Kerill O’Neill
Executive Director, NEHC
Kerill O’Neill is the Julian D. Taylor Associate Professor of Classics. His research interests range from love magic in Latin poetry to religious cult in Bronze Age archaeology. As Humanities Division Chair (2008-2012), Kerill chaired the committee that developed a successful proposal to the Mellon Foundation for the establishment of the Center for the Arts and Humanities in 2013. Kerill promotes a vision of the arts and humanities that is heavily student-focused, sharing the value of the humanistic disciplines as a rich, rigorous, intellectual pursuit but also as an excellent preparation for successful careers in a rapidly changing world.
Dean Allbritton
Director, Center for the Arts and Humanities
Dean Allbritton is an Associate Professor of Spanish, teaching courses on Spanish cinema, culture, and gender and sexuality. His work analyzes representations of illness and health in contemporary Spanish culture as political metaphors of national wellbeing. His current book project, Feeling Sick: The Early Years of AIDS in Spain, explores the cultural history of HIV/AIDS in Spain through visual culture and ephemera of the time and is forthcoming from Liverpool University Press. He has published articles in The Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, the Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, Revista de estudios hispánicos, and Hispanic Research Journal, among others.
Megan Fossa
Assistant Director, Center for the Arts and Humanities
Megan Fossa joined the Center for the Arts and Humanities in 2014 and serves as the Assistant Director. Megan is responsible for providing strategic direction and operational support for the Center, and coordinates and supports all faculty programs and courses that are associated with the Annual Humanities Theme. She is responsible for pre-event planning, on-site execution, and post-event follow-up for social, co-curricular, and community programs. Megan also processes finances, and supervises the student advisory board, along with student interns. Megan received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Marketing / Public Relations at Thomas College, and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.
Portia Hardy
Program Coordinator
Portia Hardy has served as the Colby Center for the Arts and Humanities Program Coordinator since August 2022. She handles the Center’s social media and communications. She is responsible for a mix of administrative and creative work. She works closely with both the Environmental Humanities and CAH Student Advisory Board, managing the production of FAUNA Environmental Humanities Literary and Art Magazine and the Center’s own magazine. She also helps to plan and run the Colby Summer Institute in the Environmental Humanities. Portia holds a Bachelor of Science in Earth and Environmental Science with a minor in Editing and Publishing from the University of Maine at Farmington.