarceration; to the Dear Vaccine anthology, a public art response to the pandemic; and Climate Change and Poetry, highlighting the role of poetry in our climate future. Meier was also an original organizer of the Poetry Coalition, a national consortium of 25 poetry organizations, funded by the Mellon and Ford Foundations. Promoting the humanities through diversity of programming, audience, partnerships, and staffing are hallmarks of his well-respected leadership.
Humanities K-12 Educator:
Jeff Kunes is a student-focused educator who inspires his students by believing that they have talent and ability. He has been an educator and coach for over two decades. At Betty H. Fairfax High School in Laveen, Mr. Kunes is a visual arts instructional leader and a professional learning team facilitator. He teaches ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, and physical education; coaches football and wrestling; and is the teacher sponsor for Key Club. Mr. Kunes mentors students from beginning art through advanced. He supports his students by showcasing their work and connecting them with opportunities for accolades and scholarships. He has had a lasting impact on his students, many of whom have treasured their sketchbooks for years and pursued careers in art under his mentorship. For over a quarter of a century, he has had the joy of working with over 4500 young athletes, scholars, and artists.
Humanities Rising Star:
Brandon Johnson is a black, queer poet, translator, educator, and MFA candidate at Arizona State University. He is an assistant editor for Storm Cellar Magazine. Their work is also featured in the Capital Pride Poem-a-Day event and has received support from the Virginia G Piper for creative writing. His chapbook, Snap.Shot, has been published by Finishing Line Press and was named in Poetry Mutual’s Best Books of 2023. In this past year, Johnson brought the long-standing tradition of the ASU MFA reading series to the wider Phoenix writing community. By partnering with AZ Humanities and inviting other reoccurring open mic organizers, Johnson facilitated new opportunities and connections that had not yet been developed in the hopes of making a more interconnected literary community.
Founder’s Community Partner Award:
Dr. Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan is Tohono O’odham and from the San Xavier District. She teaches language and culture in the Tohono O’odham Studies Program at Tohono O’odham Community College. Dr. Ramon-Sauberan also serves as the Tohono O’odham Nation Education Development Liaison for Kitt Peak National Observatory. She earned her PhD in American Indian Studies with a minor in Journalism at the University of Arizona in May 2023, where her research focused on the history of land and water in the San Xavier District. She has written for news publications across the U.S. including Indian Country Today. Dr. Ramon-Sauberan is an outstanding advocate for the public humanities. Her scholarly research on the San Xavier District and her public talks on Tohono O’odham culture have not only enriched her community but have also expanded the public’s knowledge and understanding of Indigenous culture across Arizona.
Outstanding Supporter Award:
Allen Dart, a registered professional archaeologist, has worked in Arizona and New Mexico since 1975 for federal and state governments, private companies, and nonprofit organizations. He is the executive director and founder of Tucson’s nonprofit Old Pueblo Archaeology Center. He founded the center in 1993 to provide educational and scientific programs in archaeology, history, and culture. Dart has received numerous awards including the Arizona Archaeological Society’s Professional Archaeologist of the Year Award, the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society’s Victor R. Stoner Award, the Arizona Governor’s Archaeology Advisory Commission Award in Public Archaeology, and other honors for his longstanding contributions to expand the public’s knowledge of Arizona’s unique archaeology and history. Dart has generously supported Arizona Humanities for years and has been an acclaimed speaker for Arizona Humanities since 1997.
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