A leading voice in digital humanities and literary studies, Distinguished Professor Alan Liu has been honored by the Academic Senate for his influential scholarship and visionary research.
Distinguished Professor of English Alan Liu has been named a 2024–25 Faculty Research Lecturer, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academic Senate. The award recognizes Liu’s groundbreaking work across literature, digital humanities and information culture, and celebrates his global scholarly influence.
The Faculty Research Lectureship, established in 1954, honors exceptional achievement in research and scholarship. Liu will deliver his lecture in fall 2025, continuing the tradition of bringing the university community into conversation with UC Santa Barbara’s most accomplished faculty.
Bridging literature, digital humanities and information culture
Liu’s work bridges British Romantic literature, digital humanities and information culture. His books include “The Laws of Cool,” “Local Transcendence” and “Friending the Past.”
He founded UCSB’s Transcriptions project, a curricular development and research initiative in the English Department that explores literature as a form of information technology within its cultural, political and technological contexts. As director and principal investigator, he launched the project in 1998 with a National Endowment for the Humanities teaching with technology grant. Liu also co-leads the international advocacy group 4Humanities and has held leadership roles in the Electronic Literature Organization.
“It’s a distinct honor to be recognized by my colleagues as a Faculty Research Lecturer, especially given the illustrious past recipients from my own English Department who are renowned both for scholarship and mentorship,” Liu said.
Reflecting on the evolving role of scholarship, Liu emphasized that being honored for research feels especially significant now, at a time when public trust in expertise is under strain.
“My recent work focuses on how data science, machine learning and AI extend, but also transform, the knowledge foundational to a liberal arts education spanning sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts,” he said.
As part of that commitment, Liu co-founded the new national Center for Humanities Communication, which draws inspiration from science communication to help scholars effectively share the value of humanistic inquiry.
“Humanistic knowledge of the past and present, and of ourselves and others, partners with scientific knowledge in exploring our world and the universe,” Liu said.
“Alan Liu is a pioneer in the field of digital humanities as both theorist and practitioner,” said Jim Kearney, professor of English and chair of the English Department at UCSB. "His groundbreaking digital projects and thought-provoking meditations on new media and information cultures have inspired countless scholars and opened new paths of humanistic inquiry. The English Department is proud to celebrate his achievements and this well-deserved Faculty Research Lectureship.”
Distinguished Professors Patricia Fumerton and Alan Liu (far right)
of the Department of English. Photo courtesy of Jim Kearney.
Lisa Parks: exploring satellite technologies and media infrastructure
Also recognized for her scholarly distinction, Distinguished Professor of Film and Media Studies Lisa Parks was named a 2023-24 Faculty Research Lecturer. Parks delivered her lecture on April 10, 2025, featuring new research on the community impacts of intensified commercial satellite launching from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California.
Parks’ research has explored the historical development and use of satellite technologies, media infrastructures and surveillance systems. To study objects like cell towers, satellite constellations, broadcast transmitters and data centers, she combines approaches from science and technology studies, history, art and cultural geography. Parks is the author or editor of several influential books, including “Cultures in Orbit,” “Rethinking Media Coverage,” “Life in the Age of Drone Warfare” and “Media Backends.”
awardee, delivers her lecture on April 10, 2025. Photo credit: Department of Film and Media Studies.
She directs UCSB’s Global Media Technologies & Cultures Lab and is a former director of the Center for Information Technology and Society. Parks was professor of comparative media studies and science and technology studies at MIT from 2016–2020 and has held fellowships in Berlin, Montreal and elsewhere. Parks is also a 2018 MacArthur Fellow and has been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation, Mellon Foundation and the U.S. State Department.
Her research and fieldwork on media and information technologies have taken her to Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Mongolia, Slovenia, Tanzania, Turkey, Zambia and Zanzibar, among other sites. One of her current projects is an international research initiative focused on media industries and AI. “I am so grateful to the Academic Senate and feel truly honored by this award,” Parks said. "I have benefited so much over the years from UCSB’s interdisciplinary culture. Our campus is a place where scholars in the humanities and arts can dig deep into their fields and push across boundaries as well.”
Celebrating academic excellence
The Faculty Research Lectureship allows the campus community to engage with the intellectual work of its most distinguished faculty. Nominated and selected by their peers, honorees represent the breadth and excellence of scholarship across UC Santa Barbara
“Alan Liu and Lisa Parks are outstanding scholars whose work exemplifies the highest standards of public scholarship and intellectual engagement,” said Daina Ramey Berry, the Michael Douglas Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts. “Through their research, they offer profound insights into the human condition today, while illuminating frameworks through which society can engage with pressing challenges of the future.”