Dr. Charles Tatum
2009 Dan Shilling Public Humanities Scholar Award Recipient
Charles Tatum has been an intellectual leader and a pioneer in the humanities and in the field of literary studies. His 1982 book, Chicano Literature, greatly helped several generations of students to acquire a better general understanding and appreciation of the relatively new humanities field of Chicana/o culture. The book was translated into Spanish in Mexico in 1986 and was widely read. He has published or edited several additional books in this field during the past 15 years.
Tatum’s other pioneering work in the humanities includes the co-founding, in 1980, and the co-editorship of the journal, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture; the journal has been instrumental in opening up a new humanities field of Latin American and Latino popular culture.
Tatum has been a passionate advocate for
diversity at the University of Arizona during the last twenty-two years,
first as a department head and then as dean of the College of Humanities (1993-2008).
One of Tatum’s most important accomplishments as dean was to provide leadership for the building of the university’s world-class Helen S. Schaefer Poetry Center. In the mid-90’s, Tatum served as an Arizona Humanities Council member and then President.
