Tanner Humanities Center

Dr. Scott Black is a noted scholar of eighteenth-century British literature and the long history of prose fiction. He has published widely on the development of the early British essay and on a broad range of writers from Heliodorus and Cervantes to Eliza Haywood, Henry Fielding, David Hume, Laurence Sterne, and Iharu Saikaku. His most recent book, Without the Novel: Romance and the History of Prose Fiction (2019) restores the genre of romance, the black sheep of modern literary histories, to its proper place as a centrally important form of storytelling and a vital mode of readerly pleasure. He is currently working on a project about Ursula K. Le Guin’s innovative later work, which challenges familiar forms of heroic narrative from the perspective of Daoism. Dr. Black regularly teaches courses on Le Guin, as well as on contemporary global literature, the history of the novel, experimental fiction, and fantasy. Prior to serving as Director of the Tanner Humanities Center, Dr. Black was Chair of the English Department for seven years. He has been awarded fellowships from the Huntington Library, UCLA’s Clark Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Ransom Humanities Center at University of Texas at Austin. He is the recipient of the College of Humanities’ Ramona Cannon Award for Teaching Excellence and the ASUU Student Choice Teaching Award. Dr. Black holds a Ph.D. in English from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. with first class honors from McGill University.

As Associate Director of the Tanner Humanities Center, Robert Carson writes and curates content showcasing the Center’s work, collaborates with faculty and fellows to promote their scholarship to the public, and assists with the Center’s development and grant activities. Before coming to Utah, he held faculty appointments at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and at Texas A&M University at Qatar. His teaching has included courses in literature, first-year composition, professional and technical writing, and literary theory. Previously, he was Director of the Writing Center at Johns Hopkins University. Robert received his BA in English and Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his PhD in English from Johns Hopkins University. His scholarly interests include Anglophone modernism and political rhetoric, and he has published articles on Susan Sontag, Wyndham Lewis, and George Orwell.

Beth James, Tanner Humanities Center Administrative Director, received bachelor’s degrees with honors in English and Psychology from Boston University. She has worked at the Tanner Humanities Center since 2003 and was appointed Administrative Director in 2022. James is responsible for all center operations. She handles budgets, accounts, payroll, and contracts; processes fellowship applications; coordinates all contracts for speakers and events; manages planning logistics for visiting speakers; and assures compliance with accounting, human resource, and development policies and procedures. She coordinates with Tanner Humanities Center Advisory Boards, University of Utah partners and faculty, and community organizations. She also administers the multi-university Tanner Lectures on Human Values series, organizes annual meetings for the Tanner Board of Trustees, and oversees the center’s Gateway Workshops and National Theatre Live Program. James’ strategic acumen, deep institutional knowledge, and ability to manage multiple programs, complex logistics, and varied constituencies make her an invaluable member of the Tanner Humanities Center Team. She also played a central role in developing, planning, and executing two NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops (Manifest Destiny Reconsidered: The Utah Experience) in 2017 and 2019.